Envy's quills raised in momentary surprise as the three kings addressed them by their full title. The weasel's heart leapt with excitement and started hammering, and although they wanted to leap for joy and ask if Pride had noticed, they had to still themselves and maintain their kingly air. So they let go of the area of Pride's head that they were kneading and sat up straight, keeping their balance even as Pride bowed. They let their subject do the talking, instead pricking up their ears and making sure everything he said was... right.

They glanced down at Pride as the deer spoke of them... but failed to use their proper title. the edge of their lip twitched. They'd need to discuss this with Pride later. But soon, the weasel turned their gaze back towards the kings and watched for anything strange, listened to see if they said anything. At least, they thought, pleased; Pride hadn't asked them to learn it, meaning that there was still a chance they could keep it to themselves.

Nice.

"That's right!" they tittered after a short pause.

When I speak.

When I think.


________________

They observed the bow and in turn, dipped their head as well. They could appreciate a thirst for knowledge, but unfortunately they did not know everything about the caves; they were not an original master here, nor was it ever their intention to be trapped down here. Still, they did know about their own magic. Nodding, they expanded a wing slightly and explained:

"You've not intruded, friend. Originally our magic was not intended to be used on..." this place. These creatures. "... on the inhabitants of this cave. We have visited many different places only to aid or rebuild, but our magic was coveted by those in charge here. We teach the sky to dance, to see; sometimes we are in one place for a long time to cover great distances. When we visited this planet, it was to aid in a surge of life; however, upon researching this expansive underground, we became trapped. And thus, we were made to assist here. It is our nature after all. So, to help the workforce be more efficient, we conjured an idea and worked with ourselves to obtain it for you: flight. It was limited at best, gliding and such, but it increased the speed of the workers and their efficiency at difficult heights. Not all of them were created equal, anyway. Those without natural wings were at a disadvantage."

Pausing, they thought back on what they had said and nodded again.

"But now it is not needed for such activities, and we were so grateful to be woken and aided ourselves that we decided to share it with this new generation." Their wing folded inward and the silvery-blue eyes fixed onto Pride. "It is difficult to bestow and must be done in stages, as it borrows much of our own magic to reach yours."

There wasn't harm in telling these creatures this stuff, right? They were not affiliated with any one side, so it was no trouble for the Kings to discuss these sorts of things so freely. And about themselves! Their own magic they had created? A flutter of happiness rose through them. They had believed themselves a prisoner here, but they were happy to see so many scholars and adventurers bustling about the stone.

@Pride @Envy

Pride's breath caught in his chest as the Kings spoke. As their words sang to his ears, his thoughts raced wildly through his mind.

There's more beyond the caves..? Of course--I'd never thought to ask, to seek. But they're trapped too, it means we cannot leave--? They teach the sky to dance, and to see, what does that mean--how can staying in one place mean travelling quite far? For Pride did not know what a planet was, nor that they hurtled through space, if that was even what the Kings might mean. To him, the world was stationary, and alone, and consisted wholly of the caves themselves.

Made to assist..? Forced? Workforce--? Workers? New generation..? These are not Kings--these are Gods! Creatures from beyond our time, beyond our realm, granting powers to the sky itself?!

Pride's eyes widened immensely, and he dropped again to his knees, with a deeply-awed, almost fearful respect. His antlers again swept toward the ground and for a long moment he remained that way, before speaking quite humbly.

His demeanor did not at all, in that moment, fit his name.

"I am--sorry, I did not know that you were such... such a transcendant being," he offered, shocked that Envy had not warned him of all of this. Or perhaps they hadn't known? Hadn't realized..?

"I--did not know so much. Your words open my eyes only to my own lack of knowledge. I do not think anyone I have met knows these things, as you do--we know only that we come from the stone, but nothing of our world, the source of our magic or our minds, or even our own history. You say there are worlds beyond ours, entirely..? And that you are trapped? Is--can you tell us more? It would save us a great deal of searching and confusion--perhaps restore to us some knowledge otherwise lost forever..." Pride's mind flicked over the countless hours he'd toiled trying to narrow down the sources and types of magic, where it came from, what it could do. Amras, doing the same--the Spire, touching his mind.

In order to have some semblance of control over their own fates, the living had to know where they stood--he knew that, instinctively, without having to be told it. And they had no idea--and he'd always assumed that no one had any idea. He didn't think to be suspicious, despite Amras's prior warnings that some of these beings could not be trusted--indeed, he did not even associate these Kings with the so-called "elders" or "ancients." The very idea that beings existed that knew where Gembound stood--knew how they could, perhaps, take control of their fate--knew their past, and their present--had taken his mind, and his breath away.

He fought, for a moment, to gather his thoughts, his pale and widened eyes drifting over the King's beautiful form. It seemed, in that moment, to be star-studded--a silken purple field littered with fragments of lights that he'd only known in dreams, glinting like the stone chips scattered across Orion's sky.

"May I ask what you mean when you say you teach the sky to dance, and to see? And--you say that you are trapped?" he added, more slowly.

For the time being, the mention of flight was nearly-forgotten. This changed-... well, everything.

"Is there-..." Pride stood up straighter, yet still uncertain, glancing to Envy and then to the Kings. Perhaps the offer had already been made, but if so, he hadn't been told, and it was in his nature to offer help where he could. Usually, though, it was as a creature of intellect usefully applying himself to troubles--now, he felt, he stood before a creature far, far more intelligent than he. "...Is there anything we could perhaps do to help?" he finished at length, his brow a little furrowed.

This was a lot to take in.

@Envy

Envy started, shocked, as Pride bent low so suddenly, letting out a startled squeak and latching their paws onto one of his antlers. They felt their insides squirm with discomfort- Pride had never bowed to them like that, and they cast a glance up towards the giant bird that was the three kings. They listened to the speeches passing between them, so much philosophy and with nobility that they could never hope to achieve, and felt the spotlight slipping away. The weasel's sharp little teeth gnawed at their lower lip with a trace of nervousness.

Their quills trembled, softly rattling.

They felt that the best way to preserve their own image would be to remain silent- as Pride gushed about his own lack of knowledge, Envy wondered about what they could say to reclaim control of the situation. After all, they'd helped the kings before! They'd helped find the stone, hadn't they? Weren't the kings excited that they, too, now possessed such power?

The Kings' voice echoed in their mind, saying their name- King Envy -and they clung to the brief feeling of fulfilment that had washed over them with the words.

They listened, waiting for their chance to interrupt, and though they felt curiosity, too- it was exhausted eyes that examined the kings, eyes that were full of insatiable want.

When I speak.

When I think.


________________

The Kings shuffled a wing forward gently, urging Pride to stand. It made them uncomfortable to be bowed to—at least, two of them felt this way. Deep within their core, Alnitak stirred with greed. But Mintaka was able to keep his brother at bay, silvery-blue eyes watching the glamorous white creature move before them and settled on him as they spoke.

"Oh, nothing so grand," they replied quickly to the assumption of being a transcendent being. "There are those who can be called such, certainly; we are merely a moving piece beneath such beings."

The Kings considered each of Pride's requests, thinking quietly how to proceed, how to answer; when Pride asked if they might be able to help, they shook their head. "Unfortunately we have exhausted our efforts and ideas, including that which included you," they explained, referring to the Gembounds as a whole. But they nodded quietly and added, "However, we appreciate the gesture, and those who tried to help us before." Even though it ended horribly. Oops.

"In regards to your other questions: yes, we teach the sky these things; and if possible, we teach many skies. Behold," they said, suddenly outstretching their wings and bending forward gently, before pressing downward firmly to lift themselves from the ground and into the air. Again, their wings beat, large and seemingly heavy, but also weightless at the same time. The starstuff scattered at their wingtips with each beat, and they moved forward to a crumbling arch near the top of the Forum. Their talons briefly grasped the old structure, using it as a way to push themselves with more effort out and into the air. Above the Forum they soared, in a wide circle, leaving behind a trail of auroras. But quickly, these faded.

When their body slowed to hover above Pride and Envy, they were careful to look below them and set themselves gently down roughly in the place they had been before.

"There is no sky here," they said sadly as they tucked their wings and shifted their feet, lowering back into a comfortable position. "The song of the sky, it cannot dance here," explained the Kings, looking up to the last of the fading lights. "But in a true sky, it sticks—and when we have flown enough through it, the sky remembers and sings the song itself." Oh, how they missed the beauty of the natural world.

Their eyes returned to Pride. "We are sorry if we cannot offer explanations that make sense, or answer your questions with solid answers. The source of your magic—" was a terrible being? "Ah, well you call it the Spire, yes? You might say, then, the Spire is the source of your magic. It is the source of magic for this world, but too does magic return to it," they warned. Even they could feel its hungry greed.

"Of other worlds, what would you like to know?" the Kings asked. It felt a bit vague, to them; but then, they quickly forgot that these creatures were trapped down here as well, and knew nothing beyond the cave.

@Pride @Envy

Pride did not know what a "sky" truly was. He only knew that the creature's flight was magnificent, that the dancing lights it left trailing in its sparkling wake were beautiful beyond measure. He knew that here was a being, despite its words, that was far beyond anything he had known.

Envy was half-forgotten behind him, silent as they were, and Pride hung on the Kings' every word.

Magic came from the Spire--that much he knew. What did he wish to know of other worlds..?

"...Are they as ours?" he asked, almost softly, despite the eager hunger for knowledge in his heart. "Do they have Greaters, and Lessers, as we do? What is it that makes the difference? Why do some of us speak, and some of us not; is it the magic? I have tried to grant some of them mine, but it does not--transfer," he lamented. It bothered him, he realized now--it bothered him that they were stuck, mindless and magicless, in a world that thought of them only as food. And yet, they are like me.

"Are we created? Is there fate? Are we bound here? Is there no way to rise--to rise above what we are?" Some part of him resonated with his own question--it was, though Pride did not realize it, what he wanted above all else. To improve, to create wonders, and arts, and sophisticated civility, in a world that had mostly shown the gross savagery of the primal.

Could they go beyond that..? Could these Kings hold the key?

Impulsively he reached out, trying to touch their mind--or minds?--with his own. He did not know if it would be possible, but he did his best to communicate it more clearly--imagery of those hiding in the darkness, scuffling in the dirt, Lesser and Greater both--warring amongst themselves over nothing more than use of a tunnel cave. And then some vague image of his imagined utopia--a dozen of them among crystalline structures, speaking of knowledge he could not define, because he did not yet know it--of wisdom yet beyond his grasp. Behind them there was no cave--only the drifting light that the Kings had shown him.

Was there a way to grow beyond..?

Pride leaves due to inactivity. Probably wanders off DEEP IN PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT LOL

@Envy