Aure nearly purred at the cat-like grooming, leaning eagerly into it. Most cub-birds would likely have been against any semblance of being cleaned, but the little wyvern enjoyed the feeling of pristine feathers. In that cute little peeping voice of his, he quickly chirped, "thank you!" It came out as more of a 'tanktoo' with the speed of it, but it had the effect nonetheless. Plus, it was adorable.

As Mother spoke, the little one listened intensely, capturing every word, even though he didn't quite understand them right away. Context clues were ever helpful. He peered down at his chest, where a big 'ol paw lie. "My heart?" What was that? Was it the thing that moved every time he breathed? Or was it the thing that thrummed softly in his bones? Was that where all of these "feelings" were? Raising a minute wing to it, Aure rubbed at it. Right there, huh? Huh. "Family."

He never wanted to be separated from it, though, he realized. Not from Mother, from Tanny, from Vinea, Skeena, Serek (whom he still had yet to know.) With a sudden, fervent whine, he glanced up into Giggle's dark eyes. "No apart, right? No gone?"

@Giggle

Giggle nuzzled the child warmly at his question, reassuringly, affectionately. Bones, but he was so cute.

"Not apart," she agreed, as softly as her masculine hoarseness allowed her to. "Never apart. We are family. Even when one of us travels, and is away for awhile--we are always together in spirit. We always care for one another, and we always come back." This, stated firmly.

We always come back--even if only as bones.

But on to more pressing matters.

Aure should be, she knew, introduced to at least the concepts of hunting, and of magic, as soon as possible. These were the things he'd need to hone, or learn of, as he grew--these were the things that, if they caught him unawares (if bones forbid his family perished while he was still young), well... his survival would depend upon them.

So, the question was--had Eythan mentioned any of it? Magic, she knew, was not the other hybrid's strong point--but hunting rats certainly seemed to be a healthy pastime for him.

"Tell me, Aure--has Eythan--Tanny--told you anything of hunting? Or of magic? Do you know where food comes from? she added, phrasing herself more gently, and more simply.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Auré

The little wyvern smiled at Mother's agreeing and at the finality that never was. They would always be together, no matter how far apart and distant they were. No matter what. Aure stretched his neck up, rubbing the side of his beak against Giggle's muzzle.

Hunting? Magic?! Aure knew what the first meant, but he never particularly thought to pursue the act of it. "No," he shook his head, ears lowering, "he telled me no eat Omen. That all." It truly was. He hadn't even seen a display of magic, and thus was rather oblivious to what it actually was. Mother's final question was met with a little glance back to the barely-touched rat. "Food come from rat!"

Squinting his eyes at the corpse, Aure looked back up at Mother. "What magic?" Expecting it to be a visual thing, he wiggled his wings and chirped, "show, please!"

@Giggle

Giggle offered Aure a kindly expression as she stood.

"All right, I'll try--but know that it doesn't always happen when you want it to, or the way you want it to."

The hyena concentrated closely. The magicka came easily, in perfect example for Aure. All around them, one by one, tiny, pale blue mushrooms began to sprout. A loose, large ring of them swiftly formed, each one flaring larger, its cap broadening. And one by one, each mushroom bloomed up in glowing color, a phosphorescent blue-green that dimly lit the pair within.

"There's invisible energy all around us," Giggle went on to explain. "Ahh... a force, you can't see. We can't see. But we can use it! We can learn it, and use it to do all sorts of things. Some Gembound can make fire--we're Gembound. Fire's... very hot. Bright. Some can grow things--mushrooms, or grass, plants. Some can make the stone shake, or call shining stones from the rock. I can see what was, long ago, in things that I touch--or through the mushrooms. I can make them grow anywhere, I can use them for many things--I can also see what might happen in the future. There's a lot more to it, but you'll learn over time."

She feared she might be overwhelming the little one already, but better Aure learn the fundamentals now.

Just in case something happened to her.

She wanted to do her "job" right.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Auré

Aure's eyes widened and widened as mushrooms pushed up from the earth, glowing softly and delicately in the plush ring they formed. As Mother spoke, he shuffled conspiratorially toward the fungi, sniffing at them and clipping one with his beak. The one he touched broke, and he gave a tiny little disdainful cry of disappointment. Ears drooping back, he thought for a moment, contemplating what he could do about it.

There was a force around them, Mother said. Something that they could use. Aure didn't yet quite know exactly where his stone was, given its position atop his face. But, it was there, and he focused on it and the slightly broken mushroom ring. A strange sensation sputtered just above his eyes, jasper gem-brow softly, dimly glowing for the first time. Excitement rolled through his little body, and he lost focus. Aure's grip on this so-called magic slipped and nothing happened.

His ears dropped again and he turned back to Giggle with the saddest eyes he could possibly muster. "I try... fix."

@Giggle

Giggle watched, silently--yet gently--amused. Aure had clipped the mushroom, damaging it, though its little blue-green glow stayed strong. Then his jasper gem had lit--she had seen that happen, in some Gembound, their stone glowing when they tried magic. Whatever he'd attempted, though, hadn't seemed to do much.

Giggle considered, and then reached out mind-to-mind, attempting to gently form a tenuous mental link to Aure's consciousness, purely by magic. She had intended to cast magic while linked, to guide him in how it worked--to share concepts more directly, even while speaking. Yet it didn't happen--the link did not form at all--and she changed her mind, taking the opportunity instead to address that rather common issue from which they now both suffered.

"Magic is a fickle thing, little one," she answered gently. "Sometimes it answers, sometimes it doesn't. Perhaps it's spirits guiding our work, or maybe it's just a force we can't wholly control--only influence. Maybe both. All you can do is keep trying, and practicing; it becomes more reliable with time. But it's never perfect--or not for very long."

She gave Aure a gentle nudge of encouragement, toward the broken fungus--as if urging him to try again.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Auré

Oh, so Mother had trouble calling up magic as well? Aure cooed softly at the nudge, rubbing the end of his beak against her nose before turning back to the mushroom ring with a determined fire in his eyes. He furrowed his little brows, focusing on the weird sensation he had felt there a moment ago.

This time, the feeling did not sputter to life, but rather blossom gently as the little blue-green caps did. With a delighted call, the baby waved his wings and began to hop about the ring, sending up little fungal blooms in his wake. They were identical to the ones Mother had grown, glowing softly with an ethereal blue light.

Finally, as his little spell ran out, Aure trundled over to Mother and chirped excitedly and eagerly, "I do!"

@Giggle

Somehow, right up until the little mushrooms began springing up all over, Giggle had forgotten that Aure would have her magic. As she watched them bloom, and watched the joyous excitement wash over him, she stepped forward and was quick to offer a friendly nudge and warm praise.

"Very good!" The hyena dipped her head, expression pleased. "That's how magic works--we can work on that whenever you want. And the other important thing for you to learn is hunting. You know when you get hungry, and we bring food? Vinea, or --or Tanny, or me, we bring you rats, yes? Do you know where they come from?"

And then, as further encouragement, she added--"They taste good, right?"

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ROLL THE BONES

@Auré

Who would've thought that the little one could call upon magic with the wave of his wing? Certainly not Aure. He was already joyously ecstatic to show off his special mushrooms to Tanny. Next time he saw his big brother, he absolutely would have to. Maybe, before then, he could explore other kinds of fungi and grow a whole collection of them! Yes! "I show Tanny? No now, but... some!"

Already, though, the subject had changed. From magic to hunting, it seemed. The little wyvern was happy to accept the little nudge and peeped softly. Rats tasted very good! Sometimes the stuff inside of the bones was very tasty as well! "Rats yummy!" Then, glancing about he stared in the direction of the den's exit. "Rat come from... there. Out. Rat run! Eat! Scream!" With a disappointed tone of voice and sag of his shoulders, he added, "Rat big. Too big for me."

@Giggle

Giggle "mhmm'd" in agreement, turning to sit in their dual-fairy-ring of glowing mushrooms, muzzle pointed out the way the little one was staring.

"They do get pretty big," she agreed. "But they can't use magic. If you learn to hunt with magic, size won't matter. You just have to make sure to be on top of rocks where they can't reach you! Once you can fly, you can strike with magic from in the air. You will be able to fly some day, you know? At least, I think you will. Like Eythan," she added, glancing over Aure. She wasn't sure how reproductive magics worked, but she knew that no hybrid child had come out too badly-crippled so as not to function, at least in her memory. And those with wings tended to be able to use them. It was as if the universe decided in advance whether the wings would function, and only granted them if they would.

"When you're a little bigger, though, we'll take you hunting. Me, or Eythan, maybe. Teach you how to find rats and kill them. But you already know where they are, and what they sound like--squeaks and squeals, yes? So that's good," the hyena continued warmly. She glanced down at Aure, content.

"You just have to make sure to kill them fast. There's no need to draw it out, and anyway, they can give pretty nasty bites even to me if you get clumsy!"

Giggle let out a croaking, cawing laughter, hoarse and amused, then looked down at Aure again. "You understand all this? Do you have any questions, yet?"

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ROLL THE BONES

@Auré