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Clan Leader Garr
Ash has finally grown large enough to fit the delicate copper collar that we found around her egg, and now wears it proudly. Elysia and Melody have adorned her with a few other gifts, and Melody explained to me that they are meant to help keep her cool in our rough climate.
"The turban was constructed to house magical properties and force their conversion into a perpetual spell of wind, like a light breeze to keep cool air circulating about her," the ice-colored fae’s lilting voice was like a chime of music to my ears. I do love hearing her speak. "Elysia set up the stone that adorns it to channel magics within the area, so that it is not a draw from her own resources. I just helped focus the stone to tell it what sort of magics it should refocus that wild energy into, much like how all of us innate casters can still refocus the elements around us to conform to that which we are most blessed with mastering."
I simply nodded, not fully grasping the concept of how magic worked or how my casters used it or how a stone was supposed to harness it… But at least it was pleasant to hear Melody speak about it, and my focus trained itself more on the operatic pitching and lowering of her voice. All the while that steady thrumming noise she made from her throat added an entrancing harmony to the musical masterpeice of her monologue. I must have been lulled into a trance by it, my head still continuing the steady bob of acknowledgement, when I suddenly realized she was saying my name and staring at me quite expectantly.
"Garr."
I came to my senses, staring wide-eyed into the shining pale green orbs of her own. What had she said last? Was it a question? Was I suppose to offer something or answer her? Was I currently staring at her like a total buffoon? Do something, Garr! Just say anything!
"You’ve both done very well to help her," my voice came out simple and calm, not at all an echo of the flustered thoughts racing through my mind. "Thank you both very much for showing me that I can trust other clan members in your care."
The pleasant hum she emitted went up by a note or two and her fins flared out brilliantly, shaking a little. Good. I’m pretty sure I said the correct thing just now.
"Thank you, Garr. I will pass that on to Elysia." I watched as Melody flew off and vanished back into the amber den on the far wall of the lair, then made my way over to the Janustrap to see little Ash for myself. Perhaps taking a look at her could give me a better idea of what I didn’t understand in Melody’s words.
By now, Ash had grown so large that she no longer nestled snuggly in the tangles of the Janustrap, but instead took up a large portion of its space, as she was a good deal of its size by now. Still, the two seemed rather attached, as the predatory plant still made effort to offer her a little area tucked within its fronds and thick stems. I could see the grey of her body and the vibrant yellow of her wings and fins poking out from its own lively green vegitation even as I approached.
"Ash?" I called out to her, and with a little bit of rustling she popped out from the embrace of the familiar.
By the Gods, look at her. She is so cute, I could just die.
"Ash, you’ve really made an amazing recovering here," I told her, trying to keep my voice in check even as it carried the tone of just how adorable I couldn’t help but feel she was. “I’m very proud of you for the strength you have shown.”
She smiled up at me. As in, she actually smiled, the corners of her mouth turning up at the end in a way I’ve never seen the other fae do. Has she been developing these habits from us?
"Thank you, Garr." Her voice was still as flat and atonal as Elysia’s, but her added facial expression made it easier to read her body language as I saw her frills tremble and shake.
"You’ve gotten too big for the plant, now," I continued, sitting back on my haunches so that I could comfortably look down at her as we had this conversation. "Do you think you’re ready to move back in with Elysia and Melody, into the amber den?"
Ash looked from me to the large fae den on the wall, and then back to me, her head bobbing in a familiar nod as her fins folded and splayed in little motions. “Yes, Garr, I think so.”
"That’s good." I smiled back down at her. "You’ve been so brave, little Ash. You’ll be a fine example for all of us to follow as our clan continues to grow." I reached out to her with a hand and she bumped her head affectionately against it, setting alight a warm feeling within my chest as I beamed proudly down at her. My little clan… the hardships they endure, the creative ways they overcome them, and the strength and cleverness they show while doing so…
"Garr?" A voice with tone and intent called to me, and I turned my head to see Cray casually approaching. "Deesha was hoping you would go see her and the tundras." Aaah yes, the tundras. The other newest clan members. I gave Cray a nod, standing up and turning from Ash and the Janustrap.
"I will, thank you. Will you let me know when the hunting party returns?" I had sent Gilda, Mephit, and Elysia out earlier for hunting, mostly for the sake of the first two. The tundras that Gilda had been mothering were large enough now that they didn’t need her constant watchful eye, and it seemed cruel to keep Mephit in the lair for too long. But then, it seemed cruel to let him out only to have him return… One day soon he would be going, but at this point I did not know what kept him here. I didn’t think it was myself… Was he waiting on something else? Perhaps for Diego to be fully grown? The young ridgeback was proudly at his full size now, so I didn’t think it could be that… I suppose only Mephit knows what moment he is waiting for before he leaves on his Search.
Cray nodded his answer to my request, and I headed down our main tunnel, further into our lair, seeking out the new room Deesha had been digging out for our new trio of floofs.
She was doing a fantastic job. The area she’d dug into had proven to be a little cooler than other parts of the lair, with little to no lava trickles showing. Gilda would be happiest about that, no longer having to worry about her growing clanmates catching aflame. I found my great guardian sitting in the center of the generously sized room, watching as the tundras worked around her, digging with expressions of self-imposed deliberation as they perfected some of the nuances of their room.
"I told them it was theirs," Deesha explained to me, "and now they’ve been working to personalize it."
"They’re doing a good job," I admitted. Tundras are natural burrowers, after all, and these three were certainly showing that. I wondered if their attunement to rock and soil aided them in this regard? "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes." Deesha gave a low snort, a sound more like her simply exhaling than any intended emphasis. "It is time you named them. They know all of our names and address us as such, but they have become so much older and still lack names of their own."
"I know," I admitted with a frown. "It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, it’s just that I’ve been a little distracted with other things. Like the odd egg… You have it with you?" Deesha lifted a great paw of hers to show me the tiny, misshapen egg within her palm, and I gave a nod. We had all been taking turns watching it, but for the past few days it had shown no signs of stirring. Cray continued to assure us that he could feel life within it. Whatever it was, it was either taking its time, or we had simply found it shortly after it had been laid. As I continued to consider the egg, I noticed something else amiss. An odd, deeply blue spot seemed to be showing on the arm of my guardian. Like a strange freckle or growth. It caught my attention and I couldn’t help but turn my focus to her arm, noting another growing near it, and another, further up her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Some concern tinged my voice as I took in the amount of these spots I was beginning to note. Initially they had blended in with her natural freckles and were easy to overlook.
"I am fine, Garr," she assured me flatly, and I frowned once again for entirely different reasons.
"Are you sure? Because you’ve got these… things…" I lifted a hand to point at the blue specks, and she gave a sigh.
"Please don’t change the subject."
"No, no, I’m not trying to, I just… You’re not catching anything from that weird egg, are you? Or that chest that came home with us? Or-"
"Garr!" Deesha’s tail thumped roughly against the ground, catching the attention of the three tundra and cutting me off abruptly. She fixed me with a glare, which I could only match with a look of concern and slight hurt, and then her expression turned sheepish as she redirected her gaze to the side. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound upset." She lowered her hand again, still clutching the odd egg, and turned to stare at the blue spots along her. "No, I didn’t catch this from the egg or the trunk or anything of the sort. I think these may have been caused by Saeroni. She was muttering something about potions to ‘help unlock our potential,’ and I agreed to test one out for her."
"You WHAT??" It was apparently my turn to suddenly sound upset. Deesha turned her head back to me and fixed me with a very stern, disapproving frown.
"I would not have done it if I did not trust her."
"You took a potion concocted by a sserthissss!" I couldn’t help but hiss the word out in my upset. I hear that in some places, mirrors are born with a natural hiss to their speech. For a moment, listening to myself, I could really believe that. Deesha simply shook her head, remaining calm in the face of my distress.
"Yes, but she did not force me to take it, I chose to. And as I’ve told you, I’ve been weighing out the options. She has more to gain from helping us than from harming us, and I’ve had no reason to not trust her as of late. So I agreed to the experiment."
I stammered, unable to speak as all manner of angry, paranoid, and fearful thoughts and scenarios passed through my head of all the very wrong things that could have come about from this, and again Deesha simply sat and waited patiently as the hisses and spattering noises that came from me gradually worked themselves out of my system. I heaved a great sigh, my crests and wings splaying angrily and then folding in again, and looked up at my Deesha.
"So then why, pray tell, is this ‘potion to unlock potential’ giving you blue spots??”
Deesha responded with a snicker, which was not at all what I was expecting. “My mother was gembond, much like you saw on Kido. I never was born with her unique pattern, but I suppose whatever Saeroni gave me, it has awakened that.”
"Well-" I gave a snarl, not directed at my jade giant, but just as a response to my continued thoughts, and finally spat out an irritated "Well that’s a start, I guess!” Quickly finding myself wanting to think of anything but my dear Deesha being affected by serthis potions, I turned my attention to the three tundra who were still milling about the room, one of them attempting to dig while the other two kept casting glances in our direction. Right. They needed names. “Come here, come here,” I beckoned to them, trying to work the agitation out of my voice. “It is time I name you, like all proper members of the clan…”
The three brightened in an instant, turning and racing towards me, and I subconciously braced myself for any sort of impact that might follow. They had been raised by Gilda, after all. But all three skidded to a halt in a neat line in front of me, gazing up at me with shining, expectant brown eyes.
"Thank you so much, Garr!" One of them piped up, and I wished I could specify which one it was, but their lack of names just made that… odd. It was the teal one, at any rate. I peered down at their adolescent faces, pondering for a moment what it must be like to go without a name for so long. They were still young, mind you, still considerable to hatchlings, or just barely older than, but they were a little older than the age at which I’d finally named Mephit, and they were certainly starting to get a more mature look about them. Like miniature adults.
If this whole ‘me naming them’ tradition is to stick in our clan, then I really must be more on the ball with getting it done. No more month-old hatchlings running about without names.
"Right!" I announced, and in unison the three all sat back on their rumps, staring up at me. I paced along the line of them, thinking. "As you should know, here in Rising Embers, I like to try and assign names with a certain meaningfulness to them. Something personal, something relevant… A story of your own that you will carry with you forever." This was far more flourished than I’ve ever been, with with their three heads following my back-and-forth pacing and their eyes swirling so eagerly, I couldn’t quite help but really get into the role of the ‘overly grand clan leader’ for the moment. Casting a glance over at my Deesha showed that even she was entertained by the display, and I sat back, raising my head upward to gaze meaningfully at the ceiling as a brought a hand up, clutching it in a strong gesture. All three tundra’s heads instantly shot up to stare skyward, wondering what must have my attention so completely.
"Names like Ash or Melody, which reflect places where they were born from," I continued my speech as I turned to look down at the three tundras, and their heads snapped so quickly to get their attention back on me that I thought they might fall over from the force. "Or Mephit and Elysia, which are faint echoes of the unique Flights they are blessed by. Or like Diego, the name of an old, lost friend…"
The little fluffs were trembling balls of excitement and anticipation as they listened to me speak, and I stood back up, resuming my pace. “Now, you three were most unexpected surprises. A nest of earth tundras, hidden away in our Mother Flamecaller’s lands. And yet, here you are. So, your names will reflect the uniqueness of this partnership. You,” I stopped before the little yellow one, his mane the same color of goldenrod that Gilda was that I could almost be convinced he was truly her son. “You shall now be known as Ignatius.”
The little one lifted his head proudly, booming out a loud “Thank you, Clan Leader Garr!” and I couldn’t help but grin at the extended title. I moved next to his sister who sat beside him, her hands kneading at the ground as she sat in forced patience.
"You, I shall call Caldera, much like the place in which we live. A great, strong crater, forged from the eruptions of fire within the stone."
She beamed brightly at me, ducking her head into a bow, and in her fur moreso than the others I could see the faintest darkening of stripes. Perhaps these three were destined to have more patterned coats in the future as they grew?
"Thank you, Clan Leader Garr." Caldera continued on the trend of the full title her brother had used for me, and I pondered for a moment if it was Deesha or Gilda who had taught them that. Probably Deesha. It seemed more like a Deesha thing. The carmine tundra sat back, looking wholly proud of herself as she fluffed her wings and shook her mane out. I moved on to their final brother, the teal one.
"And you," I gazed down at the little teal fluff, who was now set to either dig himself into the ground or knock himself over with the way he was rocking about and fidgeting. "You shall be Volcanus-"
"THANK YOU, GARR!" He blurted out before I could even get another word in. He then instantly ducked his head down, burying it in his hands out of sheer embarrassment. I did my best to not laugh out loud at his outburst. A feat, of which I am proud to admit, that I managed quite smoothly. I did not stop myself from grinning down at him as he slowly lifted his head to look at me again, his shoulders hunched and his posture shrunken from his chagrin.
"It’s alright, Volcanus. As I was saying…" I cleared my throat, squaring my shoulders and taking on the same ridiculously theatrical demeanor I had displayed earlier. "May your outbursts be as passionate and as notable as the great volcanos themselves. But make sure you chose carefully what those outbursts and expressions are, and do not simply allow any little thing to spur such passion."
"Thank you, Garr!" Volcanus repeated, still energetic but a bit more reserved this time, then ducked his head again and corrected his statement. "Clan Leader Garr!”
"Of course." I grinned at the three, feeling quite accomplished for the name choices. "Now then, you were working on this room, were you not?" I gave them a little wave with my hand. "Back to work now, off you go. And when you are older, you will help me craft much greater rooms and halls for our lair."
The three turned and scrambled excitedly back to their work, and I turned my gaze to Deesha, who grinned back at me, giving me a proud nod.
"You have done well, Clan Leader Garr," she told me smugly. I could not help but grin wider, beaming brightly at the compliment.
Clan Leader Garr
Ash has finally grown large enough to fit the delicate copper collar that we found around her egg, and now wears it proudly. Elysia and Melody have adorned her with a few other gifts, and Melody explained to me that they are meant to help keep her cool in our rough climate.
"The turban was constructed to house magical properties and force their conversion into a perpetual spell of wind, like a light breeze to keep cool air circulating about her," the ice-colored fae’s lilting voice was like a chime of music to my ears. I do love hearing her speak. "Elysia set up the stone that adorns it to channel magics within the area, so that it is not a draw from her own resources. I just helped focus the stone to tell it what sort of magics it should refocus that wild energy into, much like how all of us innate casters can still refocus the elements around us to conform to that which we are most blessed with mastering."
I simply nodded, not fully grasping the concept of how magic worked or how my casters used it or how a stone was supposed to harness it… But at least it was pleasant to hear Melody speak about it, and my focus trained itself more on the operatic pitching and lowering of her voice. All the while that steady thrumming noise she made from her throat added an entrancing harmony to the musical masterpeice of her monologue. I must have been lulled into a trance by it, my head still continuing the steady bob of acknowledgement, when I suddenly realized she was saying my name and staring at me quite expectantly.
"Garr."
I came to my senses, staring wide-eyed into the shining pale green orbs of her own. What had she said last? Was it a question? Was I suppose to offer something or answer her? Was I currently staring at her like a total buffoon? Do something, Garr! Just say anything!
"You’ve both done very well to help her," my voice came out simple and calm, not at all an echo of the flustered thoughts racing through my mind. "Thank you both very much for showing me that I can trust other clan members in your care."
The pleasant hum she emitted went up by a note or two and her fins flared out brilliantly, shaking a little. Good. I’m pretty sure I said the correct thing just now.
"Thank you, Garr. I will pass that on to Elysia." I watched as Melody flew off and vanished back into the amber den on the far wall of the lair, then made my way over to the Janustrap to see little Ash for myself. Perhaps taking a look at her could give me a better idea of what I didn’t understand in Melody’s words.
By now, Ash had grown so large that she no longer nestled snuggly in the tangles of the Janustrap, but instead took up a large portion of its space, as she was a good deal of its size by now. Still, the two seemed rather attached, as the predatory plant still made effort to offer her a little area tucked within its fronds and thick stems. I could see the grey of her body and the vibrant yellow of her wings and fins poking out from its own lively green vegitation even as I approached.
"Ash?" I called out to her, and with a little bit of rustling she popped out from the embrace of the familiar.
By the Gods, look at her. She is so cute, I could just die.
"Ash, you’ve really made an amazing recovering here," I told her, trying to keep my voice in check even as it carried the tone of just how adorable I couldn’t help but feel she was. “I’m very proud of you for the strength you have shown.”
She smiled up at me. As in, she actually smiled, the corners of her mouth turning up at the end in a way I’ve never seen the other fae do. Has she been developing these habits from us?
"Thank you, Garr." Her voice was still as flat and atonal as Elysia’s, but her added facial expression made it easier to read her body language as I saw her frills tremble and shake.
"You’ve gotten too big for the plant, now," I continued, sitting back on my haunches so that I could comfortably look down at her as we had this conversation. "Do you think you’re ready to move back in with Elysia and Melody, into the amber den?"
Ash looked from me to the large fae den on the wall, and then back to me, her head bobbing in a familiar nod as her fins folded and splayed in little motions. “Yes, Garr, I think so.”
"That’s good." I smiled back down at her. "You’ve been so brave, little Ash. You’ll be a fine example for all of us to follow as our clan continues to grow." I reached out to her with a hand and she bumped her head affectionately against it, setting alight a warm feeling within my chest as I beamed proudly down at her. My little clan… the hardships they endure, the creative ways they overcome them, and the strength and cleverness they show while doing so…
"Garr?" A voice with tone and intent called to me, and I turned my head to see Cray casually approaching. "Deesha was hoping you would go see her and the tundras." Aaah yes, the tundras. The other newest clan members. I gave Cray a nod, standing up and turning from Ash and the Janustrap.
"I will, thank you. Will you let me know when the hunting party returns?" I had sent Gilda, Mephit, and Elysia out earlier for hunting, mostly for the sake of the first two. The tundras that Gilda had been mothering were large enough now that they didn’t need her constant watchful eye, and it seemed cruel to keep Mephit in the lair for too long. But then, it seemed cruel to let him out only to have him return… One day soon he would be going, but at this point I did not know what kept him here. I didn’t think it was myself… Was he waiting on something else? Perhaps for Diego to be fully grown? The young ridgeback was proudly at his full size now, so I didn’t think it could be that… I suppose only Mephit knows what moment he is waiting for before he leaves on his Search.
Cray nodded his answer to my request, and I headed down our main tunnel, further into our lair, seeking out the new room Deesha had been digging out for our new trio of floofs.
She was doing a fantastic job. The area she’d dug into had proven to be a little cooler than other parts of the lair, with little to no lava trickles showing. Gilda would be happiest about that, no longer having to worry about her growing clanmates catching aflame. I found my great guardian sitting in the center of the generously sized room, watching as the tundras worked around her, digging with expressions of self-imposed deliberation as they perfected some of the nuances of their room.
"I told them it was theirs," Deesha explained to me, "and now they’ve been working to personalize it."
"They’re doing a good job," I admitted. Tundras are natural burrowers, after all, and these three were certainly showing that. I wondered if their attunement to rock and soil aided them in this regard? "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes." Deesha gave a low snort, a sound more like her simply exhaling than any intended emphasis. "It is time you named them. They know all of our names and address us as such, but they have become so much older and still lack names of their own."
"I know," I admitted with a frown. "It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, it’s just that I’ve been a little distracted with other things. Like the odd egg… You have it with you?" Deesha lifted a great paw of hers to show me the tiny, misshapen egg within her palm, and I gave a nod. We had all been taking turns watching it, but for the past few days it had shown no signs of stirring. Cray continued to assure us that he could feel life within it. Whatever it was, it was either taking its time, or we had simply found it shortly after it had been laid. As I continued to consider the egg, I noticed something else amiss. An odd, deeply blue spot seemed to be showing on the arm of my guardian. Like a strange freckle or growth. It caught my attention and I couldn’t help but turn my focus to her arm, noting another growing near it, and another, further up her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Some concern tinged my voice as I took in the amount of these spots I was beginning to note. Initially they had blended in with her natural freckles and were easy to overlook.
"I am fine, Garr," she assured me flatly, and I frowned once again for entirely different reasons.
"Are you sure? Because you’ve got these… things…" I lifted a hand to point at the blue specks, and she gave a sigh.
"Please don’t change the subject."
"No, no, I’m not trying to, I just… You’re not catching anything from that weird egg, are you? Or that chest that came home with us? Or-"
"Garr!" Deesha’s tail thumped roughly against the ground, catching the attention of the three tundra and cutting me off abruptly. She fixed me with a glare, which I could only match with a look of concern and slight hurt, and then her expression turned sheepish as she redirected her gaze to the side. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound upset." She lowered her hand again, still clutching the odd egg, and turned to stare at the blue spots along her. "No, I didn’t catch this from the egg or the trunk or anything of the sort. I think these may have been caused by Saeroni. She was muttering something about potions to ‘help unlock our potential,’ and I agreed to test one out for her."
"You WHAT??" It was apparently my turn to suddenly sound upset. Deesha turned her head back to me and fixed me with a very stern, disapproving frown.
"I would not have done it if I did not trust her."
"You took a potion concocted by a sserthissss!" I couldn’t help but hiss the word out in my upset. I hear that in some places, mirrors are born with a natural hiss to their speech. For a moment, listening to myself, I could really believe that. Deesha simply shook her head, remaining calm in the face of my distress.
"Yes, but she did not force me to take it, I chose to. And as I’ve told you, I’ve been weighing out the options. She has more to gain from helping us than from harming us, and I’ve had no reason to not trust her as of late. So I agreed to the experiment."
I stammered, unable to speak as all manner of angry, paranoid, and fearful thoughts and scenarios passed through my head of all the very wrong things that could have come about from this, and again Deesha simply sat and waited patiently as the hisses and spattering noises that came from me gradually worked themselves out of my system. I heaved a great sigh, my crests and wings splaying angrily and then folding in again, and looked up at my Deesha.
"So then why, pray tell, is this ‘potion to unlock potential’ giving you blue spots??”
Deesha responded with a snicker, which was not at all what I was expecting. “My mother was gembond, much like you saw on Kido. I never was born with her unique pattern, but I suppose whatever Saeroni gave me, it has awakened that.”
"Well-" I gave a snarl, not directed at my jade giant, but just as a response to my continued thoughts, and finally spat out an irritated "Well that’s a start, I guess!” Quickly finding myself wanting to think of anything but my dear Deesha being affected by serthis potions, I turned my attention to the three tundra who were still milling about the room, one of them attempting to dig while the other two kept casting glances in our direction. Right. They needed names. “Come here, come here,” I beckoned to them, trying to work the agitation out of my voice. “It is time I name you, like all proper members of the clan…”
The three brightened in an instant, turning and racing towards me, and I subconciously braced myself for any sort of impact that might follow. They had been raised by Gilda, after all. But all three skidded to a halt in a neat line in front of me, gazing up at me with shining, expectant brown eyes.
"Thank you so much, Garr!" One of them piped up, and I wished I could specify which one it was, but their lack of names just made that… odd. It was the teal one, at any rate. I peered down at their adolescent faces, pondering for a moment what it must be like to go without a name for so long. They were still young, mind you, still considerable to hatchlings, or just barely older than, but they were a little older than the age at which I’d finally named Mephit, and they were certainly starting to get a more mature look about them. Like miniature adults.
If this whole ‘me naming them’ tradition is to stick in our clan, then I really must be more on the ball with getting it done. No more month-old hatchlings running about without names.
"Right!" I announced, and in unison the three all sat back on their rumps, staring up at me. I paced along the line of them, thinking. "As you should know, here in Rising Embers, I like to try and assign names with a certain meaningfulness to them. Something personal, something relevant… A story of your own that you will carry with you forever." This was far more flourished than I’ve ever been, with with their three heads following my back-and-forth pacing and their eyes swirling so eagerly, I couldn’t quite help but really get into the role of the ‘overly grand clan leader’ for the moment. Casting a glance over at my Deesha showed that even she was entertained by the display, and I sat back, raising my head upward to gaze meaningfully at the ceiling as a brought a hand up, clutching it in a strong gesture. All three tundra’s heads instantly shot up to stare skyward, wondering what must have my attention so completely.
"Names like Ash or Melody, which reflect places where they were born from," I continued my speech as I turned to look down at the three tundras, and their heads snapped so quickly to get their attention back on me that I thought they might fall over from the force. "Or Mephit and Elysia, which are faint echoes of the unique Flights they are blessed by. Or like Diego, the name of an old, lost friend…"
The little fluffs were trembling balls of excitement and anticipation as they listened to me speak, and I stood back up, resuming my pace. “Now, you three were most unexpected surprises. A nest of earth tundras, hidden away in our Mother Flamecaller’s lands. And yet, here you are. So, your names will reflect the uniqueness of this partnership. You,” I stopped before the little yellow one, his mane the same color of goldenrod that Gilda was that I could almost be convinced he was truly her son. “You shall now be known as Ignatius.”
The little one lifted his head proudly, booming out a loud “Thank you, Clan Leader Garr!” and I couldn’t help but grin at the extended title. I moved next to his sister who sat beside him, her hands kneading at the ground as she sat in forced patience.
"You, I shall call Caldera, much like the place in which we live. A great, strong crater, forged from the eruptions of fire within the stone."
She beamed brightly at me, ducking her head into a bow, and in her fur moreso than the others I could see the faintest darkening of stripes. Perhaps these three were destined to have more patterned coats in the future as they grew?
"Thank you, Clan Leader Garr." Caldera continued on the trend of the full title her brother had used for me, and I pondered for a moment if it was Deesha or Gilda who had taught them that. Probably Deesha. It seemed more like a Deesha thing. The carmine tundra sat back, looking wholly proud of herself as she fluffed her wings and shook her mane out. I moved on to their final brother, the teal one.
"And you," I gazed down at the little teal fluff, who was now set to either dig himself into the ground or knock himself over with the way he was rocking about and fidgeting. "You shall be Volcanus-"
"THANK YOU, GARR!" He blurted out before I could even get another word in. He then instantly ducked his head down, burying it in his hands out of sheer embarrassment. I did my best to not laugh out loud at his outburst. A feat, of which I am proud to admit, that I managed quite smoothly. I did not stop myself from grinning down at him as he slowly lifted his head to look at me again, his shoulders hunched and his posture shrunken from his chagrin.
"It’s alright, Volcanus. As I was saying…" I cleared my throat, squaring my shoulders and taking on the same ridiculously theatrical demeanor I had displayed earlier. "May your outbursts be as passionate and as notable as the great volcanos themselves. But make sure you chose carefully what those outbursts and expressions are, and do not simply allow any little thing to spur such passion."
"Thank you, Garr!" Volcanus repeated, still energetic but a bit more reserved this time, then ducked his head again and corrected his statement. "Clan Leader Garr!”
"Of course." I grinned at the three, feeling quite accomplished for the name choices. "Now then, you were working on this room, were you not?" I gave them a little wave with my hand. "Back to work now, off you go. And when you are older, you will help me craft much greater rooms and halls for our lair."
The three turned and scrambled excitedly back to their work, and I turned my gaze to Deesha, who grinned back at me, giving me a proud nod.
"You have done well, Clan Leader Garr," she told me smugly. I could not help but grin wider, beaming brightly at the compliment.
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