They didn’t move from that of the yawning desert, the harsh sunlight and the earth beneath his feet. Saturn stood there for a few moments contemplating the lack of movement and watched the outsider for a brief few moments before a slight twitch of their feathered mane instead brought a whole new moment.

They were now standing above the cloud covers amongst the mountains; Saturn blinking rapidly and looking around. He hadn’t even felt the shift until the weather hit him. Causing him to shiver for a brief insan. Mountains wen in every direction and there was the sensation of vertigo as he acclimated to the terrain. The outsider didn’t seem too bothered by it though.

Here I have brought for you to find me the essence of water and that of lightning.

”You would think it’d be frost with how cold it is.”

That is for another time.

”The essence of water does not lay within the sea?”

The outsider seemed to consider this and then shook his head slowly; raising up a hand with a single digit. He seemed to think higher of his child now that those two questions that could have remained unsaid were… well said.

The answers are sometimes within the things we did not think or see before. While water is plentiful in the ocean and that the mountains are indeed cold. Answers move with the world and the song of ages travels regardless.

Saturn cocked his head o one side and sniffed at the air; he could feel the temperature of the area evening out a bit and it occurred to him that it wasn’t as cold as it could be and that it was actually closer to that of regular temperature compared to the rest of fiore that he had visited this far.

You already seem to be acclimating to this place. Heh.

Saturn flicked his ears and stepped down from where they had arrived; the outsider watching him curiously. He would have moved but instead there was the sensation that he wasn’t given a timeframe. Or at least wasn’t given one that needed to be said.

I didn’t tell you to begin-

”Let us not tarry too much oh parent of mine. I already have a feeling of what you may want. But the answer I have in mind isn’t here.”

The outsider looked puzzled but didn’t speak further; watching saturn float along of his own will and power. Running his hands through the clouds that rolled through; the fine mist and the coolness of the clouds made him realize that this was part of what the outsider wanted him to see but…

The clouds were gentle and they lacked the sensation; they weren’t wrought with elemental rage. There was a distant anger to them and saturn would bite the lower portion of his lip thoughtfully. He knew the answer before he even got here; but getting that answer and presenting it would instead be something else entirely.

So he opted to wait with the other; watching the clouds roll on by and would breathe out slowly. He was given ‘one’ of something. So he deigned instead to make it one month; time between the two of them was meaningless and as he started to feel the gentle caress of the moon on his nape his face slowly split in a larger grin…

[562/1200]

The first cloud had a taste of what he wanted; the charge and sensation of the water within also made him think of what he needed. The golden-demigods face was somewhat passive as the first and second waves of these beings slammed into the side of the mountain and split for him and the outsider.

The outsider didn’t look too bothered with the length of time they were waiting and further still they were entertained as saturn slowly started to collect the essence from the clouds. Pulling in both the lightning and the water from them. Pure, undiluted stuff that was supercharged with magical essence from two entirely different places.

It was an act that was only possible because of what the two of them were in a way. The outsider approached saturn curiously and tilted his head as the two essences were intertwined just like before. His focus shifted slowly to that of the spinning rolling orb in front of their child.

And this is what you consider the essence of lightning and water?

Saturn shook his head slowly and as time passed the entire storm that had been about them instead had been compressed into a single focal point. His ears flicked a little bit and it wasn’t too long before the same storm that had once come to them was released again. Floating slightly above it was a perfect copy; smirking slightly the demi-god would gently hand over the orb to their parent.

”An entire storm in the palm of your hand, that is the essence of the two elements you seek. But I couldn’t just take that without replacing it somehow. The weather within the world is a delicate balancing act. Were I to take it… well. Even for a moment there might be drastic consequences.”

He’d adjust slightly and watch the clouds roll on away; flicking his ears and looking back to the outsider who seemed hesitant to touch the third essence that he had been given. More so than the others. Humming to himself he’d adjust again, taking a seat on the mountaintop.

”Does this displease you?”

These were meant to be challenging but your understanding of this world is far more along than I anticipated. I expected… years. Maybe even decades before you were like this. A century or two even.

Saturn scratched at his cheek and looked on out over the thunderstorm as it rolled on past. Smiling softly and then eventually gazing up at the moon. The two of them were just so out of place here it was funny to him.

”I think the people that I’ve been around have been good to me, have given me things I never thought I’d see on my own. Gave me a place to see my emotions and understand the world. If I hadn’t met them… the first test would have been my last.”

He had to admit he owed a lot of his development and the desire to move forward to those that had interacted with him. Ranging from one person to many. That one person held his heart in their hands even if he had not seen them in a time and there was a small saddened furrow of his brow. His grin still happily on his face.

”The gentle nature of water and the fierceness of lightning cannot be understated. Without one there couldn’t be the other; not in the same way at least.”

Saturn sat his hands on his legs and stared out as the clouds moved away and out of their sight. Time felt fluid to the both of them and the outsider simply watched their child for a few moments longer. Processing what he said and eventually accepting the orb to float by the other two instances of his child’s success.

You have certainly grown.

[1200/1200]