The pup headed for the shiniest thing in the room; the quartz-studded Tower near one of the tunnel exits. Of course, the pup knew little of the world around him yet, but the goal was clear in his mind; seek out blue stones for the blue bird that would give him blue wings to match his own pretty blue stone. Seemed easy enough. He began at the Tower's foundation, turning over rocks and rubble and pushing aside boring grays and whites in favor of darker stones and shiny bits of gemstone.

He found plenty of stones and gems that were pretty, but the wrong color upon closer inspection. Disappointment began to grip the boy as his searching continued to prove fruitless. Childish frustration mixed with the tired soreness from his unhappy start at life finally had the pup plunking his butt down for a quick break.

This might not end up being so easy after all.

A few minutes of self-pity later and the pup had grown bored of such trivial nonsense. A set of pretty blue ribbony wings awaited him! Off he went again, on the hunt once more for a blue stone in a dark blue room of stone. Easy, right?

Definitely easy. Definitely not hard at all. He'd been such a baby over this!

It only took him a few minutes of searching inside the tower's walls and around its spiraling stairs before the boy turned over a pile and found a pretty dappled blue stone beneath- the quartz running through it dyed with lapis perhaps. It was polished and seemed out of place, like someone's lost collectible. Still, he found it visually pleasing and blue enough! The pup scooped it up in his mouth and made to go back to the birds.

Then he stopped.

One blue stone, small enough to fit under his tongue, wasn't gonna cut it.

He turned back to the tower and tucked his find onto a cleared step, right by the wall, where he would begin to amass an entire pile of blue stones! All for the friendly nice-talking bird!

More stones,
more stones! The chore of collecting quickly became a game. The first success had fueled a youthful vigor into the pup who bounded up the stairs of the tower to its highest floor to search there. At its peak, he stopped only to catch his breath, but found himself thoughtful.

If he were to present these stones to Mintaka, he would want a name to also present. Ringo. Yeah, okay, that was a good enough name.

Back to searching.

The pup spent another long few minutes shifting through rubble and stone until finally he headed back down to his step, another blue stone acquired. This one wasn't as rounded or pretty, but it was very much blue and would very much do the trick. He set it next to the first one on the lower step and turned back to the upper floor again.

All the noise of king birds and new awakenings had finally stirred a slumbering dog from its sleeping place. Inside glossy yellow glass he'd slept on through cycles, overslept even as many of his peers emerged without him and new youth filled the caves.

He could hear their voices in passing, but tired still, he slept on.

Until the burst of energy had woken him the first time. He'd been unable to break out but still acclimated to the fluids in his protective shell, Widget had simply rolled over and fallen back to sleep.

Except now, a few hours later, the liquids were feeling quite stale on his lungs and he felt cramped. More so, he could heard the puttering of paws outside.

Eyes opened to peer out at the little white smear that disappeared down the steps he could barely remember climbing. Was it the pharaoh dog come to welcome him into life a second time? Would they play this time? He shifted in his prison and kicked long legs against glass walls in protest. Time to get up.

A few tiring kicks and struggling later and still no improvement. He felt a spark of frustration and an even bigger spark of determination. He kept kicking, with less strength, in hopes the little white shape would come back up.

The pup stopped at the top of the stairs, startled by a new noise. In the corner, there was new movement, or the sound of it anyway. Ringo listened as he approached the stone that shifted and creaked. Something inside was tapping. It must've been a newcomer like him!

The pup charged at the stone without much forethought, running head-first into the yellow stone and colliding with a resounding C R A C K. To his delight and disgust, fluid immediately gushed from the new hole and old slid the other gembound, whole and sputtering for air. The skinnier dog wasn't overly different from Ringo and the pup took immediate notice of this.

"Like me!" He barked happily. "Come help, find blue stones?" He had one goal in mind and this newcomer might help with it!

It worked!

All the kicking and tapping brought the little white shape back, and it charged at his shell, breaking it and letting him finally spill free. Damp, cold and shivering the whippet found his feet again and turned bright eyes on the similar-looking terrier. The other dog spoke of blue stones and for a moment, Widget was well and truly confused.

Then came the soaring wings of three birds overhead and their calls echoed across the cave walls, adding some context.

"They'll give us magic for the stones?" He clarified with the pup as the birds soared away. "Both of us?"

The pup nodded vigorously and began his search again. Widget decided that despite the hunger in his belly, this seemed like a fun new start to life.

He wasn't sure if blue would suit him though.

"I will find yellow rocks. That should be easy." He turned and looked back at the broken shards of his chrysalis. "Okay done. Now I can help you find blue rocks!" That was so easy! Maybe blue would be easy too!

He began to search. After a few moments, he rolled back over to Ringo with a hunk of blue-tinted quartz in his jaws. He'd found it under his yellow shards. Ringo seemed pleased, then indicated to the step where more blue rocks were set up. Widget headed down the stairs to place his find with the others.

"Yellow!?" Ringo balked. "But the nice bird wanted blue!" His protest was about to become a full blown tantrum until Widget turned back, announcing that he was done already and ready to help find blue. Oh. Oh, that was clever!

"Good idea! Smart!" He barked suddenly, play-bowing (and delightfully getting a bow in return from Widget automatically). The black and white dog was already searching for another stone by the time Ringo worked out what his good idea had actually been.

He'd find his own shell! It should still be somewhere nearby! His stone was the prettiest blue! As Widget led the way downstairs, Ringo followed after and together the pair wordlessly but mutually darted for where Ringo could barely remember his own birth taking place.

...at least, he thought he could barely remember it. Turns out, the chaos of his birth had confused him.

He wandered with his nose to the ground for a good few minutes before Widget's bark stole his attention.

As Ringo split off to search one area, Widget turned to do the same in another. Blue stones. blue stones, blue stones... ah! Woah!

The whippet stopped in his tracks at the site of Ringo's birth, unknowingly but excitedly. So many blue stones! A whole pile of them, just like his own yellow ones! Triumphantly, Widget turned to shout for his friend and show him his lucky find!

"Come here! Come here! I found a whole bunch of blue stones!" He barked, and Ringo turned to listen, then came running. Excitement sparked like madness between the two as they scuffled for a moment with swinging paws in celebration. Then Ringo calmed and Widget calmed with him.

"Are these good?"

"They are perfect! They are mine!" Came Ringo's excited response.

"Widget did good?" Widget's tail was swaying in the air behind him, hesitantly.

"Ringo thinks Widget did the best good!" Ringo happily retorted and the two fell into a burst of enthusiastic giggles before scooping up as many as the blue rocks into their mouths as they could and turning back towards the tower.

The pair hurried back to the Tower and Ringo allowed Widget to deposit his collected blue stones into the pile before he dropped his own mouthful onto it. Widget hurried up the stairs to his yellow pile, the search finished, and Ringo set about sorting through his own.

Just as he was figuring out that they'd never be able to carry this many back to the three kings, there came a similar call from above.

"My mouth is too small!" Widget's undignified outcry was muffled- no doubt by a mouthful of yellow stones. Ringo suppressed a giggle at the mental image of his friend with cheeks bulging out at odd angles. Heh.

"We just have too many rocks! Lets pick the best ones to bring and we can come back if they want more?" Ringo found it easier to speak now with some practice and shared input.

Ringo was right. Widget dropped his mouthful of rocks and studied the massive pile he'd made upon emerging again. Hmm. The best of the best, huh? That made sense.

He chose three curved chunks of shell, smooth and cleanly snapped from Ringo's headbutt earlier. About the size of tea plates each. He managed to fit all three between his teeth in a stack before heading back downstairs to meet back up with Ringo.

He almost dropped his stack at the sight that greeted him.

Ringo sat at the doorway, ready to go, fat jaws stuffed full of labradorite chunks. He looked like a hamster who'd found some dice. Stiffling his laughter, he nodded back when Ringo indicated to leave and the two set off towards the crack in the wall where the three kings had returned to wait for their offerings.

Exit Ringo & Widget!