How many times had I told you not to wander far away? I recognized that you were growing and that you were probably at the stage where you wanted to explore on your own, I had done the same thing when I was young, but I had never wandered away in the middle of the night. Not that I could remember, anyway. I wanted to encourage you to have some independence because you were growing and there would come a time that I would no longer be able to hide you beneath my wing. I wanted you to experience independence to build confidence in yourself, but as I woke in the dead of the night and found you missing I regretted that I encouraged that independence.

My heart felt like it jumped from my chest into my throat and waves of nausea washed over me like waves lapped at the beach. I scrambled to my hooves, my eyes wide as I looked around, searching for your small body. My first thought was that maybe you had gone to the oasis to have a drink, we never stayed far from it, but as my eyes adjusted to the moonlit night I could not see you. My panic increased and I found myself trotting the perimeter of the oasis, snorting and calling your name frantically. My panic increased tenfold when it became clear that you were not there. I remember wondering if that was how my father often felt.

My hooves pounded against the ground and my wings beat against the air as I took to the skies. With the moon as my guide I hoped that I would be able to spot you from above. I prayed that the moonlight would be enough to highlight the familiar curves of your tiny body, but the moonlight was not enough. It was when you screamed for me that I was able to pinpoint the area you were in. "Ryuu!" Your name flew from my lips before I could stop it, but maybe if I called for you you would keep calling for me. I thought that maybe I would be able to find you easier.

I saw her easily because her pale body was highlighted by the moonlight. I angled my wings down, my forelegs outstretched as I reached for the ground. My landing was rough, the shock of it ricocheting up my legs was enough to make me grimace, but not enough to slow me down. As I ran toward her I could see you laying on the ground and something unfamiliar bloomed within my chest. Anger was not an emotion I often experienced, but I remembered thinking that she had done something to hurt you and I remember thinking that if she had I would hurt her.

I came to a halt standing above you, my wings flared, my fathers puffed and my hair blowing wildly around my face. I wonder now if I resembled my mother in all of her angry glory or if I looked more like an angry bird. I glared, daring her to try anything before I dipped my head to look at you. "Ryuu? What happened?" I wondered if you would understand that I was asking more than simply what happened that you were out there. I wanted to know if she hurt you. I wanted to know if my anger was justified or if I was misunderstanding and overreacting.

"."

@[Aurelia]