Much to Craig's dismay, a few minutes into his nervous yet heartwarming exchange with Jason, Peri decided he was doing far to well without the little green bird's help. Naturally, he flew off. It was a fairly large island, Peri could probably fly around the whole thing and be back by dinner. Though that would count as reckless abandon of your human in the familiar guide book. The next best thing was to find someone who lives here and speaks in the same magical, tone-ascending language as you. Peri would have also liked to bring Lafayette with him, but alas the older bird had set off for the mainland about an hour ago and would not return for quite some time. Blink, Percy's familiar, though also part of their entourage, spoke coldly and didn't appear to have any desire to leave the Queen's updo anytime soon.

    Therefore, Peri headed for the natives. Well, exile-ees. Peri wasn't such if anyone was technically a native. He had seen all types of familiars here from crocodiles to sugar gliders. From thorny devils to orangutans. From perch, to pandas. It was a whole rainbow of assortments in every best possible use of the phrase. Our little green friend however has his hopes set on two in particular.

    A mara, a small, auburn, rabbit-resembling animal with a rectangular nose and long legs, was sitting in the shade next to an okapi, which as Craig put it, looked like a mix between horse and zebra. Peri would have said deer, but his human was a little overwhelmed at the time. He landed on the ground next to the mara and bowed in avian fashion. The okapi's ears pricked up and the mara shot him and glance that let Peri know the familiar was aware of his existence.

    "Greetings, your esteemed. I'm Peri."

    "Moriah." Replied the mara, respectively.

    "And you, sir?" Peri turned to the okapi.

    "Opey, it's a pleasure to make you acquaintance." He bowed his head.

    "Gentlemen, I was hoping you could tell me a little more about this island. No offense to you and your humans, but I can tell when information's been withheld."

    Bundi was Moriah's human, and Nole Opey's. Peri could tell right off the bat two things. That the two human leaders of this small nation were very close (the magic shedding off their familiars was connected and quite strong) and that this island was far older then any of the Daímonas outcasts were probably aware of. It left a strange imprint on Peri's thin, avian tongue, the same metallic taste of blood.

    Moriah took this request with many grains of salt and scoffed. "For an outsider? No way."

    "Oh, don't get your ears in a twist, dear. I'm sure he's fully capable of straining facts to his human. The boy has just barely turned fifteen." Opey mused.

    Moriah's ear flicked back. "I suppose."

    "Surely no one know this island better than you do." Peri added.

    Sure, it was a little bit of a kiss-up, but Moriah did hold a higher rank then him. Moriah looked hesitant before springing up to his feet.

    "Alright, I suppose. However, I would like a fair trade."

    "Fair's fair." Peri agreed.

    "You tell us about the mainland. Not just the good bits either. We know something's been happening over there, something bad."

    Opey's ears swiveled forward towards Peri and Moriah's small rodent eyes bore into him.

    "That's... right." Peri admitted. "For the first time in decades someone's been corrupted."

    Opey shivered and Moriah let out a shriek of proud triumph. "I knew it!"

    "I don't think it's something to be particularly proud of, my dear." Opey muttered.

    The okapi seemed very worried. His heels curled in anticipation and large brown eyes glancing about. Moriah took this is and sat back down on his haunches appropriately. Even stopping to give the larger forest giraffe a gentle lick on the nose.

    "We're far away from the mainland." Moriah assured. "That kind of evil will not reach us here."

    Peri's feathers ruffled up uncomfortably, the other two familiars turned towards him with wide eyes. The little green bird winced.

    "Peri..." Moriah warned. "What aren't you telling us?"

    "The human who was corrupted, it's a young boy and his wolf. He was a close friend of Craig and I'm afraid he's been kidnapped by a power woman who is currently trying to hunt him down." Peri explained.

    It's not often one can make a familiar feel shame, but this was one of those times. Moriah like out a noise kin to a hiss and Opey scolded him harshly.

    "We need to hunt him down and kill him before it infects others." The rodent cursed, standing up on his hind legs.

    "Moriah!" Opey snapped. "It's a child!"

    "With all due respect, I've tried to convince Craig to follow similar actions but... he won't. He's too stubborn. It's in his best interests to keep this boy alive and... as crazy as it sounds we might have a chance as stopping it without too much bloodshed. You've seen what he can do."

    Moriah took one glance at Peri, then huffed and bounced away. Opey watched him go with a worried look. Peri felt slightly guilty. He had come to these two seeking out more information, and all he had done was scare and anger them.

    "I'm sorry." Peri added. "This was not my intention."

    "It's alright." Opey assured. "Fair's fair. I'll talk with him about that situation later but I'll tell you anything you want about the island."

    "How was it formed?"

    "A fire-wielding Daímonas caused a volcano to erupt. That was quite possibly centuries ago, however. We're not sure. There's a series of caves in the mountain that were unexplored until Bundi took position as Chief. They're just starting to uncover the paintings down there."

    Opey glanced around warily, then leaned down to be closer to Peri's eye level. "Before Bundi took over... well it was honestly almost a daily blood bath. One of the rules is we're not allowed to talk about before. It puts the kids through a lot. It's been... about a year now. You can still hear them waking up late from nightmares."

    Peri shivered. "Am I allowed to ask... who?"

    Opey shook his head.

    "That's fine, I really just wanted a background check on your humans... but I can very obviously see Craig is in no danger." Peri remarked, fluffing up his crest in joyous approval.

    Opey smiled with his eyes closed, a wholesome gesture. The okapi sighed with satisfaction, then slowly stood up. Peri sensed their time together was drawing close.

    "I should go talk to Moriah. I'm glad we had this chat, Peri. You seem nice. You can come with us exploring in the caves next time we go if you want some hands-on experience."

    "Wings on, if I may." Peri winked.

    Opey laughed, which was admittedly weird coming from an okapi. "Indeed. Farewell friend."

    Peri jumped back into the air and gained height quickly on some hot air currents. He scanned the sky, no sign of Lafayette. He dipped back towards Craig's tent as the sun touched down onto the ocean. He was delighted to see it had been spruced up a bit, and they now had pillows, a proper floor, and even a small fire going. Peri swooped in and landed on Craig's shoulder, startling him.

    "Where were you? I just about died." Craig mused to himself.

    "Socializing with the locals, and I would have known if you died, Craig." Peri clacked his beak together, happy to see his boy was okay.

    Craig laughed quietly. Peri glanced around to see the other two members of Craig and Crew were being their sulky edgy selves. Percy was... meditating? It looked like meditating. Jason was poking the fire offhandedly, zoned out to Kosmos and beyond. Peri glanced back at Craig, who was fidgeting and glancing up at the boy every few seconds. He could hear it now, look at how pretty he looks in the fire light, Peri, I could kiss him right here, Peri. Why humans didn't act on these urges in the moment escaped the little green bird. They have far to short of a lifespan to wait on these things.

    "Hey Craig?" Jason spoke, scaring Craig out of his trance.

    "Y-yeah?"

    "You remember earlier when... you broke us out of those ropes right?" Jason asked, glancing up eyes dark in the half-light. "You didn't... see anything strange right?"

    Percy noticeably cracked open one eye as he said this.

    Craig squirmed slightly. "No...? I mean this whole island is pretty strange so far. Nothing to out of ordinary though. Although Nole's zebra-horse is pretty strange--"

    "Okapi." Peri corrected.

    Craig paused to look down at his bird. "Gesundheit."

    Peri sighed.

    "Oh." Jason said simply. "Okay."

    "Why do you ask?"

    Jason shrugged. "No reason."

    Peri noted this. He wished he could grill Lafayette for answers right about now, but alas, the feathery annoyance was for once out of Peri's range and he couldn't even appreciate it. Tomorrow maybe, he though as Peri stared intently at Jason and tried to read him by himself. Hm.

    Thanatos, grammatically had roots with the word death, but Peri though that was off the mar for this island. A much better name would be something derived from the word secrets. This island was full of them. As much as Peri would have liked to keeping poking...perhaps that was enough snooping for one day.