A silent, white-hot surge of anger rolled over Numair just then, so strongly that he clenched his teeth and gripped the front of his shirt, shoulders shaking with the effort of tamping it down. Just as suddenly as it had come, though, it was gone; he took a breath, and his features sank back into a cool, impassive mask.

"Okay, you're upset," Vlad was saying, trying to peer around the edge of Hawk's wing at him. His hands hovered just shy of actually touching his wings, or the pale shapes dancing over them. "Clearly. Judging by the...all this," he added in a mutter. "You need to stop shapeshifting, then you two can argue some more. Look, it's opening the cut wider--"

Hawk groaned in pain then as another twinge went through his injured shoulder; something bright yellow and something else livid red were now trying to escape the wound through the talons he had closed over it, and feathers were now sprouting down his arm, a trail of blood flowing down through them. He murmured something.

"What?" Vlad asked, leaning closer to hear.

"I dunno how," Hawk said a little louder.

"Y--you--you don't--"

"Er," Yoshi piped up then, worriedly, "maybe Teige can help? He should be at the hub by now. He knows this sort of thing well--I cannot even explain how to use this ring, really..."

She faltered as Vlad looked round wildly at her. "What?? No, he--" he whipped around again as Hawk began to lurch away from him. "Where are you going?!"

"...Yeah, Teige can help," Hawk said somewhat distantly. "He done it for me before."