The eaglet begins an ungodly cacophony of screams and squawks, staring up at the heavens with an expression of abject horror on her beaked face. She is still young and pathetic, small enough to be picked up and eaten by a larger, stronger bird, small enough to not yet be worthy of the term raptor. Although her grey downy feathers have given way to be replaced by adult brown ones, and although she is now capable of rudimentary flight, she is still a weak, weak little thing compared to the adult she will become. She is prey, because she has not yet earnt the right to be a predator.

With her mind full of "!!!!!" from Ker, Oizys lifts her head to the black heavens. Her scars ache and twitch at the sight of a harpy, but it does not take her long to realise that this is Good Harpy. This is not the one who ruined her face - this is the one who saved her. With a sharp stab of her mind, she quells her companion's protestations and bellows a greeting towards Ka'Ora. She follows the eagle gratefully, with half a mind to wait for Enyo first - but no, the harpy seems to have come for her and her alone.

Ker makes a valiant attempt to fly behind her, but her young wings aren't yet up for the challenge, so she nestles down on the gargoyle's broad hindquarters instead. The headlong running makes the Cough roar in the child's chest, and it pounds against the bars of the cage Oizys keeps it in. Never has it been more important for her to keep it down. She will not show her Weakness in front of Father. He would slay her for it.

Or so she believes. She cannot possibly know that it is probably him she inherited it from in the first place.

Finally, she sees him. There he is, in all his massive glory, and she is somewhat relieved to see that Bad Harpy is not with him. Oh, it makes her squirm to think that she feels fear, but she still has a soul, try as she might to smother it. She still has a heart, weak as it may be. And, thus, she still has real, equine feelings like fear, fear at the thought of the creature who caused her such agony.

She does not show her relief at Ka'Mate's absence, however. She does not dare.

Ker has never met Father before. She quivers slightly on her bonded's quarters, looking warily upwards at the harpy she will one day soar alongside, then towards the creature who sired her mind-partner. Unlike Oizys, Ker has not yet learnt to hide her fear, or any of her emotions for that matter. She shows everything the filly cannot, and she does it openly, brazenly. But at Oizys' forceful command, she ceases her quivering and tries to stand tall and strong, to demonstrate that she is worthy of being bonded to a child of the Basilisk.

Oizys looks at Father, and lowers her head in a nod of greeting. Respect is etched into every line of her body, but there's defiance, too. She gives him deference, but not outright submission. Respect, but not grovelling. There is a subtle, but important, difference. "Father." Is she allowed to call him that? She'll soon find out. "You sent for me." She tilts her tri-horned head in infantile curiosity, careful not to bend it in such a way that it may entice the Cough to rear its ugly head.