- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas watched his creation turn to go, and he was already ready to lapse back into thought, to consider what had been said, to plan-

-and then it turned back to him.

The question Khavur asked surprised him; it was nothing so dramatic or self-shaping as what they'd just been over. It was a simple question, one of maps and history books, and he settled in (rather pleased with this unexpected turn of events) to answer.

"Yes; everything had a purpose. Has! A purpose, even. It was shaped, designed; this entire Nest a Forge for our Creator. You mention the tower--that was a watchtower, long ago. A place for the guards to watch those who worked, those who fought. To watch for trouble that might approach the Throne. Mind you," the Leviathan went on, head tilting a little to one side, "I was no Master in those days! I did not wander often, from Canis--from Hydra; and I did not wander far. I had only come this distance once or twice." The implication was unsaid--that for centuries, even millennia, Overseer Vargas had been restricted to one place. That the caves had been harsher, then. More severe.

"The bones in Canis--you do not know their history?" This puzzled him; he was sure he'd spoken of it to the Forge, or had he-? Had it only been with some individuals among them? "I will tell you of them, if you wish; and of anything else you want to know of. Providing, of course, that I know the answers," he added, with faint humor; "As I said, I was not always Master, and I did not always wander. But ask me of the places you want and I will tell you what I know."

His tone was patient, easygoing; he was, if anything, conversational for once.

@Khavur

The whole of this Nest, a Forge for their Creator. A Chaos Forge? Where monsters were made... Khavur struggled through many questions -- what is Chaos? who is our Creator? why monsters? -- to continue listening. The tower in Orion being a watchtower made sense, it felt as though the whole of Orion was visible from it, but then... why were they so small? what existed on the Throne that needed defending? what could have possibly been after it? Canis, and Hydra... why was he designated to those places?

At the question of Canis's history, Khavur's large-horned head shook "no" while the small-horned head moved away to allow the motion. Perhaps Master Vargas had told them about it. Perhaps Khavur had not heard. "Orion seems... complicated, or civil." Like a civilization had been there. Why? "I wish to know the history of it, and of the bones in Canis. ...And of the building in that room before Pegasus as well. Cepheus? It seems as civil as Orion, only more... intact." At the time Khavur and Chaos-Two had gone to visit, no one had been there besides a little duck butler and some dutiful Lesser Gembounds. At the time of this meeting, there had been no Valkhand come to life in those Palace walls. The place had been a marvel... a nigh incomprehensible marvel. Khavur had been reduced back to its first days alive, the days when it had craved understanding more than anything else in the world. The days when it had seen all as amiable, unknowable entities.

Hm. Nostalgia.

@Vargas