He didn't realize what he'd been doing. He was frustrated, yes- but he was going into a bit of a pit of his own making, alienating Fahl. It took him shrinking down for him to notice, and when he did, Attikias shook his head and huffed. A breath in, a breath out- and he re-centered himself, nodding once. "It may just be-- magic interfering. That's a bit of a reach though. Probably just failing." He shrugged, his jaw tensing for a moment.

It seemed Fahl would take him up on the tent offer. Good- he hated to make someone wait out here in the cold, uncomfortable. Setting down the plate, Attikias drew his mind to the dye once more- though, he let the thought simmer in the back of his mind as he made conversation. "I tend to stick around Eridanus, near the eyes- it's by the far wall, if you're coming in from either tunnel." He thought for a moment, shuffling in place to sweep his legs out to the side instead of kneeling on them. "I try to be where people need me, though, if I can help it. Otherwise, I do things if people ask me to, usually pertaining to woodcraft or leather working." He nodded to the leather that sat just outside the tent.

"Actually-- I don't think I ever gave you my name! It's Attikias Elenya." With a hand to his chest, he nodded his head in a brief bow. "Or, Attik for short. If you ever need me, you're free to visit my camp any time."

Of course, he neglected to mention the fact that, if Fahl visited, he'd be somewhat likely to find his family rather than him. If so, they'd go out and grab him, right? he mentally shrugged at that, stuffing that thought away for later.

@Fahl

Stepping from open air to enclosure, Fahl detected an immediate change in the temperature. What chill lapped at his hindquarters receded, chased out the same restricted entryways it came through by the predominantly higher temperature the tent harbored within.

"Eridanus." The syllables tumbled over his tongue, the name familiar but the pronunciation ever awkward without meticulous practice. Embarrassment aside, he'd had no reason to; there'd not been many instances where using the caves' common names held much importance, but that was to be expected from what'd been up until more recently a bit of a magic-obsessed unintentional recluse. "That'd be..." The one with the vast amounts of vegetation, with the streams running abundant with fish? "The one with all the plants?"

If his face were not scaled, its flush surely would have revealed his opinion on the lacking description. He pushed it from his mind and carried on as best he could without a significant telling pause.

"Yeah, I've been by there. A couple times. Usually whenever the food's not as... plentiful. In Pisces—where I'm from."

On a surface level, Fahl understood Attikias, his willingness to help. Would he not do the same if the opportunity presented itself? Yes, provided his own problems didn't seem more important to handle. But the depth, the altruism at its heart, escaped him. A hum, a turn of his neck so that their eyes could meet, acknowledged the elf's explanation.

"Ah..." The sound could have been a filler in the conversation, meaningless. That was until it repeated, the rest of the given name clumsily tacked on. A slight frown crossed his features, and he attempted again, before settling upon the suggested, "Attik."

Two names? At least there didn't exist an expectation to say both. His mouth could barely handle one.

He returned the nod. "I'll keep that in mind. And I'm Fahl. Pleased to meet you."

Used to taking his chances with no shelter beyond those naturally made, eyes swept over the tent's interior, observing and not entirely comprehending what they encountered.

"You said, the eyes. What would that be? I don't go too far into Eridanus. Just in and out through the tunnels."

@Attikias

Attikias paused, thinking. Were there any others with a lot of plants? Pegasus, maybe, but- eventually he nodded. "By Pisces, yeah." He'd leaned back a little, using one arm to prop himself up as he kept that focus of magic on Fahl's crest. Names were exchanged, and he implanted Fahl into his mind. "Fahl. It's good to meet you, too."

He paused, thinking, about what the Eyes were. "The Eyes are-- hm. They're two big pools of water, very still. Before all this-" and he pointed a thumb back into Fornax proper- "they were colder than ice. Now, they're hot- I guess Farina had something to do with it? I don't know."

Attikias shrugged, tucking himself in a little more. "There's a bit of a path going from that to the camp. You'll know it's the Elenya's if it's got a bunch of huts and stuff- well. I haven't seen another camp, though, to be fair."

He paused for a moment, giving himself time to direct his magic onto Fahl further, quiet. Well- "You might find my family first, if I'm not there, though." His free hand rubbed at the corner of his jaw, thoughtful. "Most are my own gem or magic, but they'll all be able to lead you to the camp, anyways." He hummed gently, quiet again as he stared, and-

He huffed, looking away. Nothing was coming from this magic, was it? "If you don't want to wait too long, I'm sure the dye'll stay for a good while. I can try affixing it when we're done with whatever we do down there?" It seemed like Fahl was comfortable, yes, but maybe he just needed some time for his magic to gather? He didn't know, really. It wouldn't hurt to try, maybe- but for now, he'd keep trying his magic ever so slowly.

@Fahl

As unusual as the transformation Farina's prison had undergone in her absence was, no possible explanations for the change were given. The Blacksmith's snippets of information the little he had to work with, all Fahl could offer was a noncommittal roll of the shoulders. Mildly amused by the apparent lack of answers, he snorted before saying his unhelpful piece on the matter.

"Don't think anyone knows. Probably some special Master sh—eh, stuff."

And that was it. Nothing else could be said as far as he was concerned, though the talk did remind him to perhaps ask Imp for clarification on what being a Master entailed. As a hatchling, the concern had never been there; a master meant one who did the best and was the best. But now he wondered, as it seemed an emphasis fell upon the word at times, particularly when it didn't apply to him: a sense of importance, heavy and often foreboding.

The suggestion to affix later, if not for his limited facial expressions, would have caused a skeptical brow to lift. Robbed of the option, he settled for a questioning head tilt. "Are you... certain it'll hold up? Deep dive's more than a splash in the water." Sure, waiting around for what should have, at least to him, been a non-issue started an impatient itch beneath his scales. However, the alternative came across as a loss of materials and time if the guarantee wasn't ironclad.

"I can spare more time. How about your family. Any that I'd see more likely than the rest?" What did they look like? By his reckoning, bipedal if the children took after their parent. Not that he knew how this operated. He hadn't hatched surrounded by copies of himself, but alone on a slippery ledge.

@Attikias

There was a small huff of a laugh that escaped Attikias. "Honestly? It probably was Farina's fault." One hand drummed on his thigh as he thought of that- did Farina just heat up all the waters with her existence, then? He shrugged back, uncertain himself.

"It... Should. Let me try again-" and he winced to himself the moment he started focusing, a sharp stab pointing into the back of his mind. It took him a moment of squeezing his eyes shut, and it was slowly fading, along with a slow exhale. "... Backfire. Maybe not right this second. But, we aren't that pressed for time, at least," he simply said, pressing his fingers into his leg.

He'd have to nurse this, then, as they talked. He propped up one knee and laid his hand across it as he focused more on the conversation than the migraine that had started to blossom. "Most of them are bipedal- Thalia is probably the most likely. She has.. Mostly my upper half, and the legs of her other father, Pride. Actually- I think all of them are bipedal, other than Vivilene- she's elf upper, and deer bottom, but with a full torso rather than just one pair of legs."

He'd brought them to the front of his mind idly, trying to figure out who was most likely, anyways. "I guess- if it's bipedal, and if it's in a camp of leather and the like, it's most likely one of my children." His foot tapped- "There's a large, dark dragon, too, who's nested there- she's also likely to be there."

In fact, that camp was getting a bit crowded, and he paused briefly as he realized this. If they moved, how would he tell people like Fahl that they did? Certainly some of his family would prefer to stay behind, too, so perhaps they could direct the visitors to the right direction.

Well. He'd cross that bridge when he reached it.

@Fahl

Strong emotion could not present itself well on his face, but behind a dull yet attentive stare and the slight parting of lizard lips, Fahl was pleased. As little as it might be, his guess had been more educated than he'd expected it to be. Entire mindscape drenched in the warm light of success, he gave himself a metaphorical pat on the back, and though his chin raised at the self-administered praise, any further smugness did not leak out into reality.

Bipedal it indeed was, excepting this Vivilene. Considering the deer half, that made sense. Although no expert, to him a single pair of hooves didn't seem a fantastic way to walk around. Rearing up was one thing, but eternally balancing on those was another. His best frame of reference being a horse though, a difference might exist there.

His eyes shut for a moment, contemplative but not about the conversation. Dye still unaffixed, by this time the itch of impatience grew ever more insistent. He wondered, while the job was not his to complete, whether anything could be done to push the process along. The magic might clash—never before had he hazarded spells mingling—but surely trying to hasten the dye's drying wouldn't be a significant risk. Acting before hesitance could fully assert itself, he called upon heat, expecting the familiar summons to work as usual.

And then his eyes flew open, finally caught up with all Attikias had said. "Dragon?"

Elf he could deduce as what his conversational partner was. This, however, he knew nothing about. The very word somehow managed to sound imposing. Or maybe that was due to the descriptors of "large" and "dark."

@Attikias