Tinkering

Astarte cocked her head, trying to think of a way to explain 'trouble'. It had always been something intrinsic to her--perhaps she'd always been a 'good girl', in a sense, made obedient by the stoic company she kept. But she'd broken rules before, quite luckily as that was how she'd discovered her talent.

"I guess it's something like you said, something stupid enough to bleed from." She pushed the willow branches aside, stepping out into the light and trusting AuraSidra to follow. "Trouble is what you get into for breaking rules or doing something bad, and it depends on your parents to, so that's why I asked. I don't want to take you somewhere you're not supposed to go, or do things that you're not supposed to."

She surveyed the path down to the forest, an easy slope loping gently through grasses and down into the taller trees. She could make out rushing water, a little farther in the heart, a good place to find smooth stones or gifts tossed up by the river bed. Also, if this Darroch did indeed speak to the plants, then he should have plenty of eyes and ears to ease his mind.

A quick sideways smile to the filly. "Shall we try down there?"

She set a careful pace, easy enough for AuraSidra to either follow or hasten as she wished. With the device reasonably finished, she was in more of an exploratory mood, especially if it meant forgetting for a moment what lay back at home. She sighed. "I wish dayi Avalir was on a date. But Sive said he's lost somewhere and--well, dayi Brittle went after him. He's good at bringing him back."

She gave a bright toss of her head, hanging onto the hope. After all, she didn't want to bring her new friend back into the brief sadness that had accompanied her talk of broken things. It was a little bitter that there were others who knew the pain of bonds, at an age where most would wander blissfully innocent. Still, it was nice to know she wasn't the only one. She smiled. "I guess it's a little like bonding. To tell the truth, I haven't bonded yet, so I'm not quite sure what it's like."

A loose stone tripped her up a little, and she gave a snort as she regained purchase on the ground. "Sive has hands, they're what human-like bonded use to pick things up and do tasks. Since many of the devices are made by hands, it's sort of easier to work with them."

Not really, as many of her kind had no conception of the limbs as AuraSidra had made clear. It had taken weeks of adjusting, of watching Sive do simple tasks, and while she could manipulate them to work she could probably never play an instrument or be able to draw as her new companion did. But that was not where her talent lay, so it was alright. Speaking of talents.

"Is there anything else you like to do besides painting?" she asked, as they neared the forest.

She followed, for the most part, sometimes dashing ahead to look at something and then waiting until she fell behind again; she didn't move more than a few paces away in any direction, though she did let her curiousity have free reign. A lot of things were different here than at home; that's what made them so interesting.

Hmmm, AuraSidra mused, trying to think of things she 'wasn't supposed to do.' Nobody had yet to honestly get angry with or scold her; they merely snorted and let her bump her nose or singe her fur. The only real correction she'd ever received was when she'd 'found' someone's little treasures. Even then she hadn't been scolded; she'd merely gotten a look that told her all too plainly she was about to be picking a fight. Her bondmates weren't happy, so she stopped doing it, or at least stopped getting caught at it; though she didn't need their treasures so much any more. She'd set her own deals up.

And since she hadn't been trying to pick a fight or make anyone mad, much less get them to stare her down in a challenge, it wasn't anything she'd had to think over. They didn't like it, so she stopped.

Even her argument with her mother had been a difference of opinion.

When Astarte indicated the waters she answered with an impish grin and a flick of an ear as she went tumbling down towards the stones. She hadn't seen much in the way of small flowing water before; great oceans, wide rivers, frozen ice aplenty, but streams? This was new. It was like seeing water as a baby!

I've bonded, she said absently, her mind split between conversation, exploration, and musing the idea of there being anything she was simply forbidden to do, Bonded came when I first did, and first saw the lights, and after Mama and Poppa was the first one I saw. She was in one of her faces-with-hands, though I didna know that, and she let me lay in her lap 'til I could stand up and Mama and Poppa stood close and gave me soft touches and I felt it happen. It was nice, like a sunray wrapping all 'round me and then sinking deep into my bones, so that I didna know if it was part of me or I was part of it. Then I could stand up, she finished brightly, and flashed her friend a grin. She didn't wonder why Astarte hadn't bonded yet when she was clearly older; the filly didn't really have much of a sense of time at all. Things happened when they did, and didn't until then.

I like lots of things, she continued, hopping onto a stone and spreading her wings for balance, I like ta hang upside down by my legs, an' I like to try to fly, and I like to throw snow-bits at mongooses 'til they tickle, and esplorin'... Exploring is my favorite. I already have a greatest adventure so far! I like watching things, too, like when you was making the thing go together. I learned how to watch best from Hybrid, cuz when I messed up on watching good with him I got lightning on my rump. I dunno if it was really an assehdent - accident - or not, she said with a bit of a frown.

Sniffing at the baby-water she leaned over a little too far and promptly splashed in face-first, coughing and sputtering as she scrambled around into a rather comical sitting position.

I like sweet stuffs too, she sneezed, and looked at Astarte with one ear tilted far to the side, trying to encourage the water to dribble out. Sweets are the very best. And I like when I get told new things, cuz it's like esplorin' when ya find somethin new like that. I like hearin stories the best. I learned lots that way.

With that she sneezed water out of her nose one more time and shot to her feet, shaking off as hard as she could. Brarrarrrrrgh! she muttered as water flew, and kicked at some plants on the bank to overturn a loose stone. What do you do when yer not saving broken tings? What are you supposed to not do or get in trouble? she asked. She'd yet to be still for more than a few seconds the whole time; always poking her nose into something!

The river bed was a gentle welcome, and Astarte was glad that AuraSidra was enjoying herself, giggling as her friend danced along the stones. It was refreshing to see her excitement at little things, and comforting that she had lingered so far. She was pretty sure most would have grown bored with her toys and small talk by now. Nice that someone other than her "family" would humor her.

"You make bonding sound so nice," she mused as she nosed at one of the hedges lining the riverbank. "I guess it's something to look forward to."

Amma and Avi had never really pushed her to bond with either of their bondmates, trusting that she'd know her choice well enough when she was ready. She was pretty sure she would bond with Sive; she missed Avi when he went wandering off with Sanguine, but she wasn't sure she could follow along with him and his bondmates into danger and unknown. Besides, Sive had all the books and the trinkets for her to fix, and she felt a certain calm when in her presence. But now was not the time, not as things were. She'd wait until dayi Avalir came back and everything was all better again.

As AuraSidra listed her activities and adventures, she reached out to snip some of the more supple branches from the liveliest looking plant. She turned just in time to see the filly take a topple into the water. Gathering her spoils in her mouth, she trotted over quickly only to see her companion recover quite well. Of course, given her love for exploration she must be used to such spills, but Astarte couldn't help her sense of responsibility.

"Hm, well." She dropped her branches, glancing at her device again to get a sense of what else it may need. "I'm not really supposed to take a project without asking Sive first, but, um, they're busy so I don't think she'll mind. I got in trouble for wandering too far from water once, when I was little."

There, the river. Astarte stepped into the shallow water, eyes fixed on the smooth stones beneath the water. "I like learning and exploring too." That one. She took a breath and buried her muzzle in the water, coming out with a slender stone in her teeth. She turned and spat in onto her pile. One more.

"Reading Sive's and Cedar's books, listening to Avi's bondmates' stories--especially the ones dayi Brittle tells me when no one else is listening. Sometimes they give me fighting lessons, when Avi lets them." Another quick dart and she had another stone in her teeth. "I go with Amma to khala Eve's garden, that's nice too. She tried to teach me to grow things, but it's much harder than putting things together."

She trotted out of the river, shaking the water from her hooves. She laid down her rock and knelt, gently easing the device from its cradle. With a breath, she summoned her hands and began weaving the twigs together, matching the delicate filigree of the casing. It was more artful work than she was used to, but her project required it. "What happened on your greatest adventure, if you don't mind sharing?"

Picking her nose up from the little bug she'd found under the rock she saw Astarte working with twigs and rocks. She had no idea what the other filly was doing, but she was sure going to find out.

Scrambling for traction in the slick mud in the shallow waters she slid and skittered until she flopped down right in front of Astarte, her nose intently following the delicate braiding that was being done. She loved this trick - it was so much easier to see what was being done when there was no physical barrier!

What's a book? And what's "busy?" she asked, perky as ever. She loved the ability to talk; watching was fascinating by itself, but she'd never really had much of a chance to talk before. To poke her nose into things, to learn and listen aplenty, but proper conversations where she could chatter and be more than mildly amusing? It was surprisingly wonderful, being more than the baby.

I got moss to grow a little bit, once, by doin' the energy works I been learnin, she continued, apparently pleased with herself. It was really hard though. I dunno how it worked, really.

And then the question; an inquiry on her adventures. Her eyes flicked from the make-shift parts for the first time since they'd been gathered, fever-bright and dancing in merriment as she looked at the other filly. And then she was watching again, absolutely amazed that branches were being shaped into something she'd never thought of herself. Astarte was so creative!

My greatest adventure happened right after I met my bestest friend 'Pectrum. No... Speh. Spec. Spectrum. That's hard to say still. So, I met her and we was playing and there was a cave, she said, flicking her tail into the water as she sprawled on her stomach to get a closer look, and it was all made of ice so we went to see and there was a light in there, but the light made me feel funny and f'rget. I learned a word for it, she said, frowning intensely in concentration, It was a... A trance. And the light got faint and I remembered everything again, so we went in the cave to look, and the ice was all clear or sometimes it sent pictures back, like frozen lakes can. We bumped our noses on it, and the floor was icy too so I slipped, but then the light was back and the ice was gone and there was green ev'ywhere even though more snow was fallin and the f'rget-trance came back and then I started feelin funny so we ran away, and then ev'yt'in was gone cuz it blew up! she cried. It was a rift-hole, the light, and the thing on the other side was what made the trance thing. I think we nearly got blowed up cuz of the thing on the other side was a Fae-thing like what broke Sionayra - no, wait, that other word, Rhyandrithae - and the magics of it touched this place and the leftover chaos-storms that had broken ev'ything felt it and it all went boom.

She paused here a moment, seemingly just to tilt her head in a new direction and take a breath, before she added It was an even better adventure than when I met the kraken in Gypsy-Tribe's cove, cuz the Kraken only tried to squish and drown me and I just used tricks with my wings an' holdin my breath to slip free an' get it all twistied up. It made Gypsy-Tribe laugh, she grinned. Do you have a fav'rite thing you learned or found or esplored? Explored, I mean.

AuraSidra's questions were a welcome distraction from the vague discomfort building along her spine. The weaving was careful work, nowhere as quick or effortless as locking the scattered pieces in place. "Books are things made up of many paper pages, bound up between leather or thicker parchment or even gold and stone cases. They hold knowledge and stories, written down in ink, sometimes with drawings."

She edged over the device, gently aligning the makeshift patch with the jagged edge of the casing. Furrowing her eyes in concentration, she started to weave the thin stalks into the grail-work, connecting the two pieces. "'Busy' means that everyone has more important things to worry about now than a few broken trinkets gone missing."

It never crossed her mind that their simple conversation could mean so much to the filly. One of the benefits of growing up with only elders was the tendency to treat everyone as such--and Amma always said that everyone had something to teach, something to share. And even given the age difference, AuraSidra was already proving a wealth of knowledge completely foreign to her.

"I've never heard of energy works, are they like spells?" she asked, carefully snipping off the frayed edges of the twigs to match the dimension of the casing. Another flip and she began to patch the hole near the bottom of the casing. "All I had to do with my rose bush was water and prune it, but it still hasn't bloomed." She gave an embarrassed laugh. "I guess I'm pretty hopeless with tending flora."

But AuraSidra's story soon drove away any self-effacing musings. It was amazing that the filly had gone through so much already, a tale reminiscent of some of the ones Avi or Sive brought from their far off lands. Avi's band of Warriors often told her of their struggles against the corrupted beasts of Rhyandrithae, and she'd always thought such adventures happened only to the older, stronger Serians. Astarte looked at AuraSidra, for a moment leaving her project be, and smiled at her, soft with wonder. "That's an amazing story, both the ice cave and the kraken. You're really quite incredible, AuraSidra."

The device buzzed a little impatiently. She nickered at it, softly, then finished anchoring the second patch. It looked whole now, if not a bit unorthodox, the gold filigree melting into the pale branches dotted with small leaves like winking emeralds. She only hoped that it would look as well when they inevitably dried up. Now all she needed to do was fit the stones.

"Nothing as exciting as your tales," she said, gingerly fixing the first stone over the golden keys, breathing a sigh of relief as it fit in place. "My favorite place--I think Sive's tower. The first time I went, I wasn't much older than you and I wasn't supposed to go, but it was the first time my Avi left me so I couldn't sleep. I went walking and saw the bridge was up--usually it's underneath the lake so that no one can wander in--so I went to explore it. That's where I found my first project, and Sive watched me finish it and decided it would be ok for me to keep going. It's usually a nice place to work, with all the rooms and all the hidden things to find."

She fixed the second stone with a twirl of gold wire. "But some things need pieces you can't find in junk heaps and store rooms."

Done. Astarte let the device float down, wincing at the low ache the hands left in her bones as they vanished. She really needed to practice more. With one more flare of power, she reached out to twist the delicate knob at the trinket's side. "Let's see what this does."

There was a moment where she was sure it wouldn't work, but then the keys started to shiver gently against the stones and a tinkling melody wove through the air. Light pulsed gently through the tubes, synthetic fireflies dancing lazily along with the rhythm of the keys. Astarte let out a small sigh of relief. It was a music box, a little elaborate in design and touched with superficial enchantment, but probably harmless. She shot a shy smile at AuraSidra. "You can have it, if you'd like. I don't think Sive would mind."

Oh, I know those! the filly cried in evident excitement as Astarte described books, Bonded has one, but she calls it a Tome. Is a great big thing full of magic and she puts things 'bout us in there, just so there's somethin we can go "This is me" with.

This "busy" however still sounded odd to her. Just because you were doing other things didn't mean you couldn't do something else, too. She was exploring this odd little wood and also making a new friend and watching branches turn into something she'd never dreamed of; she could certainly answer a simple question about someone wanting to take some of her honey or not. And even if it didn't wind up simple, she could go back to exploring and telling stories later. Maybe not today, but later.

She'd have to think on that one; it made no sense to her at all. Maybe she could ask around back home.

Energy works, she said in an almost prim and rather scholarly type of voice as she lifted her head up higher and suddenly took on an air of sophistication, are very like and yet very not-like both spells and raw magic. At the simplest level there is an energy, a life, to creation; is one of the nine elee-ments. This is why places feel safe or cozy or why they seem to vibrate with act-tive-it-tee even if they're very still. Magic is taking the energy of a thing, an idea or emo-shun or elee-ment, and turning it from the passive energy of exist-ting into an active energy. It's the same as heat turnin' to fire or air turnin ta winds; 'cept I can have conv'r-say-shuns with winds and such, but not with the active energies. They're buzzy. Spells is using will-power and collec'ed energies to put the parts you wants to be all fire-wind active into being that way and freezin' them like that; I mean, it gets stuck when it's all agitated up like that. Sometimes the energies are only made to stay buzzy for a little bit and sometimes it's for so long that you t'ink it won't ever stop being buzzy. Energy works takes the energies and bumps them into being right. Like this, she added, and quickly hopped to her feet and brushed a branch aside with her nose, nodding as it swayed easily out of her way for a moment before flowing back down to where it'd originally been. Settling back down to continue watching she went on with her explanation, still in a manner of someone with a great amount of regal pride. Apparently, respecting this particular lesson had been heavily emphasized.

When I do energy works I feel the bit of life in the creation and I ask it, like askin the branch to move. And like the branch, it'll move as much as it's comfyble. You can move the branch further if you really push, but it's harder and you has to force it. That's what magic is. Bumping it and ducking a bit doesn't need as much as pushin', and I don't want it to be bent for forever so I don't need spells. The bad magic happens when you push too hard and the branch breaks; but with energy, it's when you make it too buzzy active so that it can't ever be the way it was even if it stops bein' buzzy, so it turns into diffr'nt creation energy all jammed t'geth'r. They don' like that.

With a tilt of her head she paused a moment, thinking on the neat summary Astarte had given her earlier explanation of why she could mess with the auroras and bring them down close. Wanting to try and do the same thing, she lost some of her self-restraint and looked slightly more placid as she finished with I touch the life of ev'ything around and ask it to do nice things. Sometimes I need to say "Please" really nice first, if I haven't been a good friend.

She'd watched rapt throughout, but she did glance up when Astarte paused. Returning the smile, AuraSidra gave a rather pleased expression that indicated she'd found all of this to be what was incredible. Well, I ran when I felt funny; it was good cuz things blew up, but I coulda looked closer instead. And the kraken was easy; sometimes when Gypsy-Tribe goes wanderin' the things she pokes get curious too. So they go pokin too, then we have to make them go away again. Mama said we had these things called nippers once that would sneak up and just take a bite from ya and then run 'way again, and you'd just have a big ol' hole in ya from 'em. Bonded and the others that take care of things at home found the nest to make them go away too, and Bonded had to heal someone cuz they had caught nipper-fleas which live under the skin and eat the muscles. Dat was before me, though.

She listened close as she heard about the tower with the bridge, holding the telling of a favorite place as something special; it was a sharing of something that was important to her. The concept of "not allowed to go in" was odd to her as well; this filly said so many strange things! But she kept quiet about it, having been told before that sometimes one would already know the answer to the question if they merely listened. She was learning to do more than ask all the time, but to think as well.

She had been told not to do things, of course, but it was different for her. She'd been told that if she fell in one of the acid pools in Caustic's sulphur-rich volcanic wasteland of a home she'd be badly hurt and maybe die. But nobody had simply said "don't play in there." She'd been told that going too far from shore could be dangerous; and then promptly laughed at as a huge deep-water wave half-drowned her before she managed to orient herself back towards shore. She wound up coughing more water out of her lungs than she knew she could hold. She'd been told that she had to get herself out of any trouble she found - in fact, she was constantly told that - so she wasn't sour about the laugh. She was also constantly told that they'd also make sure she didn't die. She might break something or get singed or even pass out before she managed to undo whatever troubled her, but she'd always be yanked out by her tail when she really needed it. Luckily for her pride, she'd yet to need rescue.

So maybe there were some things in some of those rooms that were like that and just nobody told Astarte. Maybe her friend would get singed too. That would make for a good story! Hopefully she could hear about it after; once the other filly stopped coughing up clouds of smoke, that is.

And then, enraptured by the favorite place and her own musings as she watched the thing come together, she got quite the surprise when suddenly; it worked! Springing to her feet again she trotted in a tight circle of excitement, letting out a shrill whinny of a laugh. Oh, it was quite delightful, the way it made those little sounds and flashed that way! And it was very pretty. She was quite happy that Astarte had such a thing because it was simply wonderful, and she wanted wonderful things for her.

I can?! she squeaked, her excitement battling with surprise as her eyes grew round and her smile swallowed her face, Ohhhh, thank yew! Oh-oh-oh! Wait! I've an idea! she cried, and closed her eyes tight in concentration. Although it didn't stop her talking.

I'm learnin a trick an' it's like if you bump aside a whole bunch of fern leafies all at once to get somethin under it, and it's real hard, but I think...

And then, right by her nose, there was an assortment of crystals.

Beaming happily, she spread out a multitude of the small things in front of Astarte. Each was a different color, each had grown so that in their center a shape could be made from the disruption in the texture, and each was coated with various colored of moss in seemingly endless patterns. Some mosses were flecked in two or three colors, an even salt-and-pepper composition that could blend into looking like a whole new color if you didn't focus on them. Others had clearer patterns within the moss; spots or patches, or great sweeping areas that could be imagined to be any of a number of things.

I trade with 'Pectrum for these, she said proudly, looking back up at the other filly earnestly, See how the moss glows an' reflects through the crystals? It's pretty bright so you might see it a little, even in the day. Next time you canna sleep, if you wanna fix a broken thing again, this way you can see better; 'pecially if the moons aren't heavy or there's clouds.

With that, she pranced back towards the little music box and happily twisted the knob with her teeth, giggling merrily as the music started up once more and the lights kept time.

Pick one, she encouraged happily, and then looked up as if a sudden thought had struck her, Now I have two friends! Awesome!

She'd thought of her as one for a while now, but getting the music box sealed it for her; it was a proper friend, not simply meeting someone nice. That happened sometimes, she heard; sometimes you merely met someone who was nice and liked being near them, but you didn't get close or become real friends. AuraSidra thought that only a friend would let her have something this lovely, so now they had to be just that.

OOC| Oh wow, super long. No wonder it took so long to type out!