Pride sighed, softly. He'd just have to own up to this--his guilt was tremendous, but more than that, he didn't want Azizos afraid of random, unpredictable forces flowing through the world. Sure, magic was almost exactly that, but only when called upon. He wasn't sure Azizos was afraid, but the way he was looking around and huddling against his brother--or maybe huddling wasn't the right word, but still--it seemed to indicate as much.

"That was my fault, but it won't happen again," he reassured the child softly, with a brief, sad glance at Mercy. "I tried to pick you up with magic--carefully!--like you were flying. But sometimes, it is unpredictable." He said all of this slowly, though he was far too shaken to remember to explain the words mind-to-mind, this time.

Hopefully, the little ones would understand.

"Hopefully, your magic will never backfire--but if it does, it's nothing to be afraid of. Just-... be careful with it, all right?"

Arsu touched his brother's nose, in turn, his eyes smiling and his tail flicking in joy.

When Mercurius spoke to him he glanced up, thinking, and tilted his little head.

"...Flower," he decided at last. There were lots of words he didn't know, yet, but that one he did, and he'd most definitely seen a flower in there. The green things were flowers, right..?

When Pride spoke, he turned his head toward him and listened attentively. And then, he looked to Azizos. "Okay," he agreed, quietly. "Careful magic."

Then he lowered his muzzle to the ground, his lion-like slate-colored nose touching the ground at Azizos's hoof-tips. He intended to grow his brother another flower, a gift, a reassurance. And he was very careful about doing so.

A small fern pushed up from the soil, uncurling its leaves into a frondlike sprout. Arsu blinked at it, then stepped back, looking solemnly to Azizos as if presenting his gift. "Flower," he repeated softly.

@Mercurius

Mercurius blinked in subtle surprise as his companion --- and fellow father, he reminded himself pensively --- owned up to the miscast. Perhaps... it was for the best. The pale lion couldn't particularly see into the intricacies of Pride's actions, but he supposed it would be good for the children to understand how magic worked; to believe it was in your control was a mortal folly, at times. Rather despondently, he thought, perhaps that is what makes us fall, what made Clover fall. If only he could know that darkness was not what had destroyed the gentle, soft-spoken deer. If only he could have known that Hasira's hate and self-destruction was what corrupted her.

But, that was the past.

The beast shook himself, stepping forth with a smile, "a flower, hum?" Moonlit eyes danced twin to twin, before falling upon the oldest and his personal project: a small fiddlehead he had presented to Azizos as a gift. "That was very kind of you," Mercurius encouraged warmly, looking up to Pride with a... well, proud glint in his eyes. Leaving the boys to themselves for a moment, he glided towards the pale deer. Murmuring, he began to spin his magic and beckon forth a curtain of light --- a spell he had been working on for a while --- "perhaps we could tell, and show the children a story? And, if they'd like, they could try their own... hooves... at it."

At the far edge of the garden, a screen of light formed, shimmering much like cascading rapids did in the light. Of their own will, an image of a glowing white deer manifested from the veil, eyes closed. Mercurius tried fruitlessly to wrestle his magicka back under his control, tears already pricking at his eyes. "No..." he whispered softly, trying to stay calm and composed for the children. He should not have thought of her. The pale deer made her rounds about the garden, seemingly inspecting each plant and, at one point, stooping low to 'sniff' at the twins. Once she had finished sniffing at the boys, the image delicately stepped over them and glided towards Mercy. He stood stock-still, stiff as a board. All that indicated that he was still alive was the frantic rise and fall of his flanks, and the gentle shift of his bottom jaw with each harried breath.

Clover came within breaths of Mercurius, and he tried to look away. Within a blink, the image's eyes had opened and revealed impossible darkness on the right side. The corruptive night seeped from the eye, swallowing every semblance of glowing the copy had. "It's not real," he whispered, softly, beneath his breath. Swallowing, the pale lion closed his eyes and tilted his head upward. Within his mind, he heard the wicked voice of Belladonna calling him home --- not for the first time.

His children were present, he realized. He couldn't let them see what the monster that stole Clover was capable of. That darkness had died along with her. It had to have. Yet, all the pale beast could muster to dispel the dancing lights was a haphazard swipe at the hologram, claws still yet sheathed as always. With that simple motion, the curtain of light tore out of existence alongside not-Clover. Mercurius heaved softly, rocking back onto his haunches.

Azizos blinked up towards his antlered father, tilting his head and giving his full attention. His overly large ears flickered all the way up, capturing every single word. Despite not being quite sure what every thing Pride had said meant, he got the general idea and shook his head fervently. "Okay!" The fawn-cub trotted away from his twin's side, approaching his father and giving him a nose-touch of his own: the highest honor. Whirling back around, he nodded to Arsu, "careful magic, yes."

Scooting back toward his brother, the Morning Star was just in time to watch him seemingly conjure up another fern. Azizos was about to shout out about it, proclaiming how cool it was, when suddenly the fiddlehead was offered to him. With a soft, reverent bleat, the fawn-cub knelt down to look at it, "flower..." Right then and there, Azizos vowed to defend it with his life. He suddenly found himself wishing he could make something in exchange.

As a glowing presence came into being next to him, that wish was quickly forgotten (but not forever) as the fawn-cub whirled around to look at it. Initially, he skittered away from the glowing deer, tripping over his legs. But, seeing nothing wrong with it, Azizos allowed it to sniff at him. There was no breath, though. His maned father looked... upset. What was wrong? The deer came closer to Mercurius and he froze. Peering closer, the Morning Star realized that his father was almost crying. Even though the lion's paw had come up to dispel the lights, the little one lurched forward and focused fervently on his magic, trying to send the apparently evil deer away. He stumbled slightly, fall just within the range to actually hit the hologram.

Watching the light deer fade away in a wondrous show of sparks, the little one bleated, "father! Okay?" Already, Azizos was scrambling back to his feet, ears back.

@Pride

Pride remained silent, glancing up in awe at the white, glowing deer that entered the clearing. At first he thought it was some representation of himself, but he quickly saw otherwise: it was a doe, and quite small compared to he, delicate and lithe.

He had curled up beside Mercurius, some of his prior fear fading away, when he realized that his friend was in a half-panic. His breathing was rapid, and glancing at him to see if anything was unusual, Pride at once noted the wide eyes. He leaned in a little, glancing to the strange, glowing deer, and then to Mercurius.

Before he could speak, the lion--and Azizos, it seemed--had scattered it. For a moment, Pride was speechless--he didn't know what to say. Then, softly, he asked simply--"Mercurius..? What was that?"

His voice was hushed, likely barely audible by the children if at all, but the urgency of his concern was clear.

Arsu trotted over upon seeing Pride lying down, and made to curl up against him. Before he could quite manage, though, there was a new friend!

She was beautiful--bright and glowing! He leaned forward, excited and fascinated both, tail flicking as he tried to touch noses to the ethereal being. When she moved to Mercurius, he followed, his trot bouncing and his head tilted.

"Hello?" he asked, innocently. When she reached for his lion-father, though, a darkness swallowed her--roiling over her, turning her black. It frightened Arsu, though only a little; he had no experience to tell him that shadows consuming someone were probably a bad thing, and to him it was startling but interesting.

Glancing to his father, though, he realized that something was wrong. He hesitated.

Azizos was--attacking it? And he was left frozen, and afraid. Growing plants wouldn't help them in an attack! What could he do?! He shook, a little, wide-eyed, as the apparition vanished--and looked to his parents, speaking in a tremble that wavered with the thread of sobs.

"...Bad magic?" he asked, his voice a near-whisper.

@Mercurius

Mercurius could only properly hear a muffled poomf! through the static rising in his mind. He detached from reality for a moment, only thinking that he had seen the the glowing deer's ever-consuming darkness flicker out for the barest of moments, betrayal sparked in those golden eyes. Pride's hushed voice wasn't enough to stir him from his stupor. The pale lion slid forward onto his elbows, a sob threatening to move from him as well.

Through the dissociative fit came Arsu's small, wavering voice. Blinking back into reality, Mercy whispered softly, "that was Clover... the glowing deer. She was... a guide of sorts... she told me stories and loved me when I couldn't myself, when I didn't understand." The pale lion swallowed, shakily rising to his feet and walking towards his eldest child, "but something happened to her --- I don't know what it was --- and some horrible darkness took over her. She began to hurt me, too. And her beloved." Where ever was Bartos? Lowering his head, Mercurius nuzzled his child, "She fell, eventually. But..." He hesitated, voice hitching with a sob.

Swallowing thickly once more, his gaze swept across his children and Pride, "you must be careful of bad in the world --- not just magic. I don't mean to scare you, Arsu and Azizos; but, evil will take you, it'll control you. It will change you." There was no worth in being evil in these Caves, despite how rampant it was. In the end, it was always snuffed out like lights. "Be wary, but kind. Offer help to those who need it and defend those who cannot."

Arsu was confused and scared, and that made Azizos that tenfold. The child quivered where he stood for a moment before hurrying over to where Pride lay and burying his head in his antlered father's shoulder --- not at all mindful of what his blunt moonstone horn may be digging into. He was too scared to bother too much. The fawn-cub managed to look up at the ever-steady Mercurius's words, taking in every single one. "Clover," he whispered, mulling softly over the word. He adored it, quietly and secretly. Tucking it close to his heart, the child shifted so that the side of his head pressed against Pride's flank.

"Do good," he murmured, half between tears and reverence. "Be kind." The lesson was simple enough, but the Morning Star was still persistently worried and fretful. He still had yet to know if his maned father was alright, if he was safe from the dark-eating deer. "Father," he bleated, loud and clear despite the tears nearly spilling over his cheeks, "okay?"

@Pride

Pride stared at Mercurius, incredulous. He understood that he was upset--but these were children, freshly-hatched, and on their very first day, no less! They could not understand all of this any more than they could comprehend war between groups, or the lights all going out, and they certainly felt fear from it all, and undoubtedly, confusion.

"Mercurius," he said calmly, and confidently, his head held high--radiating peace in every line of his being--"perhaps the details of that lesson are best left for another time. We can talk about the rest in private, if you wish, later--I certainly wish to hear more. But for now," he added, with a pointed tilt of his antlers toward the little ones--Caves, Azizos was pressed to his flank like a terrified kitten, damn it!

"Right now, right here, there's nothing to fear," he continued, his tone soothing and melodic. He leaned down to lick and nuzzle the child curling against him, in warm reassurance, and then he spoke.

"Once upon a time, in a far away land, where the sky was filled with flowers and the lights were all bright blue, there lived a little cub." He hurried to make this up on the fly; he couldn't let them--any of them, the lion included--fall into fear or self-pity right now. They were a family--beautiful, happy, at peace--and he would keep it that way, if he had any power to do so. "The cub was brown and yellow, and friends with all the colorful beetles in the fields, and the silver fish that flashed in the ocean, and the black spiders of the forest that hung in their delicate gossamer webs."

He glanced meaningfully at Mercurius, as if to impress upon him the importance of calm for the little ones, or to check on him--or both, perhaps. "Every day the little cub travelled through the meadows, and the woods; every day he visited the edge of the sea, which whispered and laughed against the cliffs of the shore. Every day he said hello to the fish in the water, and the beetles in the grass, and the spiders in the trees. But one day, he found something new," Pride went on--and then stopped, nodding to Mercurius.

"Are you all right to take it from here, or should I go on..?" he murmured, ever-so-softly.

Arsu listened, wide-eyed, head swivelling between one parent and the other. "Be kind," his father was saying, and that he understood, but-... Evil? A swallowing darkness?

Afraid, feeling the world as suddenly an uncertain, cold, dark place, he hurried to Azizos. He curled up against his brother, trembling and cold, looking around as if expecting this evil to appear from the shadows at any moment and consume him. Like Mercurius said it would! It would take him, control him, change him! "Don't wanna change," he bleated pathetically, and then buried his head beneath Azizos's flank.

Even when the story began, the little one did not emerge, hiding his face and shaking--though his ears did twitch, indicating that he was listening, at least a little bit.

@Mercurius