There was a brief, and gentle trill of a sound, though whether it came from Tenzin--thoughtful--or the shifting of ice across his shimmering feathers was not quite clear. But he spoke, a moment later, his pale eyes fixed mournfully on the Desert Rose.

"When you came into this cave, you feared me. What I might do to you." The phoenix paused, and a soft sigh of frosted breath plumed forth over the Gembounds' heads. "I am sorry for that. But I think you understand."

Tenzin's own head bowed, a little. For another long moment he was silent, bobbing gently in the near-freezing water; then he peered up again, studying Desert Rose.

"You are troubled. Were you not, before..?" he asked, and the question came quite softly.

@Desert Rose Thirty-Five

Comparisons were drawn, and Desert's eyes flicked closed for a brief second. Oh, dear caves, if there were things more powerful than the Masters...

He could barely begin to imagine that.

"I do," he spoke in the weighing moment, letting his own hang with the silence. In the quiet that followed he let everything absorb rather than let himself think about it.

Troubled. Hah, yeah. After this, he'd be even more perturbed. "I never had time to be troubled by things that weren't deliberately out to kill me." An ear flicked as he tumbled over words in his mind. "An idle mind and an idle body lets foreign ideas eat at you, I suppose." He glanced up to Tenzin- a gaze not filled with true fear as it had before, but respect, one of withheld awe and gratitude. "Thank you for wiping away some of them." (And giving him a few more.) "I respect that you can't tell more; caves know I understand." He understood alright, with feeling guilt over merely thinking certain things, about micromanaging every word that came from his mouth.

If a Master felt that way, then they were all trapped in this claustrophobic rock after all.

There wasn't much else to say, was there? Should he... Leave? He was in Tenzin's domain, after all, and he nearly felt it necessary to wait for dismissal rather than turning tail and abandoning the conversation. But, now, it felt nearly like a break of sacred hierarchy, where a being so elevated above him found it prudent to ask about him. Him! Of all beings, just some lowly champion.

But, what if he was trapped here? Did he have the mobility granted to the now freed champions? Was he locked in his own Trial- of sorts? No, he was a Master, after all, and if he didn't want to move he could very well keep seated, mirroring the Desert Rose's own intentions. Maybe he was cataloging the dragon's changes alongside his own, giving comparison and thought to calculate all those years difference between them all.

He refused to give himself room to overthink. No- back to basics. He had to deflect conversation about himself. He had no station close to a Master. He held no importance. "Is there anything I can do for you? Any task? Only if the situation's fit to give me one." He had an Overseer to arrange those, but words from a Master? Those trumped all else and gave him his purpose, after all. That's what they all needed now- direction. And what was this Master's direction? Did he have one? How could Desert help with it? How could he be of any signifying merit on the list of achievements gathered by the Masters?

@Game Master Dark

Sorrow bowed Tenzin's head as he listened. Oh, what had been done to them; and for what? He shrouded these thoughts; they were, as Desert's, unsafe to think. Micromanagement, guilt; was it limited to these Gembound?

It was not.

At length, Desert Rose had asked his question, and Tenzin looked up sadly. Is there anything I can do? he'd asked. "You have already been asked to do so much," Tenzin murmured. "Live; as well as you can."

Tenzin fell silent, then: a long, glistening moment with light glinting from his ice, his feathers shining their multi-faceted shades of blue.

@Desert Rose Thirty-Five

It was frightening to see those more powerful than you mirroring your own emotions so brightly. Had Tenzin cast a spell on him? He was frozen- he couldn't move, staring into the phoenix's sad, sad eyes, as his throat clammed up.

No. No emotion, please, he had to beg himself, but his mind refused to listen. His teeth clenched worriedly as he shuddered off the fears threatening to envelop him. He'd sloughed off stronger, right?

He had to live. So much had changed, had altered with his life, and here he simply had to live. But he still had his task of his Overseer, had his own life, had his- His life, to live.

He took a step back. His eyes darted down, then to Pride, then down again, watching the ripples in the pool of water. "Thank you, Tenzin," he spoke softly after the moment hung for far too long. Inhale, exhale. "I... I think that's all I wanted to know." All he needed to hear. He needed to be told to live. To- what was in the word live? What did it mean to live? His eyes screwed shut as he struggled to not overthink.

He looked back to Pride, unable to face Tenzin. "I should return to the Sentinels." It was posed more as a question- was he dismissed? "You can come to me if you need anything."

He paused again, drawing into himself. "Thank you." This one time, he truly meant it, and he couldn't remember when those words held sentiment before.

@Game Master Dark

Pride inclined his head, studying Desert Rose for a long and quiet moment.

"Of course. I will head back to Orion, then; I wish you luck, Desert, and it was good meeting you." Formal, perhaps--but warmly said, with a kind expression and a low, antler-swept bow of his head.

Pride then turned, after waiting a polite interval for Desert Rose, to Tenzin.

"It was good to see you again, Tenzin. Thank you for speaking with us. I wonder if I might ask..."

exit Pride/Tenzin
@Desert Rose Thirty-Five

His mind hovered in place as he commited what happened to memory, to secrets he’d keep and hoard to himself. Most thoughts now-a-days were like that, weren’t they? He just sat on top of them and let them fester into uselessness.

But, in the real world, Desert let out the softest sigh before bowing his head back. ”It was good meeting you, too,” he spoke as he looked over the Pride, Tenzin, and Mischief. Hm.

They were a few odd products of the new system of the caves. Excusing himself silently, he gave another nod and paced away, leaving the two of them to their conversation.

;exit Desert