Wilder had been here once before with Black when she was barely hatched but she hadn't gone too far. She wasn't really sure where to find the Children of Rot, only that they were here somewhere. She assumed that if she just went farther in she'd find them eventually. So she did just that, trudging through the mud to find her new friends!

She didn't know how many of them where would be and she certainly hoped they were friendly. But of course they were friendly! Black had taken her here and he'd been friendly so that meant that the Children of Rot were probably friendly too!

She remembered the place where they had gone to summon Aquarian and wondered if they were the same ones that had been there when Aquarian first arrived. She counted on it that it was that case and sat down, letting out a small meow that whispered through the trees. "Hello, Children of Rot! Are you here?"

The alligator was floating in the black water of the Heart when the sound--so faint--came rolling over the surface, carried with the mist.

He was watching the offering pile, as he so often did, so he was barely off the shore; but as a result, he couldn't pinpoint where the sound had come from.

With a grunt he pushed himself through the water, black head arrowing over the surface. Heavily he pulled himself out, and let out a bellow that rang far more loudly through the trees.

"WHO ARE YOU? AND WHERE? THIS WAY."

While still at the water's edge he tilted his head back, summoning up his magicka and spewing a wide, gouting plume of guttering orange flame high into the air. It lit the mist all around it with a glowing light before fading, and the alligator turned and quickly plunged his jaws into the muck. Water hissed into steam before at last cooling his burning jaws, and he turned and crouched, to wait.

Wilder jumped and tuurned at the loud voice roaring through the trees and the burst of golden flame blazing through the sky. Her eyes reflected in the light and heat and she knew she'd found who she was looking for, although she went forward with a bit more apprehension. Those flames were big! And probably hot!

Wilder crept forward until she reached the place where the flames had come from and found herself face with a giant lizard many times her size. She didn't really know what to do, this might have been the largest creature she had ever encountered! She stood still for a moment, gulped, and then stammered out, "H-hello! I'm looking f-for the Children o-of Rot."

But as she looked closer at the alligator something occurred to her. HE was vaguely familiar to her and the more she looked at him the more a part of her memory stirred. Back when she was a child, Black Dog had spoken of a fight against Aquarian and had shown her a story. He looked like one of them!

Not really thinking, she stepped forward and reached out a paw to touch the alligator, wanting to see something that would confirm it for her, if he would allow.

@Dragon

The alligator peered as the tiny black cat swept from the darkness. She came closer, and-... closer... and touched him, while he squatted there baffled. She had no fear, it seemed--not that he cared about intimidating others, but it was interesting. Most tiny creatures would fear something much larger.

Either she hadn't had the bad experiences, yet, or she held a great deal of power to protect her. He even half-expected some sort of magical attack.

When none came--when she simply spoke, instead, he boomed out his response.

"YOU HAVE FOUND THEM. Or me, at least. I am Dragon! There are others of us, here in the swamp." He tilted his head a little to get a better look--his eyes were built for looking up, not down, and she was most certainly down. "You ought not to march up to things so much larger than you. They might eat you," he told her. "I did that once! Accidentally," he added. "But others will eat you, and care not that you can speak." He adjusted his posture a little in the muck, settling in a way that was easier on his lame hind leg.

"Why do you seek us?" he asked, at length.

@Wilder

From her magic, Wilder felt a flash of something. A loud roaring creature. A bunch of gembounds. The fight against Aquarian! He'd been there! Wow, wasn't it cool that she knew two people that had fought in that fight? Her ears perked and her face broke into joy. "Oh, that's great, I'm so happy I found you!" She was really going to be able to do what the Collector asked!

She tilted her head with mild confusion. "Huh? But you called out to me! You are a friend because I called for you and you called back! That makes us friends, right?" She smiled innocently. Of course it did! What a silly question to ask! "I'm Wilder, by the way! I wanted to know about the Children of Rot! I want to learn everything and I heard about you and I want to know! Black Dog told me about Aquarian and we tried to meet him but we couldn't get anything big enough. Why are you called the Children of Rot? How many are you? Is Aquarian one of you or is he like...your leader?" So many questions, so little time so she just settled on holding herself still and sitting herself in the mud. "Mr. Dragon, can you tell me a story? About Cetus and the Children of Rot? I very much like stories!"

@Dragon

Dragon peered.

"No, it does not make us friends. I will not eat you--but calling out to a thing, and having it answer, does not mean it will not!" This thing was too naive.

Maybe he could fix that.

He settled into the muck, and spoke.

"Have you heard of the buzzing-thing, the Betrayer, called Nemean..? We the Children live in the swamp, and we survive. But we know that not all can be trusted! Some of the Elders would betray us." His voice dropped lower, a storytelling voice if ever there was one, the fat alligator perfectly content to indulge this strange kitten her request.

"There is a tiny, bright thing--a thing of pink and gold, smiling and cheerful. It is too small to cause harm, and too kind to be evil, yes? No!" His tail swept through the mud. For emphasis. "With its calls, it leads Gembound to their deaths." Dragon had no idea whether Wilder had heard of this before, but--he had a story, and he was getting to it. "Nemean would call for help, or cause loud buzzing sounds, in the caves. And of course concerned, or curious, Gembound would follow her! But good Gembound should never follow the fairy's calls, for she is a Betrayer. And she led them only to their deaths. She led them to Aquarian's maw, and stirred him from the swamp and made him think that we were the enemy. She led us to the dragon Raheerah, to be burnt alive! And all for her amusement. She turns off the lights and she torments the weak. Once, the Children of Rot left our swamp."

"Raheerah was a great, black dragon, and he lived somewhere else. He came to Polaris, and set it all aflame! --That is the cave with the Spire, and he was so large that when he perched atop it, his tail reached to the ground!" Dragon couldn't actually remember how large the real dragon had been, but that didn't matter. This was a story! Exaggeration was allowed. "The Children joined many others to fight him, back then. We had Czernobog--a bristled boar who feared nothing! And Ghanyarah, my brother, who used ice to fight the fire. Eve, the crow." He paused. What had Eve done? She'd busted her eardrum, if he remembered right, then had flown away. ...Best not to mention that. "Now we have many others, but in those days we had many who are not here now. And we fought the dragon, and many of us were injured; then Nemean came, and he chased her through the roof. We have not seen either of them since--but she has turned off the lights, since then, so she is not yet dead!"

He eyed the cat, again, and closely. "You cannot trust them, little one," he advised again. "If you wish to live long enough to learn all that there is to know, you must remain hidden! You are black--and small. You may move carefully through the shadows, and never be seen."

He paused, and then added--"If you are very young--if you wish to learn of magic, and of hunting--you may stay and I will teach you. The Children will always take in those who wish to survive."

@Wilder

Wilder paused at Dragon's words. He was blunt and serious and Wilder immediately knew that it would not be so easy to be his friend. That was a little disheartening and her ears relaxed. "Yeah," she mewed. "Black Dog mentioned her. I want to meet her! I want to meet everyone!" She started to get excited again but then she remembered that just knowing or meeting someone did not make them friends. So she bowed her head a bit. "Sorry, continue."

She listened to his story with awe, her eyes glimmering with wonder. So many things, amazing thins, had happened when she was in not-existence! She didn't know what a dragon was but she could imagine it being a gigantic creature if it could sit on the Sp...the thing in Polaris and have its tail reach the floor!

All the names, so many creatures had been here, in this Children of Rot and there were, apparently, still many around. Her tail flicked around in thought. There was so much to take in. But she did not understand mistrust just yet. She had never met Nemean, nor whoever the Elders were. Why should she mistrust them?

Dragon's words were making her nervous, more nervous then she'd been in a while. She doubted herself, she feared. Her shoulders hunched and her whiskers twitched. "I want to survive. But...do I have to stay here all the time? I want to go everywhere and learn." But the thought of learning more...more skills and learning how to survive better, it was tempting. "I want to, Mr. Dragon, I want to very much! Is the world really that dangerous?"

@Dragon

Dragon peered at her, a little surprised at her question.

"No, many of the Children wander! But you must know the world before you venture blindly, err-..." What the hell had her name been? Oh! "...Wilder. And yes, it is that dangerous. Not two cycles past we were attacked in Cetus by a big dog. A giant dog. It was black," Dragon added, as if this somehow made it worse--and with a hasty glance at the black cat, quickly amended. "and used black shadows, unlike any magic I have seen. It harmed many, before we brought it down--but we did kill it. I ate it!" This was thrown out there with triumph, before a rather irritated addendum. "It made me very ill."

He paused, eyeing Wilder again. "You look very young. What have you been taught, thus far?"

@Wilder

Wilder's ears perked again when Dragon spoke of the Children being allowed to wander and she immediately gained her energy again. She hopped to her feet, tail raising with happiness. "Then yes! I would love to join the Children! Who are the others? Where are they? Why are we called the Children of Rot?"

She turned to the water again and her whiskers quivered. "Can we meet Aquarian sometime?"

In her excitement to joining the Children of Rot, she completely missed the part where Dragon was talking about the dangers of this apparent black dog that put the Children in danger. Instead, she turned to the last question and thought back to exactly what she had learned. "Uh, I learned that the world is big! And that Aquarian attacked some gembounds long ago! Also I learned that not everyone likes getting touched but sometimes I forget. I know how to be a good friend too! I also learned that I'm special and that I should probably stay away from Polaris!" She explained none of this but it was all she could think about what she'd learned so far.

@Dragon

Patiently Dragon answered all of Wilder's questions. "They are around, in this swamp. Or elsewhere. They seek knowledge! We are called the Children of Rot because all that lives, but fails, dies; and that which lives grows stronger by their deaths. We are the ones who survive. I do not know if we can meet Aquarian. He sleeps, under the water; he only comes out when we need him."

Then, lying there in the swamp, the bulky massive alligator sat listening intently to all that the tiny black feline before him had to say. He considered her words. "You are special? How?" and it was almost a demand. Close on its heels he asked, "Have you been taught to hunt? To feed yourself? To use magic?" These were--as any Gembound knew--the most important things a youngster had to learn, and straightaway. This one's babbling about everything except those two things was--well, worrying.

@Wilder