Pride lay silent beside the throne, staring off into nothing. Diamond armor clung to him, as though it could protect him from missing friends.

Mischief lay between folded forelimbs, saddened by his dazed grief.

All in all, hardly an uplifting scene to approach, and made all the more grim by the bones arranged to hang over the back of the Throne, looking down upon it.

The soft sound of paws on stone had his ears flicking, his head coming up; and he stared, for a moment, at the... ...Is it? he thought, blinking, his mind thrown into blankness. The white stag had no idea of the difference between jaguar and leopard and it seemed, to him, as though ghosts of Nassir were haunting him, these past few days.

In any case, her quiet cats' steps had gotten her closer than most creatures would've come without his notice.

Mischief, he became aware, was watching her too.

"Hello," he called out, more to be polite than anything else--rather than simply staring, watching eerily, as a Gembound passed by in silence.

He watched, nonplussed, as the child scampered up and tried to speak with a stone clenched between her teeth.

Pride was not feeling the most sociable, but nor would he be rude or turn away young company; he offered an incline of his head, antlers raking the air, and then hesitated as he tried to puzzle out just what she'd said.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand," he offered, at last, his normal politeness slightly subdued. "Could you possibly put the stone down? I am Pride, by the way," (and he guessed that the "hrr yuh" had been a vague "who are you"-ish sort of question). "And this is Mischief; please do not try to eat her," he added, nodding down to the arctic hare flopped up against his chest.

Her intelligibility, it seemed, was greatly improved by not having a rock in her mouth. Normally, Pride would have been on his feet, bowing, friendly and welcoming and charming and all of that but distant sadness lingered.

He didn't feel like getting up.

He still wasn't... entirely sure what this cub's name was, but her bubblingly happy request had his ears cupping forward with interest. Rock-? Pale eyes shifted to it. "Ahh--to check if there is magic in it? Yes, I can do that," he confirmed. "And no, you don't need to go." A polite nod, though the weariness remained in his eyes.

Pride pushed to his feet to take the few steps toward the stone. "I might be able to tell you a few things about it, if you have the time. To look back through its history, and to look for magic lingering. Perhaps even... whether it can be brought back to life," he added, glancing to her. "Do you know about that--how it works? I think you may be too young for it. But when we die we leave stones behind, and those can sometimes be returned to life... or, rather, given new life." Of all the children Pride had created, one from a dead gemstone had not yet been among them. I ought to find Nassir's, he thought, abruptly.

But now wasn't the time for that.

He exhaled, clearing his mind, gathering his focus, and leaned down to touch velvet-soft nose to the pink stone.

Mischief sprawled out where she'd been left, careless, as he did so.

...Magic, he confirmed, thoughtfully, and then stepped back, glancing up and nodding. "There is magic in it, at least. Maybe a life, maybe something else; would yoiu like me to try to see into its past? And--ahh, what was your name, again, may I ask?" he added.

He bent down, at her agreement, and touched his nose back to the stone.

"Ahh, it's good to meet you, then, Kaimana." So that's what her muffled sounds had meant. "May I ask where you found this, then?"

It was polite conversation, mild curiosity--little more. And then he sent out his magicka for a touch of the stone.

For a moment he was very still, and then he lifted his head, looking slightly puzzled. "I saw--water? And some sort of... creature in it; it was difficult to see. Dark. Stones--underwater." He pondered, for a moment, and then glanced to Kaimana.

"It was large--swimming, I think."