He shivered, almost enough to make him fall over again, but somehow he lifted a foot and replaced it upon the sandy ground without completely toppling, and in fact, by some miracle, improving his balance.

Maybe he would get the hang of this whole standing and walking thing after all.

He focussed upon his sister, taking those same trembling, shaky yet determined steps towards her, reaching out to her pale maw to press his own silver-streaked maw against it (he still hadn't completely dried). He knew her, her smell, her taste, the shape of her body, and now by the muted light of the moon and stars, he knew the sight of her face and body too. She would be his first love, his first friendship, though he wouldn't know this until he was much older, and wiser, thinking back on times when nothing was more important to him than his sister and her existence.

He bleated a low note, for it was all he was capable of, defiant and as loud as he could make it, objecting to the cold, to the air, to the way the ground beneath them didn't seem to stop swaying for more than a few moments (or was it that his legs simply weren't used to holding him up for much longer than that yet?).

At his mother's insistence, however, he soon moved closer to her, ensuring his sister came with, not caring if when she leaned against him he ended up on the ground again - that was an acceptable reason to fall, he somehow knew on some deep, sibling level.

Their short stature meant they could both fit beneath their mother's barrel, standing side by side if they wished (not separated by her form as they would be in the coming days and weeks as they grew and grew taller and stronger). Instinct pushed his mouth to make suckling motions, his tongue flitting out over his lips as he whickered lowly, his nose sensing the nearness of the food, his eyes not quite understanding what to look for but following the trail of liquid that dripped down his mother's hind legs to the soft gland that seemed to fit perfectly in his waiting maw. He drank deeply and without pausing for breath for quite a few moments, until he remembered that he had a sister, and that she would need this too - he was too consumed by his own hunger, his own need, to notice whether she had joined him at the same time.

With a short, downy wingtip, he flapped at her, encouraging her to feast on this treat, to join him, to grow strong like he most assuredly would, together - always and forever.

@Eira - Skipping Kiro because he is a boring snot

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