Hyacinth stirred awake late in the morning; the sun had already long-since come up. They panicked, very briefly, until they remembered their children had fallen asleep around them. They'd spent so long in that dark, dank facility, where they'd had to worry about the sentinels and the harsh coldness for a long time. But here... Here they felt their children could rest comfortably, and they did. Some of the smaller ones were cuddled against them, but others laid elsewhere in the damp, marshy fields. The thought did make Hyacinth a bit uneasy, however. They were unprotected out here; while the outside world had not yet been unkind to them, they had felt its rigors and intensities for themselves, and knew they had to be prepared.
As Hyacinth roused themselves and their children from sleep, they pondered what materials they had to work with. They glanced around; there was a great quantity of large plants about, all of which seemed fairly solid. And, of course, the marshy land was rich in different grasses, some of which the Manipulators had already begun learning how to work with. Hyacinth and their children stood, beginning to fan out as they pondered some potential ideas. The basic principles of a shelter came to their mind; four walls, and a roof, with some way to enter and exit.
A couple of the Manipulators were already beginning to trace out bounds for a potential home, carving a large square in the marshy soil with their hooves and hands. They left a small divot for the entryway, marking out the basics of a home. They did that, Hyacinth took their other pair of Manipulators, as well as their Reconcilants, and made tracks for a thicket of trees further from the water. Hyacinth reeled for a moment, before giving the tree a cursory smash with their mace, testing its durability. The tree cracked and splintered from the flange digging into its side, but held firm. Hyacinth smiled. "I think these will do nicely," They hummed with a soft smile. "Just be careful, my children," They expressed.
The Reconcilants immediately went to work, attempting to kick down the trees with their hooves. It would be a slow process; they weren't the strongest kickers, despite their size, and the trees were quite sturdy. Still, the Reconcilants made their attempts regardless, with the Imps flying up to take various sticks and twigs down from the trees. The Manipulators, however, looked around, searching for sticks and stones. Hyacinth watched them with intrigue; they knew better than to interrupt the Manipulators' thinking process, but observing their children working through problems did get their attention.
The Manipulators worked at their new tools, beginning to carve smaller stones on larger ones, chipping away bits and pieces to obtain more desirable shapes. Bit by bit, the tools began to take shape; simple, broad, stone blades, meant for breaking apart the trees more efficiently. As the Manipulators continued working at their tools, Hyacinth turned back to the tree they'd started felling. They wound back, beginning to strike the tree with their mace repeatedly, each slam cracking more and more wood. They grunted and heaved from the effort; it was more exercise than they'd ever gotten inside. Still the tree was not invincible; eventually, it gave under the large equine's assault, beginning to topple over. "Be careful, my children!" They shouted.
The warning didn't come fast enough; not for one of the Reconcilants. Hyacinth gasped as the tree fell onto it, knocking the child to the ground with a heavy slough of its leaves and branches. The Reconcilant squirmed under the tree, a pupa working out of its side from the pain of the impact and cracking into a new Imp. "Hold on, my dear!" Hyacinth yelped, running over to push the tree off the Reconcilant. They grunted heavily from the effort; the tree was immensely heavy. All of their other children filed in to help out. With a final, strong heave, motivated by the stress of their trapped child, Hyacinth and their other children managed to shove the tree off of the pinned Reconcilant.
The stress had gotten to Hyacinth; when they finally stumbled back, they'd hardly noticed the pupa that had fallen to their side. It hatched into something new, however. A small puppet - smaller than a Trickster, but still a good bit larger than an Imp - with wispy clumps of tendrils that seemed to float as if gravity didn't exist for them. Hyacinth was focused on the Reconcilant, which they scooped up gently as they sat down. Their horn lit, beginning to tend to the Reconcilant's bruising with gentle healing magic. "Shh..." They cooed gently. "You'll be okay, dear... Mama's got you."
Their attention partially drifted to the new puppet that was climbing up their leg. It moved differently than the others; smooth pounces, with seemingly preternatural balance. "Oh, hello... You're a new face, aren't you?" They said with a gentle smile. "Just what are you, my dear?" They asked, juggling attention between their wounded Reconcilant and the new puppet as it looked at them.
The new puppet's tendrils began to glow faintly as it crawled up Hyacinth's side; Hyacinth was surprised by the small one's dexterity as it neatly jumped up between their legs and humps, onto their shoulder. Hyacinth watched as a thin, pinkish-purple skin formed over the Reconcilant, like a thin form-fitted shell. "Oh... Are you protecting your sibling?" Hyacinth asked, observing. "Perhaps you should stick around while the other little ones fell the trees, then," Hyacinth mused.
The small puppet gave a strange sound; a different flavour than the usual equine noises they were used to. It was a chitter of some description; almost buggish, really, though it still had an equine huffiness to it. Hyacinth knew what it meant, of course, but it was still a strange feeling; their children were, truly, full of surprises. They nuzzled the small puppet a little. "You're just a little sweetheart, aren't you?" They commented, to which the new puppet chittered again. "Hm... I'll have to think of a name for you, then. You're certainly not just one of the others," They mused.
The new puppet chittered contently, hopping down from Hyacinth's shoulder to join the others. The Manipulators, by now, had finished their new tools; rough stone hatchets, fashioned from their sharpened stone blades and wooden branches that the Imps had brought down. Hyacinth sat there as they tended to the wounded Reconcilant, watching their children work. The Manipulators worked at opposing sides of a tree, hacking away at it much more cleanly than Hyacinth themselves had. The new puppet stayed at a healthy distance, casting thin protective films over its two working siblings. All the while, the other Reconcilant and the Tricksters worked at hauling the tree back towards the stencil that had been carved in the mud.
Hyacinth watched as the felled trees were picked clean of branches, helping to fell other ones. They'd brought down quite a few as the day went along; the Manipulators did the chopping, with others helping with hauling and building. Large tree trunks were steadily piled in a rectangular shape, affixed together by notches and ridges. It wasn't the most sturdy structure, but it was much better than nothing. The roof was not fancy; a simple affair of logs being laid flat over the top of the hutch, with coarse grass stuffed between the rafters for a bit of insulation. Still, Hyacinth was proud of what they and their children had managed to put together; and with minimal incidents, too!
The sun, however, was starting to dip over the horizon; it was getting dark. Hyacinth yawned from the long day of exercise they'd had, having not particularly done much hard labour inside the old facility. Despite the fatigue, Hyacinth had never felt more alive. Getting out, working with their limbs, and seeing their children come into their own filled them with pride as they settled in for the night, laying down on the soft ground.
As they laid down for the night, Hyacinth felt the gentle pressure of the new puppet traisping across their back and laying in their mane. They smiled gently, looking up. "Ah... I still haven't given you a name yet, have I?" They mused sleepily, pondering that for a moment. The puppet chittered in reply as it snuggled into their scout, the little one seeming fairly unbothered. "Well, I have to call you something, dear," Hyacinth commented. "How about a..." They trailed off for a moment. What surprised them the most was the way their psionic energy flowed through the little thing; it was almost like looking at a smaller Reconcilant, though of course the new puppet had no spawn of its own. It was like all of its psionics flowed right into the world around it, via its shields. "...A Delta," Hyacinth eventually decided with a small smile.
The new puppet chittered contently at the name, hugging Hyacinth's head the best its little legs could. Hyacinth smiled as they closed their eyes. "Oh, excellent, dear... Sleep well, my children," They hummed, yawning groggily. It didn't stave off much; sleep came easily to them after the day they'd had.