(This takes place when Styxx and Maite/Arie were cubs)

Arie sat on the bank of their stream, watching as Ettore stood motionless in the cool water.
"You seem better today," she said.
"Shhhh," he hushed her softly, not even looking up from what he was doing. Arie's head tilted to one side. He'd never hushed her before, what on earth was he doing that he would need her to be-
Quick as a snake, his head snapped down into the water. And up he came, a small fish wriggling in his maw. The sides of his mouth quirked up in a small grin as he turned to look at her. Arie's eyes widened in surprise. She'd never seen anyone do that before! Yes, she'd had fish, once or twice, but not normally. Mama and Papa didn't care much for it, and it didn't really feed as well as an antelope or zebra. But to see Ettore catch one... It was awesome!

"Where did you learn to do that?" Arie asked as Styxx pulled himself out of the stream and set the fish on the ground, far enough away that it couldn't flop back into the water if it was only playing dead.
"My mentor, Galen taught me. Said if I was going to be so useless at hunting hares, I might as well learn to fish so I don't starve." Despite the harshness of his words, it had been Galen's way of being playful. Styxx was starting to learn that now, the old slave didn't actually mean half of what he said, they were just jibes. And he never punished Styxx for giving back as much as he got. Unlike his family, Galen actually seemed to care a bit, teaching Styxx not only how to fight, but how to survive, to know his limits, and how to take care of himself when he was hurt. It was more than the slave was supposed to be teaching him, but as long as his father didn't notice, Galen would continue to do so. Styxx remembered one of his visions, Galen had probably been talking to one of his daughters. He hoped Styxx could run away someday, be free. If only Styxx had that kind of hope.
"He didn't really mean that," Arie replied with a shake of her head and he tilted his in thought, his grin fading to a pensive look.

"No, not exactly, but... He means what he says, but it's not meant to hurt me. I get that from enough people to know the difference." It was hard to explain, he didn't have a real word for Galen's treatment. It just... wasn't serious. His mother, his father, his sister, they all meant what they said and they said it on purpose. He was a disgrace to them and they made it their mission to remind him every chance they got. Sometimes he wished he was a slave, at least then it would be expected to be defective.
The fish had stopped moving, stopped breathing. Quietly, Styxx started scraping scales off of it. They didn't taste very good.
"Ettore?" Arie's voice had grown hesitant. Her paw touched his shoulder where his older sister had bitten him several days ago. It was still scabbed over. His posture grew stiff and her paw was drawn away.
"I would never hurt you." His maw twitched a bit at her words. No, she wouldn't. How could she? His beautiful Arie didn't even have the will to hurt a grasshopper, much less him.
"I know, no matter how much I might deserve it," Styxx replied and looked up, seeing the sincerity and care in her eyes. He reached up a paw to touch her face, only to remember it was wet and dirty and covered in scales. He immediately set it back down on the ground, only to have her step forward and press her cheek to his while she covered his paw with her own.
"You could never deserve it." He snorted and pulled back, shaking his head.
"I'm bound to say something that'll piss you off."
"But that doesn't mean you'd deserve to be hurt for it."
"Why? Anyone else would say I did."

Arie made a soft sound in the back of her throat, as she studied her friend. He was looking back down at the fish again, but hadn't returned to cleaning it. He drew his paw away and she could see a muscle working in his jaw. Her poor Ettore, what did they do to him?
"Do you really think I could ever be that angry with you?" He sat there, quiet for a few moments before he shook his head.
"I don't think you could get angry at anyone."
"Oh, believe me, I can. I'm furious at whoever made you think like this. I'd love to give them a taste of their own medicine." Arie knew her smile was sheepish as he watched her with a somewhat surprised look in his eyes. "But I'm too little right now."
"And they'd hurt you, Arie. I... I don't want to think of something happening to you."
"Anymore than I want to think of something bad happening to you, either. Would you like to hear about my astronomy lesson?"
"Your what?"

Arie laid down and proceeded to tell him all she had learned about the stars, how there was one big bright one that right of the rising sun and it was always there, so you never lost your direction. While he listened, Styxx snacked on his fish, occasionally taking bite-sized pieces into his claws and handing them to Arie. The first time he did it, her sentence trailed off and she started at him for a moment, seemingly uncertain what to do. He had almost drawn his paw back, but she leaned forward and took the morsel from his paw.
And so it went on from there. She told him a couple of the stories, the short ones, she said, because she didn't want to take up too much time.
"Do you need to go home soon?" Styxx shook his head. She was the only one that would miss him, but then he could get in trouble if he was caught "wasting time". But... she was worth it.
"Probably. I'd rather stay, though."
"You should go, I don't want you getting in trouble."
"For you, my lady, I'd risk a thousand punishments," he replied with that boyish little grin he saved only for her. Arie laughed and rolled into his side, nudging him lightly with her paws.
"Go on, three days will pass like nothing."
"Still, I'll count the heartbeats until then." Arie flushed and smiled as he leaned down to rub his nose against hers once, twice before he turned and headed back towards his own personal hell.

One... Two... Three...

(WC: 1,132)