If Eythan had managed to sense the hyena’s brief intrusion, he did not mention it. Too many other things were swimming frantically in his headspace, waters churning in the wake of tattered, frenetic fins. He flinched at the reassuring paw landing on his spotted, shaking shoulders, like Giggle had just assaulted him. But gradually, he managed to release that tension again, a sob breaking through weary shoulders. Any sense of composure had shattered across the floor as the griffin let his wings sag. He could distantly hear the gentle clattering of the bone pit welcoming their seer, looking up with blurry eyes to see her at the ledge, keel in her jaws. His father, guiding.

He watched mutely as the bones shifted, clattering and spinning across stone smooth and jagged. For a moment, Eythan wished he had that Sight as well. In a better time, he’d ask about it. After his redemption. Not during. His eyes followed his father’s keel, yet it seemed to slip from his blurry eyes, vanishing into the pile. Wiping away tears and sniffing to avoid some more, the griffin struggled to his haunches. Bright eyes met the darkness of Giggle’s, trying to identify the shifts in her demeanor and what they meant. His body tensed, preparing for dread.

Dread. Not throwing caution to the wind, not exploring. The bones had offered for him to move forwards, to move on. With someone. Together, hand-in-hand. With his brother— no, not that brother. The one on his way. The one Azazel had truly chosen. But perhaps with the hyena as well. The world steadily shifted back into focus, and Eythan had half the mind to whisper reverently to the bones, ”thank you.” For their guidance, however vague it was. Watching as Giggle moved back towards him, he paused, mulling over his thoughts.

His beak opened and closed a few times, words rolling about on his tongue but not quite being given sound. With a final and resolute sigh, he responded, ”I’ll be better.” Hopefully that false certainty would make way for actual confidence and action. ”I’ll—” he hesitated, drawing his wings back to his flanks, ”I’ve already learned some things. No more impulse—I need to think first. Act later. But— I’ll keep learning, keep going. Forward.” He’d keep trying. ”For him.” As to who ‘him’ referred to, Eythan wasn’t quite sure. Azazel? His little brother? ”Both of them,” he added.

@Giggle

Giggle listened, watching Eythan sidelong.

For both of them. Did he mean Azazel, and the child-to-be? He must.. She could think of no one else it could mean.

The hyena turned, pacing over to sit nearish the hybrid, though not too close; she didn't like him. Didn't know him, yet. But he was Azazel's son, and she owed it to him to try.

For him. For both of them.

After a long silence, Giggle made a soft hum of thought in her throat, and spoke. "I am glad to hear you say that. I only hope that you stick with it. If you have something you need; ask me. If you have something you wish to ask; ask me. Advice, bones, food--whatever it is." She paused. Part of her wanted to impart wisdom. To gather herself, to draw forth words that would soothe Eythan's heart, to open his path forward with a new perspective.

But Giggle was tired. She was weary, emotionally and physically and mentally. Magickally. She needed rest, and she wished that Azazel were here to comfort her--or that Omen were awake, healthy, providing the company that the bird always did. Maybe he just hates birds, she thought distractedly, before pushing the thought away.

"And if there is anything you want to talk about. You may remain here. But always show the bones respect. Or you may leave; but be back within a cycle. I think that is how long it will take for the stone to hatch."

She paused, then. She was debating--did she ask him if he wished to see Azazel's bones? It might do him good to have another place to sit, alone; to speak with the memory of his father. But did she trust him with them..?

And she wanted to ask, too, about the truth of Carni's fate. Eythan had claimed that Carni was their father's killer. That he had come for Eythan, too, and that the fight was mere self-defense. That, now, obviously could not be true. So what had happened..?

Rather than ask outright, the tired, cunning, battered, keen old hyena glanced to Eythan and spoke once more. "Then we begin on a new foot, now--you, and I. The past behind us, hmm? But I would ask you this, before we take that step: is there anything else you are hiding from me? Is there anything else I should know, before we bind ourselves, by bone?"

There, she thought to herself. Let's see if he's as honest now as he's pretending to be.

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@Eythan

She shifted closer to him and Eythan had to physically restrain the urge to scoot away. "Thank you," he murmured with an appreciative nod towards the bonecaster. "I can't think of anything r-right now." Well, nothing specific. It'd take him a moment to pin down a certain thing. But, at least that door was open. He could tell Giggle was tiring out, though. It'd been a hard few days for the both of them. After crying so many times, the griffin himself was happy to go back to sleep.

"I was thinking of making a den in the chambers. I don't want to... take his." It'd be disrespectful if he did. Azazel's old nest still remained at the highest point, undisturbed. The amethyst and glowing bone still had yet to be touched. They were still, resting. Both were comforting, but Eythan'd let them lie. They weren't his. "I don't know if I want to leave or not yet. It's been a while. I'll be here when my brother hatches, though."

At the coy question masked by good-natured expressions, Eythan swallowed. His talons itched, lies already spinning to the forefront of his mind, afraid of how the hyena would react to the truth about Carni's death. The griffin's gaze searched the bone pit, resting on the keel. He contemplated it, mulling over it. She'd know if he was lying, with her intrusive magic delving into his mind. There was no point in lying, no matter how much he wanted to deny that he had killed his own brother as well.

Levelling his voice the best he could, he managed to meet Giggle's eyes. "I— I killed Carni. Intentionally. He was going to tell everyone what I did and I— I was angry at him for wearing my fathers and for trying to steal Dad's legacy." If the hyena dug deep into his mind, she'd see dark talons sullying pale flesh and bone, betrayed red eyes staring deep into his own. For the ninetieth time that day, tears welled up in his eyes. "I could see his magic glowing and I was terrified of what he was going to do with it—he was so much better at it than me a-and I—I killed him." Pain drives people to do stupid things. Impulsive things. But fear? That drove them to do horrible things.

@Giggle

Giggle stared, wry and grim as Eythan began to speak. Almost at once, she could tell she was not going to like the answer. Oh, here we go.

She did her best to flick open that little link before them one last time, her dark eyes boring into his as he actually made eye contact ('Fancy that,' she thought). She didn't delve overly deeply, but saw flashes of the imagery nonetheless--felt the fool child's distant echoes of fear, of desperation.

Giggle, the bone reader of Canis and hyena-of-the-void, stared straight at the son and murderer of her best friend, and sighed. "You are an idiot," she spoke directly into his mind, her thoughts to his. Her own emotions were clear: she was dry, sardonic, cynically exasperated, but beyond all that, she was... not surprised.

Either she had already guessed, or nothing Eythan admitted to now could particularly faze her. Whatever her emotions, she did not run him off, nor dismiss him, or shout about how he was irredeemable or any of that. She just turned and grunted, and spoke aloud.

"I need to visit my mushroom garden," she grunted, as if that held some other meaning, and then added--"Get some rest. You have a lot to make up for, and we can begin as soon as you are ready. ...We both have a lot to make up for. And you owe me for my bird," she added darkly.

She should have, perhaps, comforted him; she should have taken pity, spoken to him, soothed him in his moment of raw need. Or perhaps she should have wailed, throwing herself to the stone and crying over the murder of one brother at the claws of the other. But she was weary, and the entire situation hurt, and all of those options would only pain her. Instead, after a pause, she offered what any firm mother should offer when teaching a child new ways: praise for where he'd gone right. "As hard as it is, honesty is good. You tear a wound open so it will heal right. Don't touch my mushrooms," she added, voice rough.

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@Eythan

"You are an idiot," she said dryly, directly into his mind. Eythan jumped slightly at the intrusion, seeing no motion of the mouth or anything to indicate that the bonecaster had spoken. Another facet of her magic, he supposed. That was the least of his worries right now. As he sagged to the floor rather pitifully, she simply just mentioned some garden and offered an opportunity to rest. "You s-should too," he elected, pointedly choosing to ignore the mentally spoken statement from before despite the firm praise. "A-after you do your thing."

As for making up for poor Omen's plight, he hadn't quite figured that out yet. The griffin distantly remembered a flash of feathers, wondering if they were still intact. Muddy and ruined, likely, but still intact. He'd find them and he'd bring them back. It was something. Azazel's wing feathers had been buried out of spite, putrid anger surging through the spotted hybrid. But it wasn't a proper burial or funeral. They needed to be with the King's bones, wherever they were. That is, if Giggle had fully unearthed them rather than just taking the keel.

He'd see about that when he wasn't shaking with hysterical sobs.

@Giggle

Giggle stared, for a long moment, exhausted--her eyes half-lidded and jaw tight. Do I leave him like this? I don't think I can. But what the hell am I meant to do? Azazel, bones below, how did you let it get this far...

The mental link had already slipped shut, thankfully, but for a time Giggle stood there as if willing Eythan to get ahold of himself.

"I will sleep," was all she said, at first. Then, she added--"Stay there when you wake. When I wake I will come to you. There is one other thing you should see, but not now."But then he will sleep alone, she realized, in protest to herself--and then argued the point. And would you bring him there, in this state..? Is that what Azazel would want? No, let him rest. But would it not bring him comfort..?

Giggle grunted, giving up trying to figure it out herself. Eythan was an adult; she'd let him choose. "Or I can show you now. Then you can sleep there and perhaps it'll bring you comfort, but it will probably hurt, first," she stated bluntly.

She had not moved.

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@Eythan

Calamity to calamity Eythan’s mind flitted. With a ragged sigh, he nodded, ”good,” as if he were in charge of the hyena’s own well-being. They both needed to sleep. ”I’ll wait. You’ll probably wake up before me.” He was too tired to see any more things, too tired to look for anything else. Despite having barely moved, the griffin felt as if his bones would slip from his body, muscles too tense and worn to keep them within. Days and days of paranoia hadn’t treated him too kindly.

Had he been a little more awake, Eythan would have been all too eager to see the one other thing, despite it possibly bringing harm to his mental state. What more could it do to him? There was already the impossibly heavy weight of blood on his talons, his shoulders. But, he just sighed childishly and tucked his tail about his prone self. ”M-maybe when I wake up. I’m tired.” A quick little blip of childhood nostalgia crept up his spine, causing his talons to twiddle and fumble. ”C-can I sleep with his bo—” he blurted abruptly. Eythan snapped his beak shut with an audible click! and looked away. He sniffed, ”sorry, it’s a stupid question. Just go. Do what you need to do. I’ll be here.”

Pointedly standing and limping to his chosen resting spot, Eythan flopped down and curled up, ears flicked back mournfully.

@Giggle

Giggle snorted. His words said no, he did not want to come; but his heart craved his father.

"Well!" she barked sharply, her hoarse voice breaking into a short, chittering laugh. "If you wanted to sleep with his bone, why did you not say so?! I have many of them. Come with me if you want; it is only a little way. Or I will show you later." Without waiting to see what Eythan would decide, Giggle turned and started padding down the long path toward her den.

Her head was low, her body sore, her mind buzzing--she was exhausted--but, for the first time in days, her mind was clear.

Ish.

Done what I can, for tonight. Rest time. Sleep. I'll deal with it when I wake.

And off she stalked, down the narrow, twisting path where dirt was worn down to the stone--the path that led, ultimately, to her den among her mushroom garden (where Omen now slept), but also, on the way, to a small and hidden alcove.

A place where she could turn off the path, and pass through the bones, and--atop a small rise, and cradled by stone above and on three sides--she could find the bones of Azazel, perched bound to a rock, looking down over his domain.

The Bone King, Giggle thought sadly, as she approached it. I guess you never wanted it to be so literal.

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@Eythan

Eythan was inexplicably startled when an actual snort met his ears. Wearily picking up his head, he quirked his brows. So... she did have his bones. She had found all of them. His pelt pricked with apprehension, twitching uneasily. "Oh," he murmured, mostly to himself. The griffin tucked his chin, cool beak meeting his jugular as he thought. Can I bring myself to face him? was at the forefront of his mind. The answer flew from yes to no, no to yes, yes to maybe. Standing suddenly, he made his choice. Wings tucking close to his sides in self-assurance, he followed.

The walk was silent, full of apprehension on Eythan's part. There were bouts of hesitation, moments where his heart hitched and he wanted desperately to turn back. But he pressed on. Forward. To the cairn hidden from view. Azazel's bones were miraculously unscathed by rot and decay. Two years dead and he had persevered, endured. His throat choked and no matter how many words he wanted to speak, to cry out, to whine, he couldn't. He was silent as he strode toward the Bone King, now truly living up to his name. Tears spent, all Eythan could do was wheeze softly and sit before his father. "Dad... I-I'll bring y-your feathers back to you," he croaked, "if t-they're s-still there. A-and..." His gaze shifted towards the chambers. "A-and the stuff i-in your nest." The bones were silent, but Eythan knew his father deserved to rest in comfort among his trinkets and treasures. The Bone King deserved to be warm and benevolent as he had been in life.

@Giggle

He had followed her, she had led him there, and she had stepped aside. Now he was there, and she felt--vaguely, faintly--as if there were something right with the world.

At length, quiet, she stepped over to them herself. Her time of talking, of reminiscing with him, was over. She was now being practical. If someone stole the bones, she didn't want them to vanish--she wanted to find them again, and so she pressed her nose to it, and closed her eyes, focusing on her magicka.

Nothing came, and with a grunt she realized that she was simply too weary. Without explaining what she'd been doing, she turned back to Eythan, and nodded. She did not comment on his words; his conversation with his father, his bond and his promises, were his own. Instead she simply turned, head still low and her gait that of the exhausted, feet dragging as she disappeared down the path toward her own den.

It was past time for her overdue rest.

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@Eythan