The moment is not yet overshadowed by the knowledge of what I must tell him. Instead I have forgotten it in my haste to press against my brother, to remind myself that he is alive and to remind him that I am too. That I am grown. Oh, I am still small Samia, as Hadrian calls me. I would never grow very large, it wasn't in my genome. I didn't care, I liked my size. Others did not see me as a threat and I didn't wish to be seen as one. I was a healer - that would forever be in the marorw of my bones. I whine in happiness as he licks my face, pressing against me and our paws dance together in a wild tangle and jostling of bodies as only siblings could do. I had missed him and his presence seemed to snap into place some part I had missed for so long.

Finally I let him pull back, beaming at him and my tail wagging a mile a minute. I don't know how I don't feel tired from the way I jerk around, my usual calm self gone in my excitement. I felt no ill will towards Zephyr. We both knew each other intricately. It was only a matter of time before he struck out on his own, well before I did, his wanderlust needing to be sated. I grin right back at him, soaking him up with my bright blue eyes.

"A bear!" I squeak in awe, by ears falling back to give me a more wide eyed appearenace. It never occured to me that Zephyr would make up stories because to me, he was a living legend. If he boasted it about it well, it was only because he had actually done it. I don't see any marks on him so I think he did a good job but he was stronger than I ever would be, more in line with father's lineage. "I've learned to heal," I state with a proud smile, beaming at him. I had begun training about the time he left but he might have forgotten.

My happy aura splinters as he asks the next question and slowly my ears fall back as I seem to sink in on myself, my face growing full of sorrow. He has no clue. He wasn't there for the family sabbatical and we had all missed his presence keenly but I had forgotten for a moment. I open my maw for a moment but no words pass at first and then, with a very gentle sigh, I sit down. "Zephyr," I say, my voice still as soft and sweet as ever but holding a solemn note. "Our sisters have begun their own travel. You see... we all spent some time in Taviora the winter before last, our brothers and sisters too. It was a beautiful night but very cold. Mother and father... well they... they went to sleep beneath the stars like they always did when they could steal away. It is where we found them." I realize that he might not understand the import of my words except my voice is so gentle, so concerned, that I know he will understand rather swiftly. "They went together."