Sakhira was back in Polaris. Polaris! The place buzzing with magic, and with a beautiful 'sky' to match the atmosphere. Of course, it wasn't the most shiny place she knew, but she wasn't here for the scenery. No, it was for something else. Since she had discovered that one, she could use magic, and two, this magic could sense gembounds, she wanted to see if she could sense gemstones. That would help a ton with finding shiny things to collect! Not for any vain or selfish reasons of course. But for something else.

She closed her eyes, trying to channel the familiar feeling. And it came, she could feel her senses as they spread to try and detect a glimmer of magic...

The stone found was lost: a chipped, soft piece of smooth, reddish-orange Coral lying at the bottom of a puddle among other, duller stones. There was a flicker of weak, Fledgling-level magic yet remaining...

@Sakhira

She followed her senses, allowing it to lead her to the stone that lay in a puddle. It had been rather hard to find, as its magic was rather weak, but she was diligent in her task. The water wasn't extremely dirty, but it couldn't be considered clean either. Sakhira reached her paw into the puddle, delicately picking out the piece of coral that lay infused with magic. "Wow." She picked up the stone with her beak, and cast out her senses once more to see where the next stone would lie.

Her magic flared up, stronger this time, and she was able to sense the next stone rather easily. Sakhira made sure not to pinch the coral between her beak too strongly so as not to crush it as she made her way to the next stone. It was nestled in a cluster of rocks, and it took some effort to wiggle it out. She saw that this one had a stronger magical pulse than the first, but now that she had two rocks, and she could not carry them both. Sakhira decided to set them down beside an easily identifiable landmark, a rock that was vaguely shaped like a cat.
She cast out her senses once more, and detected a faint flicker of magic. Following it, she stumbled upon the final stone.

The second flash of magic was quite some distance off, but held Pupil-level magic within. It was a greasy-looking cluster of translucent, greenish spines of Austinite lying embedded in an indistinct hunk of old, charred bone.

The last would take quite some time to find. It was lying beneath a shimmering chunk of Spire-stone jutting from the floor, and was almost lost to Sakhira's senses, given how close it was to this other magic source. But this Fledgling-level stone, though a weaker magic and a similar Turquoise blue-green, lacked the rainbow shimmer of the Spire itself. It was a small, smooth node spiderwebbed with threads of darker color.

@Sakhira

Sakhira investigated the stones before her now that she was finished. The first was coral, and it was still drying out from having rested in a puddle earlier. She would get to it last as she wanted it to dry out a bit more. The next was the Austinite. It held the most magic out of the three rocks, though it was also the strangest one. It was embedded in a bone, and though it slightest grossed her out, being a predator meant she wasn't extremely disgusted by it. The Turquoise was probably the prettiest. It was the shiny quality it held that drew her in, and she admired it for a few moments longer than the others.
She wondered if this is what Bug had been talking about regarding how gembounds were made. Did they come out of magical stones like these? And... was it possible to find out?

She felt her magic try to reach out, to grasp and sink into the stone to reveal its secrets, but it flickered away. Sakhira clicked her beak at this, shaking her head to clear her mind. She was probably just tired from all the energy it had taken to find the stones earlier. Sitting down and taking a few deep breaths, the cub recollected her thoughts. And then she tried again.

One moment, Sakhira was in Polaris, with sights and sounds and smells all around her. These were the sorts of things the brain filtered out. One often was not aware of just how much their mind took in at any given second--the odor of petrichor and moss; the shimmering flashes of light dancing off the stones from the glow of the Spire and the orbs above; the sound of the distant river's gurgle, or one's own breathing, or the very crackle of the magic from the Spire itself.

And then--she was transported, in an instant, into the memory of stone. Unyielding--without eyes or nose or ears--it knew nothing of the world around it. Neither did its memories--yet the echoes of old vibrations lingered, and Sakhira's mind filled with them.

A quiet, slow and heavy rhythm--a heart? Or something similar... The thud of soft, heavy feet all at once, as if they were landing from the air. A snuffling sound, quiet. The rustle of fur--or was that feathers--and a soft, musical speech. 'I don't think he's found us.'

A click of hooves, somewhere rather more distant, but they didn't belong to this stone. It vibrated to it, subtle movements of air sifting through nearby solids. '...No. He's coming. Run.' It was muffled--ancient echoes, vibrations trapped in time--and then more urgent, louder. 'RUN!'

A scream, distant now, the thud again of soft feet, rapidly scrambling across the rock. The slow and heavy rhythm--and a faster one, hammering and frantic--and then a second scream, closer this time, rattling through the stone in that musical voice, torn by agony.

There was silence, nothing, from the stone, for a moment. A heavier thudding, then, and the enormous crash of heavier feet on rock, of scraping talons. The tearing sound as something began to feed.

@Sakhira

She felt the magic surge through her, an overwhelming power that took her breath away. Sakhira was afraid for a moment, not used to this amount of power. Deep breath in- she blinked. And her senses faded away. Scent was not something she had- but sight, sound, taste... they all faded away, leaving her with only one thing: touch. Sakhira started to panic. Why could she do anything!? Was she stuck like this?

Alright, calm down now. She focused on touch. Vibrations. The rhythm of what sounded like a heart. Not her heart. And now sound, a form of these vibrations, reached her deaf ears. She could hear nothing but what she could sense. It was strange really. "I don't think he's found us." Sakhira tensed up, fear coursing through her.

And now another noise, she could tell that it belonged to someone else. Was it who they were running from? No... but they did carry a warning. At the loud "RUN!" Sakhira jolted, feeling helpless as she could do nothing but observe. She prayed that they would be okay, that they would escape. The cub listened in fear, in hope as the noise subsided- and it was over.

She snapped back into the present, gasping for air as she collected her thoughts. As her focus fell back onto the gemstone embedded into the bone in front of her, she slowly started to realize what had happened. Sakhira stumbled a few feet away before vomiting, though not much food came up considering she hadn't eaten much that day.

Making her way back to the gemstones, she picked up the Austinite and laid down, before placing the bone in front of her. "I'm sorry... so, so, sorry." Even though she couldn't have done anything, nor had she truly been there, she felt a connection to the gembound that had perished. There was an obligation to give it another chance at life. That was the least it deserved. And it was up to her to do that. "I found you, you're safe now..." And Sakhira curled up around it before falling asleep, exhausted both physically and mentally.

She had no idea how long she had been asleep when she awoke. Sakhira felt refreshed, that was for sure, but when her eyes landed on the bone all her previous thoughts came rushing back. But there was a sense of motivation too, a feeling that hadn't been there before. It was up to her to bring them back to life, but first, she had to find someone who could do that.
Sakhira turned to the remaining two stones, the coral and turquoise. Did these two meet a similar demise? She almost didn't want to find out. But curiosity burned in her, and the want to remember who they had been. The coral was dry now, so that was the one she focused on.
Perhaps it was due to just having recently waken up and still being a big groggy, or perhaps something else, but what came was not memories. A searing headache overtook her, and she let out a loud screech of pain.