She was treasure hunting in Orion again, unsure of what she would even find. She was tired of finding gems to heal on her herb collecting runs, so she was avoiding Eridanus for now. Too many sour memories. Too much death and dying. She needed something to help take her mind off of the open wounds and gasping breath, and that was Orion.

She'd found her needle and thread here, she found her scarf here that protected her from smelling her sweet smoke she gave to her patients, she found her satchel that was growing rather heavy now. She just had too many things to carry, and what she needed now wasn't a messenger bag to sling over her shoulder, but a proper backpack. The way things were going, she was either going to stuff her satchel so full to bursting that it would fall apart at the seams, or she would develop a limp from the weight on just the one shoulder, and neither of that was good.

So she was searching here in Orion, for something in particular to help her out, something adventitious.

And as she lifted up a pile of rubble and blew away a small scattering of dust and pebbles with her breath, she saw a hint of something, and she pulled out what looked to be a torn and incredibly dirty pack! She laughed and dusted it off and looked it over, turning it around in her hands. It was big, with multiple pockets, and though it was scarred and...had some ominous looking claw marks in the main body, it was in good condition! She would have to fix it up of course, but it was nice!

She walked out with it against her hands and left the building, feeling better than how she'd felt before.

A bug of some colorful variety had managed to capture Giga's fasination. She followed it, occasionally jumping and clumsily flapping in effort to fly. All efforts being epic failures, of course, but the exercise was surely good for her. Eventually, however, the bug of her heart flew away, beyond her reach and far from sight. She gave a little sigh, pleased with having enjoyed some time with it, then took in her surroundings. The smell of dust and sounds of life nearby attracted her attention, so she began journeying to it. In no time at all, she found a black form lugging things around.

"Are you a shadow?" she asked curiously, tilting her head to the side. She hadn't encountered any blackened creatures, yet. This was very different, and the question she posed seemed very legitimate in her mind. She took a couple more steps, the stretched her neck upward, trying to stand super tall so she could get a better look at the "shadow" figure.

@Cayenne

Cayenne looked and blinked at the source of a voice that startled her, and she looked and found a very young bird, downy feathers useless for flight and all. She looked closely, and found herself fascinated by their beak and their swirling colors, till she realized that their beak was their gem. Huh!

"I'm not a shadow," She replied, walking towards them, feeling...oddly flattered. "But I've met some."

"My name is Cayenne. I'm a healer." She said, looking over the young gem. She liked how oddly serious they looked, and she felt reminded of how she was as a hatchling, with her calm ways and her endless fascination for anything new. She remembered when everything was wonderful and a new adventure to behold, before she realized the reality of the caves for herself.

The bird relaxed her body as the not-a-shadow approached, tipping her head in curious ways. To meet a shadow must be quite an adventure. She would have to remember to ask about that, someday. For now... "I am Gigatsuhali Yinehi. I want to heal all!"

Giga smiled brightly at her acquaintance, very pleased to meet another soul in these caves. She shamelessly did a bouncy circle around Cayenne, seeing what she was and what she looked like. When in front of Cayenne again, she flopped down to a "sit" and made herself seem, maybe too eager.

"You are very shiny, like the stars. Nice to see! Do you have anything to teach me?" she asked. Her big blue eyes soaking up Cayenne, trying to be sponge by nature and magically absorb all of her knowledge about healing and being a doctor.

@Cayenne

She watched the new one bounce around with excitement before sitting down before her, telling her her name, which was very long and colorful, along with her wish. Cayenne looked at her with a bittersweet smile, adjusting the backpack in her arms.

"It's nice to meet you, Gigatsuhali. I had that dream, when I was your age. It took me until now that not all...are worthy of healing. Some have been hurt for very good reasons, Giga, because they are bad."

And when Giga asked her if she had anything to teach, Cayenne felt at once very strange. She had an odd feeling of deja vu of asking Louie to teach her, and demanding that he impart at least some of his knowledge.

"Well...for starters...what is your affinity?" She asked, sitting down on a nearby rock and setting down her backpack. "Do you have fire magic, or water, or plants, like me? Or do you have many friends?" She said this in a nostalgic tone of voice, remembering the way Khloros explained his bacterial magic.

She tipped her head the opposing way when she provided an opinion on who should be healed. It was true what she said; some were very bad and may have been hurt because of it, but... it still didn't sit right with her to not heal all. She shrugged it off and prepared herself for more of Cayenne's voice.

Giga enjoyed the tone of her acquaintances voice. It was kind. She liked kind voices; they were her favorite. She couldn't just any by their voices, however. She found herself fond of that bitter deer, after all. Her mind was pulled from thought when Cay asked some basic questions to start with, which she was enthusiastic about answering.

"Element is Prokaryote! I know Fauna Cleanse and Micro Cloud," she said proudly. It felt like a good start. Even if it wasn't, it was a step toward her dream. Her optimism outweighed everything in reality, right now.

@Cayenne

Cayenne nodded encouragingly, giving a little bit of a hard-won smile. These days she didn't feel much like smiling at all, but today...she'd give herself a little bit of a break today.

So the new one was the same as Khloros and Louie, was she? She found humor that a plague horse and a bitter fox and a vulture would all have the capacity to heal and do wondrous things and all had incredibly different outlooks on things. Khloros was mysterious and kind with his offering of help and knowledge, even if he let his magic run rampant over him with disease, and Louie was...just mean and kept his magic to himself.

This new one would be different from them, she could feel it.

"Well, that's good, Giga. You're very strong for a new hatchling." She remembered when she told Louie of all that she'd accomplished at two cycles, with knowing a master spell so young, and the stubborn old fox didn't even bat an eyelash. She'd be different. "The first one, the cleansing spell, is incredibly useful to heal with. You can see into someone's body and determine what's wrong and send a small army to specific areas, or you can just send a wave of positive healing throughout the body if you can't see anything life-threatening. It can help numb and soothe inflammation and push out poison, among other things. It's saved lives, in my experience.

The cloud spell I've had less experience with, but from what I gather, it's much like plant gathering. You have to know the army you select very very well, and what your chosen bacteria is and what they do. You can heal or hurt with that spell, and the lack of knowledge with that one is incredibly dangerous.

I have plant magic...which allows me to call to life any seed I have on hand." She offered her hand for the little one to look at, as the seed she had in her hand took root in her skin and grew and grew into a blooming flower with lovely blue petals. "It's useful along with knowing what plants I need to help heal others, to help relax the body and reduce seizures and send gems to sleep. Your affinity isn't a cure-all, and neither is mine, unfortunately. A healer has to be able to branch out, and it's not an easy path to walk.

You have to have electricity magic to control the heart when it stops, you need water magic to purify the water you have on hand in case you need it, or even to summon it from the very air in case of emergency, you need fire to cauterize wounds that are too rapidly bleeding out and will result in loss of life otherwise, you need the magic of the mind to sense what an unconscious body needs, or if you come across someone who is mute and can't call for help, or tell you what hurts."

Cayenne smiled. "It's a hard job."

Giga smiled and nodded when her newest acquaintance complimented her. It caused her ugly feathers fluff a bit with glee. Then Cayenne began to speak. Every word that flowed from her mouth was music to the Fairy's ears. The vulture soaked up the bits of knowledge fed to her like a sponge, her energy building and excitement growing. As she mentioned the possibilities of the Fauna Cleanse, she beamed.

"I practiced my Fauna Cleanse on a poor soul. I think it worked, he seemed to feel better!" she stood bounced between feet for a moment, trying to release some of her pent up energy. As Cayenne continued, she settled down back into her spot and quietly listened. When Cay demonstrated her ability to host a plant, Giga's eyes brightened up even more and her jaw dropped a little. "I want to do that... I can't wait to be able to do that!

And on Cayenne went, a few more words to come from her mouth with her experience as wisdom. How difficult things would be and how much work it would take. It only seemed to grip onto her attention even more. She couldn't help, but to smile from ear to ear and shine her eyes with hope.

"If it were easy, there wouldn't be a need for the kindness a healer can have," she said. She stood and hummed happily, then took a moment to take in her surroundings before putting her full focus back into Cayenne. "Cayenne? Can we be friends?"

As she asked, she decided to silently flex her magicka a little. She did her best to hide how much she had to focus for her spell as she cast it.

@Cayenne

Cayenne felt better talking and explaining things to Giga, enjoying how much she listened and how happy and fascinated she looked. She felt nice and needed and she didn't see a trace of disgust on her face, which did wonders for relaxing her. This new gem probably hadn't met very many others yet, and wouldn't yet have a clear idea of what should be right or beautiful. Cayenne wouldn't be considered an ugly cat if Giga hadn't yet seen one to compare her to.

It was tentative and incredibly temporary, and she didn't want to think about seeing Giga cast her eyes from her in quiet discomfort once she got older, but she shoved that aside for the future. For now, she chose to enjoy the happiness of one seeing new wonders for the first time.

She looked at the blue flower and plucked it, wincing just a little as she felt the roots complain under her skin, and she twirled it around. "This one right here is called a magicka flower, named by my partner, Tenn. It only blooms in presence of magic. See here? Look. In the right light...it shines like mother of pearl." As she twirled it, the insides of the petals shone brilliantly in a very subtle way, catching the light like crystal. "They're very hard to find, but very much worth it when you do."

She tucked it behind her ear in an absent-minded way, not for aesthetics, but simply to put it out of the way of her hands. And when Giga smiled so warmly and hopefully, she smiled back.

She listened to an unexpected pearl of wisdom and blinked in surprise. "That's...very very true." It was spoken like a plain truth, and Giga hummed and looked around and Cayenne just sat there, stunned. She would have to mull that over, turn it around and think about it, later on.

Giga's next words startled her, and she said, "Of course!" Then she smiled. "Healers have to stick together, hm?"

Quickly after the end of those kind words, she felt a familiar rush of soft, warm, soothing magic course through her, relaxing her muscles and embracing her like a wonderful cup of Tenn's tea he always gave her after she had spent the day working in Polaris, and she closed her eyes, letting it wash over her like a warm ocean wave. She felt it and understood it and looked at it clinically inside herself, knowing the effects of the spell with a logical mind, and enjoying it with a warmed heart. It had been ages since anyone had offered comfort to her, and she clung to it.

Then, when it was done, she opened her eyes slowly and really smiled at Giga. Softly, quietly, she said, "Thank you."

Then she took a long steadying breath and offered out both her hands, palms up, for her to look at. They were scarred and held many tiny fresh cuts all over the place, and the hand with her golden gem finger was especially cut up with many lacerations with faded white lines crisscrossing over her skin, along with the new lines where the roots still lay under the skin. "This will be your first lesson, Giga." With no hesitation, she made a shallow cut on her hand with her gem finger, burning with the pain of a paper cut, the warm blood running shallowly down her hand.

"Now use that spell again, calmly, slowly, and focus its effects. It's one thing to generally wish a good vibe, and another thing to specialize. Try to numb the pain in my hand. Look inside the veins of my hand, the tissue, the skin, and see what needs to be done. Your magick will tell you the rest."

Softly, she added, "And don't be afraid to fail. It happens."

It had went beyond her that what she had said actually held any weight. All she knew is she was utterly delighted when her friendship was approved with Cayenne. She'd be giving the lemur a warm hug if she had the size and.. well, the ability to embrace, really. Unfortunately, as uncomfortable as her feathers were to her, she had no intention of pressing them into Cay. The soft and sweet "thank you" provided gave her mushy feelings, though, which failed to help with her desire to hold her new friend.

As the shadow she met held out her hands, she leaned her head closer to inspect them, feeling a bit of a sadness growing at all the scars until she thought back to the growth of a flower in her palm. Perhaps that's why... but her thoughts were cut off as Cayenne broke her own flesh and let crimson kiss the air. A first lesson for her. A real attempt at healing a real wound.

Giga scooted closer to Cay and closed her eyes, beak hovering over her outstretched hand. Her breathing slowed and her body relaxed. Once done, she did her best to do as Cayenne asked. She started with imagining the cut hand and from there, it was a piece of cake. She felt herself slip into the wound to see the bacteria growing within it, good and bad. With a little mental flexing, she could see it close, slowly, scabbing up then shrinking away into nothing more than a mark of what once was.

Fairy opened her eyes slowly, looking straight to Cayenne's face with the question of "did it work?" being plastered to her face like a mask. Carefully, she pulled her head back and up and looked at the hand. She started to feel something inside... something unexplainable, but very positive. She looked back to Cay's eyes with her own eyes very wide, surprised she did it at all.

"I do not understand... my feelings," she said. "But I am glad you're here and I am glad I have these feelings."

@Cayenne