Nurture

Those objects told a story few knew, one when dragons, most who had never been as far as Dragonhome, yet away from their home wherever else it had been, had sought shelter in rock once more, knowing since time immemorial that any cave, large or small, had the potential to be anything, so long as you gave it a part of yourself.

It had started with a bracelet slipping off the arm of a studious dragon gone to explore the Beacon of the Radiant Eye. It had disappeared along the cliff, never landing in the water, or even on the bridge to Lanterlea Port. It had made a noise. That noise had had an echo. That echo had sounded... old, somehow.

Armed with the sturdiest rope available, an expedition had been organised. At first that expedition had just been the one friend trying to get the bracelet back without risking going for a swim. And then there had been more. Some agile scholars who fancied themselves adventurers. Happy-go-lucky hatchlings who'd been told the coast was clear, no, not like that...

One discoverer after the other and light was shed on yet another ruin the territory had to offer. Was it a ruin though, or a safe haven, a gemless gem of a cave system, with an underwater source, gentle winds, even some vegetation, all of which spoke of future rather than past.

Some stone knives had been deposited near its entrance, of varying age, in what was seen as ancient offerings. Had those caves once been sacred?

Hard to access at first, it was made easier even for those who, flightless, could trust only their footing to roam this new territory. Pelts were brought, book nooks created by scholars in need of a quiet retreat. From a long-forgotten place, it had become one of comfort. Safety. Shelter.

The perfect place for a new home...

It had been many moons, and Sornieth already had two of them. In the depth of the cave, the first who had wandered in and settled had grown into some habits, often bringing their own snacks and light sources. The Glowing Pocket Bauble was a favourite, its soft glow the perfect light to read by, the way it faded the perfect reminder to go back outside.

The snacks, well, with as many types of dragons as there were, they were varied. Rolls of different types of bread, some of which fish based, adorned with cinnamon, could be carried by one cave explorer eager to see more of the large structure, while those intent on sitting there and enjoying the quiet brought various foodstuff, usually sticks of various vegetables, when not the odd cricket, to dip in mushroom oil. The hardest part was not spilling any.

There were noises sometimes, deeper in the caves, but as no one really knew how many dragons were there, and as those noises never resembled cries for help, they were carried by the wind with the same semblance of normalcy as the fragrance of the various species of plants that grew in parts of the side galleries.

"Did somebody drop this?" a Snapper had asked one day, puzzled, the lustrous shell in his hand emitting a soft rattling. Some dragons had looked up, shaken their heads. One had simply pointed to a corner by the entrance. There was a crate there, newly built, but already half full of many small treasures, all of them rattling softly if touched.

Was this a specific kind of littering, or was something else going on?

"Where did you find this one?" The dragon who'd pointed to the crate had asked, his voice soft but determined, a quill hovering over a piece of parchment. He'd been keeping track. The snapper had given a vague answer. He'd picked it up along the way, hadn't thought it was important enough to double back.

"What do you think those are?" He finally asked. The pearlcatcher took some time to answer.

"There could be two possibilities." He paused for effect. "Either those were left long before this cave was discovered, all of them at least somewhat valuable, a gift perhaps." He paused again and the snapper had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. "Or something is leaving them for us to find. No one ever finds more than one, or reports it anyway. It's only ever the one."

"You think..."

"I think there may be more to this cave than meets the eye. Or that those who came here before us believed so. I dare hope that it wishes us well."

... TBC

They didn't have to wait very long. After the little offerings, something else happened that no explorer or dweller could ignore: music. It was carried by the wind, some sort of string instrument with no one to play it, chords resonating through the chambers like that of a time long gone. Or maybe not so long gone, as several of the tunes echoed the whistling of some of the passing dragons, playing with the notes, arranging them in new ways.

It was all about the wind, after all. The pearlcatcher, in the spirit of research, had started to map it as best as he could, the kit was, in his eyes, subpar, hardly a worthy research tool, but this was not a regular research spot. Usually, you knew either where you were, or what you were looking for. In there, however, everything remained to be discovered.

The same snapper from before reported having spotted some unicorn dust here and there where the music seemed louder. He'd noticed it more often than most as it was said to be able to make any dragon fly, and, well, snapper hatchlings were known to either be pranked with it, or try their luck. He'd have recognised it everywhere, hadn't expected it here. It had puzzled him rather than made him happy, but still he hardly expected the supposed powers of the miracle dust to finally work. It wouldn't have been a good idea given how low some of the ceilings were, anyway.

He'd hesitated before mentioning the fleeting sights of Lux Spectres, or possibly just the one, just out of the corner of his eyes. It felt... incongruous, even as they attempted to solve this puzzle, a creature this elusive couldn't possibly be the source of the riddle, could it?

But was it a riddle? Or something greater than that? Was it harmless, or had the stone knives they'd found upon entering the cave at first been a warning, pointing to some invisible, undefeated foe?

It'd take more time and findings to clear this up, but it had been advised that hatchlings were to be accompanied at all times, and even then travellers came at their own risk, although the main cave where those who gathered to simply be, and often study, was considered a safer space. For now...

"Look, Thorben, I found something else... I know you'd rather stay near the entrance, but you'll want to come take a look at this." The snapper seemed in some sort of a hurry as he spoke, the pearlcatcher frowning. His thinking was fast, but moving he preferred to do slowly. Lychen wasn't a marathon runner, but still not too easy to keep up with.

"Would you mind giving me some sort of description, perhaps?" He was just trying to gain time, and assemble his thoughts. Most of them were dispersed around him on as many pieces of parchment, tablets, and anything he could scribble on. He noticed Lychen rolling his eyes, and ignored his sigh, listening to his words carefully.

"It's this one cave, I found things in it... It could be from a hatchling, but it's been there a while, as in, you know..." Lychen gestured and a few items tinkered inside the many pockets lining his flank. "Longer?"

"Do you expect this to be dangerous?" At this stage both dragon knew the answer to this question would be what would decide whether or not the pearlcatcher got up at all.

"We're in a cave, whose structure we don't understand that much about at this stage, even with the help from the Dragonhome people, the smaller cave I've got to show you is no different from this one. Just a tad smaller." He paused. "Okay, maybe a lot smaller, but this one's huge, you get the idea." Thorben did, indeed, get the idea, although getting any unit of measurement out of a snapper if you weren't also a snapper tended to lead to surprising results.

Lychen led the way, after all he knew where he was going, and turned to the right surprisingly close to where they'd started.

"See, I hadn't noticed it at first, hadn't expected it to be a room, maybe more of an alcove, but... well, just come and see, will you, you're the knowledgeable one here."

They both knew that wasn't technically entirely true. Thorben did have a lot of knowledge in a variety of subjects. There was very little Lychen didn't know about rocks, particularly of the valuable variety. He did register them, though, you had to give him that!

They entered the room as softly as a team containing at least one snapper was capable of, and stopped. It was indeed not nearly as large as the main entrance, but still rather spacious, which even by pearlcatcher standards meant 'able to contain an indefinite amount of snappers without stacking them up'.

"Is that a plushie?" That was the first thing Thorben had reacted to. The rest he could about grasp, but what was that doll doing here?

"Soft Lightweaver Idol, had one growing up!" Lychen exclaimed with pride. "Mine was from the Blacksand Annex, though, no talented crafters around when I was born. This is the real deal though, silk and all!"

"You think a hatchling might have been here?"

"Well, like I said... I mean just look at this, and I know, I know, you won't like it, but..." He pointed at the scroll of long form poetry that had been 'improved' by small hands (or not so small, depending on the dragon who'd held the crayons).

"There was definitely a young one here. Are those fiddle puffs?"

"Yup."

"... you blew on one of them, didn't you?"

"I had to check! They're not just fun for hatchlings!"

Thorben shook his head in response before pausing.

"What about this here, I don't recognise that mineral."

"I thought you'd crave that mineral." Lychen smirked. "It's selenite? Helps with memory."

"Right, I remember now."

"Well, you would, yes, it is selenite."

"It's about as reliable as unicorn dust."

"I know, but I like it better. And you can grow it fairly easily, too. It wouldn't be surprised if there were some around, really, it's unlikely someone would have brought this this far inside, it's really not that uncommon."

"So your conclusion is?"

"Well, my conclusion was that you needed to see this."

"A description would have been enough." Thorben ignored Lychen's eyeroll, it was audible and almost echoed through the cave. "But I believe someone has come to play here. The question is..."

"Question? Shouldn't that be a plural?"

"Well, who, when, why, wherefore..."

"Did you notice though?"

"Notice what?"

"The music in here? It's a lullaby, on a loop?"

"So you're actually thinking that this... occurred after whatever else is happening?"

"Possibly. But is that lullaby to soothe or a trick to attract a child?"

"I think you're seeing too much into this, Lychen."

"Listen, my idol might have been a cheap battered handed down thing, but I wouldn't have left it behind. Someone came to play here and left quickly. I checked, there's no name."

"Could a hatchling have found this place long before it was rediscovered and scampered back up without telling anyone?"

"Isn't that what hatchlings do best? Don't you remember being one?"

"I wasn't very adventurous in my youth."

Lychen didn't reply, but very nearly rolled his eyes again. He'd gained a lot of respect for the pearlcatcher, and was fine doing the adventuring, but there was something slightly nerve grating about his calmness. At least he'd know if something was wrong if he ever saw him agitated!

For now, the only clue they had was: a hatchling had been here, played and explored the cave, and they were no closer to getting an answer.

They opted to leave their finds in place, it looked old enough that it was unlikely anyone would come to retrieve it but who knew, it could matter later. They found their way back to the entrance, Thorben returning to his ever-growing research, ready to take new notes.

"Do you happen to remember the name of that lullaby, by any chance?" he asked.

"Not a clue, but it's stuck in my head now! I'd better go back to exploring that corridor, there's an even worse earworm further away, but at least I know the lyrics to that one!"

After the find of the stone knives, not the sharpest tools in the box, but still pretty sharp, finding a broadsword and a toolbox had come as a surprise. They'd steered well clear of the Blasting Powder, having both seen it in action, and not wishing to be too close next time they'd have to.

Close inspection of the box had revealed that you needed some tool to open it. The sword had worked, was somewhat the worse for wear, and the box, well, it wouldn't close again without the care of a good metalsmith.

The content had been somewhat disappointing, too.

But overall, the clues those three items provided pointed in a similar direction: destruction. The powder was quite clear, whether it was used for good or bad deeds had little to do with how destructive it was. The sword, well, you could probably help with harvesting a field with a sword, but that wasn't its intended purpose. And the bunch of nails in that toolbox were both pointy and corroded to the point that touching them felt like a really bad idea.

It was finding all of those things in one spot that was the most unlikely part of it all. Separately it could have made sense, but it was unlikely that a single dragon would have carried them all here. Let alone left them all here. The toolbox, sure, it was past its misuse by date. But the powder looked old but still potent, and the sword was only chipped because of the way they had misused it.

None of the items showed any signs of suspiciousness, past their very existence. The cave itself was, after all, a natural one, no need for destruction. The sword looked like it had seen some use, but not of the 'argh, just got slayed, covered in blood' way. The toolbox was probably a collateral damage of...

Of whom exactly, actually? Carrying a sword in an unknown place made sense, even seemed encouraged considering the situation, and the powder still made sense, but what good were those nails? That was the odd one out. Did something need fixing? Or containing, the snapper had asked. The pearlcatcher hadn't stopped his train of thoughts this time, there could well have been something to it...

That's when they'd found it. The Which Waychip. It had been shattered, and bruised, and could use some fixing although probably not with nails. It felt as if its magic was weakened, but seemed to be the source of the never ending jukebox the cave system had become. Was it trying to... communicate?

---

I rushed this a bit and will come back to it for lore purposes at some point after the festival, I need to get some sleep, but I'm really enjoying this, and do feel like I should apologise for sidetracking the really neat lore behind the thread more than a bit ^^'

Previously...

The hypothesis that the Which Waychip was the one trying to communicate was immediately dropped the moment a budgie appeared. Then very quickly picked up again when Thorben spotted a Flute in a corner. How could a Which Waychip play it? Well, it wasn't the budgie, was it? It all felt like individual pieces of a giant mosaic they couldn't make sense of just yet, hopefully it'd fall into place later...

Following the direction from which the budgie had come, Lychen unveiled shattered fragments of a ceramic jar, and pieces of an Umbral Wreath. He'd seen that kind of remains before, looting pure and simple, implying that there had been something to loot in the first place. That and budgies had been known to be used by looters, if well trained to retrieve small artefacts, otherwise in the hope of them falling victim to security systems instead of their trainers.

But once again there was no trace of a presence. People had come here before, hatchlings, grown ups, not all of them with good intentions in mind, but what had they been looking for? Had they found it, and why were the only things left of them items they ought to have taken back...

The Which Waychip had nothing to say on the matter, it seemed. They'd have to find a way to restore part of its magic, preferably without raising too much attention...

---

At this rate my cave system is going to end up with catacombs...

"So, I talked to this Lightning dragon..."

"Lychen, no..."

"Have you got a better idea?" Thorben did not, in fact, have a better idea. He probably had ideas about as bad as the dragon Lychen had talked to, and had refrained from sharing them for precisely that reason.

"We have a few options to... try and jumpstart it. It's not arcane magic, but neither is whatever the Chip is running on. And, it is called a Chip."

"It's a stone chip, Lychen."

"Look, worst case scenario, it fails. It's not like you can kill a stone chip, right?" Thorben had to admit that his friend had a point, a point he'd walked straight into. It was pointy.

"OK." He sighed. "What's plan A?"

"Have we got any water around, like more large body of water, but maybe not too large?"

"There's a small pool off the path, you showed it to me, remember?"

"Yes, that's... that's too large." The snapper reflected. "Have we got a bucket? Or do you think the battered toolbox could work out? Actually let's go with that." He picked it off the pile beside Thorben and fished a glowing bag of... was that water? out of his pockets."

"Livewire Endlers, really?"

"They're more of a... way to see if plan A's actually doing anything..." he paused for a second before adding "don't worry, it shouldn't harm them! I can rehome them once we're done!" He reached into another pocket and Thorben could hear rattling. A bunch of Pulsing Relics fell out haphazardly. "There, this is plan A."

"They're not known for their efficiency..."

"Well, we don't need much power, just enough to jumpstart our little friend here."

The budgie on Thorben's shoulder let out a disapproving squawk, saving him the trouble.

Without removing the nails, Lychen careful poured the fish in the toolbox, checking it for leaks before adding the relics. He then encouraged the Chip to come closer and dip just a bit in the water. No reaction.

"Okay, plan a, step two." Lychen sighed, reaching on the opposite side of his setup into a separate pocket and showing Thorben a handful of magnetite. "It's worth a try, right?"

"In a metal toolbox with rusty nails, I'm not sure the relics are the ones who'll be impacted. I don't expect the fish to mind, at least."

The magnetite was added, to no effect other than what Thorben had predicted.

"Alright then. I'll get our little friends out of there and to safety before I get to plan B."

"What's plan B?" Thorben asked, somewhat resigned, holding the waychip as carefully as he thought was possible.

"Plan B is Lightning attempt 2: Electric Boogaloo." Lychen produced a Lightning Aura from yet another pocket, Thorben had stopped trying to estimate how many there were, and placed it on the floor.

With what little energy it had left the Waychip went from lethargic to visibly concerned.

"I was thinking hot water bottle, but with electrical current." Lychen explained, deploying one of the blankets Thorben kept near his 'work station'. "Direct contact probably wouldn't be that good an idea." The Waychip appeared to relax slightly in agreement.

The aura was wrapped with care, still glowing and crackling within the blanket. The Waychip was placed on it, and they waited. It started glowing. It was the wrong color, but nothing seemed to indicate pain or discomfort. They started hearing a light buzzing.

"Is it... is it purring?" Thorben asked.

"I think it's just the Aura discharging." Lychen was the down to Earth one for once. The chip started to move slightly and the buzzing changed pitch. The budgie started singing along to it.

"Did your Lightning friend tell you how long it takes to charge a Waychip, by any chance?" Thorben asked.

"I wouldn't really call her a friend," Lychen started, "and she was probably just trying to make some space before her journey ahead." He paused. "Do you think we need another aura?"

"I've got a Light one around here somewhere." Thorben offered.

"Only the one?"

Thorben rolled his eyes.

"Look, they're really nice to read by!"

"I believe you! Would you mind letting the poor thing have one for a bit?"

"Wouldn't natural light be better though?"

"Well, last I heard, Waychips weren't solar-powered."

"And last I heard they weren't powered by electricity, either. And look where we are now."

The Waychip seemed to slowly come back to life again. Its pieces were still broken but its movements were not as erratic as before, smoother.

"It's getting a little bo-"

"No." Thorben interrupted. He'd heard the boulder joke at least half a dozen times in the past few days already. "Let's let it have some rest, shall we? Did you bring the sandwiches?"

By the look on Lychen's face, the answer was no. Out of all those pockets...

Still, there was a pocketful of hope now, of getting some answers soon...

Previously...



Some hours and otherwise sourced sandwiches later, the two dragons' wait was put to an end by chirping. It was the budgie, although they'd fed it as well, redirecting their attention to their... patient? Was that the right term? Only if they considered themselves some of the least qualified medics Sornieth had ever seen.

The Waychip had recovered, at least partially, enough to try to communicate. It wasn't sound, other than the light grinding of stone, but a kind of projection of images. Two... beings? came into sight, which the dragons recognised as a Sunbeam Soldier and Insubstantial Illusionist. For lack of words the Waychip used a metaphore, scales, to signify some sort of... balance, they supposed. Two elemental acolytes, not waging war but allied in protecting a place they'd come to each call home. Light and Shadow, brightness and darkness... in a cave that made far more sense, even if the Shadow territory was some way away!

The two dragons weren't sure what the slowly evolving pictures signified, but eventually the two colourful beings faded, and all that was left was the slightly better defined image of what felt like a burlap sack, without the scratchiness. Was it what people had come here to look for?

The budgie chirped and took flight, the image fading, a tune they didn't recognise resonating faintly in the cave. The dragons exchanged a look and without a word the pearlcatcher sat down by the Waychip while the Snapper followed the bird which seemed to wait for him at the tricky intersections.

Eventually, far further into the cave than the snapper or recent adventurers had ever gone, he found the bag. He instinctively reached into one of his many pockets to give the bird a treat, and wondered: what now?

He opened it carefully, puzzled when his eyes fell on a time-turner's sandglass. Those were supposed to be used by the wise and logical, so he'd better get it back to the pearlcatcher for closer inspection, and answers, maybe?

There seemed to be nothing else in the cave worthy of note, and the bird was already waiting for him at the entrance. He traced his steps back to where the Waychip glowed slightly, handing the bag over to the pearlcatcher.

"Now, what do you make of that?"

Time-turning was a tricky affair, and the pearlcatcher had only watched it be done, a long time ago, in a place pretty far away. The sandglass was meant to be ornamental, but used as a vessel more than anything. It was only a kind of recording, too, you couldn't impact what you saw, only take in what that one place it had been left in had to say. Or rather, show. He cautiously stared into it, trying to ignore the large dragon trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Do you see anything?"

"I can see your reflection in the glass. Not helping."

The snapper took a step back, sitting down as quietly as a snapper carrying as much gear as he was possibly could. But there was something off. Because the face the pearlcatcher had seen might not have been a reflection...

Diving into the image, he realised quickly what was happening but couldn't stop it until it had completely unfolded.

A loamy garden hat hung near the entrance of greenhouses, the door wide open, a basket of lilium petals threatening to tip over. A broader view showed honeycomb, large amounts of it. A whole hive, life within a hive, still within the cave system. And shelves, lots of them. He knew that he was still in the same space, a few caves away, but this wasn't the past. This was the future, and if the dragons he could only barely distinguish around him were anything to go by, it was their future...

Did this mean the place was safe? What had happened before? Had he just not turned the instrument the right way?

The next thing the pearlcatcher managed to get out of the sandglass was a fixed image, broken up into pieces that made it look like stained glass, faint light glowing through. What he could distinguish made no immediate sense, and he listed the items out loud, perfect for a five items or fewer checkout, not that he was intent on purchasing anything, and hopefully inspiring for the snapper by his side.

"Are you any good at charades?" He asked without turning his head.

"I thought I was getting better, but this whole thing is puzzling," admitted the snapper.

"Here goes. The two items I can distinguish best feel like they're taunting me. It's Vision Orbs and a Pocketwatch."

"Vision through time travel. Hasn't worked in the right direction so far. Can you rewound the watch?"

"It doesn't work like that, I can't interact, remember?"

"Right." The snapper sighed, thinking hard. "What's next?"

"Rings, one of those that have that ribbon thing wrap around you, not sure what shade it is, orange-red maybe."

"So something wrapped around you but that you carry yourself?"

"... You think this is actually referring to the sandglass itself?"

"I was just thinking out loud, but now that you mention it..."

"So what is this, the warning I ought to have seen before the future?"

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes. That's the one thing that makes the least sense to me. A vial of what I think is poison, you know those, little..." The pearlcatcher gestured in a way that was in no way helpful, Sornieth had enough glass artisans to make vials in many shapes, and most had contained poisons at some time or other. "Looks a bit like an insect?"

The snapper rumaged in his many pockets.

"One of those?" He extended his find toward the pearlcatcher who leaned away from the vial.

"Exactly like one of those. How come you have one?"

"I have a handful, people really trade the weirdest stuff, and I have safety pockets."

"Right, would you mind putting those back please?" The snapper did as he was told, the pearlcatcher continuing. "What do you know about this poison?"

"Just that it's almost as dangerous to collect as it is to use."

"So it could be a metaphore."

"What kind of metaphore?"

"Well, if you put everything together... The sandglass I carry is winding me up, the time it makes me watch could be from many different viewpoints, and knowing what danger might have been faced here is about as dangerous as facing it."

"You might be seeing too much into this."

"Well, I think that's more or less the point that image is trying to make, yes."

"... But you'll keep on looking, won't you?" The snapper's voice wasn't judgemental, it was a statement, nothing more.

"Well, we weren't led to this without reason, were we?" He asked to nobody in particular, eyeing the Which Waychunk on which the budgie had perched. "Hopefully we'll understand more soon," he whispered.

---

This was a bit of a nested thing, because I do feel... silly following the beautiful story you've woven while massively sidetracking it in my own attempt to answer your prompts. I'm really enjoying Cora's antics!! (and antiques, I suppose!)

After a break, some fresh air and idle talk with other visitors, they went back to what had become their cave, having left the budgie to keep watch. It had gone by the time they'd come back, and flew back in a couple minutes later, landing on the sandglass, inviting the pearlcatcher to follow its guidance once more. The Waychip seemed to be waiting, for what exactly none of them could figure out.

Thorben sat down where he had earlier, taking a deep breath before setting things up. It took a moment for the sand to start forming recognisable shapes. When he started recognising something though, he frowned for a while before speaking up.

"Well, that's a... big budgie..."

"What do you see?"

"Oh, you know, just a Supernal Brightbeast?"

"What?"

"With a crown! Bit rusted.." He squinted in an attempt to get a clearer view. "Guarding a Light tome...," he made another pause, whispering the last words in disbelief, "deposited on some fabric, it shimmers a bit, possibly bronze linen."

"Sign of stability?"

"I'm sorry? Which part of what I just listed sounds like stability to you?"

"Bronze, that's what it stands for. And runners-up, but also stability."

"Well, there isn't much stable about a Brightbeast, or that crown on its head. And Light tomes are not to be trifled with!"

"Maybe that's the point."

"Ok, this time it's your thoughts I can't keep up with, Lychen!"

"Well..." The snapper paused. "A Light tome is incredibly valuable, especially an ancient one, lots of knowledge gets lost as libraries decay, or their archives turn to dust over time."

"Or aethers come by..."

"Well, aethers weren't here yet then though."

"Presumably not. Not unless we're talking very, very ancient times..."

"Having a Brightbeast to protect it makes sense. I've only ever seen one from a distance, but it's... not exactly the kind of beings you'd expect to survive a less-than-friendly encounter with."

"What's the crown for?"

"Fun?" The snapper paused in search of another answer. "Or maybe it's a superb owl, an ultra-bright beast?"

"Lychen, please."

"I'm just saying, it would make sense to have had that kind of treasure being protected by that kind of creature, with that symbolism, in a cave system deep within the Light territory."

"I'm not disagreeing with you."

"But...?"

"But what actually happened? This is just a fixed image..."

"What this is is context. I mean you'd have to be either incredibly stupid or incredibly greedy to risk that kind of adventure. The budgie tagging along makes sense, though it must have one hell of a lifespan, possibly the Waystone's doing." He stopped. "Although there could have been several budgies, who made more, and this is the last of them down the line, anyway." He went back to his initial line of thought. "The Waystone might have been a kind of early warning system in itself, too!"

"Given the state we found it in, my guess is something happened."

"Something that erased the whole thing from collective memories..."

"Which is all the more so remarkable because the Light flight is not known for not chronicling things. Maybe books are the answer. You wouldn't happen to have a less ancient Light tome handy, by any chance?"

"I don't, but you've got to have something tome-adjacent in that pile of yours!"

"Not adjacent enough."

"Do you think we should bring this to... higher authorities?"

"Well, we could, but we'd never hear the details, if anything at all, and wouldn't be allowed down here again, possibly."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning if our future is down here, we might as well make it easier for ourselves by not putting a barrier between us and that future."

"Do you think that Brightbeast is still out there though?" The snapper half-whispered in reverence.

"Could be... It'd be interesting to have a full map of the place, if the Waystone wouldn't mind firing up that part of its memory..."

"Well, if my intuition is correct, if it was meant as an early warning system it's unlikely it ever had one!"

"You've got a point..."

"So what now?"

The image in the sandglass was starting to fade, hopefully another one would form soon.

"Now, we wait."

They didn't have to wait very long, it only took a few minutes. Well, maybe more than a few. It's not like the copper watch was any help at this stage.

Thorben identified the first item from having spent some time with dryads. Some took pride in their carving skills and had developed a pretty specific style. This one looked crude at first glance but the details betrayed some level of experience in the craft.

This pattern he recognised as a warning, primarily used by beastclans to mark either shrines that ought not to be disturbed but by those who belonged there, or battlefields that had grown to have significance in their respective communities.

Next was another piece of beastclan artwork: a statue of an ominous figure stalking its prey.

Then came the black wolf cape. A pelt by any other name would smell as foul, thankfully the sandglass only shared pictures.

And finally, the urn. Some grave dust spilling out of it, making it look as if that was what filled the sandglass... For a moment the pearlcatcher wondered if that wasn't the case...

He described the items to Lychen meticulously, waiting for his interpretation. He could feel that these were linked, but the meaning was just beyond his grasp.

"Those are some serious warnings," the snapper shivered. "Short of words it's all the warnings anyone would need to turn back!"

"So you're thinking... A collection of artefacts to further dissuade explorers?"

"Possibly more than that. It reminds me of something, one of those stories hatchlings get told sometimes so they don't wander too far," he paused, "that might be a snapper thing," he finished, mumbling.

"Well, not all tales are universal, but 'don't wander off' is a recurring theme! Do you remember anything in particular?"

"Sort of, are you sure you described them to me in the right order?"

"There doesn't seem to be a specific order, they're sort of rotating?"

"The paths we took when I was younger used to go past cave entrances, so as you can imagine some exploring was in order... But there was this one cave... The signs on the walls meant nothing to us, but there was a legend of a creature within, only halfway dead, wrapped in animal skin, who was trapped in that cave, with its remains." Lychen stopped, sighed, then resumed his explanation.

"Depending on who told the story it either turned you to stone to be weathered by the wind until you were crumbling to dust, or it stole your likeness and first water wouldn't reflect your face, then you were erased from others memories until there was nothing left."

"Well, I heard grim stories as a hatchling but none of them went that far..."

"Thinking about it though, it fits, doesn't it? We know people came through but no memory of them remains."

"You don't actually think there's any truth in that myth, do you?"

"No, but I know how much power they can have over people. Self fulfilling prophecies and all that. it's an old tale, I'd assume, plays with people's worse fears, a lack of peaceful resting place and your existence forever forgotten..."

"A very serious warning..."

"Yet with no tangible threat."

"So a warning, but neither a threat not a curse..."

"Speak for yourself, I had a vivid enough imagination as a hatchling to still have nightmares about it from time to time..."

They remained seated side by side for a while, budgie chirps the only noise breaking the silence. Somehow it felt like they were getting closer to the end of their journey. Hopefully it would bring them the answers they were seeking...

It took them a while to realise that the chirping they could hear wasn’t just the budgie. Intrigued, Lychen got up and stepped closer to the entrance of the cave they were in.

“Something wrong?” Thorben asked? Lychen’s brows were knit tighter than Martha’s sweaters, although the pattern was less striking.

“There’s an echo, it’s coming from further away. I thought it might have been another budgie, that would have fitted with the theory that there’d been more at some point, hence this one, but it’s a different bird altogether. Sounds a bit like a dayjar...” He paused, turning toward the pearlcatcher who he assumed wasn’t a particularly keen amateur ornithologist. “To be fair, a lot of birds sound a bit like a dayjar, but there’s a thrill there...”

“You want to go chase it down?”

“Well, I’m starting to feel like maybe the sandglass it... part of the mechanism?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if the Which Waychip is a kind of decoy, it might still have achieved its purpose...”

“It being?”

“Wild goose chase?”

“You think the sandglass is a diversion?”

“Well, it’s worked pretty well as one so far, hasn’t it? And dayjars are considerably easier to chase than wild geese.”

“Are... Are they?”

“Most things are, Thorben,” the snapper assured him. He could tell there was something bothering Thorben in spite of the fact that he was tempted to take the sandglass off his neck.

“Can I come along... this is, er... I’m out of my depths here.” He explained.

“You want to go exploring with me?” The snapper couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.

“Well, I’d rather not stay in the cave, and it might be dangerous to go alone.”

“So you’d rather come along with me, to face whatever danger there may be together?” Now it was disbelief in the snapper’s voice.

“Well, I tend to consider things less dangerous when you’re around.” Thorben admitted. The idea that the whole of their discovery might have been a decoy, although a very nicely put together one, started to make a lot of sense. And also raised a lot of questions as regarded what he’d seen in the glass...

Their conclusions hadn’t been hasty, but the fact was... sandglasses, while linked to the memory of a place, could imprint on someone with powerful enough magic and the know-how... Maybe even the Lightkeeper... But that was far fetched...

How much of what they’d seen had been misdirection, he wondered. It didn’t explain the traces of older presence here in the caves, but was there necessarily a sinister explanation?

The one vision he could be certain about was the one Lychen had been a part of... the future one, the safe one... He got up, left the sandglass on top of the bag, beside the Waychip who looked confused. It had served its purpose, but probably ignored what that purpose was... Maybe it could be... reprogrammed? Later?

The snapper waited for Thorben to follow his own train of thoughts and get off of it safely before he started leading the way. There was a smell in the air he couldn’t identify just yet. Something familiar, that his instinct told him didn’t quite belong in there...

They arrived in one of the large caves that had light coming through it, and water flowing from what he supposed was some sort of underground spring. Where the light was coming through was a bit of a mystery to him, if Light territory had large holes falling into caves, someone ought to have noticed earlier... Then again, this was Light territory, Light always found a way!

Walking through that part of the cave took a while, and the passage to the next one was narrow, at least by snapper standards, especially with his many pockets. Thorben even thought he’d gotten stuck when he noticed him stopping, but it wasn’t a matter of squeezing through that had made the snapper come to an abrupt halt. He had found the source of the noise.

“Lychen?”

“Yes?”

“I can hear some sort of... buzzing?”

“You would, yeah.”

“Hm?”

The snapper stepped forward and into the next cave instead of answering, a picture was worth a thousand words, and the place in front of them made for a very outlandish, yet somehow deeply familiar one...

The buzzing Thorben had heard had come from the many trees and plants lining what looked like a garden that had taken over... everything it could! As tempted as he was to pick a blueberry from the nearest bush, he restrained himself and pointed to what looked like a cloud of bees.

“They’re swarming.” Lychen explained. Thorben had reached that conclusion himself. Nothing in here made sense, but if bees were comfortable enough to live there – and there were signs of more bees- and keep the plants pollinated, then it was probably safe.

They watched as the group of bees seemed to dance in a cloud-like formation before taking a more distinct direction, regrouping on what they suspected was a hollow trunk, and slowly filing in.

“Well, you don’t see that every day.” Thorben whispered. He couldn’t help the feeling that this place looked familiar... The same as the future vision, except messier, which made sense. No shelves or greenhouse, yet, but the potential was there... And if each cave within the cave system had its own ecosystem, or an interconnected one, then more than a few clans could move in there, in the shade and yet still very much in the light...

“What does this mean?” He whispered again. His eyes was caught by Lychen picking up some nearby fruit and wrapping it in fabric that seemed to match the bees.

“For closer inspection later.” The snapper explained. Thorben didn’t ask how much of the inspection would be conducted by taste buds. The fruit did look tempting, and nothing about this room felt off.

“There’s no Light Tome, is there...” It was more of a statement than a question on the pearlcatcher’s part.

“I think this is the oldest knowledge Light can provide us with. Life.” Thorben nodded at Lychen’s statement. “Ah, see, I knew it was dayjars, look, up there?” He pointed at a small hole in a wall where a bird took flight to go sit on a branch not too far from what Thorben assumed was its nest. Not just its nest.

A serious bee’s nest...*

---

The bees rebelled! Honestly when I saw what had been missing I grinned because that’s perfect to get my story where I need it to go, in ways I didn’t know I needed!!
*My clan’s name, at this time, is ‘seer-ious bee’s nest’

Months later...

Lychen took a look around, checking that everything was ready. Some Forgetools remained, they would have to be tidied up eventually, but there was still some work they were needed for, more of an 'on demand' basis by now than the groundwork they'd been used for so far.

Lumps of clay resulting from various studies of the materials the cave system was made of had been gathered in a corner. The area looked cordoned off but was meant to welcome the more unruly hatchlings and keep them busy while their families took a closer look.

You could still see many bare sturdy wooden beams all around the large caves, supporting the various structures. They would be decorated, carved, or painted later.

Overall, this cave, which would serve as a starting point while the clan moved, still looked like a work in progress. It was one, in many ways, but they'd come very far since its first rediscovery by Lychen and Thorben. Nature had been respected, not fought against but worked with, to preserve the balance all knew was delicate when ecosystems evolved to accommodate new species.

It was still unclear how much of this area of the cave system the clan would occupy. No other clan had taken an interest in any neighbouring caves, so they were free to settle and take decisions as needs arose.

While it had been a common decision, it hadn't happened overnight, and the dragons gathering today had already come to visit the place, some many times, before the works had even started. Yet, it was still a shock for many of those who followed Thorben. He'd been chosen to lead the day's events, and had been nervous about it for weeks.

Other than his pearl he was carrying two items of note, symbols that this was a new home, a new beginning.

The first thing he hung close to the main cave entrance was a mirror, the reflecting kind. Children of the Plaguebringer didn't take kindly to being hung.

In a clan where sight in its many forms had become central, it was a symbol. A reminder, to look within, and out, behind and around you. To the past and the future, but also the present surrounding you.

Beside it: the sandglass. Its story had been told many times since its discovery, and it still had its own stories to tell.
Thorben had started to document his findings, a work which, alongside the mapping of the area, took most of his time. Lychen brought his more down to earth approach to both endeavours, and was an essential provider of snacks and spare writing implements he carried in his many pockets.

The snapper wasn't sure about the attention this had brought to him, preferring the freedom of relative anonymity that came with a large clan within which groups had formed over time. It had put a strain on some of his relationships, but had also led to new ones, including a group of fellow snappers who'd carried a lot of the weight of the groundwork needed to make all of this possible.

The Waychip would find its place, if it wished to, once better recovered, but was still under the care of dragons somewhat better equipped than Thorben and Lychen had been when they'd first found it.

It was a new page of the entirely new book the clan had started after its migration from the Icefields. Their once temporary settlement would come together here, in a new place, still guided by the Light, hopefully allowing more of its members to find a place better suited to their calling.

The cave system was an interesting combination, able to replicate most of the eleven territories of Sornieth, or at least elements necessary to all who needed them.

A map would be hung in the antechamber once finished, but all knew that the wall would remain unadorned for some time still, there was much more to build and discover...

---

And this was the last prompt! I had no idea just how far this thread would take me when I started on day one (and I might have been too scared to try if I'd had!)

I wanted to say I really love the format and the concept, and I'm sorry for 'misusing' it the way I have because I do feel like I haven't properly done justice to the stained glass part despite it being an amazing way to set up an event like this!

I'd love a ping if you ever run something in the same vein again! (As I have narrators now I'd probably be able to rp properly, too, even if I link it to my clan's lore ^^')

Thank you for running this!!

Another sandglass story, mere images fading into one another. There was something distinctive about this set, and yet it remained incredibly vague. Waves were lapping at cliffs, whether they were reaching out to the cliffs they were buried into, or a completely different place was difficult to grasp. There was a feeling of movement even as the sand stilled, something striking about it.

The next was a still of a storm that ought to have done damage, provided it had ever existed at all, or perhaps it hadn't yet, the sky darkened by heavy clouds and draped in that faint light that attempted to pierce through. Something incredibly harsh and yet soft about the the combination. It wasn't light fighting shadow, but rather the storm after a long period of calm, one that could have been awaited perhaps.

Neither of those images were soothing, but the certitude that they weren't happening *now* made all the difference. There was time, time between them and those events, whether they were past or future, they knew as they peered into the sandglass that it wasn't the present, or at least not their own.

The third image took time to form, it seemed to slowly grow into view. The behemoth, the one and only, laced with all nature had to offer, the good and the bad, both depending on where you placed yourself in the food chain. Details were easier to make out, for just a glimpse of a moment, as if focus had shifted. What kind of a message this could be was unclear, but when had it ever been?

They waited, hoping for more, and just as they'd been about to gather their thoughts and share with each other, something else appeared. An egg, hatching from the bright light it had been encapsulated in. There was no saying what dragon had been contained in the soft shell. Had this something to do with the light weaver? Or was this just the story one of being amongst thousands? There was no denying that what they were seeing happened regularly enough to only be meaningful depending on context, and, for a change, they had none.

"Any thoughts to share?" Thorben asked, knowing lychen had looked over his shoulder this time.

"I can't tell if this is a start or a beginning. Or both. Or either. Or... lots of "or"s."

"It's vague, but there's no sign of a particular feeling it's supposed to elicit exactly. This is no omen, rather something a lot more..."

"Metaphorical?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. I doubt we'll ever know."

"How many riddles do you think it has for us?"

"Enough for several lifetimes I suspect."

"How do you feel about that?"

"Content to know this is a work that can be passed on to younger generations, if I set things right from the start..."

In a place full of caves, passages, darkness and light, it was difficult to get a sense of where to start a map, making a tridimensional one isn’t easy, especially when you struggle to grasp the directions themselves. But slowly and surely they were being measured, studied, but as he went thorben realised that what really mattered to him wasn’t the accuracy of the map, not anymore, not in its geometry at the very least. It was its biodiversity that fascinated him, the biomes that seemed to interconnect but shouldn’t have worked as they did… that was an enigma for someone much more knowledgeable than he was in biology. While he knew a few people who had an interest in the field, he wasn’t sure any of them would be willing to spend as much time as was needed in a space that was… cramped no matter what. It wasn’t in the largest of caves that signs of lives abounded, it was the small dark corners where creatures crawled, the nooks and crannies, the nests and former nests, future too, probably, inhabited by various actors of the food chain. The vegetation was a wonder in itself, lush, varied, inexplicably so…