The stag had waited behind. At first he had been patient, hoping that the Collector would return--but after the others had left (or rather, all but Kera), there was still no sign of him.

His tail was now twitching with impatience and he paced to and fro among the mounds of bones. "Did you see the way he simply vanished?" He said this quietly, over his shoulder, to the white wolf. It was strange to him--he replayed the imagery in his mind. The tall figure had raised a red-glowing hand to the newly-hatched moth creature. The hybrid had said "no," and simply stepped aside, and shortly thereafter the Collector had gone.

What had that been all about..?

"Should we call for him, do you think?" Pride then asked, glancing back to Kera. He knew nothing of this figure--little or nothing. Not what to expect, or the like--but he knew it was one of the Elders, and he wished to speak with it. Perhaps to ask what it could offer.

@Kera

Kera wasn't a creature of immense patience, but she too had wanted to wait behind. She hadn't noticed the Collector leaving, too absorbed in watching the newly-dubbed Aether Gold-Moth, and was in the process of kicking herself for only noticing he'd gone when Pride pointed it out.

While Pride was pacing, Kera was laying with some familiar mushrooms, cycles-old. Bioluminescent, planted there when she'd been just a pup. When the caves were in total darkness. "No," she responded to the deer's direction, bending down to nuzzle the caps. Even if they couldn't speak, Kera felt like the mushrooms would be happy to see her. Kera was happy to see them. They were little friends, after all. "But he couldn't have just-- vanished? He must have used magic and he's in the shadows or something."

There was a pause, and then some quiet realisation-- "maybe he's watching us," the wolf suggested, turning her broad head to stare out into Canis. She pushed up, mouth open, sniffing the air. "I mean-- we could call for him but he might not answer? We could check the dark places in case he's looming around, I guess, but that might piss him off."

She shrugged, nails clicking along the dusty floor as she wandered towards Pride, stepping over stray bones. She looked around again, tilted her head back, and bellowed, "HEY GUY?" into the room at the top of her lungs. "DARK GUY? WITH THE MOTH? HELLO?"

@Pride

There was, for a moment, silence. And then--before the stag could resume his pacing, and as he listened with perked ears--the Collector spoke.

He was standing just behind Kera, nearly alongside her, as if he'd always been there. Crimson pinpricks of light regarded the two from beneath the hood, and his voice was silky smooth and deep. "My deepest apologies for the wait. I had business to attend to. How may I be of help?"

My, but they were infuriating. He'd been considering how best to deal with them. The stag was not likely to be easy to work with. The wolf... perhaps moreso, but he'd need to use a very cautious touch.

Pride jumped.

One moment he was neatly on all fours, ears pricked for any sound, one forehoof raised delicately into the air. the next--the instant the deep voice spoke from just behind--he was a foot in the air, launching forward before coming down with a clatter of hooves. Before he could even register it he was facing the voice, head high with shock and nostrils flared.

He blinked, and calmed himself a fraction.

Ahh, it's just--him. Magic, I suppose.
"--My own apologies," he fluted, still trying to relax his nerves. "We did not mean to take you from whatever business you attend to. I came to ask about you--for information--if that is not prying too much? I seek knowledge." He wasn't sure what this "Collector" did, exactly, or what he'd be willing to offer in terms of information--but it couldn't hurt to ask.

He glanced at Kera, wondering if the wolf had been as surprised as he had--but he imagined her nerves were somewhat steadier than his. Though he didn't always buy into species stereotypes, he had to admit that his flight reflexes as a stag were... well-honed.

@Kera

It wasn't the Collector that startled Kera so much as it was Pride's reaction to the Collector. Sure, she'd been a little surprised when she heard the voice from behind her-- where she'd been standing just seconds ago --but she visibly flinched as, suddenly, Pride leapt into the air right next to her.

Kera decided to edge just a little bit away from the deer before he did it again, and ended up accidentally trampling her.

"What up," Kera said, sitting herself down and scooting a half-broken sternum aside with her paw, putting it closer to a nearby mound of the things. "I do too. Uh. Who are you? What do you do?"

There was a brief pause as Kera turned her head towards the room where, previously, the topaz had been sat, with gembounds gathered around it. She indicated to the area with her nose, curiously, before looking back to the Collector as she spoke. "What's up with the moth? With Aether? Why'd you want it revived?"

@Pride

"I am the Collector," he answered Kera; "I collect things. I would be perfectly happy to part with knowledge, my dear white stag. Both of you are rather heroic, are you not? You are the one known as the Bringer of Light, in these caves?" His words were rich silk gliding over gold coins, slithering and softly clinking. The tone lulled and soothed and flattered. "I offer gifts, rewards, trinkets--information; all things I have collected on my journeys here within the cave. All for a price, of course."

Clawed hands emerged from his sleeves, all the claws clicking neatly together at their ends, and staying there, steepled. "So have you two come to make a deal?"

Pride stepped a little closer, intending to indicate that the Collector didn't actually frighten him past the initial shock. It wasn't a bravado thing, but more... politeness; to stay cowering away from a stranger was--well, rather rude.

He listened intently, glancing to Kera and then to the Collector. "If your knowledge is--ahh, collected, from outside sources, are you certain that it is truth?" Only belatedly did the 'dear/deer' pun register, and he winced a little, but said nothing otherwise.

Ugh, he thought.

"I wish to know--if you know truly--the origin of these caves, their purpose, if there is any. Their history, perhaps. Is there a way out? There are those," he added, thinking grimly of the Three Kings of Orion, "trapped here, who wish to escape. To leave. They speak of a sky, and yearn for that. I would like to ask about gemstones, and magic; about sentience. How we were made. What separates the Greaters from the Lessers." He paused, and then remembered the rest of the Collector's bargaining. The creature was watching him expectantly.

"...What sort of price would you ask, for this?" he asked. Given the creature's slithering tongue and ominous appearance, he was almost hesitant to ask. But if the price was too steep--well, he could refuse. There was no telling that what this "Collector" knew was truth, after all.

@Kera

She watched the Collector closely for a moment, head cocking to one side. "I'm Kera," she said. "The Lightbringer." It was confirmation, though her chest swelled with pride at acknowledgement of her achievement.

Kera listened, ears rotating absently. Her gaze flicked between Pride and the Collector, at first not realising the pun until it clicked. She blinked twice and then erupted into a peal of bellowing laughter.

It took her a moment or two to calm down-- Kera hadn't heard jokes very often, but she did enjoy them to an extent --and soon the wolf was grinning and breathing a little heavily, catching her breath again. "What price?" She asked. "You're not going to make us kill anyone, are you?" She realised, seconds after she said it that there was, in fact, anyones she wouldn't have qualms with murdering in cold blood.

"Unless it's Blackberry, or one of her children," Kera added, lifting a massive paw to swipe idly at the shaggy fur clinging to her side. "But they're gonna die anyway so it's not much of a price or anything, I guess."

@Pride

The Collector listened quietly, his fingers steepled solemnly. He first nodded to Pride, head inclined.

"Some of my knowledge is firsthand, Pride;" he crooned. "But most is gleaned from second-hand sources. Sources I entirely trust, naturally--those who were firsthand, those who have seen such things for themselves." Then he looked to Kera.

Oh, he knew what he could offer her. Though she did not realize it, "pride" was as much her vice as the stag's--perhaps moreso. The stag was easy--knowledge was all he sought, at least... for now. He thought that Pride might be tempted by power, later, but time would tell. "Ahhh, but you do all hate those, don't you? I've heard so terribly much about them. While I would like one of their stones, for study of course, I do not know how many of them actually remain. You did such a terribly good job of destroying them," he added smoothly, crimson eyes impaling Pride with their stare. Not so pure as you would pretend, are you? he thought, eyeing over the scars littering the stag's face.

"As for you, Kera," he crooned, shifting his gaze to the wolf. "Do you not wish to be recognizable as the noble Lightbringer at first glance? To shine with golden glow; for your eyes to shine with orb-light?"

Then he paused, looking the two over. "Tell me--what would you suggest to offer for such gifts?"

Pride listened, his face betraying nothing of his suspicions. How true could this information be..? Though he had no reason to disbelieve this stranger. At the Collector's comment about destruction, though, his face darkened slightly. "By necessity," was all he said, simply.

He wasn't so sure, either, about just how much the simple act of "glowing" could possibly attract Kera. He didn't know the wolf all that well but it seemed rather a thing of vanity more than use. Ahh, well--if she wished to pay for such a thing, so be it.

"Price? I do not know. What do you seek? If you do collect objects, perhaps I can search for some for you?" he offered, brow furrowing. He wasn't really sure what else to give. "I am also capable of various powerful magics, if you require their use. I can create gemstones; I can destroy and move things with my mind, or read the thoughts of others."

Almost immediately he was tempted to try and read the Collector's mind again, but-... he knew that'd be a bad idea. If it could detect such attempts, if it listened in for his own intrusive thoughts, well. It'd be considered rude at best.

@Kera