She led the way towards some of the ancient buildings on the walls that were long-since crumbling. They were not far from the Tower, still in visible sight of the windows or even anyone standing at its base. The structures here were quite large, far enough away from the Forum that they were spacious and did not have to contend with the dense area of the Forum for room. She stopped a ways away and observe for a moment, feeling a deep welling of sadness seeing such structures so withered. She remembered when they stood much taller...

She looked over towards where the Sunstone had followed her and nodded towards the building. "Here they are. Your first task is to clear out the buildings. I believe you have carried my magic over, so you should have no problem."

Tectus waited around the Tower, lingering on the floor where the three chrysalis were growing. They were...very large now. Now so big that the floor was completely taken up by them, they weren't hatching as Valkhounds did, fully grown and all, but they were definitely going to be large creatures. That was pleasing to her, considering how small some of her last hatch had been.

Hopefully, these would not disappoint.

It had been a cycle, yes? Perhaps a few days further but she knew to be patient and wait. They'd hatch in time. And she had done plenty of waiting before.

Their arrival would be met by the massive Overseer awaiting them eagerly. She'd welcome them in.

Callista stood under the ceiling of Orion and looked up, curious. She had never really considered the "stars" of Orion before, unable to even get close to them. She didn't have wings or anything and didn't exactly have the kind of magic to get her up there. But she knew they couldn't be stars...not when there was a ceiling.

As a kid, hatching here, she really had thought that there wasn't anything but the ceiling. And those stars were the only stars that existed. She knew better now, stories of Noctua, of the surface, but she had yet to go. It was so far, but she'd heard the descriptions - an endless beyond, glittering stars so distant it doesn't seem real.

These were not stars. Which meant they could get knocked down.

She reached down and grabbed a pebble off the ground, turning back towards the ceiling. Tossing the stone in her paw once, she gathered energy into her arm and then made to throw it as hard as she could. As the stone released, the energy surged from paw to rock and shot upwards towards one of the "stars". There was a distant fracturing sound as the stone hit one of the lights and then bounced off, to immediately hit the ceiling, scattering shards of rock down towards the ground.

She huffed. So close.

Tectus definitely did not try to give life to the three stones she had in her posession as soon as she returned from Ursa. She was exhausted, probably frost-bitten, and in no shape to create. A night's rest and a warm meal revived her, though, leaving her sore and, thankfully, free of major injury.

Now she traveled to the second floor of the tower, the three stones she carried safely under her tongue deposited on the floor. First, the ghostbird's jacinth from the day before, a sunstone she'd found while wandering, and an olivine, which one of the force had found.

The jacinth was first and a surge of magicka thrust into it - Tectus was pleased, having been slightly nervous that it wouldn't take to the Lesser's stone. But as soon as she set it against the wall, it began to grow into the surrounding architecture.

Good - they would have their scout, their watcher. One that could blend into Ursa and keep an eye on the Hive to report back, to her, Vargas, or Aethril.

When Earthbound finally speaks, its soft. "...I just thought you were smarter than this." And honestly? Skyward would've preferred yelling. She could feel the anger burning in their shared chest throughout the entire walk home. Even now ey walked along the cliffs overlooking the city in an effort to dissipate that caustic rage. "Everything about this 'contract' seems like a trap. And he was so open about the possibility of failure- who knows what he WASN'T honest about." There was no possible way this could end well. Why couldn't Sky see that? "And I could feel you panicking when you signed it."

"I just had to." Resolute shame. In her voice. In her gut.

"Because you knew I'd talk you out of it?" A bit of heat simmers to the surface of eir voice.

"Because I know I'd regret not trying. Its something I think about all the time. If things could've been different."

"...You said you were just doing this for Coilean."

"I don't know! Maybe I am! Maybe- Maybe I just want to stop thinking about what-ifs. And I'll be getting that closure whether or not this actually works."

"And what if we just end up making things worse?"

"We both know how much he didn't want this. Anything will be better than just letting his husk wander around."

They both lapse back into silence, staring up at Orion's false night.

It had taken some digging through the information network to figure out that the smith named Ember, who knew how to make enchanted objects, generally spent his time in Orion. It was some distance away from any of the established nodes the Hive possessed, but it wasn't as though Jinyi had never ventured this far before--he had, in fact, been to this place once before a long while ago.

Jinyi flew from Ursa to Orion on shimmering cosmic wings, then let them dissolve away as he landed gently. He made his way to the Throne at a deliberate pace. He had made sure that every detail of his appearance was in order before departing to ensure he made a good impression. To those who knew him, his appearance may have seemed oddly bare--most of the organic silk of his 'robes' had been cut off by Jinyi himself rather recently--but he had made sure the cuts were clean, that the silk that remained draped nicely and symmetrically, and that his chitin was free of chips (no pun intended) and imperfections. And he had come bearing greeting gifts. He wasn't sure what Ember liked, so he tried to bring multiple possibilities. Four bags of Dontas lay arranged in a biodegradable box, similar to a thicker version of the material used in the bags. Also in the box was a set of ornately-filigreed goggles, with a protective layer over the eyes, that Mother had crafted cycles earlier for her entirely harmless gifts to the Gembound. Jinyi thought it might be useful for a smith. At least, based on what he imagined smiths did, which was spend a lot of time around fire, things that glowed bright with heat, and sparks. Perhaps he could also sculpt something with organic polymer on the spot, or promise something else, maybe along the lines of what Halcyon had suggested in their conversation.

When asking a favor from someone, after all, it was always good to show your sincerity.

At the door of the workshop--Jinyi was pretty sure this was the right workshop--he checked over his appearance once more and knocked with a smooth pipe-organ "Hello?"

"I'm looking for Ember," he added to the door.

The Olympics had simply taken too long. The Overseer had overestimated their ability to choose the worthy before it became too much for the valkhound. By the time she returned to the cavern where Saran'zol waited, with the names of the worthy on her tongue, the oilstone chrysalis had reformed, but this time the shell had trembled with the force of keeping the valkhound contained. She had waited for a few days, before telling everyone to go home - when he emerged again, they would be ready. It could be any day now.

Tectus had kept an eye on it. Every day, she'd journey to the wall in Orion and see if there was any change. For a while, it was simply tension.

But then, a few days ago, the spark shad gotten worse. The oilstone's angry reddish glow had started to get stronger. When another day passed and it got considerably worse, she'd called for them - the worthy. The champions of her games, that had proven themselves, hopefully, strong enough to withstand the might of the Unbound Champion.

And then, at last, the day came where the energy that charged in the air was so palpable, one could taste it, like blood and ozone. Tectus stood in the middle of the Forum and knew it was time. She raised her head. "COME, CHOSEN GEMBOUND!! FIGHT WELL! SURVIVE!! YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELVES WORTHY!!" Her voice bellowed through the ruined city of Orion, loud enough to echo across the walls and send streams of dust trickling down form the ceiling. With her announcement out of the way, she turned and climbed back into the seats, high above where she could carefully observe while being out of the way of the fight.