Movement caught his attention along the bank, and the little cat's gaze snapped beneath the boughs of a spindly, naked tree where standing stark against the ivory snow was a tiny, dark figure creeping towards the water. A momentary fear flashed through his heart as his nostrils flared, catching the scent of preyblood before he spotted the scrawny squirrel laying limp where the figure had recently pounced. He nearly didn't recognize the little shape as a wolf, catching her scent along the faint breeze as he squinted and adjusted his eyes to the darkness of her scruffy pelt with visible surprise. It was another kit, like the one he'd seen previous further east! Unlike the last however, this was a considerably smaller one, lacking the marbled patterns and wings that the first he'd met had. Thoughts of the previous kit he'd met sent a pang of guilt through him; Delta could only hope she was alright, wherever she was now. Would this kit simply vanish like she had? Where they some sort of trial from Tsillah? Where were were these wolf kits coming from? He swallowed thickly, a familiar fear creeping over him as he cast his gaze up and down the snowy banks for any sight of predators. Despite the strange circumstances, he couldn't just leave the poor thing--it was the dead of winter and she still had kitten-fluff behind her ears! "Kit?" Delta hesitantly garbled out, voice hoarse from disuse as he forced the remaining water from his throat, "ah--are you al--alright?" cautiously, still wary that this may be some sort of cruel trap, Delta made his way closer to the bank with only his head sticking above the inky water. As he grew closer he noticed just how thin the little kit was, and how their scruffy pelt parted with worrying scars. Pity flooded his gaze at the sight, but he stopped his approach where ice clustered in the river's shallows and left a narrow strip between himself and the land. He wouldn't leave the water yet, hooking his claws into the edge of the ice so he could float safely several taillengths away from the kit and speak easier. Again, he looked up and down the banks, partly in fear of any ambush and partly due to the strange coincidence of finding yet another kit away from its family. Were they nearby, perhaps? "Is your mother near?"

The mountains here were strange, far stranger he thought than those he'd glimpsed further north. Even blanketed by snow, the little cat found that they looked like fangs jutting up from the earth, like the jaw of some great beast had been split and buried across the land. Delta shuddered at the thought, tearing his gaze away from the strange orange stone and looking instead at the tangled, naked branches hanging above the river. He'd seen a few round little birds bobbing up and down there earlier, something he'd hoped to be a sign of spring's approach, but to his disappointment they'd left shortly after he'd come to watch. Disappointing. Initially, Delta had welcomed the winter. The snow had been novel and fun to bat at, and he'd even dragged himself out onto the bank to roll around in it if he was sure no predators were lurking nearby. A majority of the rivers had frozen over as well, meaning Delta didn't have to worry about anything hunting him from above the water. Things had been cold and dark and safe, he could let his guard down and follow the currents where he pleased. Food was not an issue either, with the fish slow and sluggish from the winter chill--it had been perfect. At least, at first it had. Delta had left the ocean because he was alone. In the freshwater, even if he didn't speak to the creatures he saw prowling the banks, he could stick his head above the water and know he wasn't alone. He'd met so many interesting faces in his short time following the rivers, he didn't realize how much he'd miss it once the ice kept him from surfacing again.  Here in the west, the river widened and quickened to flow out into the open ocean, breaking the ice into thick chunks which bobbed in the brackish water for which Delta was named after. Finally able to poke his head above the water again, he sprayed the water from his nostrils and sucked in a breath of salty, cold air and stared out into the snowy hills. It was a pretty sight, even with the strange mountains jutting up around him. He opened his mouth and exhaled just to watch his breath cloud in the frigid air, stretching out his lungs after weeks of breathing nothing but water.

Ida couldn't help the shit-eating little smirk that curled her jowls at Solrentorro's obvious frustration, not bothering to acknowledge his correction as she leaned back and sat heavily against the snow. Her brow quirked at his bragging, not yet believing his claims of grand magic and architectural prowess as she forced her body to remain relaxed even as he strode closer to demonstrate. Building wasn't a thing many wolves did back home, and those that did focused their efforts on the structures made by those that had come before them. No one really knew who'd first built things such as castles or barns, only that sharp minds and strong bodies were needed in multitudes to maintain upkeep. It was surprising then that the lion's magic returned in the form of a structure of his own. A tiny one, but intricate in design--more decorative than any Ida had known of in her previous lands. To her, castles were supposed to be protection, not artwork. Although she was undoubtably impressed, she eyed the display with a furrowed brow and rasped her tongue around bloodied chops. She pricked her ears at his words and snorted, raising a paw and carefully sticking a claw between one of the model's many holes. Windows, she recalled. Either to be filled with glass or left barren--either way, an easy point of weakness. "Ah know what 'uh castle is," she rumbled. She wrinkled her muzzle, contemplating whether or not to compliment the lion on his admittedly impressive work. He has a big enough head already, she thought with some amusement. "It's...interestin'. Too open." Ida thought of the castles that had been described to her; she'd never caught a glimpse with her own eyes, but she'd met wolves that had. A few of which were lucky enough to know the earth like the backs of their paws, and could drag their claws through the soil to draw their haunting outlines.  "Unless yer wantin' tuh die, raise th' windows higher than 'uh vertical jump, or make 'em narrower than yer shoulders. Wall'll be uh plus 'round th' perimeter--possibly raise th' base n' mash any clay with blood. Keeps it from crumblin," As she spoke, she dragged harsh lines through the soil around the castle, boxing it in and clawing crude circles into the earth where each corner formed for towers. "Needs uh solid point uh defense n' reinforcements--tunnels maybe. Yuh got n' eye for delicacy. Yer magic is impressive, ah'll admit. But there's always somethin' stronger--n' here ain't no place fer art if yer dead," her muzzle crinkled with with a low, rueful chuckle. Still, despite her critiques of it, the great dog eyed the model with obvious interest. She didn't think it couldn't work, after all. It just needed adjustments--something she would be around to provide. Her attention turned back to Aguipua as he questioned her, and she huffed.  "Ah did," she answered, and briefly considered not repeating it just to know his response. She stayed quiet for a moment, but decided then that she liked the spikey feline enough to not shut down his politeness entirely. "It's Ida. Yuh got any input on th' building? Been told yer th' advisor after all."

The little cat nodded quickly, relieved that Saira could understand his dilemma as he slowly unpinned himself from the stone floor. Her newly finned tail rippled behind her as she flipped to float upside down, and his eyes were drawn to the familiar shape as he watched her adjust. Logically, he knew that it wasn't a real part of her--or at least one she'd live with normally, but even if it looked different to the fins he'd seen on his own peers, seeing her with it gave him a sad sense of comfort. She really was the closest thing he'd met to his species, whatever his species really was considering how different cats seemed to be on land. Delta gave the great tigress a small smile as she accepted his apology, and a fresh interest glittered in his eyes as his gaze snapped to follow the seagrass she'd begun batting at again. He paused, expression conflicted as he weighed the option of having to leave his burrow, but... ...well, she'd accepted his apology, and even in her more frightening form she'd made no move to attack him. Carefully he crept out from under the rocks and unfurled his fins from where they hugged against his sides, sliding across the dark lakebed with a slow wave of his tail as he approached the much larger cat and her toy. It fluttered tantalizingly in the water, and he looked back and forth between it and Saira before nodding again, hoping the trembling of his paws wasn't as apparent to her as it was to himself. "Okay," he meowed softly, and suddenly he was off. His fins slammed down as he kicked off the mud, sending a dark cloud of sediment spraying around him as he lunged forwards and snapped the grass between his jaws. He pumped his tail and cut down through the water until his paws touched the lakebed again, alternating between hops and glides to quickly dart away through the lake as nervous excitement channeled itself into adrenaline. He almost didn't want to look behind him, knowing that while he was inviting the tigress to chase him, he didn't know if his heart could take actually seeing her lunging after him.  Delta squeezed his eyes shut and reared back, letting go of the plant and smacking it up towards the surface with a forceful swipe of his tail as he swiveled and dropped back to the lakebed.

A pang of guilt struck the little cat as understanding flashed across Saira's face, and he nodded shakily as she repeated his observation. He almost wanted to apologize again, but for what exactly he couldn't find the words for. Instead he watched through frightened eyes as the tigress wilted back into her feline form, an instinctual relief washing over him despite the gnawing anxiety building in his belly that he'd offended her. At least his brain was no longer firing off every signal at once to scream that there was a predator staring him down, even if the logical part of him knew that Saira could likely just as easily snap back to that form again. "Sorry," he finally coughed, managing to find his voice again. He remained firmly wedged under the rocks, though unhooked his aching claws from the stone as his adrenaline petered and he found the wits to hold a conversation again. "I'm, ah--I have never seen a...body like that. The unknown tends to...hunger." For us, especially, Delta thought sardonically. His ears pricked as Saira spoke again, relieved again that her voice no longer rumbled through the stone or tickled his whiskers with the sheer power of her lungs. Power seemed to be something dragons were known for, according to her explanation. He almost chuckled disbelievingly at her assumption that he could be such a creature, but any amusement he'd felt was quickly swept away by both a pang of jealousy and shortly after that, guilt for feeling jealous.  Tsillah made him the way he was for a reason, he shouldn't wish to be something he wasn't. Even if that thing seemed arguably better in every way. "N...no. I am not a dragon. I just..." he thought back to her snapping that he'd looked strange. He hadn't paid it much notice in the moment, too preoccupied thinking that she was going to eat him, but he averted his gaze then as he relayed the words through his memory and shuffled his fins self-consciously. "...look like this." Delta had never thought of himself as strange looking; everyone he'd known had looked like him. He'd never felt much envy for the appearances of others until he'd met creatures such as Loch or Saira--it was an uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling he'd rather live without. How bad must it have felt then for poor Saira when he'd hissed at her other form? He dipped his head towards the tigress and apologized again, properly this time. "I am sorry Saira, for my re--ah, reaction. It was rude of me."

Gabriel rolled the dice.

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Character Diceroll 1: Success Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful. 0 was added for Constitution. 527 was added for Level 5. 0 was added for A. No Enchantment. 3 was added for B. Homeland Buff.