Wyvern had been on her way back from a jaunt over to Pisces when she'd noticed, flying high in the tunnel and taking the air-currents, something shiny. She'd dipped down only to find... a kooru, with three pretty rocks! Two on its back, and one in its tail -- Wyvern assumed one of them was probably the kooru's stone, but a draconic greed surged through her. Wyvern circled slowly overhead, sizing up her prey. She wanted those rocks -- the meal would just be a fortunate side effect.

Sunny and the blooru were making their way back towards Eridanus, coming to the juncture as Sunny hugged the stone in front of her as tightly as possible. The kooru was walking slowly to make allowances for this, and Sunny appreciated it. She was still reeling from the recoil of Detect Magic in Polaris, her head still ringing with white. She wanted to lay down somewhere very dark and very quiet. Needless to say, she didn't exactly have her eyes on the sky.

The kooru, on the other hand, wasn't paying attention at all. She was busy focusing on not dropping the stones, because she knew that Sunny would have been heartbroken. The blooru didn't want to disappoint the snail, and was totally oblivious to the threat circling above.

Wyvern dropped, talons outstretched to catch the creature between the shoulders -- then the kooru looked up at her, and one of the stones screamed. Wyvern yanked her talons up at the last moment and hit the ground just to the left, reeling suddenly from the impact. "Ow," she wheezed, one of her feet twitching like a bird who'd just hit a window. She was going to need a minute, to say the least.

"Wha--?" she said vaguely, looking up at the kooru. What was going on? Was this one of those weird Greaters she'd met in the past?

When Sunny noticed the shadow diving towards her, she let out a shrill cry. Blooru skittered away as violently as she dared, and Sunny scowled down at the dragon-bird when it started to talk to her. "Rude one with the wings!" she said sharply, and the blooru stomped firmly on the ground. "Attacking things with no real reason! No checking, no carefulness!"

She was pretty mad, to say the least. Plenty of creatures in the caves looked like Lessers but were, in fact, Greaters -- Sunny saw no reason why anyone should think it would be appropriate not to ask before swooping in on something. Granted, she also wasn't a predator.

Wyvern burned with embarrassment, pulling herself awkwardly to her feet. While Sunny's argument was inherently flawed -- a prey animal could easily flee if the predator called out to it first, and Wyvern had wanted the rocks it carried -- but she dipped her head as though she were bowing. "You are right; I was wrong to try and attack you. I simply wanted the stones; I assumed that, ah, the-- that-- you? Apologies. It was... wrong of me. You have my sincerest apologies." A pause, and then, "My name is Wyvern. And yours?"

She wasn't actually sure if they were both Greaters or just the stone with organs (which struck her as looking kind of like one of those glowing rabbits). She began to smooth down her feathers absentmindedly while she waited for an answer; it was important to be well-groomed (no matter how bruised you were).

The kooru squinted, but Sunny was a pretty good judge of character -- and she was pretty sure Wyvern was telling the truth. Also, Wyvern was a pretty awful liar in the first place. "Naughty bird," she continued to scold. "Life stones these are having! Could have gotten them broken!" Her tentacles waved violently. "Then bird-beast would have had lives on her stone!"

Sunny huffed. "Sunny. And this one... has no name," she admitted. Sunny hadn't thought of one yet. "Familiar-having," she explained again, because the blooru was a Lesser. Not that it mattered.

Wyvern felt very silly -- she was ten times this creature's age, and here she was cowering as it scolded her. It felt like getting chewed out by her mother, albeit with less precise grammar! She lowered her head shamefully. "I did not know," Wyvern admitted. "But why are you collecting life-stones? My mother collects them because she thinks they are pretty, but..." That didn't strike her as a desire most non-dragons would have, honestly.

Sunny softened at Wyvern's question, and considered it at length herself. "Sunny-snail will be a mother," is what she finally said, voice firm. "To any who need her. I have been stone-collecting -- three already. And friends-collecting -- I have four of those, not counting the kooru. When I am old enough, I will be Life-giving to some stonelings. Will be mothering, protecting, loving." She rested her head on the stone in front of her, less because she needed to and more because she wanted to; tentacles gently laying against it.

Wyvern's mother struck her as someone rather selfish. Sunny decided that she did not like her; perhaps once day she'd reclaim the stones.

Wyvern paused, curious. Her head tilted to the side, and she fluffed up a little bit as a gust of wind struck her and she paused. "... I can, ah, relate to that desire," Wyvern admitted. "I've been... thinking about being a mother for a while now. I'd like to... to do the same, I suppose." She laughed a little bit at herself. "I'm not sure how good of a mother I would be, but the idea of bringing life into the world and letting it flourish makes me feel... a comforting sort of chill." Like powdered snow as you flung yourself into it.

Sunny's tentacles poked up. "Does Wyvern-beast have a magic-sense? The ability to look out and see magic, not seeing-things? Or another friend-having to make Little-stones with?" She glanced towards the stone the kooru carried -- the alexandrite, which the kooru was carrying in her tail. She was... thinking. Sunny could relate to wanting to be a mother, but if Wyvern didn't have a way to achieve it...