Talys looked over at Ascent, distracted momentarily from teaching Vanyel by her queries. "Your mom and me made Vanyel. Your life-giver was someone else. Vanyel looks like me and your mom; you look like your mom and your life-giver." Half siblings could be a complicated concept, but Talys hoped he understood the whole life-and-stone thing well enough. And then, back to Vanyel.

"It'll come with time," Talys reassured. "Just be careful not to set anything on fire when you don't mean to." He glanced to Carja momentarily. "The fire can hurt, so make sure you know how to soothe it before you get used to the burn."

Talys paused. How to explain jewelry...? "Uh, pretty things, mostly." He was wearing two necklaces right now -- one was his basalt on its woven grass cord, which he had no intentions of parting with, but he also had his plant necklace with him. It was a small plant that had been Preserved and encased in a clear dye hardened into what was almost resin; the whole thing glowed from Baubling, and was on a cord of its own. Talys took it off to show it to Vanyel. If the kid wanted it, he wouldn't have particularly minded letting him keep it.

"See? Isn't it pretty?"

@vanyel @ascent

ASCENT

The child examined their talons. It was true; they could see that they resembled their mother's. And they did both have tails... they looked down at their transparent underside. Were they alike on the inside too?

"...Why?" they asked, now trying to curl their tail around their side to get a better look at it. "Tails. Pads? Sharp talons? What for?" They knew, of course, that eyes were for seeing out of. And they liked feathers, because those were soft and warm. But what was the purpose of tails, paw pads, and talons? They had to have a purpose, or they wouldn't be here, right?

Ascent considered Talys' words next. "We are... made of two?" Ah, yes, they could see it now. Their brother, the Songwing, was shaped like Talys, but his wings were clearly Mom's. They glanced over themselves once more--and it was a marvelous thing, to be able to see themselves from so many angles--and then back around the nest.

There were no white feathery ones around, and they wondered if they had missed somewhere. But a second sweep of their surroundings yielded nothing once again. "Where is the other one?" they wondered, looking up at Carja.

@Carja

”Tails are for balance,” Carja said, feeling a bit giddy, ”Pads are so that you can walk and not hurt yourself on pointy rocks, and talons are for hunting and fighting. I'll show you how to hunt soon, but for now, while you get your bearings, I'll bring you food.”

She sat down and nuzzled through Ascent's feathers, grooming her feathers carefully, similar to how she'd pick at her own scales.

”I asked your stone-giver for a piece of their stone so that I could make you,” Carja said, ”They left afterwards, but you have Talys and I and your other family, of course. You'll meet them soon. They're all very kind and I'm certain they'll love you as much as I do.”

Vanyel perked up as Talys held out the necklace, reaching his hands out to take it as his wings rested on Talys instead, sharp claws raised so as to not cut him. He peered at the necklace and cooed, sniffing it and then licking it before scrunching his nose.

”Ew,” he said, ”Don't taste good. Bleh”

He gave the necklace back hurriedly and scrunched his nose, shaking his head. He pulled away and wobbled, trying to stand on his own like Talys did, wings twitching and flapping. He balanced finally, tail held behind him and wings held tight against his back, hooked talons gripping his shoulders to rest there.

Vanyel looked up at Talys and toddled forward, suddenly gripping his leg and hugging him, ”Dad.”

@Talys @Ascent

ASCENT

Ascent swished their tail from side to side experimentally, feeling the air that brushed against their feathers and the way that it might influence how they hovered. "It balances," they agreed, settling back onto the floor of the nest.

"I have more family?" they questioned. "And dragons are made from stones?" Ascent brushed their front paws down their neck and chest in confusion. "But I am soft." Oh, their shoulders--those were hard. "Are these rock?" they wondered, picking at the edge of an armored plate with a claw.

@Carja

Talys smiled and put it back on. "It's not for eating, Vanyel. It's for wearing." He watched Vanyel stand, hands hovering so as to catch him if he fell, but he finally managed to steady himself. Then, he crossed the space and grabbed onto Talys's leg.

He felt rather like the breath had been knocked out of him. He had no clue how to respond to that -- he had told Carja that he wouldn't be much of a father, but he didn't know if he could say the same thing to Vanyel. The problem was, he'd... told her outright. Vanyel was to stay here, and Talys was not exactly willing to move to Eridanus (at least, he didn't think so). Being close to the Forge (and, to an extent, able to be found if his brother ever resurfaced) was just far too important to him.

He patted Vanyel's head, not at all sure what to say. The simple fact was, Talys had changed his mind. But he had backed himself into a corner -- both options were bad. "I don't know if I'll be a very good one," he said, voice gentle. "But you're always welcome to visit me in Leo -- and you, too, Ascent. And I'll come by here, too!" But he didn't live here. And he couldn't.

(For one thing, wet weather did not agree with his hair.)



@vanyel @carja @ascent

Carja looked down at Ascent, ”You do! And it's not stone, it's... hm. It's like our claws, organic, but unlike stone, our scales can be pierced or fall off if we're not careful. They provide protection to a point.”

She looked over to Vanyel and winced, looking at Talys with slight alarm before stepping forward and bumping her head against him, ”So sorry, I think he made the connection that I'm his mother because I gave stone and you're his father because you gave life... hm.”

She ushered the children before them and cleared her throat, ”Okay... you both are very young so I don't expect you two to understand right away... but I gave life and stone to both of you, and Talys gave life to Vanyel, but he'll be away so often that he won't be able to care for you two like I can, so... he's your uncle!”

She looked over questioningly, hoping it was okay.

Vanyel whined as he was ushered away, sitting down before them and gnawing on his tail. He held the limb in his hands, peering between them before slowly nodding.

”Okay... he still family?”, he asked, rubbing his hands together and looking down, watching an ant crawl by.

He found himself suddenly a lot more interested in the insect and crawled after it, no longer sad or upset. He clearly had the attention span of a goldfish, it seemed.

@Talys @Ascent

ASCENT

"Need to be careful with scales and claws," Ascent paraphrased. "But stone is invulnerable?" At least, that was what it seemed like, since Carja had made no mention of needing to be careful with stone. "Why aren't we all made of stone, then?" Wouldn't that be the safest option? "And why does making dragons need stone, if we aren't made out of it?"

Carja and Talys' tension flew right over their head, but the sharing of more knowledge, more words about families... that they paid attention to. "Ah," Ascent said thoughtfully. "Uncle." Unlike a dad, who was close like Mom was, an uncle was away often and didn't take care of them as much.

"My uncle gave my brother life. Is my stone-giver uncle? Or another word?" It did not seem to matter for the parent-words. Carja was Mom to both of them, though she had given them different things. But they had not yet learned the rules for other words, and they wanted to be sure.

@Carja

Talys set his jaw and nodded at Carja. It wasn't her fault that he couldn't stay consistent, so he wouldn't make it her fault. He'd just be an adult about it all, and maybe when Vanyel got older he'd explain the whole situation to him. For now, he nodded at the child. "Yeah, Vanyel. Still family."

Meanwhile, he glanced over at Ascent. "Well, you have stone somewhere on you," Talys said. "It might be inside, though. Some people have internal stones." He turned around and pointed to the diamond squared away between his shoulder blades, strangely reminiscent of right about where the gap between Vanyel's wings might've been. "To make a new baby, you need to take a stone -- a lost one or one given by someone else -- and put magic into it."

He smiled. "That's why Vanyel has my magic."


@carja @vanyel @ascent