Tal'at waited, flapping patiently out of claw range of the kitten, though he wasn't sure for what. The kitten just sat there, purring and purring and purring. The noise made him uneasy-- but finally, she started off, mewling like a lost babe for her mother or something. He frowned, flying off after her. It took him a moment to remember the trees; he clipped a branch with one of his wings and nearly fell out of the sky.

Right. He focused, trying to sense the Green in the world, but it was a bit hard to fly and use his sight magic, especially seeing all of the plant life in Cetus. It spread out around him and was (sort of) blinding, blurring feelings of green stalks popping up and disappearing in his vision, disorienting him. He had never switched between all three of his magical senses so soon after one another, and he was starting to see the sense in reserving his magic.

Unfortunately, it didn't stop the fact that he was flying in a forest without eyes. The poor bat smacked head first into a thicket of branches, and tumbled out of the sky, down through the thick pine needles, dropping down into the marsh with a sad plop-- at least he landed in a watery marsh bit.

Dovefeather heard a strange noise as she lead the way-- a crash, as she nearly missed a hop on to the next root, avoiding a puddle. She went to turn and Tal'at came crashing down behind her, sending up a splash of icky brown water all over her (to be fair, already filthy) fur coat. With a whining mewl, she shivered, fur prickling as she dug her claws into her perch, afraid she'd fall off.

"Tal'at!! What'd you do that for? I'm all wet now! Aaargggh."

She reached down her nose, sniffing at him, wondering if he was okay-- maybe she had been too harsh, too fast. He couldn't see after all... Actually, how did he even fly? She had forgotten to ask how he got around. Surely he saw somehow like the All Mother did... Perhaps she should explain to him about the All Mother. She held back a giggle as she nosed his soaking, drenched form.

"How about you get on my back for now? I can carry you a little ways.. You're not too big, I think."

Sure, he was easily huger than her-- but he had those massive thin wings. He was probably as light as a bird, or even, a feather. Besides, they would be able to talk so much better if he was closer to her face. Oh boy, she couldn't wait to tell him about his gift! She was sure he knew, but he didn't know about the All Mother, so he was probably blind to some of the truth.

Tal'at felt like he was going into shock for the second time in under five minutes. With a cough and spittle, the poor bat managed to find his way upright and out of the water, his wings finding purchase on the familiar face of a kitten, giggling at his misfortune after yelling at him for splashing her.

"Oh I'm sorry, thought it fun, to crash land. To splash you. Yes I thought. Hahaha." The sarcasm rolled off of his tongue easier than it ever had-- where he had had picked up the ability to be sarcastic was beyond him. Perhaps he had been spending too much time with Eve and Dragon. Snorting, he focused his attention towards the plants once more-- and slowly, he got an image of the green life around him.

Tal'at wasn't feeling very confident about flying anymore, however. His magical vision was blurry at best, unreliable. With a huff, he climbed right over the kitten's face and dragged his soaking wet body on to her back. Her fur felt even weirder than the fluffy noodle heartbeat, Fisher, did. It was wiry, twisted into curls. He wondered why, but he was actually feeling quite exhausted, so nose pressed to her tail, he relaxed.

Dovefeather made a bunch of loud, whining complaints as the bat crawled directly over her face and basically rubbed gross swamp water over her whole head, getting it in her nose and eyes. She didn't move, of course, letting him get on anyway, but she gave him a piece of her mind.

"Eeeeeewwww Tal'at noooo Tal'at whyyyyyyy ewwwwwwwwwwwww..."

Finally he got settled on her back and she huffed, wiggling around awkwardly with an over-sized pack on her back. Grumbling, she started through the marsh once more, sniffing out the smell of birds and feathers just for Tal'at. As she went, she started to tell him of the All Mother.

"You said you don't know of the All Mother correct? Would you like to hear about her?"

She offered, but her words kept coming without waiting for him to say yes or no.

"The All Mother is a great being, one who watches over us and guides our paths in life. She has Eyes that stare at nothing, seeing nothing, but they See everything."

"I don't know how you see but your weird orb face reminded me of the All Mother's Eyes--"

Her lack of tact thankfully was cut off by a sight, just ahead, of a feather torn in half. She stopped dead in her tracks, confused and bewildered. What kind of sign was this?

Tal'at held back a groan as the kitten began yammering away again. He wanted to tell her that he really didn't want to know about this "All Mother" stuff-- it sounded suspiciously like someone trying to make up a being that was better than Aquarian, somehow. It made him uncomfortable to say the least, but she didn't give him a second of breath to say anything to her. Instead, he sighed out his nose, feeling her tail brush back and forth across his muzzle as she held it high. What a weird creature he had found... But if she wanted to help him, he would let her. He had just about enough excitement today...

Suddenly she stopped, her words falling to the way side, and politely, he decided now would be a good time to speak up, "Dovefeather I really... Don't care about... This All Mother. I am sorry." It was perhaps a bit too blunt. He wasn't sure. She still didn't react and the silence just stretched over them, making things really awkward. He wasn't sure what to do, so he quietly reached out with some of his senses, trying to feel whatever it was that had stunned her still.

Again, he felt her presence, the sensation and idea of light, warmth, comfort. His own, of life, of living, of animalistic nature. Yet he felt another, just ahead. Another thing. It was small, about the same side as their own sources of magic-- but this one...

This one felt drained. Empty.

"... What is it?"

[ warning: squick bellow, avoid if you don't like gross / dead stuff ]

Dovefeather took a few cautious steps forward as Tal'at asked what she had stumbled across. It was just one feather, but as she stepped closer, the fog spread away from her. She set her once-white paw on to the feather, mud mixing between black strands of down and white fur; her pale gaze staring ever forward, towards the smell of death.

A shiver ran down her spine as she saw a lump of ebony feathers just ahead. She was quite afraid of what she had found, as the air grew all the more frozen. A tiny mewl escaped her throat as she picked her way closer to the motionless body, her fur prickling.

"I... I don't know."

She stopped just short of the body of black feathers. Her sister had a feather just like the ones that adorned this creature's body, and she could hardly stand to see the dead gembound before her. What had happened to it? She reached out delicately with a paw, and went to turn it over, but the body squished as she touched it.

Out of the feathers came dozens of small, grimy, grey worms. They squirmed and wreathed, clinging on to her paw as she yowled, throwing herself back. Dovefeather tried to shake the creatures off of her paw as they tried to wiggle between her toes, trying to burrow into her skin. The rest of the maggots poured out from the dead bird's body-- and above her, the mist rang out with horrified, ghastly screeched, sounds of the tortured souls of the dark fog.

Tal'at was concerned by the kitten's unsure tone, the timid steps she took forward. Slowly, he became more and more aware that there was more than just the empty container before them-- there were more. In the trees. He was about to warn the cat when suddenly, the kitten leaped back with a mewl of terror, flailing her paw and nearly knocking him off. He clung to her tightly just as the screeching began.

The noises were awful, like something straight out of hell. The worst was that there were so many, disorienting. He wanted to escape, but he knew if he took flight, he'd simply hit another tree. He wanted to tell Dovefeather to run, but he was becoming overwhelmed by his own sense-- whatever was in those trees, there was too many for him to handle. He needed to get out, to find Dragon and Eve, to find safety.

He didn't care about the feathers anymore. He slipped off of the cat and scrambled through the mud, hurrying to the nearest tree, and tried to wiggle into the roots, trying to escape the noises of the damned come to torture the living. Whatever Dovefeather had found, she needed to unfind it, and quick, before the overwhelming amount of magic above them destroyed them.

Dovefeather looked up to see more than she could count of red eyes-- not in sets, just single eyes, separate and independent with one another. Black bodies screamed, and the kitten could do nothing but stare up in absolute horror. The mist disguised their forms somewhat, making them appear like milky, dark shadows with crimson blood gazes, but even if she had saw them for the birds they were, the kitten was properly horrified by the amount of them. She felt Tal'at leave her back and twisted around to find him, a yowl in her throat.

"Tal'at!"

She bolted after him, her fur bristling. This was a bad sign, a very bad sign. Did it have to do with Blackfeather? She didn't know. She didn't have time. She would worry about it later.

"Tal'at, look, I know you want to have feathers, but this is a bad sign! The All Mother can't protect us here, Tal'at-- I'm sorry. We've got to go, we've got to get out of here. They--"

Her ears pinned flat against her skull as the screaming became even louder, the sound of rustling leaves in the air, spiraling around them. She didn't dare look up-- the demons were coming closer.

That damn awful kitten could say whatever she wanted-- she had brought this upon them. Tal'at should have known better than to trust an outsider, better than to trust someone other than his fellow Children of Rot. He dug deep into the mud, trying to bury himself deep under the roots so that he could hide, so that the awful noises couldn't get to him. He could feel them spiraling above him, twisting, like a great tornado about to touch land and swallow up whatever it could get. No, he would not die, not here.

The kitten's words were right in his ears, however, and it wasn't long before he felt her teeth on his fluffy scruff. He let out a squeak of defiance, trying to wriggle out of her grip, but she pulled him from his hole and was off like a bolt of lightning-- he managed to wrench himself free from her, however.

Determined to get away from the kitten, the bat flew off into the blackness, as far away from the swarm of angry spirits of magic and the kitten of light and lies. He had to get back to safety-- he should have never gone off without a tougher gembound to protect him. Tal'at would never make that mistake again, no, never again.

;; Tal'at Exit

"Why are you digging under there?! What are you doing! Stop it! Come here!"

Dovefeather was absolutely panicking. You would be panicking too if a bunch of cyclops crows were swarming over your head, trying to decide which among them would get your eyes as a prize. She swallowed her fear for the moment, anyway, as she shoved her muzzle into the hole the bat had shoved himself down and sank her teeth into the fluff on his back. It took some effort, but she hauled him out of his hole and started to drag him as far from the birds as possible.

He managed to get away and fly off, but she had saved him-- he was off towards the lake in the middle of the misty dark forest-- the birds dove in that moment, all coming for her. She yowled as they pecked at her ears and back, one grabbing her tail, but she kept running, racing, charging, tearing through the forest. She stumbled over roots as she scrambled to get away from the horde of demons. She hadn't meant to disturb their dying friend-- she hadn't even seen them.

And then, suddenly, her body fell. Water rushed around her ears and she forced her jaw shut, curling into a ball, resisting the urge to panic and come to the surface-- she couldn't see, even when she opened her eyes. It was worse than the fog, that dark, brown water. Her paws tangled around the swamp plants, but she thought she found the bottom, and she clung to it... She waited, as long as she could hold her breath, before coming back up.

The birds had disappeared, thankfully, when she came back up. Letting out a sigh of relief, she dragged herself out of the reedy water, shivering. She was so cold-- it was hardly any wonder that she limped off towards Eridanus, where the lamp light was warm and inviting. She hadn't sustained much damage, nothing a day of rest wouldn't recover, and she was lucky for that.

Perhaps even here, the All Mother could guide her path a little.

;; dovefeather exit