Zèklè

The elephant (it was called an elephant!) spoke to him, her voice as gentle and kind as the whale's was noble and wise, and the boy's heart melted. He could imagine that voice singing him songs, telling him stories about the things she'd seen and adventures she'd had. He felt himself relaxing, a goofy and eager smile bright upon his face, and had it not been for the arrival of his friends he may have settled onto the ground beside her, begging her for knowledge, soaking up her words, being content.

But contentedness was not in the cards for today. Zero smiled at the arrival of his friends, shuffling back reluctantly as more and more strangers arrived. "'S an elephant," he answered Galiel breathlessly, sunbeam eyes glowing with the desire to share this amazing discovery. Was she as awed as he was? A thought - Iso would be - flashed through his mind, and for a moment he desperately wished his friend was there to share the discovery. Did she already know about elephants? He would have to tell her all about this as soon as he could. The thought of that conversation made his smile even broader.

Of course, just when everything seemed perfect, it all fell apart.

Bond.

A cloud of confusion passed in front of the sunbeam eyes, and Zero's smile faltered. Child? Bond? Was this...? oh, no. The heat that had been excitement turned stale in his chest, a fist of dread rising at the base of his throat- oh, no! This was a bonding! He'd heard of these things, when people huddled around to try and get companions, heard them as curses from his mother's lips. A million questions ran through his head, like: why did the companion have to bond? Why did they all want it so bad? Why did the elephant even have the egg? And, the scariest one- what would Ma say if she saw him now? What would she want him to do?

He swallowed. He had a hard choice to make.

Because on the one hand, nobody here seemed bad. Shoot, Tia and Gal were his friends! They all talked about how they wanted to raise it, and love it, and was that really so bad? But then again, why? Why did they have to be bound - to enslave it, as Ampere was so often heard to say - to help it grow up? It was all so confusing, but he knew he had to try and express what it was. In a moment of silence the boy swallowed, struggling to find his voice, to make logical words out of illogical thoughts. "Lady Elephant?" he ventured, his voice small and hopeful, earnest and sincere. "How come it's gots to be a 'panion? How come we can't just help it grow up an' let it choose what it wants to be an' who it wants to love an' stuff? If you can' raise it I guess it needs help, an' I wanna be it's friend, but I don't wanna take away it's free will" - another phrase from Ampere's lips - "t'do it."