CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon didn't exactly know where to find Tahi aside from the knowledge that he had to be somewhere between Ursa and Orion. So he'd left Bone and sluggishly dragged himself through the thick snow, his rib bugging him less and his full belly providing energy and warmth. If he was lucky he'd gain his weight back and would look more like a dragon than a garter snake.

Reaching the tunnel to Polaris, he came to a stop, working his jaw as he realized that his journey would be very difficult. Maybe he should have asked Bone to come... whatever. He wasn't a quitter.

”Tahi-shei!”, he called out, pushing forward, his tail swishing behind him and providing some push, ”Are you here?!”

If he was lucky, the deer was. If he wasn't then he couldn't find the damn guy and he was fresh out of luck.

@Tahi-shei

Eerie, empty eyes turned in Charon's direction at the call -- though the couldn't see them yet. Tahi-shei noted that there must have been a hill between them -- he also noted that Charon had mold slow-growing in his body, a note that he recognized. He trudged up the snow-covered mound, and then he was gazing down at the dragon.

"Keep your distance," he instructed, calm and proud. A stag standing on a hill, a crown of bone and mold atop his head -- truly, a Fungal Prince. It was no wonder that more than one had mistaken him for a Mother spy; he matched the aesthetic well. Even his scars were symmetrical -- the visible ones, at least. There was a Lichtenberg pattern etched somewhere under his fur, but he barely remembered where it lay.

One of Tahi-shei's ears flicked. "What does she wish to tell me now?" His head inclined slightly, those empty eyes boring endlessly into the distance. "I still haven't made up my mind. And I must say..." Tahi-shei frowned. Was this that kid he'd recruited? "I'm a bit disappointed my speech in Orion was this uninspiring." His head inclined slightly. "Ah, but I cannot fault anyone for collecting their own evidence and drawing their own conclusions, now can I? Even my beliefs had to be re-evaluated."

@charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon frowned as he turned to Tahi-shei. As glad as he was to see the deer, such an emotion was quickly deteriorating.

”She didn't send me nowhere,” he said, ”I have come because I don't want that damned fungus in me! My sister caught a deer that was infected with it and now I'm 'Mothered'. I got lost before the battle and nearly starved to death in Eridanus. If that hadn't happened I'd have been there to help.”

He huffed and trudged forward a few steps, ”But... she did say some... some things. She uh... she gave me a choice. She told me to go to you specifically, actually, and get her removed. She said until now she didn't know there was a way to remove her should anyone wish it.”

He was doubting again but he was scared it wasn't him thinking these thoughts.

”I want to believe her,” he admitted, ”But I'm scared it ain't me. I don't feel her in my head and she hasn't talked since I told her not to. I just... I don't know.”

@Tahi-shei

His expression and demeanor both softened. "It's alright; the whole ordeal was a mess, anyway. We were children stumbling blind through the snow -- no army." He shook his head. "Fighting an enemy we did not know. At any rate -- yes, she speaks the truth. I can remove the fungus with magic, but entering chrysalis also works." He gave a smile. "I presume you'd prefer the easy way."

Tahi-shei stepped closer, and dipped his head to Charon. "That's respectable. As far as I am able to tell, I do not think she means harm." One of his ears flicked. "The fact that she sent you to me is evidence enough of that, and I'll have her know that I am thankful for it. Still, even if we have the best of intentions, we can still cause harm to the people we love."

Charon, at least, seemed to be a smart kid. And the fact that Mother had listened to him, was sending someone--? He acquiesced to James that he may have been a bit harsh on her. "I'll need to touch you," he warned. "And this is going to hurt, but only for a moment. Try to hold still if you can manage it, alright?"

Given permission, he would move closer to Charon and reach out his nose to touch to a shoulder or something similar. Tahi-shei focused intently on the visible web of fungus working its way through Charon's body in micrometers and miles, using his own magic to beckon it to his heels. Unfortunately for Charon, he missed a few spots at first and so the awful burning feeling of having one's cells displaced en masse was prolonged beyond what it absolutely needed to be. At the end of it, though, a web of white spores was on the ground around them, and Tahi-shei took a very conscious step or two back.

"I do rather hope you don't receive sensory information from this part of you," Tahi-shei told the mold, "but if you do, my apologies -- I don't imagine freezing to death is very pleasant."

He turned back to Charon, his head tilting slightly to the side. "If you are still in need of food, it is possible to hunt here, but you're probably more likely than anywhere else to catch something that she has infected. Her charges like to stay out of sight, but, then, so does any prey animal. However, Pegasus is in that direction -- there is game there, and kind faces. If you ever have need of a place to rest your... erm, tail, Pegasus is a good pick. Any friend or family of Carja's is a friend of mine."

A moment more passed, and he decided to give Charon a bone in case the dragon ever had need of him again. "If you ever need to find me again, waiting near the entrance to Pegasus will have you catching me soon -- I tend to come back this way every few days."

@charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon stayed still, clenching his jaw and very stubbornly staying still despite the pain. When it was over he drew away quickly, shaking himself off and wincing at the raw feeling that stretched all throughout his body. What a horrid feeling...

”I'll keep that in mind,” he said, looking away. It was then he realized that no, it wasn't Mother's feelings. It was his own.

”... What if I want to go back?”, he asked, "I-I've never had a family, at least not for long. Everyone kind of just... left me. I just found my sister here and Mother seems so... seems so welcoming.”

He was ashamed to think such thoughts but he couldn't find it in himself to care in that moment, so desperate he was for love and family. He so dearly wanted to be wanted.

”... Maybe it'd be nice to be able to feel wanted all the time. Maybe it'd be nice to have my family in my head always,” he mumbled, looking away.

He didn't know what to do.

@Tahi-shei

He paused, and glanced around to make sure there was nobody in the immediate vicinity who could overhear, before looking back to Charon. "There are other ways to have a family, Charon. But, I suppose that I ought to return her favor -- if you want her back, eating infected prey is one way to go about it; I don't think she minds. You could try finding one of her other ser-- er, children -- and asking them for help. There are even ways to find entrances to her nest directly, but I'll not reveal any."

Tahi-shei thought back to the strange creature with the incense, from months ago. He thought about his attempts to keep his link from James secret from Mother, lest she try to exploit it... and decided that he could be vague, at least. "There are spells to connect you to a loved one, too. Spells to link your mind to theirs, letting you hear them, feel them, be in some ways aware of where they are. It takes a bit to get used to, if I am being honest, but it is comforting. The difference being, of course, that such a thing has no magical effects soothing you so that you do not fight it, and whoever first cast the spell can break the connection at any time."

He did feel the need, though, not to slander her too much. "Though I must note, I feel inclined to believe her when she tells me that her magic was originally intended for the sake of infecting Lessers -- to which, soothing them and encouraging them to infect others could be useful. At any rate, Charon -- family is to be found everywhere, if you look for it. You could return to Mother, and have her in your head. Just know that nobody in these caves truly knows the intentions of our patrons -- not even her. And know that if you choose to take shelter within her mountains, the Masters and their Forge will become your enemies."

Tahi-shei sighed. "But, as she would tell you, all chaos tears itself apart eventually. I know that my partner, he hopes that there is..." He frowned, looking for the right words. "A middle line, I suppose? A third path, potentially one greater than milling about these caves and keeping your head down. I know not when or if we will be expected to declare which side we are on once and for all -- but if you want my advice, it would be to try and be neutral, quiet, and useful for as long as you can be."

@charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon nodded slowly and tried to process all that Tahi-shei had said. He considered it, mulled it over, but ultimately he wasn't smart enough to understand some of what he was saying. But he did know that Mother was a chance at a family and Vargas and his brood seemed like horrible people anyway.

”Thanks,” he said gruffly, ”I'll uh... think about it. I need to find someone who'll heal this damned cold I have, so I gotta go. Thank you, Tahi-shei.”

The half-dragon turned, dragging his tail through the snow as he snorted and lowered his head, digging a bit before disappearing into the drifts. He was almost faster burrowing than he was trying to drag his ungainly body over the ground, so here in Ursa where it was mostly snow, he did just that.

@Tahi-shei
Exit unless stopped