Giggle watched, and listened, with a solemn demeanor. She sat stiffly upright, paying close attention in utter silence; this was something of a sacred moment.

After Skeena had spoken, she gave a slight nod, and looked to the bones.

"All right. Then--look to the pit. From here, on the ledge, if you want a better view--or do it from below. Whatever you feel is right. Keep focusing on your question--and when it is all that you are, when it takes up your mind and spirit, then you throw the bone into the rest. You are throwing your question into them, for them to answer; you are asking the link between living and dead to reach back with knowledge. Always treat it with respect!"

Giggle stood, pacing around the pit to get closer, though not too close--she didn't want to interfere with scattering bones, once Skeena threw hers. "You will watch how it falls. The answer will come to your mind, your spirit, but the language comes through the patterns of the bones, the way they fall, the ones that are exposed. You will know. Perhaps a pure white bone will fall forward, and you will see purity and innocence. Perhaps a cracked and shattered one will speak of death; or a deformed, dark one of difficult times and disease. One big bone might send little ones flying--something has had an impact, an impact that ripples through the caves with its consequences. Or none might move at all, and a thing may not matter. The answers can change, Skeena--you must find your own. The same bone may mean many things. You must listen and watch with your mind as well as your eyes; you must be open to the answers, because you have asked the question, and have begun the link with the bones." Giggle paused. She wasn't quite sure she'd explained this last bit correctly. To her, once she asked a question, and opened herself to the bones, it also opened the path for them to answer her. A spiritual link, a mystical connection.

Ahh, well; she'd never been great with words.

"Try it," she urged, her tone encouraging but serious, "when you're ready."

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ROLL THE BONES

@Skeena

Skeena watched Mother for approval, while knowing that she would not change her question. Well, drastically, at least. She would ask after Serek and Vinea no matter what.

And, to her relief, Mother approved. At least, it appeared she did. It took some awkward maneuvering to move the bone - it was as large as she was, so she had to find a respectful way to carry it. She probably looked very stupid, but it was respectful to the bone.

Her head turned to follow Mother, waiting to listen to what Mother had to say. She feared that she would not be able to understand what the bones said, that she would throw down the bones and understand nothing.

And then, Mother told her to throw the bone. She looked at Mother, taking courage in her presence, then carefully - if awkwardly - threw the bone in.

She leaned to watch it, heart in her throat. Many things happened to the femur - it broke into two halves, one noticeably bigger than the other. The other proceeded to fracture further, into two halves. One of the halves came to a stop at a group of bone shards, with what looked to be a spine of a Gembound. The other half tumbled a distance further, before coming to a stop, cracked and jagged, alone.

The larger half, however, didn't have nearly so interesting a journey. It tumbled for a bit, clattering against a small handful of bones, before slowing nearly to a stop. However, just when she thought it might stop, it fell off a small incline, rattling rapidly, before catching on another bone. It came to a stop there, still whole.

Looking up at Mother, Skeena waited for her judgement. She had an idea of what they meant - more than an idea, but she wanted to know what Mother thought, first. If she wanted to see, first.

Giggle watched the bones fall with interest, but she did not speak, at first. Instead she looked to them attentively, and then to Skeena; and then back to the bones. When Skeena continued to look at her, she tilted her head.

"Well? What do you see? Do not look to me; this is not my reading! Not my question. The bones are speaking to you, daughter." Giggle had some ideas of her own, naturally--she couldn't help but come to some conclusions with what seemed so obvious a cast (had it really been so clear as to snap into two?! She'd never had a bone break--let alone a thick femur!). But she was not focusing on them, not trying to interpret them.

This was Skeena's reading, and she waited to see what her daughter would come up with.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Skeena

At Mother's speech, Skeena looked back down at the bones, tilting her head. She had wanted to make sure Mother had seen the Throw, and that Mother didn't have any more advise for her before she tried to read.

Although, already, Skeena could tell this had been a very, very lucky throw. All of her luck must have been spent on this one Throw, as it was very understandable.

The fracture in the femur must have been in the perfect spot, weakening it enough that it split in just the right way. It must have been older, weaker than she had thought, from how easily it had broken. She went with the clearer to understand half, first.

"That one," she said, gesturing towards the larger half. "I think it's Vinea. He, he hasn't had much happen, I don't think. He's only met a few Gembounds, those bones there? and then not a lot happened. But then something big happened, but he was... helped? by a Gembound?" she said hesitantly.

@Giggle

Giggle watched with interest, though this interest did not show all that much on her dark-muzzled face. Instead she shifted from one paw to the other, waiting; and when Skeena paused, she spoke up.

"If you feel as if they are speaking to you then do not stop listening! What does the rest say? Do not stop and look to me, I have told you. It is not me they speak to now, but you!"

She was, of course, interested in what the bones actually had to say of Vinea and Serek--but she kept tabs on them in her own ways, and last she had known they were both alive and well.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Skeena

Skeena took a deep breath, ears flicking back at Giggle's words. She had wanted some sort of acknowledgement that she had been doing something right, but now she could only hope that she wasn't wholly off base.

Now was time to read what, she hoped was, Serek's story. "Serek," she stumbled over the word, flicking her ears, "He met with a large amount of Gembounds, and stayed with them for a while? But then, something happened and he ended up alone." she frowned, tilting her head from side to side, before backing up, shaking her head.

"I... I can't see anything else." she admitted, ears flattening back.

@Giggle

Giggle swivelled one rounded ear toward Skeena, a brow perking over her dark eyes. That is... oddly-specific, she thought to herself. She peered over at the bone pile, moved quickly to it, and after a moment of searching she lifted a narrow, spiralled horn attached to a fragment of skull.

Without a word she trotted back up to her ledge, tossed it, and watched it clatter among the rest. Her thoughts ran quickly. It falls alone, scattering others far around it. Alone, yes, and he cannot see the others; darkness and ignorance where it lies in shadow. But they are still there. It went far: travel, yes, he travelled much, and he holds stability through family behind him. Us? Them? I do not know... but that tooth; risk lies ahead of him. Giggle glanced to Skeena, and finally, she spoke.

"I do not know the truth, or not! I cannot tell you if it is good, or bad. I do not have a way to say this about my own readings--not until later, when they are always proven true!" A sharp chitter of laughter, and she trotted back down, her brush tail waving to and fro as she aimed a quick lick for Skeena's head.

"Now you understand, though, yes? Do you have questions? Do you wish to try more?"

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ROLL THE BONES

@Skeena

Skeena flattened her ears as Mother turned away, leaning over to look at the bones again. It wasn't like Mother's readings - not at all. Had she done something wrong?

She watched as Mother threw a bone, leaning forward to watch it clatter, twitching her ears. The hybrid returned her gaze to mother, doubt on her face. She forced a grin, and leaned into her, pressing into her chest.

"Mother," she said softly, "I don't understand. You, you see in concepts and, and flashes." there, that was the best way she could describe it, she supposed. "But I saw it as a story, why?"

@Giggle

Giggle flopped to the ground with a puff of dust and spores to lay easily alongside Skeena, grooming her in between explanations.

"If they spoke--in simple language--then anyone could read them! They do not. They whisper and murmur and send images and pictures to me. Perhaps to you! It is as Omen. Her thoughts come without words, and I must make the words for her. I must make the words for these, as well. We both must."

Lick, lick, a heavy paw to briefly hold Skeena in place, more licking.

"Some touch things--gembound, stones, gems--and can see glimpses. Into the past, into the future! Sometimes, I can do this. Sometimes, too, when the fungus eats, I can eat it all and see what it learns from what it has eaten!" More licking, a grooming that brushed Skeena's fur this way and that before smoothing it into place, before at last settling back. She eyed Skeena with humor, good nature and above all intent focus.

"Now listen: this is perhaps the best lesson I can give you. It is not only the bones that speak! There is magic in the world--all things are bound. The energy! The spirit! The past, the present, the future. All things, are bound! Remember that. The unseen, the dead that lie beyond, the magic and the echoes that lay all around us--the world and its magic will speak to us in any way it can. Through the bones; through the fungus; ha, through rocks! Whatever you hear, whatever you see, whatever anyone else may see and however they see it--it is not wrong. Never wrong. Only different!

She couldn't remember if she'd tried to teach Skeena this lesson before, but it was an important one, and it bore repeating nonetheless.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Skeena

The hybrid tensed, before slowly relaxing as Mother began to groom her. No matter how old she may get, she would never be too old to be groomed by Mother.

Or, considering that she had long stopped growing, too large, either.

Not that she minded. Being groomed was soothing, and calming. And when Mother allowed it, she enjoyed grooming Mother. Mother was much too large for her to groom all of her, and her fur too messy, but she could still try, and the repetitive motions were oddly soothing.

Her eyes turned to Mother, then, as the hyena began to speak. The hybrid's ears rose, and she listened intently, taking each word to heart. And the kindness in Mother's eyes helped to ease her, allowed her to, at least, enjoy that she was able to read the bones.

Her eyes brightened, and she nodded, saying, "I want to learn to understand all of them, Mother. To hear them and know what they have to say." her ears twitched, and she looked at the hyena. And if what she heard, and what someone else heard, was different, then that was just more knowledge to keep.

@Giggle