Admittedly, he had stopped in Pisces for a short time, dunking himself in the icy waters in order to find some semblance of comfort. The prickling sensation of something underneath his skin had only grown worse between the Core and the trip home. Plus, there was nothing quite like dunking yourself completely underwater and sullying it with your own blood. Needless to say, Eythan managed to haphazardly clean himself before continuing on. The wounds on his neck managed to clot, outlined in a disgusting sanguine. So long as he didn’t move his head too abruptly, his bites would stay closed. The itching had gone away with the water as well, sated and flowing away as he scrubbed. If only a limp could be washed away, he had mused as he limped to an adequate lift-off place to stumble into flight.

The moment he got to Canis, Eythan swooped into the soothsayer’s den, landing tentatively. Limp disturbed, he winced. Nonetheless, he grit his teeth and found a clear spot off to the side. Not even two minutes passed before he essentially passed out, lying on his side with his wings every which way.

His dreams were… fitful, least to say. Despite the hollow warning to not think, the gryphon could do nothing but that, reliving every single moment leading up until now to his fullest capacity. His emergence alongside Carni, blissful innocence as the brothers united for the first time. While Eythan had managed to stay true to his original colors, the smaller of the duo had changed, anguished and harrowed by their father’s murder. But, from this anguish came a strange sort of corruption. Almost maddened, the albino had taken to the title of Bone King, spurred on by some creature that had appeared from nothing but woodwork. He wore a cape and mantle of the dead. Eythan had buried that cursed thing as soon as he could, much to his own gratitude. His father shouldn’t have died, lest he be disrespected so blatantly so. As for the black pelt, the griffon’s talons barely graced it long enough. It felt wrong to. Like it was his.

A dark face, hollowed out on one side, flickered into view for the barest of seconds. Then nothing. Eythan’s breathing hitched, a choking feeling rising in his gullet. Those horns were all he could see, they were banded, they were just like his—not quite as curved—but they were his—! Kicking out his legs, he disturbed a veritable menagerie of bones and awoke with a vicious start. The air was still for a moment as he greedily sucked in air. He looked around, hoping not to see the hyena disturbed by his frantic kicking and whining. Fortunately, she seemed to still be absent. The griffon sighed shakily, pushing himself onto his haunches. "Sorry," he murmured unconsciously to the bones, trying to shift them back into their original positions. He stretched within the den, mindful of his limp, wings splaying out forwards. In search of a drink of water, he stumbled rather rebelliously from the soothsayer’s lair. The water wasn’t quite as clean as that of Pisces’s, but it would do. He’d have to manage it and wait.

Wait, wait, wait, Eythan reinforced to himself as he picked his way back to the den, plopping messily back in his spot. His eyes fixated on a miscellaneous curved bone in the little alcove, focusing on tracing every little shift in it. He needed to distract himself.

@Giggle

Note: this thread takes place after Eythan & Giggle's confrontation, and after Giggle has gathered the bones of, and given life to the gem of, the Bone King, Azazel's, stone. In case anyone wants to read up.

Giggle was a long time in coming.

She'd had business to attend to. First, the retrieval of Omen; then, the retrieval of Azazel's stone. Next, the retrieval of Azazel's bones. She'd formed these into a sort of cairn or shrine, and then spent an hour or so speaking quietly to the remains of her long-dead friend, and King. When she'd touched his stone with her magic, she'd first seen a flood of images from the Bone King's life--images that left her grieving and reeling, bittersweet and sad. And then the stone had glimmered with its own, new life. Giggle knew that this was Azazel's way of saying that the child that she created would be the Bone King, now: that Eythan was not suitable.

And she thought, perhaps, that he was right. Eythan held too much guilt, and grief. As a leader he would only self-destruct as Azazel himself had done. No; he had to have a purpose. He had to have punishment, and responsibility, but not for justice. Giggle understood this instinctively. He needed to feel as though he'd suffered... in order to forgive himself.

The hyena paced into the clearing beside her bone pit some hours after the encounter in Polaris, looking weary, but not tired. She held in her jaws--delicately--a slender, but tough-looking bone: a bird's keel. Its sternum. She spared Eythan a glance as she paced to the pit itself. He actually turned up, then. Good, she thought to herself, distractedly.

Through her link she could feel that her familiar was now sleeping, back where she'd nestled her away. This was good--it was one less thing to worry about. The hyena focused instead on the bone, stepping right down into the bone pit until she was elbow-deep, wading in with a soft clatter. She then laid the sternum gently on the center of the pile, at the very top.

Giggle stood staring at it for a long moment, her thoughts still on what she had seen. On Azazel, on his life and his death. This had the effect of making her seem as though Eythan was half-forgotten, her back half to him.

She sighed through her nose, and began to speak; and though her voice was still roughly masculine, her tone, now, was soft. "We living are bound by our bonds to one another. By our shared experience... by our flesh and blood." At first, the hyena almost seemed to be speaking quietly to the bones--but then she shifted, so that she was facing Eythan, her expression and tone solemn. "And when we die, our bones are all that remain to bind us to this world. Our bones, and our stones. Sometimes not even those." She fell silent, looking again to the keel with a sense of melancholy contemplation.

A very long moment passed, so that it almost seemed she would not speak again, but then she did. "Azazel always led from the heart. He did what he believed was right. He suffered for things that he blamed himself for, and this made those around him suffer; he couldn't see that his turmoil only set him farther and farther apart. All he had to do--all he ever had to do--was to forgive himself for things that were never his fault to begin with." Giggle turned, as she spoke, watching Eythan with an intense, but veiled, expression. Her tone never changed, and as she fell silent, she watched him.

He looked ragged. Exhausted. Cleaner, Has he washed off my fungus..? but battered.

He looked world-weary, in the same way that Azazel had.

She hoped that he heard his words, and took them to heart--either now, or that he remembered them, when she revisited this lesson later. And she intended to. Oh, Azazel's death had certainly been by Eythan's claws; it was most certainly his fault. But it was not only his fault, and it was not, she thought, unforgiveable.

They'd have to work on that.

At last she looked back to the bones, still chest-deep in them, and finished what she'd been saying. "May he guide us through his bones, as a Bonebound, as one of us; may he guide us as that bone guided his flight through this world. And may we hear his voice."

This had the sombre quality of a eulogy, of sorts--a prayer--and as she finished, she looked to Eythan. Her words came distant, simple, almost the echo of the child she once had been. "I miss him," she said quietly.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

The bone of his choice had become rather boring to acquaint himself with, not much for conversation. By the time Giggle had arrived, his father’s sternum reverently in her jaws, the hybrid’s dazed state had meandered to his own paws. Shuffling paws snapped him wide awake and he whistled slightly through his beak. ”Sorry,” he murmured softly, although it seemed to fall on deaf ears as she spared only a brief glance to him. Somehow, that made him feel bad. Dismissed. But judging from the furrowed brow, she was not done. She waded into the bone pit, the dead shuffling to welcome her into their fold. The sternum found its place, at the heart of the bone pit and there the hyena stood, back to him. Silent and unflinching. ’She’s thinking of him,’ his mind chirped mournfully, and his ears flicked back. He had done this to her. She mourned because of him and his father’s mistakes (but, really, had they been?) Then, a sigh.

A soft tone unfamiliar to him rang through the air, offering forth the ideals Aza’zel (his conscious winced at that name) had proved with his death. Her eulogy rang true: ”And when we die, our bones are all that remain to bind us to this world. Our bones, and our stones. Sometimes not even those.” Eythan’s mind wandered, surprisingly, to Carni; to the sweet innocence ruined by him; to the stone shattered by his own claw. The prince had done nothing, had not sullied his pale fur in blood like he had. Sure, the boy had shattered his pelvis, but that was well deserved, warranted, even. But had he deserved to die? For being honest? The world threatened to break down around him again as he tentatively stood. Now was not the time to contemplate his own morals and actions. They were past now. The past. Past.

At the bone pit’s edge, Eythan stopped and sat down, listening. ”All he had to do—all he ever had to do—was to forgive himself for things that were never his fault to begin with.” His ears shifted back again, head hanging. Despite every thought running through his head, his mouth remained closed. He’d just listen. That was all he needed to do. He couldn’t bear to look at the keel, one piece of what remained of his father.

”He will,” he uttered with such a conviction that he surprised himself. ”I—” Eythan hesitated, shifting his weight off of his one foot, ”I hope he will. That he’ll guide you and speak.” So many things unsaid, so many thoughts he wanted to voice.

”I miss him.” Oh. A thousand things echoed in his head, crying out. Giggle had been just like him. Was just like him. Lost and scared at one point, mourning in another. Without a father because he blamed himself so needlessly for everything that happened. A thick sob tore its way out of Eythan’s throat and everything became so crystal clear that it slipped from his grip. There was no omnipotent sorceress before him; just a broken, tired old woman who had been left to starve and suffer and stitch herself back together. With the furious impulse of talons, he had left her with nothing, taken her last tether to the grave.

A burbling sigh escaped him, ”I miss him, too.” So much. More than words could describe. ”C-can I speak to him? Or—or can you tell him what I want to say? I don’t k-know—!” His voice edged into a hushed whisper, unknowing and childishly afraid of some punishment for even asking to speak with his father. As if he had no right to try and make amends. There had been a great distance between himself and the Bonebound while it still existed, himself and Giggle. The bone pit was too hallowed, too sacred. He didn’t know what to make of it, how to respect it properly. He had only ever spoken in a hushed tone around it, careful not to disturb them and apologizing when he did.

@Giggle

for Language

Giggle turned to watch Eythan at the sob, her expression tiredly calm, but intently unchanging nonetheless.

"...I do not know. I do not know everything. I hope that he can hear us! Let me tell you something, and then you can speak to his bones. And then we can ask the bones--together--if he has an answer, yes? If he can hear us."

Slowly, gently, she paced out of the bone pit. She came up to stand alongside Eythan, watching him closely. "I spoke to his bones; I spoke to his stone. It granted me visions, Eythan," she added.

She didn't like his name, she realized. She couldn't say why; but she didn't like it. Giggle pushed this stray and fragmented thought aside, and continued.

"I saw him finding your father's gem--your other father. And the blue stone of the white shit-cat," she added matter-of-factly. Bones, but she hated fucking cats. Traitorous shits, the lot of them. "I saw many other things, and I spoke to his bones. I told him that if he wished to lay the mantle of Bone King upon your shoulders--the honor but the responsibility--to keep my magic from his stone. If he wished me to grant life to his stone, to bring about a new gembound with his life and mine--to raise as a new Bone King, perhaps, or Queen--then to allow it."

Giggle paused for a long moment, watching Eythan with that same weary yet intense gaze, her eye contact unbroken. "My magic flooded it more powerfully than most things I have felt. There will be a new King, and it is not you." This was said quite matter-of-factly, bluntly even. Giggle knew it might hurt Azazel's child--but at the same time, it might be a relief.

He had never been meant to be a king.

"We will be family," the hyena went on. She stepped toward Eythan, wandering around in a circle behind him--but not in any sort of emphatic way; more as if she were strolling to help herself think. "If you genuinely wish to make up for what you have done--then you will help to raise and protect this new King--your brother--and aid and serve all of those who would call themselves Bonebound. Who would live in Canis and aid one another. Perhaps this gathering will never happen, and there will never be a Bone King. But if there is!--If there is. Then you must help me to help him."

Giggle then sat, near to Eythan and facing the pit, as he seemed to be; and she looked to him and spoke further. "I will tell you why he avoided you--why I think that he did. I believe I am the only Gembound left alive who knows. And then you can ask of the Bone King's bone whatever you wish, and we will see if he holds answers."

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

The hyena hadn’t even flinched at his sob, his broken words, fragmented and spinning carelessly from his tongue. She didn’t know, couldn’t know. Nobody knew what the finality of death entailed. Anyone who had succumbed to it had yet to pass along a message, to return with counsel about it. All they had was the simple concept of being bound to one’s bones, rather than their stones. The lack of memories from his other father made him suspect as much. ”O-okay,” Eythan murmured as Giggle stood near him, continuing to speak.

”It granted me visions, Eythan.” Despite knowing she would elaborate, Eythan found himself wanting to ask her what exactly she had seen. To ask what exactly his father had chosen to share with her, if he had at all. It was discovery and things left unsaid, perhaps for the better. ”My other f-father,” began the gryphon hesitantly, ”do you know w-what kind of my man my father was? H-his pelt---mine, almost---had many scars on it.”

Tanned, spotted shoulders tensed relaxed visibly as his father’s ultimatum and conclusion was revealed, respectively. ”Thank you. D-dad,” he winced softly, staring at the keel at the pit’s heart. He had never been meant to be a king. That he knew. A soft whisper whistled from his beak, ”he never saw a king in me.” He really hadn’t. Carni had been so young when he was proclaimed to the prince, Aza’zel’s heir. Eythan’s own spots, it seemed, had shown through early.

Giggle’s slight stroll set him on edge a little, wings tucking close to him consciously. But she seemed deep in thought, considering. ”A brother,” he considered, ”a family.” Not that he really had a choice. Perhaps between life or death, but, again, finality. The end. Eythan steeled himself, grounding himself by focusing on the coolness of stone beneath his feet. ”I’ll protect him with my life. I’ll guide him and only fight in the defense of others,” he said with confidence unheard of. This was purpose. ”I’ll help you. Thank you.”

Then, he fell silent, watching carefully as the bonecaster sat near him, offering answers. ”Please. I---I need to know. Something. Even if it’s what you think.”

@Giggle

Eythan was pledging himself to what she had asked of him, and it seemed earnest; this was good. And--as was to be expected--he had many questions. Giggle listened solemnly, and then turned, pacing to the edge of her pit and resting a paw absently on a thick and yellowed femur. "I met your father. He was a cat, and all cats I have met are slinking, sneaky things. They are kind and friendly and then behind your back they are bad. Mockery to your face, later; dismissal. Bah," she added softly, with a shake of her head. Makyna, Usui--the lions flashed in her mind, a sour note at each.

"But when he came he was only kind. He asked of the bones, and I told his fortune in them. The bones said that he did not live in harmony with others. And he did not. He said he was a friend of Azazel, to reassure me--for when he came my magic had backfired. I could not hear or see or think and I was crying out, and he had--magic, that held me down as he spoke. When he released it I could see and hear and think again." Sensing that she was wandering off on a tangent, Giggle pulled herself back to the present topic. "The bones said that he was not in harmony with others. That he must continue enlightening himself--if I remember. It has been a long time," she added, amended. "I Saw a dark valley, through which he must pass."

Giggle then paused--a long pause, a solemn staring at her bones, the paw lightly rolling the femur to and fro. She felt, in the distance, some faint measure of Omen stirring, wakening, and through their link she soothed her, so that the bird settled back down to sleep. "So if he was telling the truth, he was a friend of Azazel even then. Sleek--not enormous, but sleek--black, with darker black spots, and fire-colored gemstone horns." A slight nod to Eythan's more curved horns, and she continued. "He made armor of gemstones, I know that. And he carved things, in stone--he had a tablet that he carved maps of the caves into. I didn't understand it, not entirely. He lived in Pisces--do you know where that is..? In the waterfall-caves? With Maji Walezi. They--they were a group."

Giggle took a breath. This was, she was coming to realize, a far longer story than she'd thought--but it was all right to tell Eythan the whole thing. Necessary, even. He might not remember it all, in his state, but she could always repeat it later.

"They were allies of the Bonebound. But they had... problems, within their group." The hyena shifted, somewhat grimly. "I know that Cancer and one other both loved the same lioness. She was a traitorous shit-cat who would not pick a one, and left them to both suffer and fend for themselves as she fawned like a dainty princess. Shit-cat." Giggle spat these last two words. "She came to me, too, but that is a story for another time, but it is how I know some of this. In time, I think that this all made Cancer and the other both very miserable! Then there was Bevy." Giggle paused. She still wasn't entirely sure what had happened that fateful day in Pisces, but she knew the very bare bones of it. And Azazel's stone had shown her more.

Hesitant, picking her words carefully, she continued. "Azazel has shown me his heart. He felt always as though he failed others. He feared it. He was disappointed in himself. He hid himself away because of it, afraid he would do more harm, believing others would not want him near." With this apparently unrelated bit of information out of the way (ahh, but the 'Bone Queen' had good reason for it), she went on. "Bevy was a bird of Maji Walezi! She was small, and colorful, and she tried her best to mend others, but she--like Cancer--well, the bones said she was also not in harmony. But she said she was not in harmony with herself. She had many Bevys in her mind. And one day, I do not know what happened but one day, she went mad. My son--Kerberos--in Pisces-... I know they were meeting, all of the group, and she attacked someone, and he killed her. I do not know if he meant it. I do not know why he did it, and the 'why' I do not know is another story for another time. But I know that Cancer cared for her deeply, and Kerberos was Bonebound." She paused here, eyeing Eythan, a deep solemnity in her dark eyes. She thought, perhaps, that he was starting to understand--or that he would, soon, and she knew how grim a tale this was.

"Cancer stumbled to Azazel in a haze, and blamed him for what had happened. Or blamed Kerberos; and Azazel blamed himself, I do not know. I do not know what happened to Cancer, but I know that he died some time after--I do not think Azazel did it, before you ask! When he found Cancer's stone, it was unexpected. His heart fell away and he picked up the stone instead, and he breathed life into it. Cancer was his old friend, I suppose, and sometimes a very troubled sh-... A troubled cat, and Azazel felt that he had failed someone once again! When the stone came to life, he knew all the failures in his mind--though they were not his own! Not truly--every time he looked at you. He remembered the dead. He remembered his failings and his friends and those he had lost. There was no more true Bonebound. Our allies were in shambles. His friends were dead. You--he tried to make things right with you, but he feared what had happened and he feared it repeating. He remembered Cancer, and what Cancer had done, that Cancer had died."

Giggle paused, looking from Eythan, to the bones; she stared at them for a time in silence before finishing her miserable tale. "When we let ourselves be ruled by pain, we do foolish things! Azazel did fail, but only in that he let this pain and his fear of himself overcome him. He was not afraid of you. There was nothing wrong with you. He was afraid of himself, and too blind to see that the only way he could fail you was to leave you alone, without a guide and father." She paused, eyeing the bones, and then looked at Eythan. She had seen into the Bone King's heart more than once, at the hour of his death, and there was one more thing she knew. And she knew that Azazel had told Eythan, but it bore repeating nonetheless.

"He is sorry," she added simply.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

Giggle began shortly, curtly, paw on a femur at the pit's edge. He distantly wondered who it had belonged to, if it was anyone either one of them knew. Cats, slinking and two-faced, were not her favorite. The gryphon could sympathize, voicing a quiet "yeah" in conjunction with her words, despite her praising his late father. Realizing his mind was slipping into a rather unintended place, he quietly resolved that he'd try to be better, try to break from the bad experiences the bonecaster had experienced. Just as his father had once. Eythan was already treading down his father's path, seeking knowledge and counsel (although not of his own volition) for the future. The dark valley could be the end, the gates of death welcoming him. They were beckoning forth the hybrid, newly emerged from his father's death and yawning awake alongside a brother. Perhaps.

Carcino had been intuitive, seeking to acquire knowledge and creating armor. A craftsman. "I passed through there when I flew back," Eythan responded rather dully, more intent to just listen. No memory of his father's group was sparked by its mention. Maji Walezi must have dissolved before he emerged, then. Something must have happened --- oh. Like a family, they had problems, they suffered. He did not know how the group was organized, but they had problems such as unrequited love. Stifling a laugh at the sheer drama of it all, Eythan's ears flickered forth. Bevy. A peculiar feeling crept up his spine, shifting unsettling feelings in his stomach. Déjà vu, like he had known the small bird. The many facets of her personality, the many splits in it.

One question answered, Eythan felt a thick something blurt up from his chest and into his throat, settling there. His eyes watered yet again, though he swallowed down his tears for later. Not now. "B-but he did noth-thing wrong," he enlightened, as if Giggle didn't already know that. It took cycles and cycles and cycles but he knew now. The Bone King wasn't at fault. And neither was Kerberos. But what of Cancer? Was he free of blame? He had come to his life-giver and blamed him. Had spurred on the survivor's guilt that was already deeply-rooted. A flicker of anger surged in Eythan and his claws unintentionally braced themselves against the floor, curling. He didn't even bother to wince at the name-drop, whispering with quite a fire of certainty, "he wouldn't have killed someone over impulse." The late King wouldn't have killed his own son for it, let alone an old friend.

Right?

All anger fell away, emotional state flying to the verge of tears once again. The reasons he had suspected came through full-force and he hunkered down slightly, a choking sensation coursing through his entire being. Eythan was shaking for reasons he didn't quite know. "B-but..." he whined, "... he d-didn't fail. He---" A wheezy sound filled the air ("He---!") Sucking in a breath of air, he continued, "he left me w-with you." Maybe, at the time, Azazel hadn't known it. Maybe he hadn't known anything. None of them did. Nobody could. Not in these caves.

"C-can I---try to speak to him now? I---" he paused, gathering his thoughts, "I need to t-tell him som---something."

@Giggle

Giggle had only listened quietly, in between her words, until Eythan's quiet assertion that Azazel had not failed, by leaving Eythan with her. She rounded on him in surprise, dark eyes intent and brow furrowed, though just what she was feeling was unclear.

He left you with no one. You left yourself alone. You've been alone for how long? What is this? Trickery? Trying to soften me up? Or soft in the head? Or what? But how could she accuse him of anything, when he lay there miserable, trembling and choking on his own damned grief..?

She grunted softly as he asked to speak with Azazel--with the bones. Her body turned back to face the pit, and she nodded once.

At first, she simply addressed one of the other things that the hybrid had said--agreeing, in essence, with his agreement with her. It seemed to be in need of soothing--his response had been pricklingly angry, she could see that. "No, Azazel wouldn't have done that; he didn't do that." She fell silent, for a moment, mulling it all over; then she stepped aside a bit, and nodded again to Eythan.

"Come, then; speak your question, if you have one... or tell him what you want to tell him. Take your time," she added. Her voice was neither harsh nor kind; merely firm, absent. She was thinking that he had suffered. She was thinking that he might be lying, even now.

She was thinking that she was still pretty damn furious about him hurting her bird.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

All hopes of saying the right thing were quickly diminished by the manner of which the hyena rounded on him. An unintentional wince seized up his entire body as he braced himself for whatever was coming next. Eythan'd been prepared for the snap of teeth, a charge; something physical. Not silence. Not having his words dismissed. He didn't elaborate further, only offering a quiet "s-sorry."

Giggle stepped aside, nodding away his agreement and offering him a chance. He had listened. He had learned, maybe. He would speak. The lesson was implied. There was no way for him to know what the hyena had taught Kerberos. Rising on shaky limbs, the boy nodded back at the hyena, edging towards the bone pit. He stopped as his talons curled about the drop. That was far enough. Clearing his throat of the broken sobs threatening to break loose and tucking his wings closer to his sides, Eythan fixed his eyes on his father's keel.

A deep breath. "I'm sorry. For w-what I did. For what I didn't do. For blaming you for things you didn't do. For blaming you for things you did do." A surprising clarity came to his voice, despite the tears welling up in his eyes and preparing to fall. "I should've never come at you like that or fuckin'--- screamed at you." Water traced an eager line down his cheek, and his head dropped. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, what I did to C---" he stopped abruptly and hid his words behind another throat-clearing. "I'm sorry for what the Caves did to you, what life did. Hah," he chuckled listlessly, "living fucking sucks. Without you right here, here to--- here to---" An actual sob ripped through his body and he collapsed. "To put y-your wings around me and t-tell me it's okay. Even if it's not. Even if it can't ever be." Eythan started talking faster now, thoughts spiralling out of control. "I know your bones are still here but I wish you were here and warm and with all of your feathers. I just--- I regret taking you out of life. I'm the one that's sorry."

With an air of finality, Eythan murmured absolutely, "I'll try to be a better son."

@Giggle

Giggle listened. She was no fool, and the "what I did to c--" certainly didn't escape her notice, but for now she didn't put two and two together. She was more distracted by the sobs, the quiet, heartfelt words. The clear grief in him.

For a moment, she wondered--How much of it is real..? Her suspicion--he'd killed his father; he'd lied about his brother, he'd attacked her bird, he'd lied to her before... and he was half cat... it threatened to overwhelm her, a black tide to wash over her logic. For a moment she thought about this. If it's lies, I must drive him off or kill him. If it isn't, I cannot keep treating him as if it is. It will not breed trust in turn. She struggled, for a moment, with her magicka--she'd been awake a long time, and it had all been harrowing. The hyena was beginning to feel weary; but for now she managed, just barely, to briefly slip open a link between herself and Eythan.

She didn't listen in long, and she was careful, this time, to keep her mind silent and blank for this peek. She felt waves of grief roiling off him, a sort of weary, hollow emptiness. Loss. The link slipped shut before she could sense much more, before her sympathies and her own grief were reawakened; she didn't want him to know what she was up to. Instead she simply moved up behind him, quiet, and lifted one forepaw to rest it gently at his shoulders.

It was meant to be a reassuring gesture--and despite the odor that clung to Giggle like a foul cloak, her paw at least was warm. She stayed like this for a long moment, eyeing the hybrid--the son of her friend, and the murderer of her friend.

She still didn't know just how to feel about this.

Giggle dropped her paw, and paced into the bone pit once more. She paused before the Bone King's keel, and then leaned forward, lifting it again. Her dark eyes flashed to Eythan as she passed him, loping loosely up to her ledge; and then she paced to stand above the pit, keel in her strong jaws.

For a time she simply watched the bones, her thoughts known only to her. Only after a long length of silence did she drop it, with a little toss of her muzzle. The bone spun, glinting in the dim light, and clattered in among the rest. The other bones scattered; some spun and slicked away over the rough rock. Others rocked in place and still others bounced, taking a few inches of air before clicking off along the stone in little tumbles.

Giggle watched this all, and studied it. At first her expression was sombre, intense--and then it abruptly softened, and she seemed to sag, as if about to howl in grief herself. However, all she did was speak, a bittersweet expression remaining on her face.

"The bones say--and your father's is among them, now--that you must take chances. You must aim to enjoy yourself; to throw caution to the wind. To dive into mystery. New things. That you will move forward; and only by moving forward, can you move up!" Giggle said this with emphasis, her masculine voice loud. After an additionally-emphasizing pause, in which she stared intently at Eythan, she looked back to the bones and continued. "I see partnership. Teamwork--of two. Perhaps more, but I see two. The coming together of two. It may be your brother--or another. I do not know. Perhaps myself? I do not know. But I see it, anyway. I believe he is telling you not to fall down the trap that he fell down... don't mope off alone, hm?"

Giggle flashed Eythan a more good-natured look as she moved back down the path at a slow trot. "Extend yourself... explore. Learn. Better yourself." She gave a little shrug, and sat before Eythan, watching him. She was tempted to continue--to elaborate; but there was not much more to clarify, and so she waited, instead, to see what he might say.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan