It was by some curse, really, that Aure was still soaking-wet by the time he flew back to his dust and bones. The hybrid was persistent by nature, and if he was going to fly with twenty extra pounds of water-weight in the hopes that it would dry in a somewhat stream-lined manner, he was going to stick with it.

Let's just say that it made the journey far more arduous than necessary, and he was grateful to alight by the circuit --- near-covered in water from the rising tables below them, too. Bright eyes scanned his home briefly, somehow missing the large mass flopped over not too far from him. No immediate sense of danger prickled at his limbs (not that he expected some, anyways, outside of that Overseer doing some illegal hunting) and he felt at ease to stance up, to lower himself, to shake with the force of a great typhoon. Water sprayed everywhere, ears slapped against the sides of his head, feathers puffed up relentlessly into a fluffy mess.

White flashed in his periphery, and Aure was suddenly aware of the other Gembound present. Spinning on his heel, he jumped to apologies with gesturing wings, "ah, sorry if I got water all over you--- sorry, I didn't see you there."

As expected, the lump had stirred to its feet, shape morphing into something definitely wolfish and rather casual about the Bone King himself bringing Pisces's floods with him. Aure stared for a moment, preparing to go about his business elsewhere, maybe rub against some iron-rich rocks to refresh his color. Idly, he preened at his chest feathers, ears pricking as the stranger spoke rather bluntly. Plucking a loose feather from his breast, he dropped it at his feet, "it's raining in Pisces, and I went to investigate, because--- y'know, it must be a bit suspicious after all of the dry heat from Hydra opening, to see Canis so full of water."

It wouldn't be good for the bones, well-preserved as they were.

Bright eyes scanned the other Gembound, something from his childhood clicking just then. Wolf. White. "Wait, are you the Lightbringer?" Aure sniffed, as if that would give any further indication. The big mastiff hadn't given him much description about the seemingly mythical figure, other than being a white wolf; and, this was the first white wolf he had seen. Ergo, there's a chance that this is the Lightbringer. "Black told me about you, if you are. Brought the lights back, fixed the box in Polaris."

Aure continued to preen at his chest, quills rattling as he shook himself briefly. The caves were clearly a closed system, possibly with some outside force existing to make sure the climate stayed just right. Or something, he wasn't sure. He wasn't a meteorologist by any means, and didn't plan to become one. "Maybe," he began through a mouthful of down and a chunk of leaf he'd found wedged between some feathers, "it smelled like dead fish in there, but I didn't see any of them floating around in the flood. Just a pile of--- something, I dunno. It looked rotten. I tried to cast magic on it, the sort that feed on flesh and give memory feedback? Nothing. It barely even took hold." He clicked his beak softly. "I threw a bunch of rocks on it, so maybe someone'll get the hint to not touch it."

Because, who knows how poisonous it was if even fungi couldn't touch it! Those little spores would get their little hands all over anything they pleased, except for that suspicious lump.

Anyways, he was interacting with a bona fide hero, barely remembered from his impromptu vacation through the caves. "Nice to finally meet you, Kera," he chimed politely. Bright eyes scanned the mushrooms along the circuit, having previously thought they were simply grown by his mother as the others in her den were. Their ethereal blue-green glow captivated him even now, and he nodded eagerly. "Oh, I love those kinds of mushrooms, Mother has them in her den, too." he chirped, working at his magic to show off his fungi-growing prowess and to contribute to the mushroom circuit, though he paused briefly to announce: "Giggle's my mother, I mean, my life-giver."

In case the Lightbringer didn't know what a mother was, y'know?

Aure shuffled about the pool slightly, hoping that he was leaving a carpet of the glowing mushrooms in his wake, continuing, "my name's Aure Vita. I'm the leader of the Bonebound, not really the Bone King, yet. Giving myself titles isn't really--- my thing." He hesitated slightly as he spoke, though furrowed his brow in thought about Black. "I haven't seen him in a while, but--- I'm sure he's doing fine. I saw him in Polaris a few cycles ago, and then again in here when we gave life to Aether---" he paused in his steps, turning back to Kera. "Oh, shit, I forgot. You were there, weren't you? Didn't you name him?"

Bright eyes flicked down to the edge of the pool, half-imagining the odd mass lying there. No--- "maybe, it didn't look like anything I've ever seen before. Definitely not a fish." The lighting had been terrible enough that Aure didn't even bother to try closer inspection, though in hindsight he could've simply used his light-giving magics. A part of him facepalmed internally, and another part patted him on the head for doing his best. He dutifully listened to the latter.

He danced a few steps further, before allowing his magic to fizzle out. Bright eyes trailed back up to Kera, head tilting, "yeah, I--- brought the Bonebound back together pretty recently. Not much has happened in the Caves since, I don't think. Except for the, uh... trial Rift is planning to put on. I'm--- staying out of it. Neutrality, y'know?" The Lightbringer probably knew something about that; hell, all of the caves must know at this point. There was no telling how many Bloodberries still ran wild in the Caves, murdering and causing unnecessary bloodshed (which was most of it, if you asked him.)

A little bashfully, he chirped, "she's the best." Scuffing a foot along the floor as he spun on his heel, Aure nodded gently, "she's been doing well as long as I've been around. I'm sure she'd be happy to see you, if you wanted to visit." He tossed his head in the direction of the Bone Pit. "Whenever you want, I mean."

He watched in wonder as Kera seemed to effortlessly beckon forth a carpet of the glowing mushrooms, capped in blues and greens and swallowing the pool's shore --- and he nearly didn't parse what she had said about titles. "Well," he began, in a tone suggesting that he felt he had a very good reason for not immediately claiming the title of Bone King for himself, "there's been --- and are --- quite a few Gembound that just call themselves stuff like King or Ruler without any prompting. I don't want to force that on anyone, even if--- I'm inheriting it from my father."

About Aether, Aure nodded again, "yeah, he has my eyes and--- beard, I think. I haven't had to call upon him, since, though. I hope he's doing good." He paused, bright eyes wide and staring down at his toes. A burning question came to mind, one that had been persistently niggling for quite some time: "is he basically our son? Are we co-parenting with... five others, including the Collector?" Don't check his math.

Oh, Kera definitely knew about the trial, and seemed to have the same sort of stance on it as him --- which, thank goodness. The hybrid had quietly hoped he wasn't an outlier, in that case. "That's the problem, isn't it... he planned to do the trial whether or not any of the other groups in the Caves were alright with it," he rubbed at his cheek with a wing-claw, "it came out of left field." Aure lowered his gaze, sighing, "I hope it ends well, at least." Personally, his bets were on avoiding future serial killing and murderfests blocking an entire tunnel.

Anyways. Mom. "No--- no," he demurred, waving a wing, "I'll leave you two to it whenever you feel like it. Catching up with old friends is nice."

Aure's good mood slipped back into oh, shit, I said that out loud exactly how I thought it, as the Lightbringer laughed abruptly at a jab he hadn't immediately realized he made. Of course, his expression moved to horror, mostly out of possibly breaking a fairly important political alliance. The Seven weren't many, but he knew Pride was a force to be reckoned with --- and somehow friends with Envy. Or--- Livius. Same hat. But Kera simply took it as mirth and agreed. Thank goodness.

Again, anyways; Aether was apparently just as missing as Aure thought. Well, maybe not missing --- just living elsewhere unless called upon. The hybrid still hadn't figured out how... calling upon a child worked, or what the difference was between giving life to a stone or to a giant moth's stone with the help of the Collector. Perhaps, it was the Collector's magic building that connection? Aure didn't particularly want to ask.

"Well, I mean--- Aether was basically full-grown in seconds. Even seemed like he... remembered some stuff, like protecting us. Then, he took off," he chirped, brow furrowed. Perhaps parent hadn't even been needed.