The sun was far past its highest by the time they stopped and Archways had learned many things from and about the-alive-one-from-before.

But one thing stood out the most was, while Archways WAS learning more from the alive-one (such as hearing familiar words spoken not sung) and was thrilled to have met them, they were ATROCIOUS at conveying things through pictures. Time and time again they made their drawings too complex to the point that the ideas and thoughts and questions were all muddled and lost. They also didn't do events in a straight line and they were all littered on the ground disconnected from one another; even if two or more were a part of a story. Archways ended up having to lead by example with their own drawings; simple and easy to understand.

Like them playing with other ones-from-now and days of surfing down sands. They also asked questions about the humongous war machine, drawing part of the scene where it destroys the building and then pointing at the one laying on the ground. Was it the same one? Unfortunately, the-alive-one shook their head "no"; that filled Archways with distant dread.

The-alive-one-from-before went onto a new subject, but while they were getting better at their pictures they still hadn't gotten it quite right yet.

They were trying to ask… something.. they had seemed interested in the mountain in some shape or form - as were many of their questions –It gave Archways the thought that this one hadn't been to the Mountain at all. But, like many of their other drawings, the question was nearly lost because of their execution of the drawing; this time they got lost in doing the patterns on the other ones-from-before's cloaks (which only confirmed Archways suspicions, the cloaks they drew all had different levels of patterns but alive-one didn't). If they had to guess by the number of them they were drawing then Archways thought that maybe they were asking if there were others like them at the mountain.

And so Archways responded to that; figures all laying face-first on the ground and with the sand covering them on top –dead, all of them.

The-alive-one hadn't responded with another picture to that one, simply drooping down and not uttering a word. Their eyes – both white and blue – looked far, far away from the present. After a few moments past, they scrunch up their face in thought before drawing a very familiar figure – the statue of the six.

"Do you know what this is?" They tapped it twice and then pointed at Archways with a foot.

Archways nodded, sure in the question being asked despite some words being unknown to them – for now. They drew a lengthy line in the sand where at the bottom they spaced out the six statues and at the top they put the six scenes of the tapestry –one scene for each statue.

The-alive-one blinked in surprise once it was done.

"Six are still standing?" The-alive-one muttered to themself. Archways had their own question to ask back as they circled the birds and the plants in the first scene, going so far as to mimic the noise birds made, before lifting their pointed leg to the-alive-one; they wanted to know if the-alive-one ever saw them.. well.. flying and being alive like themselves.

"Birds?" The-alive-one chirped quizzically with a new word Archways finally recognized before sudden eagerness struck the-alive-one. "I've GOT to show you something, something I've wanted to share with someone and something I think you'll love!" They chimed gleefully as they got up abruptly and practically galloped towards the gate at the top of the Giant war machine's neck. Archways followed suit with a series of curious fwees and clicks. What was going on?

The two of them waited as the gates slowly groaned open in protest. The-alive-one shuffled from foot-to-foot impatiently – it looked like a strange dance almost. The millisecond the gate was wide enough the-alive-one darted in - almost getting stuck on the gate itself in their haste.

Archways lagged behind as they let their eyes roam the entrance for a moment. They could see lanterns lighting the way down and the way down was deeper than Archways had previously guessed. Carefully they surfed down the steep hill and entered what must've either once been a building or a natural cave that the war machine fell on top of. The holes at the top of the machine let lazy light shine through that helped illuminate the area.

But the expansive room itself and its size weren't what held Archways' wide eyes.

Row upon row were plants – small plants, wide plants, tall plants, plants of many colors, plants with fruit, plants with flowers, plants plants plants.

Most of the spacious area was filled to the brim with plants all carefully attended to with barely a lick of sand to see. There was even a little winding creek –protected in the shade from the greedy dry air above- dancing between them.

The-alive-one ignored them, instead hurriedly darting to a back corner past a bunch of tools and gizmos all the while clicking some tune Archways didn't recognize.

Archways followed them curious as to what had gotten the-alive-one so giddy all of a sudden when the-alive-one shouted with delight and beckoned them over.

"Here I found it! It's been so long since I've last looked through it myself that it got buried under all this stuff." The-alive-one gently wrapped their cloak under what looked like a regular slab of stone. Archways got a little distracted as they were memorized by how the-alive-one had grabbed ahold and lifted the slab with the edges of their cloak. The slab was obviously a tad bit heavy as the-alive-one strained and heaved the slab up onto an eroded table where it made a loud thump.

But the sound of the thump piqued Archways too. Rocks falling on top of other rocks did not go 'thump'.

And then the-alive-one flipped it open.

"I used to draw all sorts of birds when they were still around." The-alive-one said but the excitement from before soon became as distant as the mountain. "They're all gone now, but I like to remind myself every once in a while as not to forget them."

Archways hopped up onto the table –one built for someone much taller – to actually see the contents of the not-a-slab. When they did they became locked on the spot; it was a little like a tapestry but with a hundred more pictures. And despite the brittle yellowing pages, everything was intact and still shone with its spectrum of colors and details. Birds, hundreds if not thousands of them, were drawn in colored charcoal. And it wasn't one species either; they all varied in size, shape, coloration, and patterns; every precious detail captured and hoarded within its pages.

The one thing that stood out the most was that they didn't look like they were made of cloth like they themselves. Archways always had the idea that they weren't, but seeing it confirmed was a whole new feeling.

"I… tried to save some, long ago, but there were too few already and something made them sick," The-alive-one said with a crack in their voice. "I don't know what happened really. I tried, but.."

They turned away for a moment to collect themself. Archways gave a small comforting coo to the tall white cloak, but hadn't a clue what else to do to ease their sudden sorrow. The seconds ticked by while Archways waited but soon they started to absent-mindedly flipped from one page to the next until it landed on a very familiar looking bird.

One that was now in full realistic detail rather than the simplified version Archways was always so accustomed to.

What wonders it would've been to see.

Archways chimed loudly like a church bell, startling the-alive-one out of their thoughts. Already Archways had jumped down to the ground to draw.

It was them, the two of them together, out on the vast desert with birds flying overhead. And then another picture of them flying with the birds. Archways squinted their eyes in a big happy grin as they waited for Alive-one's thoughts. Perhaps they could out and find some? The desert WAS vast.

But the Alive-one's mood didn't change.

"They're gone, don't you understand?" The alive-one rumbled from deep in their chest. "maybe if I – no, no, no more thinking about this no – aurgh not again."

Archways looked up puzzled at the sudden steamy mist that escaped the alive-one's eyes. Oh, maybe that wasn't the right thing to draw? Archways fell silent as they awkwardly looked for anything to cheer up Alive-one before landing their eyes on vibrant green.

"Paagreh! Paurish! this this this!"

Alive-one's gaze followed Archways as they skipped over to the plants, befuddled enough by their sort –of- gibberish-sort-of-not to lessen the mist.

Archway's did a little twirl than dramatically swung their cloak wide before gesturing towards Alive-one. Alive-one sort of stared before lowering their head. Archways gave a quiet tweet – was Alive-one still upset? But before Archways could try something else, Alive-one started shaking –shaking from holding in a laugh.

"I guess that sort of makes sense? Those plants must be an impossible sight to see for you…" Alive-one chuckled, but it was bittersweet and held a distant contempt for what had happened. "But…these are just a handful of what was once many.." While Archways was far from fluent, they knew the emotions Alive-one was going through and what it entailed. It was here that Archways decided that they needed to remind the tall white cloak what it was to have some joy in the world.

Archways ran up to the nearest plant – a sturdy looking thing with drooping limbs and purple flowers- and hopped right on to the top.

"What are you doing?" Alive-one quizzically asked as Archways disappeared into the middle of it – only to watch Archways fling themself high above it with a loud ping before plummeting down into the next plant out of view only to pop out of that one as well. Over and over and up and down, Archways played peek-a-boo.

Alive-one shuffled awkwardly where they stood as they watched Archways hop and fly about from plant to plant.

Archways landed on a stout plant of many branches and pinged an inviting note, but Alive-one did not move from their spot. They sat down abruptly on top of the plant wondering why the alive-one wasn't joining in on the game and quickly decided to swoop back down to the tall white cloak and try a different method.

They dived down from above and landed right in front of Alive-one–not noticing them flinch back- and started to ping insistently, running up to Alive-one then to the plants and then back again.

"…?"Alive-one pinged back.

"Me you goes to plaemusht!" Archways smushed and pulled what words they knew (while trying not to sing them) and threw in what they thought might be the word 'plants' to try and get their intent across.

"Me you goes to what? Do you mean plants?"

"Plinets!"

"Plants."

"Plants!"

"… what am I, or rather, what are we supposed to do with the plants?"

Archways scrunched their eyes and stared dumbfounded at the Alive-one. Of the few hundred people they met in their life before Alive-one, all of which had a total of 26 words at most to use, every single one of them knew that they wanted to play with just the body language Archways gave off.

Archways took a step closer to Alive-one and went to nudge them for greater emphasize but Alive-one backed up and clicked nervously. The red cloak tilted their head one way and then the other as they tried to understand why the living ancestor before them just couldn't understand what a simple invitation to play was and - oh…

Alive-one was probably all alone and for quite a long while, not to mention that the other ancestors had been at war with one and another.

Did Alive- one even know how to play?