Oka took notice of the procession of gembound coursing through Pegasus. A few questions gave them their answer--they were learning to read. The strange sigils upon the walls, apparently they had meaning? Oka had never given it thought, but it made sense! After some deliberation, given they had never gone past the borders of Pegasus, Oka decided to follow. Something they'd soon grow to regret.

The low chittering and twittering of lessers on their back grew ever more quiet as Oka followed into Draco. Most lessers upon their back fled, but a pair of mountain sparrows, their nest in a young tree on Oka's back, stayed hunkered on Oka's shell. Not that Oka had, or would notice. What took Oka's attention was Draco itself. It was an... unpleasant place, to say the least. The walls and the floor shuddered and breathed like a real living thing. And walking through the entrance was wholly unpleasant.

The simultaneous brightness and darkness of the cave, it somehow brought back memories of that horrible hole so long ago. But... that was far away. The other side of the caves. Surely, here, Oka was not at risk of the visions and such. Oka found themselves glancing about the gembound that they followed. They was dismayed by the fact that he did not recognize any of the gembound here. Even though they searched in vain for the familiar black and orange hide of a lizard.

"Do...ah, do we have to have the lesson here..?" Oka said, to any willing to answer. Their stalks shrinking back into their head. Then their head shrinking back, until all that was visible of the snail's face was their two eyestalks peeking out. "This place... I, er, it give me a bad feeling. Pegasus is behind us, and much more pleasant!"

"Eh? Reading?"

Sharp was here.

She had been... in her home, for the past several cycles. After everything that's happened, and after her first stone failed to hatch, and after Aerie (Oh, Aerie) left, she just needed some time to herself to think. And craft. Oh, she crafted.

It was on a chilly morning when Sharp poked her head out of her hut and noticed a stream of gembound entering through the dark tunnel. Eyes widened in curiosity. She'd seen the beasts come and go through there from time to time, but this? This was more than she'd ever seen before. So naturally, she followed.

Fast forward. Now she was back in the Cave of Shadows. Monsters big and small flanked her on all sides-- the fire dragon she recognized, and the large Purple Thing, but the others not. Her iconic cart was by her side, with a couple pebbles scattered inside. She had little idea what was happening, aside from what Dread said about "redding" and "righting," which she echoed earlier.

For now, though, it looked like all she had to do was wait.

© ©

Attikias had been rather excited for this. When Astraea visited Cepheus, Attikias found the group leaving the palace and trailed along, picking his way through the foliage and meandering along slowly. If this was what he thought it'd be, he'd need ink- and he'd need something to make images with, but it'd be fine. He had his packed charcoal for designing those homes in Draco, but ink was a more natural thing for him. So, he went searching for berries- he didn't want to crush up some gems and do all that effort when the juice was just as fine.

Good thing he'd already made a job of drawing. Writing wouldn't be too fundamentally different. Same materials, maybe. And, hey, if that wasn't the plan, then he should see what was happening, anyways.

As they'd moved through Pegasus, Attikias kept picking through and idly eating what he found edible. It was tasty enough, and they were sweet- and if he ate too many, he'd probably get sick, but he'd live with that. The rest were pressed into a spare bottle and stored in his bag, alongside the rolls of birch-like bark with various concepts of homesteads for monsters.

He still didn't like Draco. It felt weird and... gross? It's the grossest cave, right after Cetus. ... no, he hated Cetus more. At least Draco had people in it. Cetus was wet and gross and eeuugghh. But, he isn't in Cetus, and he decides to not think about it as he reconvenes with the group. And--

Oh, Creator, Aethril is here. Shoving a hand up to the side of his head, he pointedly makes sure he can't make eye contact with her, giving her and anyone associated with her a wide berth. So far, it just seemed to be her and her... whoever that is, the green one, but enough for him to avoid, anyways. And, she's at Vargas- okay, so he won't say hi to Vargas, then.

Well, Astraea's here, anyways, and that's why Attikias is here. Breathing in and resetting his mind, the elf shook his head as he stood straighter, striding confidently towards the thick of the small group. He chose a spot close enough to see the Master, but to the side enough to not sit in front of anyone, looking back and scooting away so he didn't obstruct any lines of sight. Was that good? Yeah, that seemed good. Attikias crossed his legs and pulled his satchel into his lap, laying out all of his supplies about himself. Rolled up blueprint paper, charcoal, ink, wooden brush made to help paint on charcoal- he was all prepared. And, hey, he wasn't painting with his hands anymore!

Settled in, Attikias laid his hands in his lap, smiling warmly to Astraea. He was ready to learn.

Attikias has obtained blue berries and made them into blue dye! (i forgot blackberries are purple when mashed but oh well purple-blue is ok too)

The Zoisite sat patiently off to one side as the reading lesson was called; and when Master Vargas stepped aside to usher them not to mention the hooves or ask how Master Astraea wrote for punishment of death, their quills rattled quietly. "I won't," they swore softly, though they weren't sure... Did reading and writing require something different than hooves? Zoisite did not yet know what would be required-- how dexterous one would need to be to write-- but now they privately worried that they would struggle with their awkward body and sharp talons and mandibles.

Such worries were only forgotten when the sound of clicking heels caught Zoey's attention. Her head snapped up, golden eyes peering to catch sight of Lady Aethril and the reason why such a sound got a pavlovian response: Pollen at her side. The little green friend had somehow gotten even taller since last she had seen her, now standing taller than Zoey's hexapod stance.

Delight quieted any nervousness chattering through her quills, and she took one of her smaller lights from her stockpile in one of her talons before skittering over to say hello. "Pollen," Zoey chirped warmly, settling down beside the humanoid who smelled like the palace gardens and peering down at the charcoal doodles. Curiosity blinked across all six of her eyes as she tilted her head, before she raised her gaze to her friend once more.

"I have something for you," she spoke softly, reaching out her large taloned fist and dropping the smooth, oilstone stone. It had been enchanted to glow a bright, natural light, though the quality of the oilstone made it shimmer subtly with different hues. "It'll glow forever."

But curiosity came over her again, and she squinted back down at the doodles that Pollen had made. "Is this writing?" She asked with quiet wonder.

@Pollen :pleading:

As far as the Overseer was concerned, its attendance was something of mandatory. Due to its position, it might find it necessary to teach others writing-- or at least reading-- especially for spies and scouts employed under its rank.

Of course, Cain had its own reasons for wanting to learn. For one, it seemed practical to have a way to send messages without needing a physical presence or relying on magic. It would be handy to be able to mark designated areas as well. It did not plan on being left out of the loop regardless. This was a lesson that it was keen to learn-- yet another thing for it to master.

The Overseer perched on top of a nearby outcrop of stone, long ears pricked toward Master Astraea. Large gatherings like this would have it concerned, if not for the two Masters and now an additional Hand present. It kept some attention on the comings and goings of the gembound here to learn, but its posture was relaxed and it didn't seem particularly concerned on anything except the upcoming lesson.

This was the farthest Casimir had ever been from home, and possibly the farthest he would ever be. The trip had been long-- especially for a homebody-- but he refrained from complaining, holding his head high with dignity.

There was absolutely no way that Casimir would be going if not for his father-- Mercy-- and his brother-- Ampelio-- also being in attendance. This was all together too many strangers, and he had yet to grow out of his socially awkward, stranger-danger self. At least, that was what he had prepared himself to think, expecting the meeting to be chaos and full of loudmouths like the... party had been. He had not been prepared for the walk through the previous tunnel into a room that felt like it was breathing, dark and dingy (though it was supplied with more warm lights to combat the otherwise oppressive lighting), and all together wrong.

"What is wrong with this place?" Casimir muttered, his tail sweeping low behind him. Despite a grand effort to clean his pelt before coming, the trip had required a trek through snow, dirt, grass-- and now his thick, curled fur was stained a dingy grey, and a few weeds had even grown eagerly into the drooping dredlocks around his ankles. There wasn't much to be done about that now, but it made him particularly self conscious at the sheer number of gembounds in attendance.

Also, uh.

Some of them were...

Big, and monstrous. The giant purple creature with thousands of green-glowing quills and razor sharp scythes attached to its massive forearms and a huge maw of vicious teeth, for one, was downright frightening. There was also a tall, towering blue humanoid that gave off an energy that made his eyes turn away before processing what was frightening about her; he felt like he was biting down on a live wire. His hackles raised as he glanced toward Pelly, his pace shuffling closer to the more boisterous, idiotic of the pair.

At least it was relatively quiet.

"Let's just find somewhere to sit," Cas told his brother firmly, hopefully before the big lug got any ideas about running off to make friends. Of course, he would have a lot better luck saying that to a rock than his brother, who... well, there was little stopping either of his siblings from being themselves, wasn't that right?

@Ampelio @Mercy

Unlike some of the others, Zookeeper didn't see the procession and decide to follow. He was the procession. Er, well, part of it. Rumors eventually find their way around, and a little birdie told him that there will be "reading" and "writing" lessons in somewhere called "The Forge." Zookeeper had been bewildered by this, considering that his previous adventures never went beyond the closest cave to Leo. Never before had he wandered into Draco, and it actually took him several wrong turns before he went the right way. But finally, he made it.

The little Aussie settled down in one of the divots in the floor, yawning nervously. Everything around him was so scary. The ground itself seemed to breathe, and everyone he saw spikes and fangs and claws. Except for that guy, that guy looked slimy. Ooh, that one was fuzzy! And that one...

After calming down a little and playing Spot-the-Differences with gembound, he started to grow bored. Yes, it's only been a couple minutes of waiting, but the big funny deer at the center of the crowd hasn't done anything yet, so it might as well be forever. He leaned towards the closest nice-looking person (Sharp), who was ironically smaller than him, and started to whisper:

"Oi," he tipped his hat towards the reptile, trying his best to look charming for absolutely no reason. It just looked goofy, despite the hat's enchantments. "Do ya know when they're gonna start?"

Ashtoreth had heard about this whole reading rainbow thing from the grapevine, and look. She was the classic, archetypal dropout. The aficionado on disrespecting adults and spitting on peer pressure. She did her own thing. She didn't need to be included in all of this. She was cooler than that. Who needed to read? Pssh.

She had something they didn't. A whole language that no one here would ever know. She could mimic the voice of anyone she had ever heard, and even make her own voice out of thin air; a voice that didn't even exist due to the stone buried in her vocal cords.

So she was here, uh, on curiosity. And because, hey, she didn't need to learn anything, she had her whole life figured out, but... it'd be cool if she could write. For reasons. What were those reasons? Pssh. Maybe so she could write "f*ck off" on your face while you sleep-- it's not any of YOUR business.

Anyway, she walked in, eyed the strange crowd and the even stranger Spire in the distance (Had her living father ever seen it? Probably not, or he'd be dead.) and decided this was all a bit edgy and tasteless. She stalked her way over to the fancy dragon with all of stuff, sniffing at the dusty smelling books. She raised a brow toward Menkheperre (as if to say, "are all of theses, yours?"), and then reached out a single paw to grab one of the tomes that were set aside, and flipped it open.

She had, of course, never seen a book in person before. She had seen writing, carvings, paintings, sure, but this leather-bound thing with thin sheets and small, delicate scrawl?

Then, as she examined, a bit of ancient book particles had snuck into her snout, and she bit down on her tongue as a sneeze came blustering out of her, a gentle wind knocking her wings up into the air and blustering a small dust cloud from the books she was squinting out in a harmless, but cartoon-ish fashion.

It started with an expedition to Pegasus. There were a lot of waterways (and a lot for a valkhound to squeeze through), but, one way or another, the Terror of the Deep Dark Abyss found herself with Soh'ling in the river splitting the room.

Her curiosity was piqued when she spotted some sort of elf powerwalking in heels across the plains. And-- there was some sort of little plant with her? Huh? Like a river monster, DD had pried herself from the riverbed she'd currently sat at, water dripping off the fish-scales of her hide. "Who.. is that?" She didn't wait for an answer, lurching forward trotting after the valkhand. She hadn't seen any other elves yet (she hadn't even seen the one she saw). So, this person must be important, right? She looked normal. Not like some kind of talking lesser.

Whether Soh'ling had followed her or not, DD kept trotting along, through the Door of Life, through the Aperture, right into the heart of Draco. The beast didn't remember this room. She liked it, she thought- the chaotic energy in it cradled her like a warm invitation. A shame it was almost too dry, even despite the humidity. It was nothing like the abyss of she and Soh'ling's home. Still, the rocking was familiar, comforting, like a faint current under her talons.

Void-laced eyes laid on Astraea before her. Who..? Others had gathered about this... deer, and Soh'ling stood a few feet away, sitting back on her haunches and wings to tower over the others. There were other valkhounds here, beings of Oilstone and chaos- so was this a meeting? DD's flopped fins rippled over her spine. She would not interact, not unless Soh'ling did- if her companion had come with, anyways. She'd gauge, first. Watch, report back, learn.

And, maybe figure out a thing or two about wherever she found herself, too.

@Soh-ling (only if you want! dropping her friend off at school)
(won't be interacting further unless directly interacted with)

Desert had been present for most things, in the background and observing, training (a little, at least). There was the promise of some new hatches, of Lord Dhracia's new monster, and Vargas's other creation- that scout replacement? Yeah. Cain would probably want a hand in that, too, but it was Vander's job to deal with the young ones, alright? Cain can wait their turn. Right now, the dragon had trailed after his Master, an ear turned carefully to his words.

While he could care less about reading, the margin was small. It would be useful, but it had barely any use in the caves for now- perhaps it could be adapted for a form of communication others wouldn't know. The scouts should know it, in case their messages would get intercepted.

Fine, he guessed he should learn how to read. It wouldn't hurt anything. He could pass on the knowledge, too. Cain was already here, and it would be good to have their own communication if need be, after all.

Blue eyes pinpointed on the hybrid. Would he be toeing the line if he approached? Leather wings ruffled out to his sides as he shoved off, swooping slowly towards Cain. Claws clicked behind it when he landed, and he settled the paws of his wings back on his shoulders with a small shake of his head. "I hope you don't mind," Desert spoke in a low voice, devoid of tone. No need for too much conversation. He was prone to that, and Cain was pointedly not, and so he held his tongue for that. It'd know what he meant, anyways.

Careful steps brought him close to the edge of the outcropping. His eyes laid forward, watching Astraea, his scales tight against his body. It would be useful information. He needed to know how to read, he reminded himself, standing in place with his tail swaying like an agitated cat. It wasn't even directed anxiety- just a general unease, a feeling that something was about to go awry, and soon.

After all, a gathering of Masters and a Valkhand was always a hard pill to swallow.

@Cain