Crack.

Crack.

This had been the main sound in this area of the Maw of Mosses, because new life was emerging. Specifically, life that was soon going to be both a blessing and a curse, depending on your view on chatterboxes.

The green striped bundle of stone was covered in cracks, and was rolling around as if it were some kind of strangely shaped pill bug. Then, it shatttered open.

An effervescent young bat, who had been upside down inside the chrysalis, suddenly realized her position and fell over with an oof. She righted herself as best as a creature with little to no lower body strength could by getting up onto the tips of her wings and clawed feet of her grasshopper-esque legs.

"Finally! I was so cramped and I was so confused and now I can finally figure out what's goin' on and stretch my wings an...." She stopped as soon as she realized no one was there to hear.

"Where is everybody???" she asked no one in particular. She crawled up onto a mossy boulder, and stopped to think, resting her chin on the fuzzy surface.

"Zepto.... Zepto... that's my name, isn't it?" It had been a word that was repeating in her head, ever since she was ready to emerge. Now that she acknowledged the thought, it stopped. "Huh, that's a SUPER cool name!"

Now that she knew her name, she was going to wait.

Someone surely must know her and be her friend and be coming for her.

...Right?

It was lucky that the bat chose this area to emerge - the fire had not come to touch the area and Rift happened to be patrolling it that day. Although he longed to return to the charred, ash-covered expanse of Eridanus, he forced himself away - he had started the growth necessary to regrow the destroyed parts of the forest. Letting nature do its work would revitalize the cave in time.

So lost in his thoughts about the restructure of Eridanus and the cloud of anger and sorrow that still weighed down his stomach, he almost missed the sound of cracking. He almost jumped a foot in the air with surprise and immediately jumped up to the closest branch and followed the sound silently through the trees. Eventually he came upon the spot where the bat was hatching and Rift paused, staring down closely with interest. The last time he had attended a hatching had been Enka's and it had gone pretty well - she was a student now that lived somewhere in the forest and helped him breath life and protect the trees. Perhaps this would be similar.

The chatterbox began to speak to no one in particular and Rift chuckled to himself. They were certainly eager and full of life! Sometimes he found himself forgetting the goodness that was still present all over the caves. Sometimes it was easy to think of all gembounds as just dangers to the forest. But this little creature didn't seem bad at all, nor any kind of creature that would bring harm.

Once it was done talking to itself, he stepped to the base of the branch and climbed down the tree trunk. He hopped down and landed softly just behind the young back. "Hello, Zepto. And welcome...both to the caves and to Eridanus."

@Zepto

She looked over the feline, seeing that he had a green crystal where an ear should be, with leaves covering the sides of it. That was one of the less interesting things about his appearance, considering he was literally a green, plant covered big cat. Did she look that strange?

Zepto was about to reply when she realized the smell of burnt flora was clinging to the air. Smoke was billowing in a nearby area.

"Is there a fire??? What's going on?? Oh, also thank you for greeting me! But is everyone okay?" she asked half out of confusion and half out of worry.

Her thoughts were racing, and she had so many more questions, and it was taking all her might to keep from asking more questions before the green feline could reply.

@Rift

Rift flicked his tail and felt a stab of pain in his chest at the mention of the fire. "There...was a fire. It only just went out." He felt the burns on his flank and the singed plants still clinging in his skin much more clearly now and he quickly shook himself a bit, scattering ash and soot to his sides. He willed something to grow again along his skin and after a bit of hesitation, some flowers and moss sprouted across his back. It wasn't much but he felt a little more comfortable with their familiar weight and coverage. He had felt exposed before with his plants burned off. He felt a lot better now.

He smiled and took a small step closer. "Yes, everyone's okay...I think. Eridanus is a big cave. So far there haven't been bad injuries with the people I've met but it's possible that there are some in other areas." He felt an appreciation for the little bat and their concern for the wellbeing of creatures they had never met. They had just hatched among the ruins of a burned forest and they were worried about others. Yes, this was a good creature and one that would prosper in Eridanus...at least when it was regrown. "I'm Rift, by the way. I'm the protector of this forest."

@Zepto

Zepto stared in awe as moss grew and small buds twisted open on the panther's fur, simply because he had wanted them to.

She was glad to hear that the fire had been extinguished, and that everyone seemed okay.

"It must have been pretty hard to keep all those people from getting hurt bad!! But you did it, and that seems so cool, Rift!” she chirped. She was laying on her belly still, but flapped and wriggled her wings to get the point across. “But how did you do the plant growing thing?? Can I do stuff like that? Can the others do stuff like that?” Her head was swimming with questions now that she could ask them. A zeptosecond was an incredibly fast unit of time, and that was a rather apt name for a creature with such swiftly moving thoughts and tongue.

@Rift

Rift couldn't help but feel a little bashful at Zepto's compliments. "W-well, there were a lot of different creatures helping out! We helped as many as we could escape the fire." He didn't really want to take all the credit - after all, he certainly hadn't been the only one helping out. But remembering what had happened, with the fire and...with Sebastian, it hurt. He didn't want to tell this to Zepto, though. She was so young and either wouldn't understand or it would confuse or sadden her. So the offer to talk about his magic was most welcome.

He looked along his back, his good ear raising tall. "Oh, that's my magic! I can will plants to grow or move on command. I control the very essence of the forest!" He gave a small tap on the ground, giving the ground a slice of his magic as the grasses in front of Zepto began waving in unnatural patterns.

@Zepto

Zepto was dazzled by the little blades of grass doing their swaying and wriggling like inchworms.

"Wow! Maybe... I can try?"

She focused on her breathing and the first thought that came to mind when she thought of magic: a flash of light.

She started feeling prickles on her right wing, and looked over at the area of pins and needles, the two bony pieces of wing framework that could be called her 'thumb' and her 'pointer finger'. She moved the two spindly appendages closer together, and a dim yet quick flash of light appeared and the feeling disappeared.

"Aw, it didn't last that long... But that was still really cool I guess!" she said.