"Perhaps," Pride agreed amiably. "But it is best not to bother them all that much--do you know what Elders are?" He glanced down, as he walked, his imagery now faded. "Very old, very powerful Gembound--from before a time the rest of us remember? I have been warned that some cannot be trusted, so--don't tell them that, but be careful around them, and know that their motives may be other than they claim. The Kings seemed honest enough," he added in afterthought.

He listened to Charity, and found himself quite frankly shocked that Envy hadn't taught them of magic. Why the hell not..? He found himself, even, a little annoyed; it was the first thing the "momma," as caretaker to their child, should have done. Food, and magicka, precisely so that things like "the burning baby crow" did not happen. With Nisha, Pride had explained magic--but explanation wasn't enough.

"Well, as for magic, it depends upon which you have. Your momma is skilled with many kinds--but I cannot recall if I know which comes easiest to her," he added, unconsciously equating "momma" with "her." It felt odd to stick to neutrality when the weasel had chosen to be a mother, at least in the third person with Envy's child. "With most Gembound, what comes most easily to us is part of one sort of... category of spells. Mine is the ability to move things with the mind, or even talk mind-to-mind with others. I do not know yours. Have you tried any magic?" he added, glancing down curiously.

They were at the Amphitheatre now, broad and ringed, and he came to a halt as he gazed down into its dish-shaped ruins. "And this is the Amphitheatre. Built before our time, I think--perhaps in that of the Elders, or even before. I do not know what it was for," he added.

In impulse, he stretched one hoof forward slightly, pressing it to the stone, curiosity driving his magic forward. Perhaps he could see what had once happened, down in this arena.

Ghosts seemed to flicker in the dim light--shades among the dust, battling down in the center. He couldn't make much out, but it seemed incredibly violent, and there were shapes up in the stands, too. His silver gaze passed over it all, eyes widening a fraction, and he spoke more softly. "Ahh. At times, my magic lets me see the past-... I see that once, they fought, here." He didn't recognize the species battling, and before he could draw closer for details, the images had faded from his sight, and his mind.

@Charity

Charity shook her head at Pride's question, perking up her ears as he kept speaking. She'd never met the elders before, nor had she heard of them. But her catlike eyes became round with wonder as she listened, and she stopped in her tracks for a moment, before hurrying to catch up. "Are you an elder, Pride?" she asked. It only made sense to her; Pride seemed to know just about everything, and he told stories set long ago, like the one about the talking diamond. She hung on, and believed every word he said. She was certain that once upon a time, there had indeed been talking gems in the cave.

"She- they... Mamma is? Really?" Charity asked in wonder. For all Pride's words, she'd never seen Envy do much with magic. They usually only used it to make food for her. "Mamma usually just uses magic to make the yummy yellow things that I eat. Sometimes they fly as well." She recalled the time they'd flown from throne to Pride, before he'd told the story of the talking diamond. "I've never tried magic. Well... Maybe I did, but I could never make any yellow things by myself."

Speaking of food... "Pride, I think I'm hungry again," she added, as she trotted after on stubby limbs. The glory of the ampitheatre was quickly absorbed, her tail wiggling with glee as she listened to his stories. She couldn't imagine how old it must be if even Pride didn't know how old it was. "Ohhh... Why were they fighting?"

@Pride

Pride shook himself from the memories--an odd feeling, seeing those not one's own--and glanced to Charity.

"I'm not sure why they were fighting," he answered gently, "And no, I'm no Elder. I'm not sure how old they are," he admitted. "But I haven't found anyone alive who knows, for sure, so it must be very old, I should think."

At her request, he swept his ears toward her, thinking. "I can try that; aside from those fruits, what else do you normally eat? If we're out and about it might not be a bad idea to get some grazing, or... hunting, in." He studied Charity, wondering. He had, he realized, no idea whether she was herbivore or carnivore. He'd never asked. He felt bad for that, now--not realizing that it was partially due to Envy likely never bothering with real food. If only he knew. If only he knew that Envy was treating Charity like a possession, a half-neglected pet, instead of truly tending to her needs from a selfless vantage point. But Pride had no idea the extent of Envy's selfishness, or perhaps self-centeredness might be a better phrase. He didn't know the depths to which they'd stoop.

It was probably better that way.

@Charity

Charity was disappointed by the lack of certainty in Pride's tone. "Oh," she said softly, ears lowering slightly. Then a moment later, they perked up again. "Are they even older than the talking diamond? You said that the gems that talked were around a long, long time ago."

Charity thought about Pride's question for a minute. "Mostly just the yellow things. But when we're away from the throne Mamma takes me to find grasses and plants and things that are nearby, so I eat a lot of those too! I like some of them, but sometimes they can be pretty boring." Charity was completely unaware that her voracious appetite was driving her poor mother completely up the walls. As possessive as her mother could be, they were taking care of her, the best they could.

They never ate, they rarely slept; Charity had noticed that the weasel sometimes grew agonisingly thin, startlingly quickly, but it was just something that she was used to. They spent more time carefully scheduling her life to be wholly theirs than they spent taking care of themselves.

"Hunting? Like... are there different kinds of plants that are hard to find?"

@Pride

Pride glanced at Charity in surprise. Apparently he hadn't been clear enough on just what a "story" was. "Ahh, it was a story, Charity--not true, not history. Fanciful; you use your imagination to make up wondrous worlds, and tales. Just do not use them to mislead others; that is a lie, and apparently I have quite accidentally told you one!"

"And hunting is--what predators do; has your momma not taught you the difference?" He cast a worried glance his daughter's way. How the hell did he explain the fact that some Gembound ate other ones? Uneasy, he decided to go for plain honesty. "While some of us eat plants, others eat meat--that is, they hunt, kill and eat other Gembound. Usually those that cannot speak, so they are considered less intelligent and less of a problem to hunt. It's generally accepted as a necessity," he added--but his troubled memories cast him back to a time when he'd gotten to know the "lesser" deer herds of Eridanus. He still wondered to himself if he would fight a Greater to protect them; which of those options could possibly be morally correct?

It would be a relief, at least, if his daughter were purely a plant-eater.

The stag cast his gaze out, out over the arena, trying to summon up a distraction--a fanciful, dancing imagery of what he had seen in his Hindsight of this place. As he did so, he spoke. "Do you know of Eridanus? The cave is full of greens. It would be easy to eat, there; you could perhaps visit and meet your brothers?"

It's far past time for that, too, he thought.

The arena remained dark. No-... Correction; it grew darker, shaded, dimly dull and lifeless. He'd managed the exact opposite of his intent; the amphitheatre appeared as if frozen in time, not even motes of dust drifting down. Just dead, like a still image many years after the place had been abandoned. He sighed to himself and shook his head, turning back to Charity.

"I tried to show you what I had seen, but my magic failed. For now, perhaps we can find some greenery nearby, or I'd be happy to try and create bananas for you, if you wish?"

@Charity

Charity looked down, slightly, her tiny face falling in an expression of disappointment. "Oh," she said quietly. It seemed, all of a sudden, like all of her hopes and dreams melted away; she'd been quite entranced by the idea of the talking diamond. Perhaps a part of her hoped that perhaps one day the bird might come to visit her as well, and bless her with the beauty that had been promised to the diamond... not that she wanted to be turned into a snake. She liked having legs!

Charity shook her head at his next question, ears perking to attention as he explained. Her catlike eyes opened wide in horror as he did so. "Why would they want to do that?" she asked, in a hushed tone. "That's so horrible. I'm glad I only eat plants. Is there a name for things that eat air like Mamma?"

The young one bounced with excitement as Pride continued. Her voice became high with wonder and fascination. "Mamma's told me about a room that's full of plants! There's a giant skeleton there, they said. And... I have brothers!? Where? Do they look like me?" the little one ran in a quick circle, chubby body chasing her short tail. Soon she sat down, panting.

She didn't seem too disappointed by Pride's failure, simply casting a long glance at the suddenly-ominous-looking ampitheatre.

At the mention of food, her stomach let out a small growl, and she looked up at Pride and offered an eager nod. She didn't care what there was to eat, she was just hungry, and she was hungry now.

@Pride

Pride glanced at Charity, and was about to comfort her when she asked an even harder question. Sick, his mind immediately, grimly answered, but he didn't say this aloud.

"Envy's stone causes problems with swallowing; no one else, as far as I'm aware, does not eat much real food." He'd wanted to help fix it, but Envy's never allowed that. It didn't matter, he supposed; it was their choice.

He turned, leading the way toward one of the smaller grazing patches he was aware of--this one nearer the Tower. He found, after a short test of his magic, that none of it was willing to summon up fruits; he shook his head and moved on. "I have a friend--a white lion named Mercurius. He's a storyteller, very friendly and gentle. He also tries not to eat meat, even though I think his kind was meant to. We each gave one another a piece of our stone, sheared safely off with a special magic, and then granted our own magics to it. I gave a piece of my stone, too, to Envy--one of my oldest friends; and Envy gave that stone life, and you were born. That is how new life is made." The Gembound and the Stones speech was given--maybe Envy had already explained it, he realized, but oh well. Too late now. "So while you appear to be half me, and half Envy, your brothers look different. They are both white, half me, and half lion. But they are very kind. They're in Eridanus, the next cave over--jungle and the like. I'd be happy to bring you to meet them. We would need your momma's permission first, though, so perhaps not today."

He came to a halt nearish the old tower some minutes later, not too close--its shadow did not even fall to them, but it was visible in the distance. Here, on the rock flecked with lights from the 'stars' above, were wispy patches of grass. "The plants in Orion aren't the best," he admitted. He took a small nibble, himself--compared to the things in Mercurius' garden, it was dry and rough. "I think Envy would have a more prolific kingdom in Eridanus, with easy food, water and so forth, but food isn't something they often think of."

@Charity

"Oh. Are they sick?" she asked, almost as though echoing Pride's own thoughts. She followed him at a waddling face, the hollowness in her belly growing more insistent. She found herself wondering, briefly, what meat tasted like, then shuddered.

She listened as Pride told her all about Mercurius, and her ears twitched curiously. "Mercurius sounds nice. But I don't think his stories would ever be as good as yours," she noted when he was finished. Then she lifted her head, and picked up the pace, bounding after him with renewed vigour as she had an idea. "Do you think I could make my own brothers and sisters? It gets a little lonely when you aren't here, and Mamma's lessons can be very boring." She paused. "So my brothers aren't green?" she asked after a moment, with a streak of pride. She'd never seen another creature as green as she was- and she liked how boldly it made her stick out against all the greys.

And then she pouted, snorting like an annoyed fawn, as the deer said that they would need to go another time. "Aw," she sighed in disappointment, before turning her gaze towards the wispy green grasses. Despite Pride's hesitation, the little one tore into the grass as though she'd never seen food before, quickly uprooting and swallowing as much as she could without any semblance of manners. She seemed oblivious to its dry prickle. Soon she was looking back up at Pride, licking her lips. "Why is it always about what mamma wants? Why can't we just go?"

A moment later, she dropped her head back down and continued to graze in a much more relaxed fashion, her ears flicking and tail wiggling.

@Pride

"Not really sick, no. And Mercurius is far better than I am. I'm sure he'd love to tell you a story, when we visit him. He told me the first stories that I ever heard, and I found them so beautiful that I decided to tell my own." He paused, considering his daughter's question about siblings. "As for creating life--perhaps not yet; I think you ought to be a little older, first. But you will be free to visit us, and we will visit you, I promise. I'm sorry that you're lonely. You should certainly have playmates." He'd had the benefit of many others around his age, at hatching, and hadn't ever really thought about it, before--he'd taken it for granted. She had to be lonely without others to play with--and bored.

At Charity's complaints, he tilted his head a little, peering curiously at her.

"You sound annoyed," he observed. "Is there a great deal that puts you at odds with your momma?"

@Charity

"But they do look sick, sometimes."

Charity raised her head as Pride talked about Mercurius, and she snorted. "Well I think no-one could ever be as good at telling stories as you. Not even him!" the hybrid insisted, finality in her tone. She huffed as Pride snuffed out the idea of her making some playmates for herself, and twitched the tip of her tail with annoyance. "Only if Mamma says I can. But she won't. She won't let me go anywhere without her."

At Pride's next question, Charity's ears flicked. She bent to chew the grass at her paws with renewed vigour as she thought. "It's just... whenever I do anything it all has to be perfect! Whenever I do something wrong she tells me off. And she tells me about the things she's seen but then I'm never allowed to go and see them for myself or do things like she did! And her lessons are all so boring. I want to learn the way she did and do the things that she tells me about but she won't let me!" the little one's voice rose high pitched with temper and she stamped a paw, ears laying back.

Finally her tone lowered and she huffed, looking away from Pride and sitting down. "She says there are monsters out there that might hurt me, and that I have to grow up to be a good prince for the Seven. But I don't care about any of it! I want to go with you and have adventures. I hate it. I hate the lessons and all the stupid rocks here in Orion. I hate her."

@Pride