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The dog started to fuss again, and Progolo watched Taal carefully. The griffin's ears flickered, but there was no change...Besides the smell of something burning. And then, as Progolo watched, Taal's fore paws began to glow and liquify, scorching the floor.

"Oh, not now..." Progolo dug into his bag quickly and retrieved a bottle of water, which he poured on Taal. There was a loud hiss, and the two of them were hidden in steam. Progolo coughed, waving the vapor away.

Over Taal's quiet commotion, Progolo heard one of the other guardians speculating about a volcano, and then suggest introductions.

"Did you say...volcano?" he asked suddenly, trying to keep the shrill out of his voice.

Whoa, an adult aerandir. Momentarily in awe, Wyv stared at Osero before snapping back to the problem at hand.

"Don't think it's our volcano," she repeated calmly to answer Chao's question and hopefully steady the man she didn't recognize. Panic would be detrimental. "The smoke was easterly," Wyv peered at the walls, as if seeing the landmarks beyond them and pointed, "not west where our beast lies dormant." Now she swung her hand to point where the montain lay beyond the river. "I think anyways. I was in a bit of a hurry." She grinned sardonically. Okay, maybe not so comforting, but honest was best.

With a push, she gently herded Makai to the floor. A gentle prod of her boot-tip got him moving over towards Chao. "Go say hi." Since the aerandir child was with Chao, she had to be Sanar. "She took good care of you when you were in bottles, Bloo." Standing, she stretched and proceeded leasurely to the storage closet. "Ima go fill those buckets," she annouced with a nod at Anthony.

The otter-gryph approached cautiously to the child and the gryphon in her lap. His green one was placid once again and that made him feel better. He whistled, placing a paw on Sanar's leg and peered up, switching between her and Tobias.

After hearing Chao relay Alyosha's message, Progolo lifted his weight off of Taal for a moment and dragged the retriever-sized griffin further away from a nearby window, which was darkening ominously. He thought worriedly of his other charges. He'd directed his largest griffin to take all the smaller creatures and fly to another island, but a volcano could cause such widespread damage that any of the Aerandir islands may not be far enough away...

He needed to do something to settle his nerves. Something that required attention. He thought about helping the woman with filling buckets, but Taal might cause a scene. The last thing Ar'Idil needed in a volcano was a berserk griffin melting into magma and liquifying their only shelter.

He reached into his bag, making the jars clink together, and produced a small wooden flute.

"I don't suppose anyone would object to a little music?"

Wyv shrugged. "Sure, the more the merrier," fumbling with the door a bit, she finally managed to prop it open and began to hand buckets to Karma. "I think the best bet is to use the sink." She nodded in the direction of the kitchen.

Makai whistled happily. Although he couldn't quite mimic Sanar's vocalization, he did manage to clack his beak together in a fair imitation. Sounds! Sounds were fun.

Inspired, he gave her an affectionate headbutt on the leg. Maybe she could be persuaded to play with him, the other gryphon too. It was scary here, with the rumbles and the dark, but even worse, it was boring.

Anthony nodded slightly to Chao, acknowledging her message. As to her question he had only great suspicions himself. "I think it may have been the small volcano on Ai'Ilyn." he said. "That's the only other one on the Islands." he apused briefly, thinking. "I'm glad they seem to b allright over on Cetalu... it's right next to the damned thing. I was told that all of these volcano's were dormant too.." He looked over to Progolo, another resident he had not yet met "Music would be nice" he smiled, thinking that it might distract and calm people at least a little.

He sighed worriedly and walked over to where the others had begun getting the buckets ready. Taking one of the plain silver pails he began to help fill them himself. His mind was all over the place currently.

For the sake of narrative...

A few hours passed.

Progolo lowered the wooden flute from his lips, stiff from playing so long. Not to mention his awkward position on top of Taal...Progolo had played through every song he knew and even made up a few while he sat there. Taal had fallen asleep beneath him, lulled by the music and the tremors shaking the earth. Progolo stretched, emitting an audible crack in his elbow, rubbed his sore mouth and glanced out the window.

He did a double-take. The sky was clearing. Patches of blue were visible through the smoke and ash, and there hadn't been another tremor for several minutes.

"Is it...over?" Progolo asked, perplexed to hear his own voice coming out of his mouth instead of flute music. Playing for several hours could do that to you.

Osero looked up sharply as one of the humans called out. Rising to his feet, he carefully approached one of the windows until he was close enough to see out. She was right - it did look as if the sky was lightening. However, there was still smoke hanging, and the hunter could detect an acrid, unpleasant smell still. Perhaps it was safe now. Unfortunately, this really was not Osero's area. He was experienced in outdoor survival.. in normal conditions. Volcanos and earthquakes were not something he considered normal conditions. Acia had always been the one to deal with the earth, afterall..

Leaving the window for the moment, he padded back into the centre of the room. Still somewhat concerned, his large, bushy tail flicked from side to side slowly. The hunter glanced at the radio machine for a moment, before speaking quietly.

"Any word from Cetalu?"