That this feeling was freely offered, with no expectations, intensified that awe that Doru felt. Deserving did not factor into this equation, because this was about affection and caring and perhaps…

Doru thought perhaps this was what love felt like, with a tinge of wonder to that thought. The emotion had always been thought hard to reach for him, maybe even impossible, and maybe it still was that way.

But Doru was fairly certain he loved Vindicator as much as he could love, who offered these warm feelings, this connection, without pressure or expectation.

Doru felt the way that though Vindicator did not react outwardly, it was deeply moved by his thought of gift. And this feeling of being moved, it was new to it as much as love was new to Doru.

The acceptance of his gift, seeing Vindicator place its magic in the stone, that triggered feelings in both of them that were profound. The shift of pronouns to be more personal was not unnoticed by Doru, nor was that feeling that this was something that was theirs that resonated across the bond.

”I also desire this child to be ours,” Doru stated, voice quiet but filled with genuineness. He did not want to part from Vindicator, his… bonded, the word felt right, with their connection and their feelings.

He wanted to bask in the bond with Vindicator, and for a long moment, that was indeed what Doru did.

Then he once again spoke, ”What cave shall we grow it in?” And his mind flickered to Polaris, where they had met, and then Ursa, where they had expected Vindicator to take the child. Either and yet neither seemed right. Perhaps somewhere new, where the past did not follow. That ruled out Cetus and Orion, where family lived. Leo as well.

A childhood memory, a fond one if brief, appeared in his thoughts. ”There’s the Cave of Echoes,” he offered as a suggestion, pondering this important question.

@Vindicator

Love like this was a stretch, at least for the Vindicator's mind to fathom. It was not programmed to understand love beyond the bounds of familial love, the artificial connection of the hivemind that made it experience emotions that could be equated to love for its fellow drones and especially its Mother. But perhaps its time with Doru was changing it, or it was changing itself because it understood the way Doru was feeling. Whether that was reflected in itself was hard to tell, but it certainly felt that same bond that it felt for Alcina and Juggernaut and all the other drones and hosts within Mother. But this just felt a little different, slightly to the left.

Something (Mother) told it that it was different because Doru wasn't family. He wasn't Hive like them and the connection was impermanent and would one day break and decay. But it didn't like that answer very much. It didn't like the thought that Doru was somehow a lesser love then that love for its family. It had spent many cycles thinking about him while they were apart, having enjoyed his company more then most. Their talk had been long and good and it had learned so much. But this all right now, it was happening fast. Still it could feel, away from the open link between it and its bonded, Mother's encouragement and caution. Do this, but give no secrets away. Raise the child, perhaps one day it would be Hive as well. Make friends. Spread Order. Be a vindicator of its unifying grace.

In this, Vindicator was confident, at least. Love was confusing, its bond with Doru was confusing and new (and wonderful) but at the very least it could understand that this was its path. It was the first drone to reproduce - and with someone outside the Hive, at that! A faint excitement at that thought sparked somewhere, far overshadowed by everything else happening to it, but there nonetheless.

The Vindicator followed along with the thoughts Doru held. Not Polaris, not before the Spire. Too dangerous for one of Order. Not Ursa, where Mother might make choices for them. Cetus, Orion, and Leo were fine with it, but if Doru did not desire those, then it would not either.

It beheld the vision Doru remembered and it considered. The Cave of Echoes was dark and strange, so different from the clean white of Ursa. So much asymmetry that it picked unpleasantly at its mind. Perhaps they could find a place to be, but ah...perhaps another place.

But as Vindicator searched its own knowledge of the caves, it instantly ruled out three - Gemini, Canis, and Eridanus were all the territory of Mother. If they wanted to take it elsewhere, those could not be it. Pegasus was far too close to the house of Chaos for its comfort. Hydra, too dangerous. That left Andromeda, Monoceros, Pisces, and here - Fornax. It expressed these thoughts to Doru. "The Room of Echoes art a fine and safe place, but I am afraid I shalt be unhappy there. Perhaps within the Cave of Howling Wind we find our solace, or in Pisces where the water e'er runs crystal clear."

@Doru

It was almost amusing, the juxtaposition of the way each of them understood love. Doru had not been able to comprehend instinctive familial love, love that is simply because it was, without having grown of something. Vindicator, meanwhile had not been able to fully understand the way of love that grew from not intrinsic bonds but found bonds instead. Yet, still the two had found a balance with their bond.

Emotions were messy, in Doru's experience. Yet the way that Vindicator felt was tidy, yet no less powerful for that tidiness. While it was confusing and new, in many ways, it was also indeed wonderful, a feeling he eagerly reflected back at Vindicator.

The easy acceptance Vindicator had of Doru's decisions of the three caves without asking more, brought him to share his thoughts, the difficulty of grasping at familial bonds and expectations in the past, and how he remembered the way Pride, one of the progenitors of his line, had subtly expressed disapproval of the idea of their families connecting, the concept of asking permission when he was a being of his own. Expectations, so many expectations, where as Vindicator had none for him, let him choose, and cared regardless.

Monoceros and Pisces both seemed viable to him, and he appreciated that Vindicator considered its own wellbeing and happiness, because if the Cave of Echoes wouldn't have made Vindicator happy then it wouldn't have made Doru happy either.

"Pisces, I think," he confirmed, then explained his thoughts. "Near the clear waters, we should place this chrysalis. Just in case. My lineage is long, and there is a fish in that lineage, and I think we would both like there to be no risks taken with the hatching of this child of ours." It might not have to breathe at all, it occurred to Doru, with Vindicator as a parent, for Vindicator was different. Not in a bad way, simply different. And that would be a good option too for this child's form.

But just in case it could only breathe water, it was best to be near water. Better safe than drowning on land.

@Vindicator

It took the Vindicator a few moments to understand what Doru meant by having a "fish" in his lineage, but understanding came through the link. If it was a creature of water - of course. Having no need to go into water (nor the ability, it wondered), it was something it hadn't even thought about. "It is a good thought. Yes, then Pisces is where thy child shalt grow."

There was a gentle reminder from Mother - a Master lived in that cave. Perhaps not the most aggressive one, but one nonetheless. They would have to be careful not to arouse his ire, just in case.

It raised its hand (not the one currently glued shut) to the space in its chest and carefully began constructing the strange polymer material around it again, attaching it to the walls of the hole so that it could be transported safely. "Now shalt we go? I have the thought to taketh thy stone to thee Warrens. What sustenance it shall require, I haveth yet to know, but our memories do tell of the abundance of moss and lichen-kind that grow upon thy rocks."

@Doru

Doru could sense a momentary confusion, and as he poked at that, he realized that there was little reason that Vindicator would know of fish, being a being that floated over things. Hopefully, this child would not be a purely water creature, for that would make it hard for Vindicator, he thought.

When wishing, he had thought up a list of physical traits, but what had truly mattered most, underlaying it all, was that this child would work well with Vindicator's way of being. So hopefully that was the case.

He felt almost flustered momentarily with how Vindicator gave its praise freely, yet meant it genuinely. Almost, but not quite flustered, as he felt more full of a happy kind of pride, instead.

"Do you require sustenance?" Doru wondered aloud, curious. From the very beginning, Vindicator's differences had been a source of fascination rather than causing a feeling of unnerving, but Doru had never asked that particular question

"On my side, there have been herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and blood-drinkers," he offered up as potential answers, though there would be no knowing until the child hatched.

"That sounds a good place, the Warrens. If you would like to bring it there to grow, I will be happy to follow you there," Doru answered, a bit belatedly, distracted as he had been by diets.

Yes, Doru would be happy to follow Vindicator, for as long as the other allowed such.

[Exit Doru?]

@Vindicator

Doru would probably find it strange being in this close contact with Vindicator's mind. It was a honest mind, a beautiful crystalline, oddly innocent thing. It desired goodness and offered kindness, as it was built and programmed to do. Wholly genuine and real, perhaps odd for a Drone, perhaps another of Mother's deceptions and manipulations, but it is what Vindicator is.

It thought on his questions for a moment. "Nay, not in thy way thoust would understand. Minerals upon thee wind bears enough." It did not elaborate further, but the message was obvious - what sustenance the Vindicator required would not be an issue.

It took each consideration into mind. They would have to adapt, then, to the child's needs. "We shall do whateth we must." If they had to move to a different cave, they would. If they had to run from chaos or hive or doru's family, they would. The most important thing now, at least for the moment and to Vindicator, was the three of them.

Protect them. That was their new purpose.

The connection warmed in Vindicator's agreement and it began to drift away, towards the exit of Fornax, the polymer having hardened around the gemstone set in its chest hollow. It would lead Doru, then, to Pisces, to the place it had in its mind.

*exit