Recovering his relationship with Ranjiri and all the gratuitous crafting he'd done in the past few moons had done wonders for the Golden Prince. Though his load was ever growing, he tackled it with the same eagerness he was known for, a smile on his face and joy singing a lilting song inside his heart. Crafting was in his blood, and he took its mantle with fervor. Though Ilaria was the embodiment of the jealousy and bitterness he would not admit to when it came to Bucephalus, nothing could bring either of them down with so much work to do and material to wield. It was like a free for all, and Cera was practically bursting at the seams to stretch the ends and limits of his imagination, the boundaries of his skills and abilities.

And so he found himself on the warm currents once more, wings caressing every zephyr just as they kissed and cradled his petite frame in turn. The hours slipped by, comfortably ticking away as the miles wore on in shades of green and gold below. Gaucho had relayed that gems were quite easily found in the crystal caverns of the Heart, where they had all lain in wait for the Sun to return, for the darkness to be burned out and cast away and for peace to reign once more. As always, his Lord had not failed him. Though Cera's faith had admittedly wavered through the death of his brother, such a pious individual could not turn away from the light of the sun for long. Though Midas had hurt him in many undefinable, intricate ways, he had also left him with many viable, beautiful traits and attributes. Cera thanked him most, perhaps, for his spirituality. Though Cera could no longer fully give his devotion to the Moon Goddess or the Earth God, the Sun would always lead his heart and shine upon the sands of the desert.

Pay attention, Cera, Ilaria spoke quietly from his shoulder, lazily glancing down upon the edge, the merest fringe, of the Heart's lava-encrusted rocks and rivers. So lost in the easy cadence of his prayers, the warm evening air, he'd not noticed that he'd already arrived. With a quiet thanks to his companion, Cera arched his wings and let the insubstantial weight of his body draw him downward towards the earth. Gems and better metals awaited him, and with the heat of the lava and the ever-burning fires, Cera was eager to try his skills and craft a few things right then and there in the Heart. Perhaps he could make a beautiful necklace for Megaera? His friend was not one for fanciful, feminine items however...surely he would think of something, he assured himself as he shuffled through all the mental blueprints he had in his mind.

As he landed, he wandered on slim legs towards the yawning mouth of the caverns. Cera shuddered delicately and took a deep, steadying breath. "Lend me your light, my Lord," he sighed out, glittering eyes shifting to the skies for a moment before shuffling towards the mouth of the caverns. His reverie was sharply broken by an outcry that broke through his ears, words of distress floating forth. It spared him from going down into the depths of the systems that had once housed all of Helovia, but it was truly the philanthropist side of Cera that had him turning towards the frustrated voice. He had troubles with his own quest after all (though truly it was likely because he gave too much, asked too little, and spent so much time involved with helping his herd rather than himself) and he could not deny that he wanted to help.

Turning, he advanced towards the voice, ears pricked curiously. She came into sight easily with her pale, contrasting colors on the scorched stone backdrop. "Miss?" he queried kindly, hoping to capture her attention. His smile came as easily as it always did, Ilaria perking up and poking over his shoulder at the maiden as well, examining her. "Hello, my name is Cera. I'm a Forger of the Dragon's Throat. And I might have an answer to your troubles," he offered, hoping that if she was an unkindly soul that at least her greed would keep her rooted there and awaiting his words. "I can craft you something with two compartments? One of them can have the rocks from near the lava veins in a smaller compartment for the fire portion, and the other could be thicker metal and held at a farther distance so the metal doesn't warm..." Ilaria prodded him delicately with an amused tinge to her words. She likely does not care, love. Cera flushed and kicked idly at the ground. "I-I mean...I could do it. I would love to help."

---

@[Elsa] Sorry for the wait!

Pale maiden turned her icy eyes upon his frame, and Cera smiled good-naturedly, doing his best to appear safe and harmless before her eyes. After all, it was awfully suspicious for a stranger to be so freely giving, to interject their thoughts coarsely into her personal (if a bit odd, considering it was with herself) conversation. He'd rather she not attack him, truthfully.

A fluffy figure shuffled on the mare's forehead, peering out from alabaster tresses at Ilaria's similarly intrigued eyes. Like Sohalia's, she murmured pleasantly to Cera, who let a smile twitch on his own lips in recognition. The magic of Helovia was grand and beautiful in its eccentric gifts, but the little creature at least was a familiar one to him. It eased him, gave him a steadier footing even as his nervous words tripped and laughed themselves across his tongue. The humble cherub flicked his eyes towards the mare, a hopeful expression twisting across his dainty features. Surely she would at least entertain him, if only for her own sake?

As she moved to drop an amulet on the ground between them, Cera's eyes widened and he stuttered out a refusal immediately. "Oh no, I couldn't -" but she went on to mention another interesting tidbit, her crooning voice catching his ears with an allusion to a path he himself walked. Had always walked, somewhere inside. It was who he was, what he was meant for, and he embraced it. So he smiled to hear her words, bright as the sun but as gentle as a spring wind. A sister in arms, in metalwork and shaping, forging and firing. "You're a crafter?" he breathed happily, wings shuffling and curling at the tips in a display of joy that he tried to hide. He would not have her think of him as a child for his passions.

Instead of retrieving the glittering item on the ground, Cera began to close his eyes, letting Ilaria keep tabs on the mare just in case. Though she seemed harmless, the scars that were horribly obvious on the youth's coat was testament to the fact that even the kindest of faces could cause harm. He let his magic seep through his hooves, a mental sort of imagery that had always helped him access and utilize his magic. There was an abundance of metal, various types. But Cera knew that the metal that would best work for the flame portion of the device had to be made of a mixture of the metals, the most heat resistant option available. In contrast the side for ice should be copper, as it had the highest specific heat level.

As he worked, Ilaria slid and climbed down his foreleg, picking up loose rocks as close to the rim of the Heart as she dared, gathering them into a pile for Cera to utilize. Luckily the fire source was right there, so bending and shaping the metal wasn't too hard, though the Prince longed for his fires nonetheless. When the first orb was finished, the copper one, he placed it aside to cool and began on the harder one. When the outside layer was finished he brought it to his hooves, then began shaping the smaller inside layer. Meanwhile Ilaria started packing the rocks of the Heart into it, as smooth as she could manage until it was lined adequately. Cera lifted the new orb from the fires, sweat on his brow with the delicacy of the procedure. It was easy enough to fit it on top of the rocks, the still-heated metal helping mold it together that little bit for proper insulation.

Finally he brought the two orbs together, sealing the sides together into a singular shape, two orbs with an open cavern towards one another. But with bits of metal he pierced through the rocks, creating a mesh combined with the natural insulation of the fire resistant rocks. She had needed a singular container after all, and two orbs held distant from each other was not going to fulfill that requirement. One last effort and there was a bar for her to hold comfortably in her mouth, to carry it with, at an angle so that the smoke from whatever fire she placed in it would not billow into her nares.

Huffing he placed the object on the ground, his magic seeping back into its vessel for the time being. Blinking sweat from his eyes, Cera smiled wearily at the mare. "You will have to hurry, if at all possible. The mesh and insulation should hold without melting the cold side, but it won't last forever so be hasty if you can." Turning towards the amulet he smiled tiredly at it, wondering if perhaps they could strike a bargain otherwise. "Is this for a quest? I'm on one of my own. When you receive your magic, if it contains any type of fire, could you possibly store it in one of my amulets? You need not give me this, in that case. But I will understand regardless," he assured, tired green eyes still bright and eager to please as they turned upon her.

@[Elsa] - Cera needs magic with any type of fire in it for his own quest, didn't think of that xD feel free to keep the amulet if you'd like that option!

Friendship had never been entirely foreign for the cheerful lad, but a lonely life had led to him cherishing every smile and kindly word that was thrown his way. Hoarding them like a magpie does the shiniest of treasures. They kept him comfort when the nights were long and warmed his chest when he felt as if he'd succumb to the numbing cold of being forgotten. To meet another with the same passion as he, one who seemed just as disoriented by his gentle nature as he was by her, was like leaping off a cliff with tightly closed eyes and not knowing when to open his wings. Terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

He chased it away by crafting for her, letting the twisting and shaping of the metal fall into its natural order inside his mind, breathing it in like an intoxicating cloud and relaxing pleasantly. Though it was strenuous, he never really felt the ache as most others did. He relished in it, drank it down like a parched throat was his Prometheus curse and he was doomed to forever feel the scratch of sand against his palette. It let his fluttering anxiety calm, disappearing like mist beneath a stubborn sun, and was that not what Cera hoped to embody? Diviner he may no longer be, but he was a disciple of the Sun for as long as he was capable of life.

When he presented it to her, he was delighted to see his own emotion reflected in perfect mirror on her own delicate features. Though he had been tentative in asking about her magic, he let out a whoosh of breath with an embarrassed, tremulous grin. "Thank you so much, I despise asking and it's made my quest infinitely more difficult," he admitted with a quiet laugh. Cera was an open book, he simply had no secrets, and the few he had he found meaningless and freely shared. Effectively removing their nature as secrets. But he smiled as Ilaria retrieved the amulet, backing gracefully away to return to the caverns as he had initially intended on his quest for gems. "Good luck on your quest, miss Elsa!" he chirped cheerily before waving a cute goodbye with the edges of one wing's primaries, dragging himself down farther into the earth to find what he had initially sought.

@[Elsa]