Yes, Balder was indeed... still stuck in the bloody Carnival.

Honestly, it wasn't that bad. There was food! There were creepy clowns to terrorize! There were fights and stories, just a tad bit of adventure, and Balder's growing hoard of cool junk. She should be happy!

She wasn't happy.

Instead, the gargoyle was purveying her supplies -- mostly the 'unnecessary' bits. Her treasure trove... Two treasures in particular were the subject of today's review: one, attached to a the skull of a decent-sized snake, a gorgeous, hard-earned cacoxenite that rose like flame from the maw; the other, a bright bit of grossular that looked crunchable like a chunk of nougat.

Balder was staring at them, pondering their stories and their beauty. She could keep them forever here, untouched; crown jewels. Here was... I mean, it wasn't exactly what Balder -- or anyone -- would call safe, but Balder wasn't too worried about clown thieves. What she was worried about... was she worried about something?

She sat. And puzzled. Seems pretty worrying to me--

It's just that! There was a question! A question on her mind. A question that wasn't rhetorical or practical or built for comedy. It was a... an interesting, boring kind of life question.

Okay. Not like her to-- I KNOW but listen. Let me walk you through this. Balder was OBVIOUSLY better than EVERY other crystalwing bat, right? Right, of course, she could think! And act! And make awesome remarks! And actively seek out altercations instead of just stumbling into them like a bumbling fool. She was just so cool, irrefutably. But she was still... a crystalwing bat. Balder had all the features of one, and more.

...Yeah?

And MORE.

Is she...? Wondering how that--? NO- well, she's not wondering WHY. You can't just wonder WHY someone is so cool and awesome, that's a stupid question. But how...? What were these extra parts to her, where did they come from? Was she the only one out there in the world? She already felt alone... having never seen another creature like her... not another crystalwing bat, and no one with additive features resembling hers, and almost no one at all actually.

And she... just wondered... how.

Balder sat there, wondering, her head tilted, the whole world bending to the will of her perplexed mind. These stones... beautiful, and maybe alive, certainly alive once upon a time... and her own, where had it... how had she...

Something left Balder.

...and the grossular began to glow.

- end -