Temperantia watched a pair of cave mice, the eyes of it's wheel closed and the bright eyes on its wings wide open, captivated by the scene. They fought over something, a small fruit perhaps? But Temperantia wasn't interested in the what. They were interested in the why. One of these mice had found the food first, and now they fought over it, oblivious of even the larger gembound's presence. Yet Temperantia had been watching for a long time, and had not been able to discover the source of the conflict. It would simply step in, before they hurt each other too badly.

"Wrong." It said. It flapped its wings, stirring the air to get the attention of the two mice. They scampered off immediately, leaving Temperantia with the spoils. It floated forward, and bent a lowermost wing to the ground, staring at the object curiously. Ah, so it was a fruit. A small chunk of reddish fruit. It took its wing, using its wrist to split the small hunk of fruit. It's wing was messy now, the pale white marred by reddish juices, but it had split the fruit. In the end, Temperantia had not found the cause of the fight, but at least they had ended it. The thought made the wheel feel content. Now the pair did not need to fight.

"Come eat," It said, a touch of excitement in its voice. It waited there, still as stone, for a flicker of movement from the underbrush to signal the mice's return.

@Howl

There wasn't much going on upstairs.

There wasn't much going on anywhere, anymore.

Howl simply resided in Cetus, stuttering into motion like a faulty animatronic, only to gallivant towards another tree or scuffle into darker recesses to watch for Gembound from. He brought many Lessers to Mother, gave them all many eyes to see the world with. There were a million eyes everywhere, and he was aware of all of them. But, it was peaceful - it wasn't overwhelming, but comforting, when the sneak-thief was allowed precious few moments to think for himself.

Mismatched eyes flickered towards a sign of movement, a strange white wheel with many wings and eyes. It could see from all angles, and simply floated in the air. Already, it was kind, lovely, sharing with others.

A perfect addition to their family.

Howl sprung into action, even as the ring's size intimidated him. He dug into the pits of his arms, where clots of fungi were holding fast, mid-jump. His tail flagged out as he stretched gangly limbs out to snare the angel in a mess of fingers and spore-covered fuzz. All the while, he sought anything that could be a mouth.

@Temperantia

Temperantia's mind was far off anything resembling caution. It was fully expecting the mice to come out at some point. It thought at one point that the mice had returned, for a glimpse of orange and white entered it's vision. Its' joy gave way to confusion, as Howl was upon it. It floundered, flailing and spinning wildly as fear and shock consumed it.

It flapped it's wings uselessly as its' balance left and fell gracelessly, unable to support the weight of an additional creature upon it. Temperantia did not have the thought nor the foresight to not breath in during it's moments of panic, and the spores entered its' spiracles easily.

@Howl

It came on slowly, quietly, and then fast like a tide through an inlet--but it was not cold, like the sea. It was a warm embrace, sparkling with rightness and love, a welcoming engulfing of all that Temperantia was.

"Relax, child," whispered the voice, as that first tentative connection was made. "You may rest, now. You have found us--you have found your family. You are in no danger... you are safe, now. You are loved."

Loved. The thought, the feeling, echoed powerfully. Mother probed, searching Temperantia's mind: if it had a brain, if it had chemical inputs and synapses that could be triggered, then the emotions would flood the strange ring.

If not-... If there were nothing to trigger, no joy, no love, Mother would be at a loss. She stretched herself through Temperantia, and sought.

@Temperantia

The ring fell from grace - but that was okay. Mother would bring it back to glory. She would ease that panic and give it all of their love. Her voice thrummed gently through his mind, and Howl instinctively knew to step away.

He moved to a dry spot of grass, and started to clean himself off obsessively, unheeding of the mud and gunk he was getting all over his tongue and swallowing.

@Temperantia

Temperantia felt confusion, fear, shock all melded into one another. But then, softly, slowly, it's negative emotions seemed to meld away, replaced by a flooding warmth. Temperantia's brain was odd, spread throughout its inner workings more like an octopus than any land based gembound. Mother's infection spread from brain to brain, and rooted itself deep within Temperantia's minds. Within the very last one, Temperantia felt something was amiss, but it could not even begin to think what it was. But it still felt the emotions Mother sent through its link to them. And throughout the whole process it was not averse to them, nor was it averse to the new voice that spoke in it's head. The very tone seemed to relax it. To such a young gembound, the feelings were welcome.

Yes, Temperantia was safe now. Temperantia was amongst friends. No--Family. Its family. It felt like something had opened up--it was aware of far more gembound around it, like spots of consciousness on a map. The creature that had leapt upon Temperantia was within its' link as well. Temperantia felt thankfulness towards the creature. "Thank you," It said to Mother. To Howl. To all the gembound it could feel around it. Was this what Mother had meant? It's family? Slowly, Temperantia began to drift off the ground, using its' wings to correct its balance as it wobbled. The mud upon it's exoskeleton felt extremely wrong. It spun like a beyblade to clear its' hide of the dirt that had clung to it as it had fallen. It stared at itself with the eyes on its wings, to make sure not a speck remained.

"Mother?" It spoke, once the task was done. The twinned voices small and awed. Such a warm creature could not be wrong as well. It was impossible. The very idea was held in derision within its' mind. "Why did you want me? Are you and Howl here to help gembound like I have been doing?"

@Howl

"Ahhh," and the warm voice was like a mother's touch in Temperantia's mind, "I can see that you are a thinker. Sharp of mind, and perhaps morality. You may understand, then, where some of the younger do not: the masters of this cave are cruel and heedless beings. It is ours to bring their victims away... to safety, and to guard them against the lashes of the masters' whips." Imagery flitted through Temperantia's mind, briefly, and Howl's too: a shared flashback of things-Mother-had-once-seen, through some creature or another. Leering faces, fangs, snarls in the dark. Bellowing.

"GET BACK ͢T̝O W̭͚̹ORK̯̟ OR ̡I'̞̮L̙L RIP OFF ͚T́HOS͔É ARMS̹ ̲͕̲N̗͡D̳ PU̘̮͢T T͢HE͠M͏̩̗̝ ̞̜̠̳͞W̴̦ḨE͟R̯͘E͚̞͚̰̱͘ ̮̜̣͕̥͔̫̕Y̹͖̺̤̣̠O͏U̩̖̟R͖ͅ E̪̺̬̠̠̬Y̺E̩͙̫̤͝S̸̲ ̯U͔̳͔̫S͏͚̫͍̯E̼̜̥Ḍ͟ ̼̰͖͍̲̝͘Ṱ͍O҉ ҉̖̞B̺͎͙Ḙ͕͙͠!"

This-... This is what Mother guarded against. In the dark, in secret, her children gathered, warm and safe, away from the cold cruelties of Origin's masters.

@Temperantia

Once not a speck remained on himself, the hybrid stared blankly ahead, the only sign of life being his interjection once he felt the wheel's - Temperantia's - presence among the many others in his mind: "welcome home, sibling."

Mother spoke, and showed. Horrors, terror, the very thing she protected them against. Her gift of love and adoration was far better than crooked grins and claws, darkness, misery. The chaos of it all was nearly too much for Howl to bear, his hackles setting on edge involuntarily before a flood of calm and security washed over him. Knowing that he was safe with Mother kept him grounded, and he soon forgot (again) what chaos resided in his mind.

"Thank you, Mother," he cooed softly, tail flagging once, "we will protect them and love them and adore them."

Temperantia was unaware of the masters, had yet to meet them. Were they perhaphs gods? As Alastor was? But Mother showed them. And then Temperantia understood. The visions she projected into their mind filled them with dread, and they flinched physically. The images awoke primal fears within it. The bared teeth and claws. Cold fear, more real than anything it'd felt in its two cycles of life. They shielded their body with their wings, as if the images were a physical thing it could flee from. It was terrifying. And then, Mother's warmth returned. Temperantia wanted nothing more--could not imagine it's life beforehand. Things were as they should be. As all gembound should be.

"They are evil." Temperantia was sure. It was blinded with righteous rage. Mother was right. The one truth. Temperantia would fight to free all gembound from the hands of the masters. Deliver them from their pain to Mother. Temperantia would punish the masters itself. There was no punishment more befitting of such crimes than death itself. "I--we will rid the caves of the masters." It said, hoping Mother and the Hive would share the same goal. "We can punish them." Though its body was weak--two cycles old with frail bird bones and a thin exoskeleton, it had more than enough willpower to fight them itself.

@Howl

A wave of approval, of warmth, over both her children; and then the receding of her mind, like breakers from a shore. But they were touched by her, now, and would remain aware of her existence, as she ever was of theirs.

"Yes, child... but not blindly. Never blindly. Grow, first. Grow, and learn."