How many seasons had passed since he'd last seen either of his sisters? Since he'd seen Rasta? Alleo had lost count, much to his chagrin. He had only been united briefly with Rasta on the floating island before she had disappeared again, and it had been even longer since he'd seen Lakota. He regretted their last meeting, wished that he had been more gentle in his attempt to force her from the protective nest he'd built for her. The last thing he had intended to do was hurt her feelings and make her feel unwanted. He'd tried to express as much but his sister's anger was explosive when the short fuse was lit. She had given him little chance to further explain himself before she'd drugged him with her poison mist and disappeared from his life completely.

He lived with a sadness in his heart that he could cause her such pain and that she could lash out so violently at him. It hurt him more that she thought that he would abandon her completely. Did she think that the years he'd spent protecting her meant nothing to him? He was angry, as well. Angry with her for the way she treated him. Angry with how she always crawled to him when she needed to be picked up and brushed off only to ignore the advice she sought from him. He was angry with her selfishness. Was he supposed to spend his entire life as a monk while she went off trying to find someone to fall in love with? Was he supposed to drop everything every time she came running for him with bruised knees? Was he not allowed to find someone else that he could love besides her?

If that was her wish then it had been granted for her. Rasta was gone and he was left alone in a herd where he didn't know a soul aside from who the leaders were and who the military heads were. He had no desire to get to know anyone or forge any bonds because he didn't want to be there. He had clung to the hope that Rasta would return but with each passing day his hope was diminishing and his desire to leave was growing. It was only those scraps of his hope that Rasta would return that kept him tied to the Falls, tirelessly patrolling the border.

It was only luck and his own stubbornness that had him near the border when Lakota approached. He smelled her long before he heard her voice calling for him like a siren in the darkness. A coldness settled in the pit of his stomach and his ears tilted back against his head as his sister's voice died away. What could she possibly want from him now? Hadn't she taken everything he'd had and left him for dead? He could not ignore her, though. He could not no matter how much he wanted to. It was his duty as a warrior of the Falls to intercept anyone who came too close to the border. And it was his duty as a brother to make sure that his sister was okay even if he just wanted her to leave him alone.

Snow crunched softly under his hooves as he walked toward the border, coming to a halt on one side as he gazed out at the other. Somewhere out there his sister stood, watching and waiting. One ear flicked back before taking an upright position once more. The darkness lifted as the moonlight broke its way through the clouds and he could see the small form of his sister highlighted by the silver light of the moon. His lips parted with his intent to speak, but his greeting died in his throat. His mouth closed and he frowned and, instead, waited for his sister to speak and tell him what it was that she wanted from him.

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