The first feeling he ever felt was fear. Raw, cold fear that pricked his spine and travelled to the base of his skull. It was almost physically painful. As his eyes snapped open he saw nothing but inky blackness that seemed to go on for miles and miles (though in reality, he could actually feel his limbs pressing against the edge of his own chrysalis) and this caused him, furthermore, to panic.

With panic brought flailing. Hard, frantic flailing that really did begin to hurt, more than the pain of cold fear. His knobby little legs whacked against something solid, repeatedly, until his limbs were sore and bruised. Soon enough, in the midst of his outburst, he heard a deafening crack.

All at once, his world crumbled around him and he was laying somewhere in the darkness, on the cold floor being attacked by cold air. This caused further panic. He was flailing and shrieking on the floor for a few moments, before he shifted and began to concentrate, trembling all over.

Then, heat. Glorious, burning warmth in his paws, his ears and his tail. The panic began to wash away into gentle calmness as his limbs heated up. And continued heating up. It started to hurt his already-hurt limbs. Decidedly, however, he did not care.

Calm, and partially on fire, he lifted himself up to all fours and started to stare out into the yawning darkness, not entirely sure what he was supposed to do now.

For the first time since she joined King Carni and his Marrowbound Clan, Felina was taking a stroll. She was hungry. The runty female bobcat was in the mood for fish.

Her nose picked up the scent of water. Quite a lot of it, in fact. As she followed the river, she started thinking about how dark the cave was. It has actually been dark for a while, but had no idea of why and/or how.

Felina pattered deeper into the cavernous space. Fortunately, being a feline, she could see in the dark. Unfortunately, this darkness wasn't like the dark blue top of Orion. There weren't any bright, twinkling stars either.

All Felina saw was shadows within shadows...and then a tiny shadow seemed to be moving. When she approached as close as she could, including the proper distance required between creatures, she saw fire on part of the shadow.

That stopped her movement quite suddenly. Concerned, Felina spoke to the tiny creature: "You're on fire! Are you OK? Do you need help?"

There was also another smell. Some kind of fluid made the shadow look wet. The fluid had a very distinctive smell. A vague memory of her own hatching helped her remember that smell. It was the same fluid that was in her crysallis. The tiny creature was newly hatched!

In a soft, warm and kindly voice she told the little one: "Hello. I'm Felina. I want to help you. Will you let me?"

She waited where she was standing. She wouldn't take another step. Not until she was sure the small one was OK...if he accepts her help.

As it stared and stared out into the dark, things slowly began to get clearer-- it wasn't an empty, void-like darkness anymore. He could see faint shapes and outlines of things in the distance. There were rocks and walls and, somewhere near, a shore. He thought it was a shore. He made an assumption based on the sound of rushing water which was beginning to sound more and more like a good idea, based on how much his extremities were burning.

It hurt, but he didn't feel like fixing it-- not until he saw a moving shape in the darkness, something much bigger than he was, but not at all like the rocks or moving water that surrounded him. "What?" he yelped. "Help? No. What? I'm fine."

In all likelihood, he was probably not fine, in hindsight.

"What is fire?" He asked, starting to plod forward. He moved fairly quickly, his prints leaving scorched marks on the stone under his feet. He did not get too close-- something in the back of his head told him that if he touched this creature, this Felina, that she probably would have gotten herself hurt too. He did not seem entirely bothered by his burning limbs, regardless.

"I'm fine," repeated the opossum. "What is fire? Is it a bad thing? It is burning. How would you help?" He started pacing around in circles-- amused by the little pat, pat, pat, pat that he was making each time one of his feet hit the ground.

It... really was beginning to hurt, however. "I'm Cricket. I think. Uhhh," he hesitated, stumbling to a stop. "Is fire bad?"

@Felina

"Fire is both bad and good. I will tell you what I know, but the first thing is to find some water, Cricket. It's right over there". Felina canted her head towards the river. It was only a few steps away.

"The water will do two things: Take away the fire on you and, if you are thirsty, you can drink some, too." She was so worried about Cricket, that Felina forgot about eating a fish or two. She started walking to the river. Would Cricket follow her?

Whether the newborn gem-beast followed or not, Felina's efforts were in vain. Due to the influence of one overzealous and bird-brained gembound (Amras) a large swath of the crystal river has been relocated; it has settled in to an irregularly shaped puddle that spans the size of a small lake, and while it is not far from either creatures position, it is certainly not where it is supposed to be.