Aegir was picking up speech fast, staring attentively as Oliver spoke. So he was right about what Water was called. Yes, water. He liked water. Water was what pulled him from his shell and into life. And that place where he had hatched, that was a river? "River..." He said slowly, looking at the flowing water.

But what was rain and mist? Water that fell from the sky? Thin in the air? He could try rain, though! He turned his head up, intending on shooting a burst of water into the sky. However, nothing came out and he put his head back down. He wasn't embarrassed at his failure. He did not know embarrassment yet. Besides, the dog had failed on all of his attempts to show him light. He was already learning that failure was natural.

Instead, he focused on something else. He was learning words and everything, but he still couldn't communicate on the same level as Oliver. He furrowed his brow as he concentrated. There were a lot of words to think about, but he felt like he had enough to speak his first sentence. "I...I Aegir and Aegir...like wat-er." He looked up at Oliver, curiously, wondering if he did it right.

My voice is speaking...
My thoughts are swirling...

@Oliver

The crow-dog's face slipped into a kindly expression, his blue eyes warm as he nodded to the cub's words.

"Yeah, I can tell! You know, if you can swim really well--swim, that's... When you float in the water! But float is--just sit at the top of the water, and swim is moving around in it," he explained very slowly. He even mimed dog-paddling for the latter part, though his forelimbs were broad with feathered wings.

"But--if you swim, and you like water, maybe you're a water-animal? So--next time you get hungry, you could try to find underwater plants to eat. Or--fish, if you eat fish. There's those in the water, too," he explained. As he spoke he focused again on warming the air near the baby bear, so as to keep him toasty warm. He couldn't feel anything happening, yet, but--soon, he hoped.

"So... Aegir likes water, huh?" he smiled again, gently, ever-patient and always kind. "Have you looked at the water, yet? To see yourself? You have a pretty gem on your head."

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Aegir

Aegir took in these words and rolled them through his head. Swim, float. Many things to learn. There was so much to learn that he was starting to get dizzy with all the information. But he had to know more! Oliver had so much to share! He was having fun learning!

Plants and fish were both words that the cub initially had trouble understanding. He had not seen either of them before and would probably need them pointed out to him before he understood completely.

But what was this he was talking about, seeing himself in the water? And a gem on his head? His magic was coming from there, but he had no idea there was actually something there. He raised a paw and felt around, feeling small things protruding from the back of his head. Was that his gem? Could he see it in the water?

He turned around towards the edge of the river and sat himself at the edge, leaning his face over. For a second, he was confused. But then he squealed and scrambled back. He had seen something there! Something white and scraggly, looking at him from the water! "Water! Water look! Water look at Aegir!" He didn't know how else to describe it, using the only language he really knew.

My voice is speaking...
My thoughts are swirling...

@Oliver

Oliver continued smiling gently, watching the cub, right up until the moment he panicked. As Aegir scrambled back, frantic, Oliver blinked--concerned--and quickly moved to the water's edge.

No, just my reflection--did he scare himself..?

Oliver peered quizzically at Aegir for a moment, then nodded to the water. "It's you. It's your reflection. --And mine, too." He remained there, for a moment, gently motionless, just so as to give the bear cub some time to come over, to see for himself.

Only after waiting a long few moments--a kindly, encouraging expression on his face--did he decide to look into the whole hunger aspect of things. "Right, okay--stay, okay? Stay here. Right? Don't move." He offered Aegir a more serious look, holding up one wing-arm with his forelimb talons splayed near the bear's face, as if to gesture "stop." He then backed up some, holding that expression, and keeping his arm up, before turning and eyeing the river.

He kept himself fed on small animals, on fish; he wanted to learn to eat plants, but he just wasn't sure if it was something he could do. He didn't like killing things, but he didn't like starving, either. And he certainly wouldn't let the bear cub go hungry, if he could help it, in the long run. He knew the general rule of things: if you found a newly-hatched, you had to help them out, teach them some words, show them how to eat. Once they went off on their own--which was usually pretty soon--it helped them to... well. To not die.

Oliver hopped off the ledge, feathers ruffling outward with a loud rustle, and then glided out over the steep bank and down the river some. The telltale flashes of silvery deeper down told him where he could find what he was looking for, and in he dove, wings folding against his sides and jaws extending out as he lunged like a seal for his prey. In he went, with a loud splash, the bitter cold chilling through his fur and feathers.

He felt his jaws knock against something, something cold and firm and fleshy, and he jerked his head to that side, exhaling bubbles through his nose with effort and kicking with his hind legs in a brief struggle to remain down. He felt the fins in his teeth and clamped down, pulling up, kicking higher--then broke the surface again, inhaling deeply and blinking it all away. The rush of water faded from his ears and he heard the gurgling of the river from the outside, once more; he floundered for a moment, his wings dragging him down, more than helping him swim. At length he made shore, and half-scrambled, half-flapped his way up. Water mostly ran off his feathers, and even his black coat, but some of the fur was wet, and he now stank like wet dog and wet bird both.

Moving with a quick jerkiness, shivering a little himself, now, he carried the small fish to Aegir. A couple sharp slaps on the stone and it was dead; he bit into it some, so the baby bear could smell its meat, and laid it before him.

Then he curled up, shivering a little, and watching. "Th-that's a fish," he explained. "They l-live in water and you c-can catch them and eat th-them. B-but if you d-don't like it I'll f-f-find you grass," he managed, between shivers.

The fish wouldn't go to waste, of course, if Aegir didn't like it; Oliver would take it, instead. Otherwise, he'd have gone to the grass first; but he had a feeling Aegir wasn't a plant-eater.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Aegir

Aegir followed Oliver back to the water, wondering what a reflection was. When he looked into the water, the bear cub followed suit. He saw it again, the white face swimming in the water and he flinched and moved back. Why were they staring at him? But, when he looked to the side, he realized that Oliver was looking into the water too, and another Oliver was in the river looking back. Two of them?

Curious, Aegir crouched and reached forward, his claw poking the water where the second Oliver was. The water rippled and the image disappeared for a moment. Was that a reflection? Not another thing in the water, but merely the water showing those that looked into it?

Fascinated, he looked at himself again and realized that that was what he looked like. With gray-white fur and baby blue eyes with that glowing gem on the back of his head. He stared at himself, wide-eyed in the water, moved by the water and the reflection.

After a moment, Oliver started speaking again and he looked over, only to be confronted with a paw. He was confused, but he understood the signal for 'stop.' So he waited and watched.

He had no idea that Oliver could be in danger in the water. It had not dawned on him yet that one could drown in the water or be swept downstream if they didn't want to. So when the dog began to flounder in the water, he was confused. Why didn't he just swim back to shore?

Thankfully, he did and Aegir bent down to sniff the fish expectantly. It was wet, sure, but it smelled warm and fresh. He carefully leaned forward and took a small bit, which turned into big, ravenous bites as he realized that the taste was delicious. Within seconds, the fish was gone.

He looked up at Oliver, swiping his tongue across his lips. "Fish good!" he chirped, happily. He then noticed the dog-bird shivering and cocked his head. "Oliver...is cold?"

My voice is speaking...
My thoughts are swirling...

@Oliver

Oliver offered a kindly expression as the bear cub looked back up to him, content that he was, apparently, okay with eating fish.

"Yeah, fish are good. Just--kill them quick 'cause I think they feel pain. Oh you-... Probably have no idea what that is. Not about to teach you that," he added hastily, trying to suppress a wince. He then nodded, a little. "Yeah. Super cold." He shivered a little, trying to draw on his magicka to warm him some, though he was nowhere near skilled with his spells--not as others were.

"...I wish I knew someone else who looked like you? I could... I dunno, get you advice, maybe. Someone to look after you. But I don't think I've known anyone who's--what you are. I'm a half-dog, half-crow. So like... part bird." He paused, blinking, realizing he was again probably going too fast for Aegir, and then turned to nudge his own feathers. "Feathers," he explained. "Birds have feathers. Birds can fly." Oliver hadn't yet met a bird who couldn't fly, anyway.

Huddling down a little more, he peered curiously at Aegir.

"Do you have more questions? Otherwise if you want to rest, I'll look after you?" The bear didn't exactly look exhausted, and Oliver was happy to answer more questions, but he knew the little ones tended to tucker out pretty quickly.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Aegir

Aegir frowned as Oliver continued to shiver. It got warmer, but the dog-bird still looked cold. Still shivering. Aegir didn't know how to help. He wanted his friend to feel comfortable, to be able to be warm, like him.

"Aegir...want help...Oliver warm." But he didn't know what to do, it seemed all of his spells made him cold. So, he did the only thing he knew what to do, turned towards the thing he trusted most. He turned towards the water and cried out, "Water! Help!" before letting out a small stream of water that splashed into the river, creating ripples and patterns on the surface.

Aegir saw it almost as clearly as he could hear a voice speaking. He looked into the water and the water spoke back. Ripple to ripple, water droplets falling here and there, yes he knew what this meant. But only to make Oliver understand?

He looked back at his friend and cocked his head strangely. "Water says...Oliver...strong. Um..." he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of the words the water had used to him. "Vic-to-ry? Con-fi-dence? Water says. Oliver...must...control...to be....strong." Aegir said each word carefully, making sure that they made enough sense, to him, at least, and then turned to Oliver expectantly.

My voice is speaking...
My thoughts are swirling...

@Oliver

Oliver watched Aegir, his own shivering rapidly subsiding as the air around him quickly grew warmer. He wasn't quite sure how the stream of water that the bear cub plumed into the river was meant to help, though he did find it absolutely endearing that Aegir called out for the water--verbally--to help him.

But when Aegir claimed that the water had spoken to him, Oliver was up in an instant, peering down wide-eyed at the river. He knew there were myriad magics in the world--may of which he did not understand--and he had no reason to doubt that the pale cub had been here quite literally talking to the river before Oliver had even turned up. Awed, he looked at the cub, blinking.

"You can speak to the water..?" He hesitated, blinking pale blue eyes. "It says I need to control to--be strong? Like--do you mean--does it mean now or--always? Does the water like me?" he added, abruptly.

In Oliver's mind, it was very important to get along with everyone, and he hardly wanted all the water in the caves to hate him. It might do something terrible, then, like drown him!

Oliver looked back to the river, still wide-eyed, and now expectant, fully believing that it would speak to Aegir--and that Aegir would translate. "What else does it say?"

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Aegir

Aegir was a little surprised at Oliver's sudden interest. It then dawned on him that perhaps Oliver could not speak to the water and that it was only him. This would have excited him, but he became a little worried for himself. Was he delusional? Did the water not speak? But it had seemed so real, so perfect. It came so naturally.

But he wanted to answer Oliver's questions, so he opened his jaws and shot another small stream. He observed the patterns of the ripples and droplets before turning to the dog-crow. "Water says strong. Oliver be strong." He did not yet know the word he needed, so substituted it by pointing at one end of the river. "Oliver." He pointed downstream, where the water flowed. "Strong. This water says. No now or always. Water warn. Oliver need ba-lance. Too much strong, too little strong, no control. Oliver control." He pointed again down the river, hoping that he knew what he was talking about. "Water not like. Water not not like. Water is. Water speak to Aegir."

My voice is speaking...
My thoughts are swirling...

@Oliver

Oliver watched intently as Aegir splashed more water down into the river, and observed the way the flow took it downstream. He paid close attention, too, but he could see nothing--no hint, no whispers from the water, to him.

That was all right; it must be Aegir's magic. He couldn't summon streams of water, either. He could summon bananas, but bananas didn't tend to speak to him. He wondered if he should be disappointed; he wondered what bananas would say. These... perhaps not entirely deep thoughts were interrupted by the polar bear's words, and Oliver listened intently.

He'd need to balance his strength? "So-... water says if I'm too--strong or too weak I'll lose control?" He glanced at Aegir, brow furrowed in concern, wondering how exactly the river knew this--and why it was choosing to tell this, of all things, to the new cub. It had to be important, then! ...Oliver considered. There were also so many questions he could ask the river! ...And should, while he had the chance. But suddenly, anything he wanted to ask seemed-... Well, foolish. His little worries and fears and concerns surely had no bearing on the important things of the cave, and none of the questions about the big stuff seemed to be phrased quite right in his head. Not only that, but the stuff he feared--how he might die, the fate of his family--he didn't want to lay any of that on the new cub's shoulders, no. He couldn't ask that stuff.

So, hesitant, he offered Aegir a kindly look and asked--after offering a soft "Thank you,"--"What does the water say about you?"

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Aegir