Cera
_{A hero's worth is measured by his heart}

His embarrassment was profound, but even in it he found it within himself to smile, berating himself for his proclivities towards philosophy and endless, circular questions. He felt the fool to have misunderstood her, but she was a gracious and patient listener, and he could not find any regret littered within his mind at the current moment to have stolen her time so stupidly. “’I don’t know’ is just another way of saying ‘I will find out someday’, to me,” the cherub joked, for he could feel no ill in her presence. Ilaria was chiding him softly for his misunderstanding, and he turned and made a face at her. As if you didn’t make the same mistake! Not that the proud panda would even deign to reply to that particular fact, much less admit to her own shortcomings. Cera rolled his eyes fondly before returning his attention to the flaming avian, casting his eyes obediently to the dawn she’d drawn across the sky like a glimmering curtain.
 
“It is a masterpiece,” Cera admitted softly, as if speaking any louder would shatter the illusion of grandeur that still awed him so deeply. He could never hope to understand his Lord’s domain entirely, but he would always hold an anchored respect and love for the physical manifestations of that power. It was why he also gazed upon the phoenix with such admiration, for she embodied more fully than he the aspects of his Lord’s power. Cera would give anything to have that kind of gift bestowed upon him. He’d devoted his entire life to the Throat and the Sun, and he’d been granted many boons because of it. One such being purpose.
 
Chosen? It lingered in his mind and on his tongue, but was not spoken. It was so soft an admission, one he was unwittingly privy to, and he suddenly wondered exactly how deeply the Gods were involved in this particular meeting. Not that it changed much of the circumstances. Cera had never been the type to lie to himself or to others in any fashion, and he’d not alter his behavior even if he were aware that she was there to judge him in some way.
 
The riddle she presented was one Cera had contemplated as a child; the Circle of Life as Midas had aptly described it. But there was so much more to the balance of the world than three main players and a common enemy. Still, she had bid him not to think too deeply on it. But Cera only had one answer to give, this time.
 
“Help the grain,” he stated simply, eyes calm like untouched sea glass. “In the Throat, in any herd, it is the leader’s job to ensure the well-being of the whole. You could even call it the greater good. There are hard decisions to be made, and some will result in loss and grief. But life goes on regardless, and though some may have to fend for themselves, the leader tries to ensure that as a united whole, as a herd, we are as safe as can be ensured.” It reminded him quite a lot of Gaucho, truly. Some sad, wandering souls may cross the sands in the Throat. They may suffer alone. But Gaucho’s decisions were made to support, protect, and provide for the majority. Perhaps the Gods did so too, but on a far larger scale. “It was how I had come to try and understand the murders – for the sake of Helovia at large, something had to be sacrificed. A leader does that, too.”
 
Pale hooves touched idly at the thin layer of water on top of the sand, his own distorted appearance flickering back at him. Optics turned towards the avian. “The field supports more than the mice, and the mice support more than the hawk. But the grain, it supports the most. The circle of life has a balance to it, and the hawk and the mouse are subjected to it. They fail, or they triumph. But without the grain there would be no deer, no sanctuary for a large cat to stalk its prey within, no nourishment for any creature that is sustained by it. If the field were to go barren, the mice would all be eaten by the hawks, but then the hawks would starve – for there would be no more mice, if there was no food to sustain them. Take away the grain…and both of the others die.” Cera shrugged his thin shoulders, for there was no other answer within his mind. Do what is good for the whole, and pray that all others who fall outside of that realm have the strength to carry on.