All Darwin knew was that it was getting cold. It had been awhile since he had been in Helovia to remember the chill of Frostfall and it definitely began to crawl under his skin. If it weren’t for the warmth from Antaa, he figured he probably would have froze. So he travelled further south, away from where he remembered the Windtossed Foothills to be – a place of which he avoided at all costs just on the off chance of stumbling across good ol’ Archibald. Though as time moved on, he began to realize he couldn’t afford to be too picky with his stops anymore, now that he had a companion to take care of. Something he never thought he would get to experience in his life. Now that it was here, he was struggling. What did Phoenixes even eat anyway? He had tried to help her by getting little mice and shrews in the woods, but now that they were here, there weren’t any woodland animals to even attempt to find for the poor chick.
 
Antaa crooned to him, her stomach obviously quite upset. Her talons clutching to his mane as they flew over a land that Darwin had never seen before. Full of desert and water, warmer than the northern lands but also more open. Though sacrifices would have to be made for the survival of a creature that had wormed her way into his brain. He couldn’t think without feeling a pull from the phoenix. She was curious about everything, this life of hers already very short but so full of life. Darwin had spent much of the time alone so coming across others were something that got Antaa quite excited. Meanwhile, Darwin had begun to feel some fatherly emotions when it came to the little chick. She looked up to him with bright eyes every time he transformed. What was better than a phoenix taking care of a phoenix? The perfect disguise. But the shift was painful and Darwin had felt the need to endure the pain, not knowing that the feeling of exhaustion transferred to his precious bonded.
 
He breathed in the salty humid air, flattening out his wings to descend from the sky. The pale Pegasus carrying the flaming bird upon his back as she clung to him with an ever growing growl of a stomach. Upon landing on the sands, he looked around him taking note of all of the water that surrounded the various islands in this land. He chose one of the biggest ones, hoping that he land carried a bit of life for his companion to eat. He was sure the water had to carry something, but he was never really much of a fisherman. Though if he found nothing, he knew he’d have to succumb to the chilly waters to make sure Antaa even lived.
 
The Phoenix then began to slide down his wing as he lowered his plumes to touch the ground. The chick chirped to him almost as if it were a thank you from her exhaustion. Darwin chucked to himself briefly before nodding. “I know you’re tired. I’ll try to find something, love.” He spoke almost as if he was trying to assure himself, heavy blackened legs reached out before him to lift a bush to search for any kind of vermin that might reside beneath it. Though these sands seemed to have a variety of things that weren’t at all what he wanted. Meanwhile, Antaa decided she was going to sit in the sand, brushing them up to her sides as if she made herself a small nest, reaching her head around to place her beak gently into the crook of her feathers to sleep while Darwin did all the hard work. She was still young, and he understood that. But it grew difficult for him at times – it grew quite exhausting all the time.
 
He attempted to be sneakier while he searched for something, avoiding giving his large shadow away from what he was preying on. Lowering his head he could smell that there was something living within this particular brush. He straightened himself up a bit, pulling up onto his hind legs and striking down on the bush with his large hooves, aiming to hit the creature that lived under the brush. Though his attack had failed him as he aimed for the ground. The creature had lived in the higher branches of the bush – a bird nonetheless – that immediately took flight away from him. Grumbling to himself, he relaxed his wings letting them fall to drag across the sands. “Goddamn it.” Cursing under his breath, his stone eyes caught sight of the waters and the vibrant movements beneath them. Perhaps a mirage? Darwin wasn’t great with failure and so he chose to try not to take any chances.
 
"Talk."

& they said you were the crooked kind—

that you'd never have no worth,

but you were always gold to me.