The rest of the caves smelled fresh, clean. They were free from the stench of rot and decay — well, maybe not Cetus, but that was fitting considering the Children of Rot that lived there — and full of life. Somehow, though, Aure had found himself missing the companionable and many bones of Canis. There was an odd charm about the musky odor of ancients and death. As his wings cleaved through the air, he decided that he had missed his family, his Mother most of all. The wyvern restrained himself, initially, from immediately swooping into the den. There were precious offerings still clutched in his blunt claws: a glimmering golden cuff and shimmering fragments of gemstone.

Aure arced upwards, closer to the ceiling and towards the wall where his father lay awake in death. A pit of dread settled in his stomach, as he marveled over the sheer cliff and rather worn path. Checking around for Eythan — just in case — the child carefully took his gifts into his beak and plodded into the cairn. The entryway was much smaller than he had remembered it being, and he nearly forgot to duck before he hit his forehead on the roof. Regardless, bright eyes immediately found the Bone King quite literally immortalized in bones sans his own sternum. Aure stepped carefully, not wanting to make a single sound. He set the cuff down first, nestling next it to the amethyst and the gently glowing femur. As it sat by itself, the wyvern carefully arranged each fragile shard of gemstone.

Work complete, the little one carefully made his way beneath the King's right wing. "Father…" he began softly, resting his head against the king's skull. "I'm sorry for being gone for so long. I was exploring the caves, meeting others, helping others—" Aure nodded slightly towards the golden cuff, "like you would have, I think. I didn't know if I wanted to be the Bone King, if I could be." A sigh. "I met a dog who called himself Black. I learned how to use the light and how to use the winds. I can make tornados now. And I learned that Kings who called themselves that weren't truly that. I don't want to do that. I want to earn that title, to deserve it. Like you did. Like you still do." The little one did not know much of the old King's achievements, his accolades. All he knew was that Aza'zel had been a good King and a good friend to his own Mother. "And I learned that there's no such thing as good and evil. Black told me about the Kings over the caves, how some were hurting and in pain and ruled angrily through that, and how some were just tyrants. The Throne in Orion used to be red, apparently."

It felt right to update his Father on the state of the Caves, even though Aure did not doubt the King's ability to see beyond his own bones. Mother, at times, had mentioned that he lived on, still, bound to his bones.

"But… I need to ask you something..." Aure deflated, tail going from its state of wagging to despondent stillness. "I want to ask Eythan about what he did, but I'm afraid. Afraid about what he'll do to me." Shuffling out from beneath ancient wings, the wyvern stared into the empty sockets of Aza'zel's skull. "I know that you fell because of him, but I think that Carni did, too." He shuffled closer, pressing the tip of his beak against the old King's own.

After a moment of silence, he opened his beak and said, "will you watch over me and protect me?"

@Giggle

Giggle had seen Aure's lithe form flitting through Canis' air. She'd been keeping track of him, in her own way--through the fungus, mostly--so she knew both that he'd been safe, and that he'd taken to flight. Neither of these surprised her, but she hadn't realized he was coming home.

She trotted out from her bone den, smugly proud that for once she hadn't needed Omen to spot a traveller before she did. As she struck out, though, she saw at once that Aure wasn't coming to her den. He was angling this way, at first, but no; he was heading to the cairn. He held something in his talons, too, though she could not see what. It was but a brief glimpse, and then he was gone below the horizon of bones.

Giggle picked up her pace, but when she heard quiet murmuring within the cairn she backed up, rocked onto her haunches and sat. She waited, just out of hearing; this was his conversation with his father, not her, and she wasn't about to intrude. She was excited to see him, of course--her own son, gone for two and some cycles just after he had hatched!--but she held it down, for now.

When he was done, and when he came out, he'd find her patiently sitting some distance off, but clearly visible, on the trail. Until then she remained silent--Omen circling overhead.

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@Aure

The bones were silent, as they always were. Aza'zel was ever-vigilant. Aure did not know it, but the old King's actions spoke far louder than his words ever could have --- that bird had not been the greatest at speaking, at vulnerability. Fortunately, Mother had helped early-on in preventing that. The wyvern did not know how to read the bones, how to listen in on their secrets and their conversations. Bright eyes searched the cairn for any signs of life, any changes. They were still. Aure edged backwards, slightly, beak mournfully leaving his father's.

"I hope you will," the hybrid murmured, closing his eyes for a moment. Getting to his feet, the little one bowed his head to Aza'zel, "I need to go see my Mother." With one final tap of the beaks (and a quick "I love you,") the wyvern had left the cairn.

Blinking into the light, Aure moved towards the edge of the cliff, wings spread and prepared to dive off. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted someone... well, spotted. Blinking and whirling about, the wyvern squealed with glee: "Mother!" He took off at a dead sprint towards her, careful to slow down a little before inevitably colliding with the hyena. Aure damn-near purred as he nibbled at her nose and mushed his head beneath her chin. "I missed you so much!! I learned a lot and explored a lot but I missed you a lot!"

@Giggle

Giggle broke into raucous, cackling, chittering laughter as Aure barreled for her. She lifted a paw to drape it over him in a hyena's hug, stumbling at his collision with her chest. When he pressed his head beneath her own she held him for a moment, in warm greeting, then pulled away and lowered her muzzle to nudge him in an affectionate manner.

"Aure! You've been gone too long," she told him, her raspingly masculine voice louder and more cheerful than usual. "Don't leave me alone for so long again, hrm? I was worried about you. Watching you--of course--but worried. Where have you been? Tell me all about it."

High above, rejoicing in the shared sense of happiness, the Hallowed Caller gave a few bright and lengthy cries.

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@Aure

Aure was very happy to let his mother's paw fall over his shoulders, electing to bury his face in her chest and shoulder with wings spread around her in a hug. Feeling the pressure of her paw lift, the little one peered up at his mother and smiled, "I have! I'll never be gone for that long again!" The tip of his beak snuffed around in the hyena's neck for a moment, before he added, "I was very, very careful not to wash off your spores! I didn't want you to lose track of me." Oh, well, maybe that required a bit of explanation. "I went to Polaris for a bit and met someone who called himself Black. He taught me how to glow and gave me a weird yellow thing that exploded all over me. So, I had to take a bath."

The wyvern paused to take a breath, shuffling a little further away from Giggle. "We should start walking home, I think. I have a lot to tell you that I learned!" With that, he began to hop eagerly down the worn passage. Looking up to the skies, the hybrid hollered, "hello, Omen! I missed you, too!"

Taking in another big breath, Aure peered back at his mother. "Okay, yeah, so I was in Polaris for a little bit! I saw the big rock-monsters but stayed very very far away from them. They didn't look nice. And then the caves were shaking! This weird blue thing that walked on two legs came falling out of the ceiling and asked me and a bunch of others to help him out. His name was Naskital, I think?" Yeah, that sounded right. "So I went off with a bunch of others to go get crystals from Polaris! A deer got her antlers stuck around some, but we saved her from it."

"Then, when we went back to Pisces, Naskital could fix his weird wooden board thing and the bag on it opened up! There was a whole bunch of stuff inside it and I brought some stuff for Father that I thought he'd like. There were a couple of sparkly stones and I thought they might help him not be so lonely when we're not there." Aure's voice trailed off a little, steps pausing to peer back in the direction of the cairn.

Blinking and inhaling again, the wyvern's bright eyes went back to Giggle, tone becoming upbeat once more, "and after that, I went back to Polaris and met Black and he told me a bunch of stuff about the old Gembound! And about the other groups of Gembound in the caves. I also met a tiny black cat named Wilder that showed me how to do this---" Hopefully, on cue, dancing lights would manifest in the air, dancing around. "I mean, she showed me this, but I didn't get the chance to practice it around her."

Whirling about on his heel, Aure chirped, done chattering about himself, "what have you been doing, Mother?" In a smaller voice, the little one added, "where's Eythan?"

@Giggle

Giggle listened, trying to keep close track of Aure's rapidly-progressing narrative. Every now and then she spoke, a brief comment in the stream of words. She was so pleased to see him again, and her proud mother's gaze travelled over his nearly-grown form. He'd gotten so big! He'd gone from a tiny, chirping thing to a well-spoken intelligent creature--one his father would be proud of. One that she was proud of.

"I have met Black, I think--a yellow thing?" This alarmed her; what had the dog done? She was, in her mind, picturing some sort of golden stone that had shattered and spewed some sort of terrible magic over her son. "Out of the ceiling?" Bafflement crossed her features. "It was good of you to save the deer-... "

Giggle listened--and ask the wisp flickered into being, she lifted her gaze to peer at it, blinking. She'd never seen anything like that, and found herself immediately fascinated.

High above, as if in response, Omen gave an almost cheerful call. Giggle, however, was looking back to Aure, focusing on his questions. "I am good!" She laughed, hearty and rough. "Eythan, I do not know. He's been around; call for him, if you like," she added, not seeming to notice any tenseness on the topic. Instead, she carried on happily. "It's good to see you back safe. It sounds like you've been learning, and doing well. I think your father would be proud of you! I know that I am." She leaned down, offering a brief and affectionate nuzzle. "You'll need to teach me that light magic. It doesn't look like anything your father knew, nor I." Perhaps Aure was some sort of prodigy, learning magic of all kinds? She herself wasn't really aware that she did; her mind didn't strictly classify magic. She just knew that she could See, and use mushrooms. To her, Aure's spell seemed to be something powerful, and wholly different.

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@Aure

The not-so-little one was quick to smooth over any fears caused by the yellow thing. "Oh, it was a fruit of some kind, I think! It had a super tough hide and really soft insides," Aure punctuated with a raise of his wing. It had been weeks since the incident, and he hadn't died of seemingly unknown causes. Ergo, the yellow thing must have been plenty safe for consumption and dressing. His bright eyes moved up to Canis's own ceiling, mere feet away, with a rather mournful gaze. "A lot of rocks came down, otherwise I would've tried to see what was up there."

He was incredibly pleased to hear his mother was doing well, although he visibly deflated — she did not know where Eythan was, either. "I wouldn't like to call for him," he murmured, head dipping low, "I hope he's proud of me. I just asked him to watch over me." Aure reached up with his beak, eager to accept Mother's affections. "I'm going to ask Eythan about what he did to Father and… Carni, if he—" his voice hitched slightly, not wanting to draw conclusions too soon, lest they be wrong. With a blink, the wyvern's will 'o wisps vanished into thin air, without a sound.

With the mouth of the den in view, Aure paused and turned to his mother, "I can teach you how to make the lights, I think — and I do know that I want to bring together the Bonebound — but I really need to ask Eythan about Father. That's called closure, right? I can't try to lead when I can't even trust my own brother."

@Giggle

Giggle sat quiet for a moment, wincing internally. So it was time for this.

All right.

She took a breath, steeling herself, feeling the joy of the reunion slipping gradually away in the face of grim history.

"I understand how you feel, and I think that that would be wise," she agreed slowly--for what King would simply take his mother's word on these matters, without confronting them himself? "Before you do that, I want you to know something. And it's something I might be able to teach you, in time; it'd be useful to a King, I know that. Of all my magic, there is one thing I can do--listen in on thoughts, and feelings, as well as share my own. I can use it to talk to others, or just to listen to them. I listened to Eythan, and I want you to know that he was not--no matter how strong my distrust can get--lying when he spoke of what happened, to me. You needn't fear that, at least. My only worry is that he might lose his temper in the future, as he did then--but Aza'zel, as good as he was, didn't help to soothe that. As I've said, your father was very likely to blame himself for most things, and was too busy being miserable to think about what dying would do to his son. When Eythan attacked him, it might have been to kill. But Aza'zel certainly let himself die. As for Carni... That, you will have to ask him yourself. Certainly his record isn't very trust-inspiring," she added very drily.

"But I do believe that he cares for you. Rather than kill him for what he'd done, I told him to come back to Canis and to help raise and protect you, to redeem himself, in a way. I can see he hasn't been doing that, but that's hardly his fault, if you ran off alone--is it." Giggle fired another drily amused glance at the hybrid, then rocked back on her haunches to lift one paw, aiming to awkwardly pat the half-grown king atop his head.

"Perhaps Aza'zel cannot physically protect you himself. We can only hope that, in a sense, he does so through your brother. But when you do confront him--or speak to him--warn me first. I want Omen nearby, just in case he does get angry--so I can intervene before anything foolish happens." Perhaps not the most confidence-inducing statement, but there it was.

She hoped Aure wasn't taking all of this too hard. But it wasn't an easy thing, was it--to know that your brother had killed half your family..?

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@Aure

Giggle's deep breath did not go unnoticed. Almost instantly, Aure felt bad for ruining the good mood the two had nurtured. His brows furrowed, a worried glint in his eye. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned it at all and just hoped that his father heard his pleas. Yet... Mother had always told him to talk about how he felt, lest he fall down the same hole his predecessor and brother had. Conflict brewed within the hybrid as Mother spoke, yet Aure listened intently.

She carried a magic that touched the mind, which Aure was very familiar with. In his first few moments of life, that very magic had been what helped him to understand his family and learn about them. If it was useful to a King, would the Bone King have known it? Blinking, he chirped, "did Father use that magic?" After that interruption, Aure continued to listen, quiet and thoughtful. A pensive look crossed his face at the mention of murderous intent. It might have been there. But that possibility was enough to disconcert him.

Aside from the murder of half of the Vita lineage --- well, the half whose status was known in the caves --- Aure really had no reason to distrust Eythan. His brother had shown no ill intent towards him, and had jumped to his defense numerous times. While it was really out of necessity, the gryphon had taught him how to fly. He had offered Aure lessons in aerial combat, once, but the child had feigned exhaustion. "I left by myself when he taught me how to fly and," the hybrid murmured, ears dropping, "I didn't mean to be gone for so long. Time flies."

The wyvern scooted out from beneath Giggle's paw, shuffling forward to put his wings around her in another hug. "I'll let you know. It'll be soon, I think." That way, he wouldn't have a chance to chicken out of it and wind up in another cycle of paranoia and wariness; Aure wasn't sure how long he could keep that up around his brother, however murderous he may appear to be. "Thank you, Mother." Rather than simply nuzzle at Giggle's cheek with the tip of his beak, Aure planted a very gentle lick there --- hopefully, someday to bloom into a wonderful lick-flower.

Well, that was out of the way, right? They could get to the good stuff again--- oh. The prince's stomach rumbled softly, barely audible. Aure peered down at himself for a second, and perked his ears forwards with barely-masked enthusiasm. "Oh, I could show you my new magic and catch us something to eat! I'm kind of starving." It was fair, considering he had flown nonstop for two or so days to get back home.

@Giggle

Giggle laughed quietly. Aza'zel, a master of the mind..? The idea was laughable--not to mock her old friend, but he'd been much more straightforward than that.

"No, his magic was-... more straightforward. I don't think he'd have ever really used something like that--he was very honest. Trusting, sometimes--maybe too much; I don't know. Here-..."

She tried to reach out, but felt the backlash of magics almost at once. A wince and a hiss indicated her failure, and she had to pause for several long moments, her eyes squeezed shut, as her magic lashed chaotically about her head. It hurt. It always did, when it failed, but she'd never found rhyme nor reason for it.

Never mind.

"I was going to show you but I'll need a rest first, a short rest--magic backfires, sometimes," she told Aure wryly. Then she nodded. "Meanwhile, please--yes. Show me your magic, and let's get some food."

She pushed up, content, despite the pain throbbing through her skull. Her son was back--and showed every sign of growing up just fine. There was no arrogance to him, yet no cowardice, either, that she could detect. He was a good kid, and she was happy to see it.

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@Aure