Deep within Polaris, at the shore of the swift, cold river, two strange figures stand.

Both appear to be stone-and-gem golems of the sort that wander the area, yet both are staring fixedly down into the water. The sound of rushing rapids does little to drown out the violent splashing below, or the grinding of stone as the two figures stare down.

Anyone brave enough to draw close could see a large grey figure--at least two meters long, and very muscled and bulky--thrashing in the shallows, as if stranded there. Its face is heavily scarred, as if from long battles, and it is large enough to appear ancient, at least for a fish. The golems appear preoccuped, as if fascinated with the creature--but unable, for now, to reach it from their higher shore.

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He had grown since Mother gave her a message, voicing to him and his kin's quiet whisperings. They spoke, and he listened... to the best of his abilities. In the quiet of Canis, Vinea had tried to read the marrow, to find the messages beyond the surface. Without Mother's guidance, he was lost. Like any frustrated child would, he scampered off, leaving behind failures as things that were better forgotten. Picking up things and then abandoning them. As he scampered out of the familiar, he called back, promising his return.

And here he was, shimmying into the cave furthest from home, skittering along the ceiling. His claws hooked into impossibly small crannies, he eased forwards slowly but certainly. At first, free-climbing resulted in frantic little bouts of gliding and poor adjustment. As he gained strength and security, however, it became as fluid and simple as walking. Gliding in still air had also become second nature. These skills were well-suited to his flightiness.

The first (and strangest) thing Vinea saw upon entering the core definitely had to be the enormous piles of rubble, a multitude of shimmering gems encrusted along their surfaces. His nape pricked with anticipation, wide eyes scanning the area. He shuffled forth on the ceiling a few more feet before abruptly flinging himself off of the rock face. His body twisted, gliding appendages snapping out and catching air. Minutely adjusting his tail so that he was level, he easily coasted and landed atop one of the golems's heads.

Just as he went to swipe one of the stones, his eyes were adverted to the enormous thing thrashing around in the water---definitely on the top ten list of new and strange things. Unknowing of what exactly he was perching atop, Vinea crawled down the golem's front, reaching out a hesitant hand-paw to touch the fish, gauging the danger level and if he should really just flee.

Asimona was gliding over the river, her sharp eyes glaring down into the water, searching for the flash of silver fish. It had been a little while since she had visited this cave, probably not since her embarrassing performance in the Olympics. She shuddered at the thought. She hated getting attacks like that in the middle of a large crowd. She hoped she'd never have to perform like that again.

She suddenly spotted something thrashing below and she angled herself down to go and check it out. As she got closer, she saw that it was a fish, looking extremely old and scarred, for some reason. She cocked her head in confusion. She had never seen a fish like this before and she decided that she was not going to eat it. This could be interesting.

She was stirring up water, she realized, as she flapped her wings strongly to keep herself above the river, so she set herself down next to the thing that she didn't realize was a golem. She leaned down to check out the fish before more movement caught her eye. A small, strange creature, reaching down to bat at the fish below the surface.

That was when she noticed the rubble and how...strange it looked. She twisted her head so that she was looking at it straight on and cave it a little prod with her claws. It just seemed like...stone, but there was something else here. She knew it. What was going on here?

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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Polaris was very much the same from what White could remember. Everything-- mostly --seemed to be in it's usual place, and the Spire seemingly hadn't imploded in the time she went exploring the caves, so everything must have been fine. The river might have been a bit smaller, but that was just about the only thing that White could think of that was different.

There was one thing unusual, however-- two golems were staring at the water.

Now, White had often been told to stay away from them. The golems sometimes killed gembounds that occasionally got too close, and thought of trying to fight them back and dying send cold fear through her spine. She was about to turn away when she saw a small creature leap onto one of them.

That probably wasn't a good idea, and the silver dragon sweeping in didn't look like she was about to help out in any sort of way. This meant it was a job for White. The hybrid made her way across towards the golems to peer up at the creature sticking to it.

"You shouldn't be doing that!" She advised a little too loudly, before peering down to massive, thrashing fish below.

It did not occur to White that the fish might be incapable of talking-- far from it, in fact. Instead, she spread her wings and fluttered unevenly down towards it, waving her front paws around the prodding and batting gembounds. "Stop that! You'll hurt it," she squawk-barked at them, turning her head to the fish. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

SKEENA

Skeena had grown. She wasn't very large, still, smaller than any of her siblings, and smaller than Mother. It was obvious to anyone who looked at her that she'd never be large, in honesty. But the others had grown as well.

And she feared that would make her weak. That she'd always have to be under Mother's watch, or Vinea's, or Serek's. And she didn't want that! She wanted to be able to care for herself, to protect them.

And so she had gone out. Her small legs didn't let her cover much ground but, she found as she scurried over bones, whole and shattered, large and small. And it was as she made her way over the skull of something big, with great, winding horns, that she saw Vinea.

The odd creature, who only just resembled Mother, was vanishing into a cave. Curiosity dug in its claws, and the hybrid was on the move. She made her way across the bones, trailing behind her larger brother, careful to keep out of sight. As she watched him move along the ceiling, she wished she could do so, but knew it wouldn't be possible, she wasn't built the same way he was.

It wasn't long before they arrived at a... place. There were large, rock-like creatures, and something thrashing and splashing near them. As she watched, the Brother landed on one of the rock creatures, reaching out to touch the splashing thing.

The hybrid scurried forward to stand on the nearby overhang, brown-red eyes glinted bright red in the shadows. An odd looking Gembound made her flinch, and she watched as it admonished her Brother, making its way down to him.

The young hybrid scurried down, approaching the group and the fish. "Brother Vinea! What is it?" she called, not sure what any of them were.

"Stay away from me..."
'I'm a monster inside...'

Ink-black eyes regarded the scene before him with subdued interest. Could this be the next step, Talion wondered silently as he watched two ivory-white Gembounds arrive. First, there were the golems, and the strangely huge fish, now there were other Gembounds. None of them seemed to have noticed him, where he stood perched at the edge of the river, upstream of everyone.

He had returned to Polaris in hopes of finding more Gembounds that knew about the statue. Even though the owl had helped procure one piece, there were still others that needed to be found. There were other Gembounds looking, in other rooms, so he would search for knowledge on the matter. Surely, someone else but the scant few on the quest knew something? He had assumed so, and had come up empty-taloned so far.

Talion wondered now if the quest to find the statue piece was only meant to lead him here. He had lingered in Eridanus for so long that he had mostly forgotten what the other caverns offered. He had even considered returning to his home, but had decided otherwise, figuring more Gembounds congregated here. He was proven right by the very fact that one of the new, snow-white arrivals was unlike any Gembound he had ever seen it. It appeared to be a dog-bird, with the front of a canine and the rear of an avian.

Talion cocked his head curiously at the sight, and then further tilted it whenever the Gembound approached the fish and talked to it. Does it think the thing a Gembound also, he thought incredulously. Then the thought actually made him wonder too, since Talion hadn't considered it until now. Narrowing his eyes at the flapping fish, he watched on silently, making no move to interfer yet.

The golems, astonishingly, completely ignored the Gembound clambering down one's front, and the white dragon perched beside them. For some reason, both remained wholly focused on the fish down the steep bank. Despite being unable to climb down there, both were clearly transfixed.

The fish, however, was far less passive. As Vinea's paw tentatively reached down, the scarred, snaggle-toothed brute lashed, snatching jaws for Vinea's forelimb and trying to drag him down, and thrash about with him. His teeth were sharp, and his body startlingly muscular, but thrashing about on land seemed to make it at least a little less dangerous.

This close, Vinea could sense the energizing magicka flowing through the fish--as if it were a source, somehow, flooded with magick.

As to White addressing him, the fish did not respond. His eyes seemed void of intellect.

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@Vinea @Asimona @White @Skeena @Talion

Asimona jumped and stumbled back, her claws scraping at the stone as she tumbled away from the stone hills. The fish had startled her so much that she leaped back. However, as she leaped and found herself at a different angle, she noticed that the stones were, in fact, more then stones. She had no idea what they were, but they were shapes, two of them, looking down at the fish. Or, at least that's what they looked like they were doing.

She gasped. She saw the gembound, perched on the chest of one, swiping out towards the fish that had jumped. And another, close by, butting it away. "No," she called, "get off it! It could be dangerous!"

She jumped forward and opened her wings, flapping hard as she shot towards the two until she was hovering just above the fish. She growled at the fish. This was the thing that had created this strange scene. She had a terrible, sinking feeling that they were all in danger and it was this creature's fault. She didn't know what else to do and momentary fear and confusion was driving her to a ridiculous end.

Making sure that the other two were far enough out of the way, she opened her jaws and a blast of ice and freezing air shot towards the fish, flapping on the shore. Freeze it in place, stop this mess, go about with their daily lives.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags:
notes:

White was, in fact, close to the fish, with no real intention of moving out of the way. She bared her teeth in a very rare snarl as the dragon fluttered overhead, her own pearly-white wings unfurling to try and shake the dragon off.

"Stop DOING that," she squawked-- though it was more a garbled blend of the barking of a dog and the racuous croak of a crow. "What's the MATTER with you?!"

When she saw Asimona begin to open her mouth, White dipped her head down and tried to grab a hold of the fish by it's fins, moving to drag it quickly back towards water, even if the thing was flailing around.

To her horror, Skeena could only watch as Vinea began to tap at the flailing fish, which began to attempt to bite him. "HEY!" she yelled, scrabbling forward even as other Gembounds approached, "THAT'S MY BROTHER!"

In a moment of panic, her Magick lashed out, and something long and yellow formed in front of her. With no other idea of what to do, she took it in her jaws, and flung it at the fish, before scurrying down. "Brother Vinea! Are you okay?"