She fluttered against the boy's side like a butterfly trapped in a jar, breathing a little faster, beating a little quicker, making him a little bigger despite not being that much smaller. The feeling of her was novel, strange, and it made him tingle with something altogether not unpleasant, though he could feel it all the way from the frogs of his hooves to the tips of his ears. Zèklè had never been a brother, but he imagined it would be something like this, whatever this was he was doing for Zah-a, and briefly closed his eyes, letting himself relax into the sound of her and Bird's quiet breath.

He did have brothers, of course, probably. He knew that Gaucho had other sons, yet none seemed interested in giving Zèklè more than half a glance. Older boys, two-winged boys, they ran ahead without him and quickly learned to fly, staring pointedly and asking questions about the metal which had taken place of a second, functional wing. He did not feel anything about them, sort of, the same way he didn't feel anything about Gaucho, except a kind of bubbly confusion and discomfort whenever the stallion was near. It wasn't like with Ma, the way he loved her unquestioningly and she loved him back even when she was mad, or grumpy, or busy.

But maybe being a brother was like that, and what he felt when he looked down at Zah-a's peaceful face was something else entirely.

How was he to know?

Her voice struck again into the nighttime air, and the boy's ears leaned forward to grab it, standing ready in the mess of his black mane. Sunbeam eyes narrowed slightly at the daunting task she set before him, but he answered "'K," without a thought. He'd never told a story before- stories were for mas to tell, and Zèklè very much doubted he could tell one as good as Ampere. The very thought of it made him ache to have her there, long for his mother with a quiet ferocity that almost hurt. Ma'd know what to do, how to take care of Zah-a and make her less afraid. Ma'd probably know all the answers, like where Zah-a lived and how to find her ma, how to make it so she wasn't scared, What did he know? He was only a kid!

He swallowed, and turned his eyes to the sky, racking his small brain for something to say. A story of home? "Well... afore I was even born Ma says that for a little bit we didn't even have a home, and everyone lived in caves, cus there was bad spirits everywhere." Zèklè paused, remembering Ma's descriptions, and Tandavi's: Those we loved had turned to monsters, and we were helpless to save them. "All'uv the herds had to go live there, even the ones who didn't like each other, an' together they defeated the monsters so the gods could come back. Then the Sun God came to my Ma an' sum'un else (what had her name been?) and told 'em to lead the way out an' back outside.

"The Sun God told Ma an' the other mare that they'd be the new queens of the Dragon's Throat." That the girl wanted a story about her home didn't occur to him. "But Ma's a warrior, not a leader, an' she left to go fight battles and get glory. When she came back there was new leaders, an' they made her the Gladiator, 'cus she was the best and strongest in the whole entire herd."

He didn't know what should come next, so he let himself fall silent. It didn't seem like a particularly good story, but it was about the most important person in his life, and how could she not find that interesting? He looked back at her, smiling crookedly at her adorable yawn, and then his heart stopped and his head swelled up and he felt heat running to his cheeks. Tail-feathers ruffled, wing curling tighter around the smaller child- he had never been anyone's best anything before. A flush of embarrassment washed through his body, fuzzy and uncertain, and he smiled.

Zèklè pressed his nose against the girl's small triangle of forehead, nuzzling affectionately at pert black ears. "G'night, Zah-a," he whispered into her mane. "I'mma take care'uv you, 'k?"

Sleep grabbed greedily at the lightning boy's eyes, but he vowed that he would not succumb. He was gonna be her hero, so he had to be stronger than he'd ever been before.

His Ma would be so proud!

---

@[Zahra]