Holding the crow skeleton in hand as the rest of its unity negotiated with the lich, Skin studied its prize with fascination. In most living sentients, the skeleton's purpose was without question, yet its visual appearance remained concealed beneath layers of flesh. For this specimen, the skeletal structure was openly revealed, but for what purpose it existed was now unknown. As well, Skin wondered if the artifact would distinguish between one who walked a path between moralities out of choice, and one who did so out of ignorance; the nuances of ethical or moral behavior, and what qualified for such, eluded it as thoroughly as the crow skeleton's powers eluded Bao. It would find out, hopefully.<br/><br/>Events seemed to blur past with paralyzing speed - an offer of employment was made, accepted, and finalized. Travel through the city, a pause for negotiation with a native. Entry into a dark cavern that seethed with Will, Power made manifest. A Voice spoke, in the unpronounceably liquid speech that most closely approximated Skin's own 'native' dialect, and a Will made itself visible. Skin saw, recognizing the Will that ruled this plane - and something within itself woke. A spark, or perhaps a shadow, an echo of the unchecked entity it had once been in another place and time, saw not Tiamat The Queen of Evil Dragons, but a being like itself. For a moment, Skin felt the urge to attack, driven by this quiescent memory to strike pre-emptively before it could be put on the defensive. But Skin was no longer that godlike singularity, nor comfortable in its home realm, and the echo was not strong enough to dictate. Rather, it stood still and silent with its unity while Bao continued to speak, and as they left, followed without word or deed.<br/><br/>But the echo, roused, would not be silent once more. Buried and forgotten memories whispered in the corners of Skin's mind, and as the unity followed Bao through the lich's pocket portal, those whispers surged into a shouting cacaphony. The boundaries between planes were a source of phenomenal power, all bound securely into keeping those planes coherent and apart from one another. The same energy that had failed in its purpose where Skin had once dwelled, and was omnipresent through everything. In the fractional instant of transit, Skin's buried echo touched that energy so familiar and drank deep, flowing through Skin's pseudoflesh and infusing it, threatening to overwhelm. When Skin regained control of its own form, denying its adopted outer layers from corroding away by sheer Will, they now occupied a dark and empty cavern where faint winds howled in the distance. Waiting for the unity was another sapient, of a type Skin recognized. The beholder was deadly, but fragile. Most dangerous when able to surround itself with enemies to make maximum use of the many eye rays it could fire, it was yet slow and its hide soft where each stalk met the main body. Luckily, this one was anything but hostile.<br/><br/>The unity engaged in dialogue, while Skin stopped to study its surroundings and quietly force its own rebellious flesh back into strict obedience.