He listened to both of them, quiet.

She was wanting to leave--back to Ursa--and he grimaced, a little. It seemed he'd had the opposite effect from what he'd intended. But her questions struck at least one note in him, and softly, he spoke: "What makes you think we intend to leave them alone..? This 'Creator' hasn't shown its face. If it comes, and it is a threat, we will fight that too," but he was weary, now, with memory. With his cowardly attempts at reconciliation at the meeting in Orion, when all had been present, when they'd confronted Astraea, Vargas. "We have called them to task once before, and made it clear that we will not give them our children. I believe that Astraea was angry, but he did accept this." But would you have truly fought? Logical--yes; give in, surrender, survive. Cowardly? Yes. "I cannot agree to speak to the fungus on your behalf--and that's all that it is, Aethereal. It's a sentient fungus, with a mind of its own, and it wants to manipulate you to carry and protect it, so that it can survive. We will destroy it, if we can. It does not truly care for you--do you understand that? It is a parasite, nothing more."

Her other question--how she could recognize Astraea--left him pondering. "I do not know. There may be ways for you to gain sight, of a sort--magic through which you can sense your surroundings. Magic that you can use to bind yourself to a smaller creature, a familiar; then you can borrow its sight, as well. I could try to teach you that, if you wish," he added, "but it's not an easy one to manage. In form, Astraea is like me: long-legged, slender-limbed, hooved, with branching antlers. But I am white; he is brown, with fungus growing over his antlers, sometimes his fur. He has a red gemstone on his forehead. You could simply ask the names of those you're speaking to; he is arrogant, and I doubt he would bother to lie." Undoubtedly, too, the old Master would approve of Aethereal's monstrous form.

"One other thing," Pride added, thoughtful: "the one Master that I believe to have good intentions, that I would trust, is Tenzin. If you can find him, he is in the cold cave of water not far from here--the place called Pisces. Follow the roar of the waterfall to his pond. He may be able, and willing, to answer more questions. He has given of himself to mend our wounds and sicknesses, before. I think that he can be trusted."

Pride studied Aethereal for a moment longer. "If you must go, then be cautious. The fungus will try to infect you, even against your will, and it is said to live in Ursa. If you are blind you may not see its carriers even coming. You are always welcome, instead, to return here--for protection, information, training, or anything that strikes your mind. Good luck," he added--and he meant it.

This one hadn't been dealt an easy starting hand.

@Aethereal

Pride's assurance that they would stand up to the Creator as well satisfied Aethereal--at least, a little. Astraea was still a betrayer, had doomed Temperantia to a world of pain and single-minded servitude, had even demanded along with Vargas that they give up their children. If Pride and those he watched over had refused them the third, then at least that was something.

But fighting Dontacael while letting Temperantia go unavenged, simply because it would be difficult to resist? In theory, Aethereal did not have a problem with self-preservation. But did they think defeating Mother would be as easy as that? She did not know the size of Vargas' army, but--they sounded a little overconfident.

Ah, but hadn't Mother been in hiding? The nest was a secret, and she had been warned many times of stranger danger. Maybe, then, Mother was close to defeat, despite the numbers of siblings. Maybe these people did know what they were doing.

Still, she did feel bad for Temperantia.

The fact that Mother was a fungus did not bother her all that much, and she thought it was a bit odd of Pride to bring it up when he was a deer and Temperantia was a floating ring. People took many forms and shapes, so wasn't knowing how to think--the sentient part of sentient fungus--the important part? But as Aethereal considered this, she felt a slow sort of dread creep up her spine.

She'd never heard her siblings talk.

Nor had they spoken through the mental link; it had always been Mother. If they did not talk, and they did not think, what were they? They played with her and took care of her, but she'd never heard anything from them beyond their odd clicking sounds. And maybe that was their way of communicating. She had no sight; perhaps her siblings could not speak in the traditional way. This thought reassured her slightly, but the worry remained in her mind. Wasn't it a bit odd for them all to click instead of talk, and why didn't they think at her through the link...? The doubts gave strength to Pride's words against Mother, and what remained of her loyalty wavered. In the end, all she said regarding the war was a repetition of what she'd told James: "I hope you know what you're doing, then."

The magic to see through others sounded useful, and sort of like what Mother had done when she'd been shown her own dancing form. It would grant her another way to discern truth from lies, and learning it from Pride was infinitely better than getting sight from Vargas (definitely not a good person) or Mother (under the control of Dontacael, probably not a good fungus). It was satisfying, the idea that she could learn this without resorting to asking the two powerful, quite probably evil forces at work.

And Tenzin. Powerful and a Master, but he was kind. He had helped people instead of hurting them, as Astraea and Vargas had. And he lived in a second cold cave, which was a relief to hear about. "Thank you for telling me these things." The information and warning she stored away for later, when she would start to travel again. "I will stay for a while, to learn the seeing magic, if that's all right with you?" There were decisions to be made about where to go, after she learned the spell, but Aethereal didn't like trying to think about so many things at a time. It was easier to focus on one task, and finish that, than to juggle multiple trains of thought. And right now, the task was to see.

@James

"I can help where I can, too," James offered softly, "There's a spell that allows you to detect magic. Which would be helpful when you're searching for gembound. And of course, the familiar spells."

He could feel Darling's annoyance flickering in the back of his mind, flying around them in a large radius, on alert for strange lessers. He'd given her the instructions to return if the lesser in question was covered in white or was heading straight towards them, and she'd reluctantly done as told. He had the feeling that as they spent more time with each other, she was becoming more eager to do things.

"If you two don't mind," he said, "I'm going to go and find my old house and get to cleaning it out. Unfortunately I doubt you'd fit in one, Aethereal, or I'd offer to help you, but I will help you build a shelter to hide from the elements."

James offered them both tired smiles and rubbed his face gently, eyes distant. He needed to return to Pegasus and Cepheus soon, and he wasn't looking forward to the journey, what with his injured leg and all.

@Pride

Pride inclined his head. "Naturally," he responded--of course she could stay. Ahh--but James was going? Pride turned, and eyed him briefly; he looked tired. "If there's anything I can do for you, do let me know. And I have other news as well--perhaps for later; it's more... personal," he added with a glance Aethereal's way.

He waited, a long pause, and then addressed the white, 'bleeding' creature before him. "Do you know what sort of magic you bear, already? There are many ways to sense the world around you, and they do vary widely. It would be useful to know what we're starting with," he explained.

@Aethereal

Aethereal addressed James first, turning toward him at his offer. "Thank you, but I can manage without. It's not windy here, and you should take care of your own stuff." She'd brought much trouble to the horse already, and with how tired he sounded she didn't think building a shelter for a creature many times his size would help.

"I change the air," she told Pride. "I can make it heavy with pressure, or I can thin it out." It was not a magic suited to demonstrations; it was chaotic and harmed even herself at times, keeping her up at night. "It hurts me sometimes, without my meaning to use it, but recently, I found that it can withdraw back into myself and leave me feeling refreshed and healed."

@James

James peered over at Pride, a brow raised, "News- ah. Good, I hope. Well, I'll talk to you later, then. I apologize for leaving so early, I'm rather exhausted, frankly. Thank you both."

He shuffled his wings back onto his back and stared out towards the houses with a sigh. Having not been able to properly recover from the fight, his leg was swollen and ached like hell. He'd probably suffer for it, but it had been necessary to get Aethereal here to Pride.

He limped forward, keeping his leg held up and his wings slightly out in case he overbalanced. It was slow going, but he left for the houses, intent on finding the pelt pile he'd left behind to pass out on and sleep for a week.

Exit James
@Pride

Pride glanced after James. "Not at all, James. Rest well." But he was already facing the unpleasant realization that he was now being left alone with this creature.

Pride was not a snob, really--he wasn't the sort, ever, to consider himself better than others, somehow intrinsically more superior. He certainly took pride in his own achievements but never at the cost of looking down at someone else's. He didn't look at Aethereal and think, "oh how disgusting"--but he was aware that she might be dangerous. He knew he didn't fully understand her motivations or her nature; he just didn't know her that well. And if she did attack, having another skilled magic-user there to help deal with her would have been a good thing. Though he didn't particularly get any dangerous impressions off her, he did feel his wariness tick up a notch as James departed--a preparation, maybe, for an unlikely 'just in case.'

Pale eyes shifted back to Aethereal, and the stag tried to focus on what she'd said. Air pressure. Right. "I do not know all that much about such magic. But I don't know a way to use it to navigate, at least. Hmm." Absent thought, for a moment, as he considered.

Of course, Pride knew nothing about Aethereal's true magic: about her corruption, the nature of it, the way it would prevent her from learning much of what he could try and teach. So he began to tick off what he knew. "I know that one can view the world, in a sense, through the fungus that lines the caves. Some use other sorts of invisible life that lives all around us--sickness, and things too small to see. I have a familiar--a small creature, bonded," and he turned to glance off at Mischief--but Aethereal couldn't see this. "Through her eyes, I can get a glimpse of what she sees. That may be your best bet, for any real vision. I can try to show you what that's like, using that? And the magic James mentioned, it allows you to sense magic being cast. I know a spell that would help you to find living gemstones, too--as in, the stones attached to living Gembound creatures. That would help you find living beings, but not to navigate your way around the cave; I would consider that magic aligned to the magic of earth and stone."

Pride fell silent for a moment to go over, in his head, all that he'd said thus far. He couldn't think of anything he was missing, so he shifted a little to his left hooves and spoke again. "Does any of that interest you? I cannot teach the magic of fungus or germs, but I may be able to find those who can. The magics of stone, of finding magic, or of bonding with familiars, I think I can teach," he explained.

All the while, his eyes trailed the gaping hole at her throat, the rows of teeth, the instinct of a prey animal thrumming with suppressed nervousness.

@Aethereal

Aethereal considered each option Pride spoke of. Detecting the presence of magic or gemstones could be useful when her magic acted out of line, or when she hallucinated. But the Black Spire had calmed those dreams, at least for the moment, and sight would tell her anyway if it was her own magic touched her and not another being.

Would hallucinations affect the sight she was granted from a different animal, or fungus or germs? Aethereal hoped not. They were separate, in the end, but she didn't know if magic cared.

"I am interested in seeing through fungus, germs, or a familiar," she told Pride. "I have seen through others once before, but it was not my own magic. I don't know if that would make it easier for me the second time." Seeing through the Cleaners hadn't been practicing a spell herself, but at least it was familiar in the sense that she knew what it was supposed to feel like.

"Since you're here now anyway, can we start with the familiar magic?"

@Pride

Pride dipped his head in agreement. "Of course. Of them, that is the one I know, so that works well. Let me see if I can establish a link, again. I ask that you not harm or frighten my own familiar: she is a small prey animal, and not too confident around unfamiliar predators--are you a predator?" he added, in question. Her form certainly wasn't of a type he was familiar with, at least.

Tentatively, he reached his mind out, and once again linked it to Aethereal. This time, it was more a two-way street: an open plane of communication, rather than a barrage of vision and story. "This may help. Reach along my link, and see that which does not quite belong," he began, aloud. And he reached along his other link--a difficult task, focusing on two at once, and a welcome, interesting challenge. His mind flickered to Mischief, where she crouched nearby watching. Pride's vision would seem to be twinned--as if there were two viewpoints at once. Faint emotions not his own crept along that link. Curiosity, wariness, and yes, mischief. The little white hare sat up, scratching herself with one hind leg. Do you feel it-? Pride thought, directing the mental words toward the Valkhound. Magic, reached out and linked with her. Her emotions, her senses--we share them--do you see? It was gently that he showed this--an open link and not a shoved concept. He hoped that with some passive observation, Aethereal could learn something of it.

Aloud, after a moment, he continued. "...I tried to bond myself to a large number of Lessers before I found one that worked. Many feared the touch of magic. Most simply weren't... receptive. I don't know why. I know another Gembound with a familiar, and they shared a traumatic experience before their mind link snapped into place. Mine took a great deal of work, instead, but I am... fond of Mischief."

The hare was a near-opposite of Pride; where he was dignified and regal, composed and elegant, she was generally getting into any trouble she could or sprawling casually over any surface that presented itself. If she could have spoken, no doubt her words would have been brash, warmly friendly, but utterly crude, and this only seemed to strengthen his fondness for her.

She was... quirky, to say the least.

@Aethereal

"I am," she confirmed. "Although James gave me 'fruit rolls', and those tasted good too. I assume I'd be okay eating some fruit, but I never encountered those in Ursa."

Aethereal took a deep breath, and did her best to smooth out her emotions into something reassuring for Pride's familiar: calmness, gentleness, warmth. The memory of her first encounter with Mother poked at her mind, but she pushed it down; she didn't want that open for Pride to see.

She felt the link open, then, felt two different minds connect to hers. Mischief was tiny, she realized, even compared to Pride. And the two felt very distinct from each other: one calm and dignified, the other--well, mischievous. But they had bonded nevertheless, and both cared for each other.

I see what you mean, she thought, and sent a wave of reassurance and good intentions in case Mischief could also hear her mind. How did you cast the spell? What were you thinking of, when you formed the link?

@Pride