Nestled among a cluster of glowing crystals, a small chrysalis was shaking. Within, a small feline was growing restless. Her first stirs of consciousness had begun some time ago-she wasn't sure how long, but she was growing rather claustrophobic. She clawed experimentally at her crystalline prison, then drew a paw back and hit harder. She whacked at it again and again until her paws were sore, growling sourly. The frustrated neonate batted tiredly at the walls with her soft claws, then threw her head back dramatically. It hit the chrysalis walls with a loud thump and a web of cracks spread. She poked a claw through a tiny hole in awe, and redoubled her escape efforts.

Many, many thumps later, an exhausted neonate dragged herself from her chrysalis on gangly, unsteady legs. She shook her head from side to side, dispelling the chrysalis fluid from them, and took in her surroundings with awe.

Aerie slunk along like a cat, her talons clicking on stone as she prowled the perimeter of Polaris, searching, searching, always searching. She was looking for gems, for shinies, things to bring to her mother. She, like her, loved metal, gold, and gems, anything that looked like it had value.

So when she found the chrysalis, she paused mid-step, her tail swishing and flicking behind her.

Oh?

A child. A child was born. She rounded the chrysalis and faced the serval with her yellow eyes, her long ears raising upwards slowly to face the child, so new, with long legs, big ears, and a curiously spotted yellow hide. Interesting.

She floated upwards and above the gem, a simply spell allowing her to lift into the air, her feather-light body easily carried. Aerie slowly drifted forward, silently, like a hunter, a clawed hand raised, poised to...

"Hello, little one," she purred, instead tapping on the child's flank, "You are still wet! Come, child, I shall dry you off.

@Osimiri

Osimiri gasped, looking at the creature before her in awe. She was so long! And big! And she was...Not on the ground! Naturally, having no sense of self preservation whatsoever, she toddled towards the unfamiliar gembound with a friendly chirp and a skip in her step. She tried to form words for the first time in her short life and wasn't entirely successful, since all that came out was a vaguely inquisitive warble. She lashed her tail with frustration, hoping the creature before her would understand her intent.

The dragon snorted gently and laughed, lowering her front half to the ground, "Hello. I'm Aerie."

She pressed her nose against the child's head and ran her tongue over soft fur, cleaning it off like a mother cat would. Her own fur and scales needed attention, too. Once the cat was cleaned off, she looked around, eyes searching.

She floated forward and looked back and forth, tail twirling underneath her, "Mother? Where are you?

Aerie was in no way experienced with children, and this was the limit of her knowledge. She'd definitely need her mother to assist at some point... preferably now, before something happened and she accidentally killed a child by sitting on it or looking at it wrong... she didn't know how children worked.

@Sharp @Osimiri

To answer Aerie's question: Sharp was hurrying on along across the rock fields of Polaris. The marbled lizard couldn't levitate like her dragon child could, so was instead regulated to arduously scrabbling over every pebble that got in her way. But that was fine! As long as they had some shinies to drag home, it was all worth the effort!

And boy, did she love shinies. Her entire crafting business was built around getting more, but sometimes there weren't many customers and they had to go scavenging for more. The sungazer paused, watching her child float off to the distance as she stretched her legs. She hadn't found anything too interesting yet (unless you considered marbles cool) and the windy chill was starting to get to her joints. Perhaps it was time to head back---

Oh? Was Aerie calling for her?

"Coming!" Sharp squawked, sprinting forth as fast as she could. What did her dragon find? It took her a bit of time to get there, but when she did she saw it was a gemlet! A child! Some sort of small, fluffy not-lizard, covered in little splotches. She looked up to Aerie, then back at the child in surprise, before finally talking:

"Oh hello!" The sungazer ducked under the stormy dragon's tail and made a wide circle around the kitten. "Aerie found you, huh? Um--" She was a newborn, right? "-- Welcome to the cave!" The serval was already cleaned (presumably by Aerie) so that was good. "I am Sharp! Sshhhee-arp! Can you understand me?" Sharp tried to keep her movements gentle and voice soft, in case the child had any lingering anxieties. If Osimiri allowed she'd even run her tail gem along her side, just to check if there were any hidden injuries. Caring for two children made her pretty good at this "parenting" thing.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Good! Sharp shot Aerie a quick smile before continuing: "D'you know your name yet? If you don't that's fine! Take your time, we'll stay around. Right Aerie?"

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@Aerie @Osimiri

Osimiri scrabbled closer to the newcomer in an equal mix of curiosity and confusion. Tilting her head quizzically, she coughed and attempted speech again, this time being moderately more successful. "Wh..what's a nah-me? You said your nah-me was...Sharp." Her brow furrowed as she looked at the ground. What was a name? She felt like she knew what it was somewhere inside her. She unnsheathed a single claw and traced aimlessly in the dust beneath her paws. Something formed in her mind, and she spoke it as easily as breathing. "Osimiri." She smiled. It sounded right to her. "My name is Osimiri."

Aerie nodded slowly and flicked her tail up to make room for Sharp, floating above the two of them with her front claws interlocked, ears perked forward curiously.

"Osimiri," she hummed, "I like that name!"

Aerie very gently nudged Sharp, as affectionate for her tiny mother as always, "Of course, mom. I know you've been aching for a littler assistant anyway."

She kept her claws up high in case the child decided to get too close, for she didn't want to hurt the thing, even if it was by accident. So she just watched, gently tapping her talons together, her head slowly floating off into the clouds.

"Oh, mum," she said, "Look at what Osimiri was born between."

If Sharp didn't notice before, she'd sure see the crystals the child's chrysalis had been wedged between, bigger than the chrysalis had been. Aerie floated up to twine around one, her massive body like a snake as her claws tink tink tinked on the crystal's surface.

@Sharp

Gosh, this kitten was cute. Plush fur, a little snout, what else could a gembound ask for? Sharp's electric eyes glanced between her and Aerie, floating above, until the moment the serval started to speak. Yay, words! Good thing this one was a quick speaker. Her other two children were practically mute when she first met them.

The lizard pushed her weight back, leaning up to better meet the child's eye. "O-oh! A name's... a name is a sound you call yourself and-- yes!" A name, already! "Osimiri"! It didn't sound like anything she was familiar with (Sharp named herself after the quality of her scales) but hey, all her little gemlings had funny names of their own too. "A good name! How do you feel, Osimiri? Life's great, right?"

Aerie had floated some ways away, stealing Sharp's attention away when she saw the massive crystals. "Wow!" The lizard starting running towards the gemstones before briefly turning back to Osimiri. "Follow me!" And then, with a sweep of her spiny tail, she hurried her way to the dragon.

"This is a gem, Osimiri! A shiny!" Sharp propped her front paws against the glowing crystals. "They're everywhere! Including everyone! You have one right on your chest, you know! Mine's on my tail!" She never figured out where Aerie's stone was, but figured she had one somewhere. "Now, shinies are the most important thing ever. They just are! Here--" the sungazer's voice cut off as she tried to pry one of the smaller gemstones out of the ground, pawing it towards Osimiri. "A gift! To, uh, start off your life!"

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@Osimiri