Tuwile had long become Khalon’s favourite sibling. Some days it felt like his brother was the only sibling that he actually liked. Especially now that the numbers seemed to be dwindling away. The only ones he had to choose from were Torianna and Tuwile and he would rather chew off his own leg than admit he felt any kind of affection for his sister. So, whenever he felt lonely or grew bored of spending time on his own - which admittedly took quite a while for a wolf still under a year - he went looking for his light coloured brother.

Today though when he found Tuwile he paused, watching with curiosity as a bird hopped around on top of the wolf. Why was it doing that? The other Valle seemed to also be watching the aves as it collected some of the soft downy fur that Tuwile had to offer. Khalon had not seen a bird act like this before, and could only assume that his quiet, sensitive brother had somehow worked out a way to communicate with it.

It felt like too special a moment to interrupt, so the tawny boy was silent and watched from where he stood. If the bird left on its own, then he would ask for Tuwile to teach him that special power.

It was almost as if Tuwile and the bird were speaking some kind of secret language, one that Khalon had no way of understanding. If it was anyone else he might have been jealous, but watching his brother interact this way felt magical, tender, personal. He almost felt embarrassed when they locked eyes, like he had been intruding on something that he had not been meant to see.

The way that Tuwile’s expression fell and his tail stopped wagging wasn't lost on him. It was the same way that their mother looked at him when she thought that he wasn’t looking, how they all might have been looking at him. Hell, he couldn’t blame them. As they approached their first birthday when he looked at his reflection in the backwater it was his father who was looking back.

Ears pressed down against his skull and gold eyes turned stormy as he looked away, chewing on the inside of his cheek. He forced himself to look back towards the bird and its nest as if it was deeply interesting to him. Anywhere but at his brother’s hurt face. He kind of hated his dad for leaving, it was easier than being sad all the time.

Khalon had remained staring at the bird nest, the rustling of the wings suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. Part of him wanted to cry, but he ignored the stinging in his eyes, buried it in more cold anger. He and his father were alike in more ways than just their appearance. He could feel Tuwile looking at him and could only assume it was with that same hurt expression as it had been before.

What he wasn’t expecting was to hear his brother talk, let alone say that. Tawny head whipped around and at first he just blinked owlishly, mouth hung open in a rather stupid expression. He swallowed hard and all he managed to get out was a, ”huh?” Even if someone who he had expected to talk had said that to him he wasn’t sure he would know what it meant. It was so sophisticated, so grown up.

Normally he might have been embarrassed for being so dumb, but he was just so shocked that the thought never even crossed his mind. Should he be telling someone that Tuwile can talk now?