Artisan had made his way south yet again after the raid, too disappointed with the lost prospect of lava-rocks to add to his beading, and still a tad ashamed for losing his fight so quickly after the battle had started. It should have made him feel better that his brother didn't have a single win either, but the man was blubbering drunk the entire time and frankly, hadn't been able to do anything right in seasons anyways.

He crossed the corridor between the newly expanded packs with caution, staying firmly between the borders of the Hallows and Fenmyre and praying no wolf came to bother him on his adventure. The Aegis had turned a bit friendlier by the end of his stay, but the Aracari man was still a bit bitter at being held captive at all. In a jail, no less. Making it through to the southern end of Auster without incident, he saw a plain stretching out in the distance - and in the middle of that plain, something tall and peculiar, reflective, and unmistakably cool enough that he needed to investigate.

"Speech"

Zephyrus had decided quite easily that he enjoyed the nighttime almost as much as he did the day. Sure, it was easier to navigate when you could see where you were going and could distinguish direction from the sun and shadow, but the moon and the stars blanketed Auster in what was like another world. First the shimmering shore, and now this odd glowing set of stones. Zephyr had been drawn toward them on a moon-light flight, catching sight of their glow in the distance, and now was ready for round two of collect-shiny-things-for-mother.

He crossed the plains with the speed of a falcon, whooshing atop the stranger's head and landing firmly upon one of the shorter stones, grinning down at the man who had been arriving before him. "Beat you!" He called out, extending his massive wings and posing proudly atop his glowing stone.

"Zephyr"

Artisan picked up speed, trotting across the otherwise empty plains with eyes only for the unusual centerpiece that towered before him. It was odd how there was nothing else of note around, no debris littering the ground for him to scavenge, hardly a bush or tree in sight. It was as if whoever carved these stones had planned for their existence hand in hand with nature - was this one of those religious places, he'd heard so much about? As he neared, his internal query was sharply interrupted by a swift passing shadow overhead. Throwing himself to the grass and covering his head in his paws, he hid.

The voice was playful, and as he peeked out from beneath his decorated wrist he saw it belonged to a bird more massive than he'd ever seen. "Fuck off, you cheated." Artisan replied, gathering himself back to his paws as casually as he could, and pretending to dust off his fur with one limb. "You want to race, do it with your own two feet. Jerk." Artisan was tired of being beaten by species that had natural advantages, like that horse he'd raced so very long ago. Trotting up to the stones, he eyed their peculiar carving and glow. Whatever caused the reflection was deep seated within the rock, and a gentle tap of his claw told him he'd not be successful attempting to break any off himself.

"Actually.. you know what, I'm sorry, that was so rude of me. I'm Artisan! You're quite a big bird, I think you just startled me into asshole mode. What with those big wings and.. big strong talons..." Trailing off, he leaned his head into the stone with a sigh. "I wish I had big strong talons, so I could take some of that blue shit out of this rock..."

"Speech"

The man seemed quite startled by Zephyr's sudden appearance, but picked himself up with practiced (and clearly fake) confidence. The raptor bobbed his head in amusement at the wolf's recovery, maintaining his prideful grin as Artisan approached. Wow, this wolf really knew how to curse. Zephyrus blinked rapidly at the foul language, but managed to wave it off as one of those weird, Boreas-wolf customs. He almost felt bad for spooking the man, especially once he leaned his head against the stones and sighed.

So they had the same intentions when they'd both come to the runestones then. "I can help!" Zephyr offered cheerfully, hopping down off the rock and catching the air beneath his wings for a smooth landing. "I wanted to grab some glowy stuff too, for my mom. My name is Zephyrus, I live in the castle nearby!" Reaching up with one talon and stabilizing his unbalanced weight with his wings, the raptor began to gently scrape at the stone, testing the hardness of it and how easily it gave. Whatever it was made of, it did not seem to break beneath his claw as easily as something like gold might. Again and again he hopped between the stones, checking each of them to see if one was more easily broken then another, and scraping the lower-carved runic shapes with a careful claw tip. Odd, nothing transferred. It was almost as if the stones were not creating a glow at all, but reflecting the glow of another.

"Zephyr"

Artisan was really playing up the part of damsel in distress (which, wasn't as emasculating as he'd honestly thought it'd be) up until the bird cheerfully offered an introduction. Lived in the castle? The only castle in Auster? The castle where he was confined, and kept captive? The castle that was swimming in booze, food, and horseshoes? That castle? Looking awake and alert for the first time since he'd arrived, the pirate shuffled in closer. "Living in a castle must be pretty cool." He commented casually, following the bird from runestone to runestone as he tested each one.

No matter how hard the bird tried to pry out the glow, nothing seemed to happen. "A shame, it seems your talons aren't as strong and sharp as they look." Shrugging as if he didn't expect otherwise to begin with, Artisan moved up to try his own teeth upon the rock. There was absolutely no give to it, and strangely not even the sort of metallic taste he'd have come to expect. Didn't only iron and other metals shimmer this way? With a sigh, he abandoned his dream of adorning his wrist with yet another fancy, unique and one-of-a-kind rock. If only he had some booze to wash away the disappointment.

"You know, I've been there once. I'm a friend to the Aegis." Artisan began cautiously, leaning up against the stone once more and letting his weight fall down along the stone until he was laying sprawled in the grass. It was a good thing the ground was relatively clean of rock and debris, as anywhere else he'd likely have gotten a ribcage full of jagged splinters if he'd tried such a move. "I was thinking of swinging by to say hi, but this journey has been long. I'm so hungry.. and thirsty... I don't think I'll make it by after all. How disappointed Artorias will be.." Egging the young raptor on further, Artisan flopped his head in the grass and heaved a heavy, exaggerated sigh. "I bet with those big strong wings of yours, you don't have to worry about getting tired on long journeys. You can just fly home whenever you need to, grab food and drink, and come back to continue it."

"Speech"

No matter how hard the bird tried, the runestones refused to give. They must have been made of the strongest sort of stone on earth or protected by a force that he could not pretend to understand. Nothing else made sense. Pulling his talon away, the raptor shrunk in disappointment as the pirate acknowledged that he must just not be strong enough. (Though, Artisan tried to scrape away at the rock too and had failed, so Zephyr didn't have to feel too sore a loser.)

Emulating the canine, Zephyr too threw himself into the grass. Landing on his belly with his neck and beak outstretched, he peered out into the empty plains. His wings stretched out to either side to hug the soft blades of green, the damp chill of moisture beneath his feathers feeling oddly refreshing as he lay there with his new friend. It was not often he could find a plain sparse enough and soft enough to unfurl all near 200 inches of his wingspan and not hurt himself on jagged stones. Then Artisan spoke again, and Zephyr's brows furrowed in suspicion. That is exactly how Zephyr would manipulate food out of someone. Food manipulation was something he knew best.

Standing swiftly, he glared down at the sad-sack of a wolf. "If you're hungry, use your own two legs and go get it yourself." He parroted, huffing to make his offense clear. Unfortunately the plains around him had no elevation at all for a smooth and skillful takeoff to punctuate his wit, so Zephyr had to waste time climbing back up the tallest runestone. It took him many minutes (which in reality, ruined his clever escape entirely) to find purchase within the hard stone, but he got to the top, spread his wings, and eventually took flight back to the castle. Leaving the gold and blue wolf behind with only a tinge of regret.

"Zephyr"