Arsu knelt, touching his nose to the indicated shard. Again nothing came of it, though at least this one didn't blacken; he glanced up to Oliver.

"Give it a try?" he offered. Best not to waste their time here; his idea and Oliver's magic would still be a fair gift. He looked to Akari, then, considering. "All right, but if you get tired, just say, okay? We can rest as long as you need, or I can even try to carry you."

He imagined it--the cub-fawn draped over his back; it'd be awkward, but certainly doable, he thought. ...Maybe even fun.

And then, distress-... and Arsu worriedly looked to Oliver, hoping desperately the bird-dog could reassure Akari better than he might. It was Oliver's... situation to deal with, anyway; Arsu didn't want to butt in.

He did, however, push back up, enough to pace to Akari and offer a gently reassuring nudge.

Oliver's mouth went dry. He hastened to nod to Akari, words tumbling over one another as a fist seemed to grip and squeeze his heart. "No, I promise! I'll stay with you, mostly, okay?" he said hurriedly. "Do you see the garden behind me?" He stepped aside, gesturing behind him with one clawed wing-hand. "It's a safe place for others to rest, and I keep it growing, and I keep the water clean for them. I have a couple gardens like this, so I just need to travel to keep the gardens healthy for travellers." Hopefully Akari would understand: comprehend that Oliver had responsibilities, that helping others was important, that he wasn't abandoning the child.

He glanced up, then, nodding belatedly at Arsu. The little shard he picked up in his claws, and fired Akari a gentle smile (sort of; as close as a dog-bird could come, at least) and focused for a moment.

This one, too, cracked. Went black. Oliver froze, his heart racing, and he forced a sharp, light laugh before dropping it, gathering up a number of shards in his 'hands.' "Let's... keep trying on the way. Okay?"

But his mind kept wailing. Upset at the child's fear, and worried sick about this clear bad omens.

He didn't dare look at Arsu. Didn't want to share that fear in his expression, where Akari might see.

@Akari (I'm so sorry lmao)

And every road you take
Will always lead you home

Akari nodded, smiling a little at the idea. He pictured the same, and then dangling half-held in Oliver's arm-wings. It would likely be more comfortable for all of them if they rested every so often, and Akari would be honest, reassured by Arsu's offer.

He leaned into the comfort, Arsu's adult size providing him a sturdy support to lean against. He relished it against the unsteady whirlwind that was his mind, struggling to focus on Oliver's current words when it was still processing his last. Gardens. Akari caught on to keywords, trying to string them together into something meaningful for his young mind. Perhaps he would understand more when he was older. Safe. Family was safe. Warm. They had cleared sharp stone away to protect him, and even tried to make a gift out of it, something to commemorate... him. Something to hold on to, something to remember when they were distant. He didn't know when, but he had started nodding, started breathing, again. "Okay." He said finally, unsure how long it had taken him to settle himself. Long enough that Oliver had gathered chunks of his stone, so that they could walk. Together. That helped him feel better. Mostly with him. With him, now.

"Okay." He repeated, more sure. Almost excited. But... He wanted them to have something too. They seemed so sad when the stone didn't react. This magic... Was it really his, too? He stared at a dropped chunk of stone, his stone, and... waited. Wished.

It began to glow.

Maybe that was the good news they had both been waiting for, the knowledge that Akari would be alright, that he could still learn even from their mistakes. "Is this...?" He blinked at it, once, twice, not sure if he was seeing it right.

Akari

@Arsu @Oliver (Perhaps a matching set of three, while they walk?)

Arsu, quite literally and very ironically, brightened at the sight of the glowing shard. Relief flooded through him. Omen... averted, probably. Maybe it signified something. Maybe this child's magic and future were brighter than their own.

Or maybe it meant he'd have to forge his own; they couldn't create his light and make his path for him. Arsu wasn't really the superstitious sort, but the thought of it's a good lesson to take away, even if it's just coincidence, settled powerfully with him regardless.

"That's really good!" he exclaimed, softly and earnestly. There was joy in tone and expression, so much so that he seemed almost childlike himself, rather than trying to stick to the whole "reassuring parent" role. For a moment, genuine excitement shone through. "That's your magic. And ours. Well--more Oliver's, I think. His, your other dad's," he clarified, with a smiling nod to the bird-dog, just in case names had become lost in the shuffle of parental titles. "I can do it, too, but I mostly work with plants." He turned, and gave another attempt to creating a gift as he set off.

And--it worked. A little flicker, and it was somehow pleasing to him that his own stone piece's glow didn't outshine Akari's. "There we go," he said, relieved a second time, and smiled. "Oliver can carry these, as we walk-?" and he made it half a question.

He kept his pace slow, measured, and his caution as they went was given gently, too: "Don't touch the white mold." It shrouded the rest of Canis like spiderweb, and he really wasn't sure how to explain it to a child without it being genuinely horrifying. "It's... its own life form, and awhile after something eats it, it'll join to its mind. You don't want that," he added. No details, just... general warning.

Relief hit Oliver even harder, if possible, than it had Arsu. All that horrified fear knotting in his anxious little chest dispersed all at once, and his thoughts somewhat mirrored the stag-lion's: that it must hold meaning, maybe.

His thought was less convinced; he was more likely to accept coincidence. But he was relieved at how it looked, just as much as any potential curse or the like.

"I can carry, yeah," he murmured, expression sweet and helpful. He gathered shards up in his arms, including--if allowed--the baubled ones; then he touched a claw-tip to one.

This one glowed, barely, a near-perfect twin to Arsu's. "That makes it easier," said Oliver, grinning as he set the other shards back down. Less to carry, it seemed. "I do mostly plants, too. And light, and purifying water--anything that'll grow, heal, and help. Yours will probably be mostly light, to start with. But you can learn other things, too. There's... fire magic, and mushroom magic," he went on, cheerfully mucking up the 'official' names, "and ice magic and stuff. Just be careful with it. Light is pretty safe! But some of the more dangerous stuff can be... well, dangerous, if you're not careful. Just stick with one of us and we'll teach you!"

He waddled along, moving awkwardly, as he so often did. They were heading toward Tunnel K, and Oliver wasn't really built for long walks. His back half was crow, his front half crow-dog, and the end result was a sort of gremlin-goblin hobble while he clutched the few glowing shards.

"We can teach you any magic you want." -Was he being too complex, with his phrasing, for a kid? He glanced at Akari. "Or we can find you someone who can! You can do anything you want to, with magic."

He made it sound wonderful, and he probably believed it was. Oliver saw this world through a lens of both fear and beauty, but he sure as hell didn't want to impart the former on a new-hatched child.

"What do you think of everything so far? Do you have, um. Questions?" That seemed like a decent thing to ask.

@Akari

And every road you take
Will always lead you home

The trio was like a set of mirrors at this point, every anxious thought, and now every positive one, reflected off of each other. Akari's own mood was lifted as his gift was received well, and it seemed to be just the push his dads needed to be able to show off their own skills. He returned their smiles and cheered as their magic took hold, three shining pieces of his stone now resting in the palm of Oliver's paw. Akari felt a sense of pride begin to bloom in his chest. Perhaps when he was older, he too would look upon this moment as a good omen, or maybe he would grow unbelieving in such superstitions. For the moment, all he knew was that he was happy.

He listened as the rather vast concept of magic was explained, nodding along as they walked, keeping pace with Oliver. His awkward walk made Akari feel better about his own unsteady legs, and he didn't mind missing the occasional step so much. It was a lot of options, of possibilities, and Akari found himself teetering between overwhelmed and excited. Could he really do all that? "I like... safe. Helping." He decided after a moment, stepping tall over a string of mould. "Is there..." He paused, thinking as he looked around the cave. He tripped on a rock, leaning on Arsu for support to right himself. "Rock... magic? Ground? Can it really do anything?" His eyes were bright with ideas, mind filled with thoughts of twinkling lights and ice sculptures. He didn't understand much of the world yet, let alone this magic business, but it would come in time.

"It is a lot. but it's... nice. I have a lot to learn, to look forward to." He spoke slowly, as he always would, but there was unmistakable joy in his tone. "You watch gardens, for travellers. What do you do?" He turned to Arsu, curious.

Akari

@Oliver @Arsu

Arsu took the lead, but wasn't really setting out ahead. He was just using his height to keep an eye on the terrain, to pick the safest path that he could find. He didn't like that Canis was still infested with Order, and while he was enthralled with his newest family member and the absolute torrent of emotions that had come with his hatching, he knew better than to allow himself to be fully distracted from their surroundings.

Still, when he also took it upon himself (at a natural lull in the conversation) to speak up about magic, he wasn't distracted from that, either. His tone was soft, indeed tinted to the positive by the familial love that seemed to swirl around them and through their shared words.

"There is--stone magic, yes," he answered, pleased to be able to tell the child, 'yes.' He mulled over what he knew about it, briefly, before realizing it wasn't really a lot. "We may need to find someone more familiar with it than I am, but I know it can move and shape dirt and stone. And it can create gemstones," he added, thinking back to his stag father's diamond armor.

He fired Akari a kind glance, a squint of a lionstag's smile, before turning his attention to the path ahead. "As for what I... do," he went on, and realized he was a bit at a loss, there. "I do not really have a task or--a calling, I suppose. I do what I enjoy; I learn where I can, and live day-to-day. A lot of Gembound do. I like to hear and to tell stories, and to meet strangers, and travel. You don't need to have a... job to do, if you don't want to," he finished, deciding to make it a sort of assurance--a bit of a teachable moment. It was, he thought, an important lesson, if a minor one: that Akari could do or be whoever he chose.

Oliver's contribution to this portion of the conversation was decidedly less eloquent and detailed.

"It can make crystals sing, too," he blurted. "Or make you sing like the singing crystals do." Realizing that probably made no sense, he hastened to elaborate. "A long time ago, a bunch of crystals started growing, for a little while. They made this really pretty music, a sort of... chiming? And I think you can learn to make it, too. With rock magic, probably," he tried to explain.

That was pretty much the extent of his own knowledge on the topic, though.

As for jobs and the like, he chimed in cheerfully as Arsu finished. "Some of your family--Arsu's side--have big jobs, too. I mean--anything is okay, yeah! But like, blacksmiths and gardeners, too, and storytellers and things." He smiled as he thought of Mercurius, who was both of the latter in a single sweet lion.

That doglike smile faltered a little as his mind slipped back even farther--back to the group he'd been in with Mercurius for a time; then beyond, where one of the others of that group had come to Eridanus, along with some far less friendly Gembounds.

Those had not been good times, and Oliver hastened to turn his thoughts back toward the present--and the future. His smile settled.

"Can I ask--why rock magic?" and he glanced at Akari, curious.

@Akari

And every road you take
Will always lead you home

Akari wondered if there was any limit to what magic could do, if it could shape the very ground beneath his hooves. It could make light, make crystals... sing? He wanted to hear that, someday. He nodded along as they walked, every step getting him more familiar with his own legs and antler tine. He was a little confused about the idea of magic that could make another sing like a stone, but he was more than happy to leave the complicated question for a later day as the conversation continued. He seemed content with the answers he'd been given.

"Anything? Or nothing?" Akari seemed shocked by the idea, that he could simply... exist. It was comforting, he supposed, but it was also terrifying to have so many options laid at his hooves. Stories, travels, blacksmithing, gardening... He could really do any of it? He turned in on himself for a moment, brow lightly furrowed in concentration. He didn't have to choose now, right? He did wonder what he would be, when he was as big as his dads. Would he grow taller than them? That would be funny. It was a shame he didn't really see plants, here. Maybe some moss, maybe some scraggly weeds, and of course the mould... Was that a plant? There had to be more than this, if Oliver spoke so fondly of his gardens. He wanted to see more light magic, too, and ice, and fire. He wanted to experience it all. "I want to get really good with magic." He decided after some time, nodding firmly. "All the kinds of it!"

Oliver's question made him think a little more, and he answered it in turn, too. He didn't miss the shift in his expression, but he also wasn't sure how to address it, if at all. He decided it was best to move on, a sentiment that would hopefully be more benefit than detriment as he grew. "I tripped on one." It was a simple answer, but a truthful one. "And..." He was quick to speak up again, having thought more about it now that he had been asked. "Gems. They're special, aren't they? I wasn't sure... if they were rocks, too? Now I know. Thank you." The thanks was an afterthought, added in a small, uncertain voice. It just felt right, he thought, to say it. He wanted to thank them for a lot of things. He wanted to keep talking to them, to see more of their magic in action, but he could also feel his stomach and legs protesting at the idea. He hoped they wouldn't notice, not yet.

Akari

@Oliver @Arsu

Arsu laughed quietly at the child's enthusiasm.

"That's a bold goal," he said, and then quickly assured on the tail end of that, "but certainly doable. Maybe you will become the best at magic. A lot of your family is skilled in it." His mind considered Oliver, with abilities in everything from light to plants to water; he thought of Pride, who called his specialty "mind magic" but dabbled in all sorts of things. Mercurius' magical skillset wasn't unlike Oliver's, and past that, there were dragons that used ice, and hybrids that used magic to smith and enchant tools and armor, and so on. He wondered how to condense all that into a short, but interesting, description for Akari.

After a moment's lip-pursed thought, he spoke again, words coming between the clicks of his hooves. "You could study with some of them, if you wanted. They're all very nice, and they use all sorts of magics. Some can lift things into the air and move them around. Or make armor--things to wear on your body, to protect you--and put magic in that to help you out. Things like that."

All the while his gaze swept the area ahead for danger. They'd be coming up on the tunnel, soon--a place he'd want to pass through as quickly as he could, shirking the strange dark Hole and the unsettling lifelessness all around it.