AITHNIEL

I wondered if his eyes were the moon. The only part of that theory that bothered me was that there was only one moon. Why then were his eyes so... solid? Rikyn's had these deep, rich, colorful flecks around a dark center, but his eyes were washed out. Part of me wondered if I should be scared by this, but I wasn't. As always, I was foolishly brave, but I had never gotten in trouble to knock me down off of my high, self-proclaimed pedestal. I watched as the man spoke to me, but he was interrupted by another boy.

I was grateful for the interruption, and I watched the graceful and confident way he just... exerted himself into the situation. (Children had a funny way of seeing the good in all tumbling). Okay, maybe I was just staring too much now, but he was speaking. That meant that I could stare, right? No one had given me the "boys have cooties" talk, so I could not be held responsible for anything. At all. Ever. Even his struggle to say my name was endearing, but I was not educated in the art of flirtation. As such, I just stood there, staring at him with blinking, silver eyes.

Son of the Reaper? Prince of the Basin? My eyes widened. Oh, Erebos must be the son of Deimos then. I had heard Illynx mention him before, and Rikyn had also mentioned him. From the whispers, I was supposed to be very careful around the taciturn, dark lead, but Erebos seemed so kind and carefree. Absently, I hoped that he would not turn into a rumored horror and retained this very cute side.

As he and this "Zikar" spoke, he seemed so confident in his words, and so much older. I could barely string a proper sentence together, and he was already performing posh introductions. I wondered what type of stories Zikar used to tell, but then his attention turned back onto me, and my ears tilted back ever so slightly.

I was confused at first about what he was talking about until his muzzle reached to my side. With a suspicious glance, I stepped to the side, narrowing my gaze. What was unfortunate about my feathers? I pressed the barely formed bones more into my sides when he mentioned having them removed. While I was not attached to my wings, I was attached to my own body, and I was not keen on having any of it altered or removed. Illynx was not here, and I would not be Rikyn, having to obey every word.

Just as I was about to snap something ugly in response (because formulating my feelings into words was much too difficult), Erebos spoke up in my defense. The surprise rocked me, and I opened my mouth for a moment, unsure of what to say. Would I be able to fly? Even with the nubs of horns on my head? I didn't think I would be, since none of the other horned ones here flew... Absently, I pulled a childish muscle, lifting the bones from my sides a little, able to see a slight shape to the downy feathers. "You think I could fly?" I asked, curious.

"They are so small though..." I trailed, looking at my feathers. I chose to ignore the option of removing them at this time, hoping that the topic would just drift away on its own. I really didn't want to think about any of that or have to sort out my feelings on the matter.