On any other day, long pillars would have been hesitant to draw forth the cherub into the shrines away from his home. Today, he had gathered the courage to head out from the borders he’d stayed inside, fearful of the shadows the desert sun couldn’t chase away. For a long while he had contemplated this venture with Ilaria, wondering nervously if he should. Would he even be answered? Cera didn’t desire anything but celestial comfort, to know if he was walking down the right path. So he had set out from the borders around mid afternoon, knowing Midas would be off his shift around nightfall due to the upcoming war. Was it even upcoming? Another thing Cera wanted to talk about. Was it right for him to wish to fight beside Midas once he was of age, when all he wanted to do was craft? Ilaria acted as his eyes while he jumped and skittered towards the Veins. It felt like all the panic was weighing in on his heart, trying to crush it. Cera didn’t want to live in fear, and hoped that the wisdom of an immortal would guide him. He would never have the knowledge of the Gods, which is why he trusted them so thoroughly.

As he approached it grew warmer, and only once tiny hooves clattered on the rocks did he relax momentarily. This was the shrine of the Gods, surely everyone else would be too busy to care about a tiny colt heading for the flowered shrine of his patron. Hesitant he was not, but he soon found his legs trembling as he approached. The Earth God was his idol, someone he loved deeply in his mile wide heart. He had gifted Cera with Ilaria, the perfect puzzle piece to his heart that he hadn’t even known had been missing. Cera couldn’t be more thankful for that, and Ilaria felt similarly. Irises that reflected the grasses long behind him flickered up to the shrine, remembering how large and all powerful the Earth God had seemed the first and last time he had seen him. Youngling had slipped from the borders without alerting his father, but hoped he would not mind. For he was visiting the god he considered a type of grandfather. Surely that gave him the freedom to do so? It wasn’t too far from the Dragon’s Throat either. The amulet of his patron rested over his chest, the other looped carefully over Ilaria’s neck. Cera approached and slowly lowered himself down to his knees, wings extending to help balance himself as gangly legs met the ground. Only tucking them in once he was settled, Ilaria moving to his right shoulder between his neck and wing base. ”I…I don’t know if you can hear me but…” Cera swallowed shakily, suddenly feeling like he was inches from the brink and ready to burst into tears. Slow inhale calmed him and he spoke once more. ”I-I know that…I will never have your wisdom, Grandpa Earth…will you tell me if I am on the right path? Is it right for me to b-be scared?” Voice wavered dangerously and he cleared his throat and blinked away tears. Staring down at one of the flowers, fearing if he moved his gaze he would crumple. Ilaria cooed understandingly and awkwardly patted her paws over his shoulder in a motion meant to be comforting. ”Ilaria…she is all I ever wanted. I hope never to have to ask you for more. She’s…she’s a part of me I didn’t know I was missing.” Head turning to glance at her loving brown eyes, tail thumping against his spine happily in a dog-like fashion. Gaining strength from her gaze, he continued to speak without removing the eye contact. ”Sometimes I wonder…why he did it?” Cera closed his eyes tight and turned his head from Ilaria. Remembering d’Artagnan was like opening his scar all over again. ”I-I wan’t to hate him sometimes…b-but I can’t seem to…is that n-normal?” It wasn’t awkward for him to speak into emptiness, knowing the immortal being was probably busy with far more important things and didn’t have the time to spare for a single mangled colt on his doorstep. Cera prepared himself the entire way for silence, and now all he could do was let his words drop off and wonder if coming was the right thing.

[[Cera just wants to talk to the Earth God, in a way he's praying for him to visit but doesn't desire anything.]]

There is only silence, and Cera debates leaving. Yet he doesn’t, for although the God he is praying to does not appear, the shrine brings him comfort. The flowers are starting to wilt, and yet there is a grounding presence to the area. It makes him feel safe, even if he knows that the God is far too busy to focus on the troubles of a little colt. Ilaria clambered down off his shoulders and curled between his knees where they were pressed to the dying warmth of the ground. Cera curled around her, the two falling into a world all of their own, sharing emotions through a link that no other could understand. So focused on comforting each other, they nearly missed the approach of a kindly old soul. Surprised by the rudimentary yet wise speech, Cera lifted his peach painted crown from the warmth of Ilaria’s body to gaze over at the ancient being. Emeralds gazed into similarly colored orbs, and the colt blinked almost stupidly at the creature. At first he was dumbfounded, but he had been in the presence of a God and merely accepted the fact that such a creature could exist. Kindness flooded Cera’s irises in greeting, tiny smile working its way onto his face despite the conflicted feelings that remained knotted up in his breast. The turtle’s speech was slow and deliberate, and the cherub listened attentively. Ilaria, too, sat up from her curled position to regard the wise being with large dark eyes. Small giggle, weak at best, escaped the patchy son and he moved one caramel appendage to see the being better. Old age was indeed a bother, it seemed. Cera let him speak fully before he did the same, not wanting to interrupt the interesting turtle. ”You are friends with him, sir?” he spoke softly, curious. Gods were friends with creatures such as the old turtle? Cera thought the scaly man was rather lucky then, though he didn’t know if being a friend to a God would be good or bad.

”You are seeking guidance then? What happened? You say so many names, but I cannot travel far. I do not know this world like I used to.” Cera’s expression deflated, as is the nature of emotional youths. Memories were hard to suppress, and he did not wish to fall into one in the presence of the old creature. Ilaria chirped comfortingly at him, and the pair saw no harm in telling the turtle if he only wished to help guide him, which was what Cera had turned to the shrines for in the first place. ”I am…I was out playing in a forest near my home, with Ilaria.” The red panda made a soft noise then at hearing her name, and Cera smiled down at her briefly. ”I don’t really remember when he came…his name is d’Artagnan sir, a unicorn from a herd far north. He attacked me, gifted with magic of poison…he told me to die, for being a Pegasus and not of his species…” voice wavered and he caught it to the best of his ability. It had been nearly a season ago, and yet he still found himself shaken up about it. Yet he was healing, and the memory no longer held the potency it once did. ”I turned in time, but he sliced his horn through my chest with the poison on it,” he explained, trying to be detached emotionally from the story. Slowly he shifted to show the garish white scar that spanned the entirety of his breast. For a moment he was quiet, trying to collect his thoughts. ”All I really remember was pain after that. My dad came and saved me, and took me to a healer in time. But…but I swear sometimes that I was almost ready to leave this life…and it is scary to imagine.” That was something he did remember, the power of the Sun God burning its way through the poison in his veins as Onni healed him. Before it had set to work, he had sworn that he was touching heaven. That the pain was finally, finally over. It terrified him to realize that he had been ready to accept that fate. ”I want to hate him, for doing it to me, since it changed me a lot…life isn’t really the same anymore and it’s taking a long time to be normal again. But I can’t seem to hate him…is that normal sir?” Face crinkling in confusion, unable to sort through his own emotions.

Emerald orbs watched the aged creature, and shuffled closer despite the rocks that stabbed into his shins at the movement. Awe and understanding are painted across his visage at the fact that the wise one has a place all of his own, gifted to him by the God. ”That sounds like friends to me,” he said softly, smiling. It was nice to know that the Gods were not so untouchable, that they too could have such joy like friends. That they cared even for creatures far smaller and weaker than them, like the one curled up before him in his colored shell.

The turtle turned towards Ilaria and smiled, which made her tail twitch with happiness at being recognized. Chittering to herself she moved closer to Cera and watched their happenings with half-lidded eyes, no longer on alert with the other creature. He had shown her that he meant no harm, and his words comforted her beloved, they did not harm him like so many others. So long as Cera remained calm and happy, the creature would remain in the green for her. Cera giggled softly, knowing already that he was small and still growing. He is funny, but he is honest, wisdom peppering his words between kindnesses. It is comforting, for the honesty is not hard to spot or discern from his other words, and both help raise his heart regardless of if the sentences he spoke had any direct relation to his problem at all.

"I believe the Earth God would say to not taint your heart with anger toward the stallion. Only fools, tyrants and loathsome creatures hurt the young," he spoke, and Cera took a very long moment to himself to think about it. Perhaps the turtle was right. Whenever he felt anger towards the unicorn, it always made a part of him hurt. It felt…wrong to hate him. Cera always found himself making excuses for the other. Perhaps it was the way he was raised? His environment? A mental condition? Cera felt saddened more than angry, and according to the slow-moving talker at his side, it was a good thing. A soft sigh went tumbling unbidden from his lips when he was told that it would take quite a while for him to feel normal again. Grassy irises were sad, but resigned. He had suspected that, when he had thought over it on his way to the Veins. It did not help him, but there was simply nothing he could do but wait. Already he was making advancements towards normalcy, so surely that was a good thing. Compared to directly after the attack, he was nearly a different person. He had gained so much ground, but it felt like so little in the present. ”It means carrying with you the reality of life.” Cera blinked and looked over at him, and he sighed once more. Yes, maybe he could do this. Maybe he could actually continue on. His smiling face made Cera shy and he smiled at the praise. ”Thank you.” He hoped it would not have a downfall to it, in the future, but he trusted the much wiser and much older creature more than himself. ”And…thank you, for talking to me…I get very lonely sometimes, and I don’t know what to do…do you ever feel that way? It seems very silent sometimes, and the only person I feel I can talk to is my daddy or grandpa Earth…but my dad seems so busy, and hurting, I don’t want to trouble him even more…but my mind is so full of noise, and it hurts.” The business of his head made him feel trapped so often, but there was never anyone around to confess it to, and Midas seemed to be edging closer and closer to the edge. Cera didn’t want to put that kind of weight on his shoulders, and so kept it to himself, yet another reason he had left despite his reservations about leaving the Throat. He simply wanted to talk to somebody who could understand him.