Gecko had only been a child when vengeance had stolen his parents. His memories with them were well-worn around the edges, given that he had so few of them. He did not have years from which to plumb for comfort, only brief moments. Stolen and stored away close to his heart. Sarisi and Shenzi were the only ones who had ever come close to knowing him in the years since, the only ones that had tried to coax the terrified little boy who had witnessed his parent's murders from the prison of fear and self-loathing in his chest.

He still existed in there somewhere, his voice heard in the panicked gasps and sobs that Gecko still woke up with some night, as if some demon were suffocating him slowly with the sadness and pain of the past. With a flick of his tail, the lean Teke forced himself to refocus on the present, on the beautiful mare that for some magic, unknowable reason was pressed against him, asking him about himself.

None of it made any sense, but he knew better than to squander it. Like an out-of-season rain shower in the middle of summer, he was determined to enjoy this bit of good in his life.

"My sister wanted me to go with her when she went to the mainland," he murmured, thinking back to Sarisi. "But I couldn't leave the islands." He frowned, but it was not entirely sad, his eyes and thoughts far away. "I couldn't leave my parents behind even though I couldn't go home to them either." The frown deepened, carving lines into his lips.

Silence fell and he broke himself free of his thoughts with a small shake of his head and tentative, hesitant skim of his muzzle across her skin. "Your brother... what is he like?"