Featuring Khonsu and Alarogan

Spring, Year 1981 of the New Generation

Gardens of Elysia, Saraph Territory

Khonsu

    The young tiercel picked at the bunch of grapes with his talons, palming them and testing their weight before placing them back in the wooden bowl, a sigh upon his beak, as he poked a succulent dark grape with a sharp claw, its juice beading as it pierced the thin skin and bit into tender flesh, the sweet nectar finally falling. The albino fledgling watched in silent fascination as the clear liquid ran down the skin, the trail glinting in the light pooling into the cavernous antechamber via a polished mirror reflecting the light from the main entrance.

    He shifted upon the plush cushions he was seated upon,but the more he struggled to situate himself to a position that would be comfortable - he found himself more and more restless. His red eyes shifting around the ornate decorations that bedecked his Mother’s wing of his Father’s household. Although the room was ample in size compared to the hovel that his Sire frequented to bed down with his wingless slave hen, the longer the young tiercel stared at stocked shelves of salves, potions and other concoctions his Mother brewed in her Healer profession, the more the room seemed to fall in on itself, stifling him - the heady smoke emitting from one of his Mother’s current brews - did nothing but addle his senses more.

    With a quick shake of the head, snorting for good measure to expel the sickly sweet smell from his sinuses, he got to his hooves and talons.

    “What is the matter, my love?”
He turned his head sharply, he had almost forgotten his Mother was there tending to her brewing potion.

    “Nothing, Mother, I wish to retire, can we continue tomorrow?”

    The hen was half shrouded in shadow, but Khonsu could see the open curiosity and her eyes twinkled just so --

    “Away with you, you do nothing but distract me, come back once you have a clear head that is eager to learn,” her voice had a core of steel, but the lilt was soft -- assuring the tiercel that he would see no punishment for absconding from his lesson.

    He bowed all the same before he took his leave.
“Of course, my honorable Mother”

    He did not need any more encouragement. He went at a trot, his tail swishing with excitement as his muscle and sinew in his legs worked as he moved.
He followed the corridor until it ended and opened out into the grand entrance, he blinked to shield his eyes but still they swam in the bright light, but the temporary blindness only lasted a moment as they adjusted to the ample light.

    Potted plants lined the walls at set intervals, tapestries and other finery decorated every available space but each piece had a purpose; to bedazzle and intimidate guests that happened upon their home.

    Khonsu eyed the entrance with its balcony beckoning him to take wing… freedom was only a few strides away.

    But as the white tiercel contemplated making a dash for it, a shadow loomed from the other corridor opposite him, a dark figure that he recognized instantly.
“Brother!”

    Alarogan

Alarogan watched, as he often did while his brother had some lesson or another, though he tried to keep his distance as he always got a very distinct impression that his brother’s mother didn’t like him very much. He could never understand why, and any reasons he ever got had nothing to do with himself. Sometimes it was about his father, other times his mother; on a rare occasion all he would get was that he was a slave and should not speak to her unless she had some chore for him to do. Chores… ever since he turned three, his life had been all about chores. Clean the floors, wash his father’s trophies and trinkets, stay out of the way, groom feathers, help organize the mistress’s pots and herb collection, change and make their nests. Stay out of the way…

So, it was rare he had time to himself without anything to do, usually only when his father or Ma’at didn’t notice he was finished with his previous sets of chores.

Watching Khonsu, he got the feeling the other male didn’t quite like sitting there doing little to nothing interesting. It was even boring to watch him be bored. So the dark pegasi shuffled his wings and walked away to the slave chambers, which were little more than a small storage room with a large nest in the middle. In it, his mother rested, her chores usually being done in the evening.. Or sometimes at night. Ro didn’t know what their father could possibly want in the middle of the night, but ever so often, Thoth would walk in and push Ro out into the halls with a simple demand to find somewhere else to sleep.

Honestly, did he not notice there were no other comfortable nests? The one time Ro thought to sleep Ma’at’s chambers, where there were beds for her patients, the fiery hen had chased him out in the early morning hours when she found him there, all puffed up and hissing. He had nearly been chased right off the balcony entrance!

Well, at least that incident had prompted Thoth to show his slave son how to fly, in the barest sense of the word: meaning he shoved both Alarogan and Khonsu off the balcony and watched them flail with their barely matured wings, trying to get some lift. Most terrifying day of Ro’s life, even when he was not plummeting to a grizzly end upon the canyon floor.

Ro cooed and walked over to his mother, nuzzling the thick feathers along her shoulders and back. Her pale feathers were so beautiful. Not as white as his brother’s but much more fluffy and well cared for. Not for the first time, his eyes lingered to the distinct absence of wings and no sign of where they may have gone. Once he had asked, and his mother simply said she never had wings and that was why they had to be servants. Why she tolerated Ma’at’s jealousy over how much fondness Thoth had for her. Ro huffed, wishing he could pull out that hen’s feathers and make wings for his mother. It would serve her right!

With one more nuzzle, Ro gave his pale mother an affectionate lick and turned to walk out. He wasn’t nearly tired enough to sleep, and with Thoth away on some business, he had relatively free reign of the home while Khonsu distracted the grumpy healer hen. The black tiercel paused when he saw Khonsu looking outside, clearly wanting to fly away. Of course he could, he had right to fly around as much as he liked outside, while Ro hadn’t been allowed to go outside very much at all. The only time he flew was when he was told to, and that only happened when Thoth decided to take him out on walks…

Those trips always went to one place: the slave market, where slavers bought and sold slaves to other saraphs. There were slaves of all shapes and colors there, and the sounds of bidding and the whiplash were common. It was quite terrifying, especially when a friend of father’s would look at him like he was some morsel to be snapped up. Once he had heard them ask his father how much he wanted for his son! The visits to the slave market were meant to scare the growing saraph into his life of submission and for the most part, Thoth succeeded.

Ro put that memory out of his mind however, and smiled when his brother addressed him, walking over to the albino. “Finally decided that healing lessons were to boring?” he asked casually, “We can see about finding Nebural, his feathers should be growing back soon.” he suggested with a menacing click of his beak.

Khonsu

    His brother’s smile was returned in equal measure, the white tiercel shifted on his legs, taking a small step towards his advancing brother, so they both stood in the foyer proper. He snorted a laugh at his brother’s casual jibe. “Boring it may be, but as Mother says; I must ‘broaden my horizons’, whatever they may be! Learning a trade can not go amiss - mayhap it might actually give reason for Father to share his praise with me or Nebural might find himself constantly bald as recompense”, he replied with a mischievous glint in his eye as he too clicked his beak. It had been a good while since he had the pleasure of tearing out his younger brother’s feathers…
“Nebural can wait -- besides I have something better to while away the day.” he said, taking a step towards the balcony, looking over his shoulder at his brother with a silent command for him to follow. He stepped into the sunlight proper, its warmth soaking into his skin.

    “My wings grow weary of the roost - let us fly!”, he proclaimed, his excitement evident, but as the silence waxed on and grew heavy he turned round to see his brother staying back. Khonsu clicked his beak in annoyance, more so than worry at the obvious unease creasing his brother’s brow, which in turn made his own crease.
“Ro?”, the albino asked, the nickname he had christened his brother with loaded with question.

Alarogan

Ro also loved to torment their little brother, it was a rare enjoyment that he and Khonsu had bonded doing. He still remembered the first time they had gathered up enough courage to harass the favored child of their father. Thoth had just finished teaching Nebural to fly, actually flying with the small tiercel and making sure he didn’t plummet too far, and when they returned all their father could say was how well the first lesson had gone. Even though Khonsu had picked up flying faster than their fiery brother had during his first flight. This annoyed the brothers, and, fortunate for them, Thoth was eager to tell others about his perfect child’s progress…

It was then Alarogan and Khonsu struck, one holding their brother down while the other pulled out his feathers and down, alternating between beak fulls of feathers so they both got plenty of feathers and got to sink their claws into their squirming sibling. Of course… when Thoth and Ma’at returned, both of them were in big trouble.

It was completely worth it though just to see Nebural having to shuffle around bald as a newborn.

Ro was chuckling at the memory when Su suddenly suggested they fly. Fly where? Back to that market? Ro’s ears flattened against his head. In five years he rarely saw anything beyond what was readily visible from the balcony, and that horrible market. He didn’t want to go back there.

“I’m.. not supposed to go flying around to random places. What if father comes back?” he asked, glancing around at the skies as if expecting the fiery stallion to return any second. Their father never whipped him like the slavers at the market did, but he was never opposed to biting and clawing him when he did something bad.

Khonsu

    Khonsu suddenly felt utterly foolish to suggest that Ro join him but what fun was there to be had alone? None, and the white tiercel was looking for something to partake to stave away the boredom.

    “And what if he does? We shall be back before he returns!”, he naively replied, trying to settle his darkling brother’s fears. He noticed that his words had little effect on the young slave, he gave a haughty huff, “As the son of your Master, I order you to accompany me” he almost growled the command, trying to replicate the airs he had often seen his Father use whilst addressing those beneath him - including his red-eyed son. “Now, are you coming or not, or shall I leave you to quake in fear at our Father under your Mother’s wings -- oh -- I had forgotten, she hasn’t got any” he goaded, as he took a step back, closer to the balcony edge, with each advancing step from his brother, he took another step back until a hoof skittered over and met air before he hastily replaced it on the ledge.

    He felt somewhat guilty for slandering his dam, although for a moment he felt justified as he recalled the wounded look his Mother often had when his Father turned away from the corridor leading to her chambers to go down a narrow side shoot towards the slave quarters to be with her. More often than not ejecting his slaveborne son to the cold night with nowhere to beddown. Once upon a time, Ro found himself in Ma’at’s chambers, finding somewhere to rest in the numerous nests she kept for her patients - sometimes even Khonsu joined him whilst they were still young chicks and shared one of the larger nests together- before his dam put a stop to his nighttime wandering and misplaced the dark chick from his sanctuary sometime later - Su did not know her reason, mayhap she grew impatient watching after the chick when she knew the underlying reason why he came to be in her rooms, but after his Mother chased off Alarogen, hissing, the dark youngster did not return. Khonsu at the time didn’t realise the gravity of the situation, but as time passed he did not find it within himself to care greatly except for a few passing moments when he wondered if his ill fated brother had found somewhere else to rest his head.

    “If you wish to seek justice for your Mother, Ro, you’ll have to catch me” he challenged before he reared back and fell from the balcony, his wings spreading wide to catch him in his fall, he felt himself jar as his wings caught the updraft and slowed his descent before he rapidly beat his wings to gain loft, rising higher, passing the balcony entrance, all the while he was laughing.

Alarogan

Even with his brother’s encouragement that they could leave and be back before their father, Ro was not so confident. Or perhaps he didn’t want to risk his father’s wrath, since the adult male was several times their size with a full menacing wingspan that could eclipse the room. He was truly terrifying if you were smart enough to know of his hair trigger temper. Sometimes, it was better to admit defeat and stay where you were told to stay.

Well, until your brother starts giving you orders out of the blue. Ro’s ears stood up and his long tail feathers ruffled in surprise at the sudden pulling of rank, something he didn’t see Khonsu do very often. Usually he and Su got along as equals, whenever no one was around to watch them. The surprise quickly faded into anger however as the albino took a jab at his mother’s lack of wings, making the young darkling growl and bear the sharp teeth within his beak. “There is nothing wrong with my mother!” he snapped, wings and tail fanning out, all feathers ruffled and he stepped closer to his white brother, who retreated to the very edge of the balcony.

Then Khonsu turned and flew away, prompting the slave to follow in hot pursuit… or, well, try to anyway. His lack of practice made him a sloppy flier at best and he had trouble syncing his wings for the first few flaps, claws grasping at air. After a moment of floundering however, very likely making a right fool of himself, he managed to right himself to follow after his brother. It wasn’t so bad once he got started, and though his brother had a head start, he rather enjoyed the sights all around as the scenery passed beneath them.

There was no time for sightseeing, however as he still had his mother’s honor to defend! So he tried to climb a bit higher than Khonsu and then tuck his wings in for a fast, shallow angle dive, claws out in front of him and trying to grab his white brother, and hopefully not crash into him instead.

Khonsu

    The euphoria was awe inspiring, the act of flying brought a feeling to the young tiercel that eclipsed any other act with its simple splendor. He let the wind buffet at his outstretched wings, caressing through his feathers that almost made the white fledgling coo in delight. In the air, he was free of obligations and expectations, and he lamented that there was a time that he was apprehensive of taking wing, at the fears he might not survive to fledge especially when his Father had callously pushed him alongside Alarogan from the balcony and watched from his perch as to whether his sons would perish or take to their wings and rescue themselves from plummeting to their fast approaching deaths. The elation soon turned sour as he recalled his sire being the opposite with their younger brother - his favourite son - when it came time for him to fledge, taking wing and diligently watching the chick, staying within reaching distance to snap the tiercel up if the attempt to get the bright chick with his newly grown in flight feathers to take to the skies for the first time in his life proved unsuccessful.

    The smile that had threatened to die, widened as he laughed, watching his floundering brother finally right himself and finally made a serious attempt at pursuing the agile white tiercel.

    It was only a moment, but it only took a moment to lose sight of his brother and he felt the looming shadow before he turned to bank and evade but he wasn't fast enough and Ro ploughed into him, both plummeting in a tangle towards the ground. Khonsu squawked in panic as the wind buffeted around his ears, drowning out his rapidly quietening thoughts. He felt his brothers talons clenched onto his flesh, startling him from the panicked seizure, he wrestled to right himself, his wings fighting to stretch wide and catch the wind, but it proved futile as he realised his own talons were clutching on tight to his brother. His gut churned and his heart was in his mouth as he fought to relax his clenched talons and release his brother, with his talons free he tried to brake again but Ro still held fast.

    “LET GO!” Khonsu screeched in his brother’s ear, trying to cast aside the panic evident in his own voice.

Alarogan

Truthfully, Ro didn’t know what he was expecting when he dove at his brother like that. Maybe for Su to move out of the way or just to graze him, ruffle a few of his brother’s downy feathers. Instead, the dark tiercel found himself crashing into the albino with enough force behind his weight to knock both of them out of sync with flapping and locking talons on each other. He opened his beak with a loud cry, twisting and trying to right himself even as his claws kept a death grip on his siblings, preventing them from getting separated, even just enough to spread their wings effectively without bumping into each other.

Ro screeched loudly before Khonsu let go of him and let him move to be on top, spreading his wings and catching a strong draft of air that stopped the worst of the descent, but also felt as if it would rip his wing joints out of socket. All fluffed up from panic, Ro looked down at his brother again and demanded, “Take back what you said!”

They were almost to the sandy ground when Ro’s long feathered ears heard laughter not to far away. Turning his head, he saw an older adolescent male mercenary, coat a steely gray with dark freckles around his eyes and face. He laughed at their less than graceful flying and the even more out of control landing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen worse flying in my life!” he laughed.

Khonsu

    “No!”, Khonsu rebuffed, “I was stating a fact, she has no wings. If you feel so slighted take up your grievance with Roth!”
He silently prayed to Roth to be whole and healthy when they reached the sandy ground below, he snorted and tried to get to his hooves and talons but he laid pinned under his brother’s clutches still. The albino tiercel suddenly felt at a disadvantage, his brother’s weight uncomfortably heavy as he stared up at him, his eyes hard as he attempted to give the dark slave a silent order and tried to hide the budding panic as his heart thudded in his breast.

    He turned his head - somewhat awkwardly - to glare at the older youth who dared to laugh at him. He was a capable flyer! This incident did not represent his capabilities and as soon as Alarogan removed his heavy carcass so he could stand he would give the slate grey tiercel something else to do, perhaps swallow his own lying tongue!

    “Get off me, brother, I have a matter to settle with that cretin”, Khonsu hissed, at Alarogan without turning to face the dark tiercel, as he stared down the laughing interloper.

Alarogan

Ro growled as well, not liking this other saraph laughing at them, and he could shake the feeling that if anyone was going to laugh at his brother, it would be him! The dark tiercel’s ears flattened angrily but he was momentarily distracted when he felt Khonsu squirm under his talons and tell him to move. He shifted his weight off his pale brother, flapping his wings once to lift his torso up and let the albino free. Then it was back to the gray male who was still laughing and chirping tauntingly at them.

Ro glanced sideways and met the wine-red eyes of his half brother before his feathers bristled and he charged the other male. The gray tried to fly away but before he could, Ro put a stop to the attempt by grasping his nearly blue colored wing firmly in his beak, tugging hard like he was trying to dislocate the whole wing arm. He doubted he had the strength for that, but with heavy body like his holding the wing, it was difficult for the other to get more than a foot off the ground.

His mocking laughter turned to screeching alarm and the gray tried to claws at the slave, while Ro tried to shove him down to the sandy ground beneath them.

Khonsu

    The white saraph almost sighed audibly with relief once Alarogan removed his weight from his chest. Khonsu could finally breathe easier as he got to his hooves and talons quickly, glaring at the slate-grey youth before he gave his brother a sidewards glance - their eyes locking for a moment and a silent plan was struck. Ro charged at the laughing grey tiercel, his mocking laughter suddenly turned to alarm as his darkling brother took a wing arm into his beak and wrenched the wanna-be bully back to the ground, unable to take flight and escape.

    Khonsu charged in after Ro, sparks flying from his hooves with every step, a screech wrenched from his beak before he descended upon the flailing youth, pecking insistently upon his head before he got one of his ears into his mouth and - pulled.

    If Su hadn’t been so adept at shredding feathers from his younger brother - with the help of his brutish brother to hold the pesky youth down - he might have been alarmed as somehow the roaned tiercel squawked even louder.

    “There is nothing wrong with our flying - ARE YOU BLIND?!”, Khonsu growled through a beakful of ear, accentuating with a tug for good measure, the young tiercel squawked.

    “NO! NOTHING WRONG!”, the youth hastily replied.

Alarogan

Ro chuckled as he heard the gray male squeal even louder as his vicious brother pecked and pulled at him. He lifted on hand to hold the other down so his beak was free to pull out wing feathers, making a few patches bald before the tiercel finally screamed for mercy. Ro thumped his long tail feathers happily, fanning them out before pulling away to let the other get up, “I think he learned his lesson well enough.. Though I could always take more feathers if he hasn’t. Make -him- unable to fly!” he laughed and the gray backed away from the brothers quickly, tucking his wings close before turning and flying away.

The black slave looked at his albino brother with a smirk, “That was fun.” he commented, “We should pluck others besides our weakling brother more often,” he added before seeming to realize again that he was away from home. He looked around, ears flat against his head and once again expecting their father to swoop down any second. When he didn’t see the sooty chestnut saraph, he looked around at the sights around him. He had never been so far from home.

“So.. we are away from home… Now what do we do?” he asked, a bit clueless to what his brother wanted him to leave home for. “Is it true the desert stretches on forever?” he asked curiously, spreading his wings again, “Want to see if we can find the other side?”

Khonsu

    “If he hasn’t learned well enough - I know I never forget a face, do you brother? We can always find him and attempt to teach him once more”, Khonsu parried. He snorted, and chuckled lowly as he watched the grey tiercel tuck his wings in, backing away before turning and taking to the skies. It would have been amusing if they did pluck the flight feathers from his wings and watch him fail to take and stay in the air - but alas, they had to let the youth go.

    He arched a brow and watched his brother curiously as he displayed a myriad of emotions, flicking from one to another in quick succession. “I should get you out of the nest more often,” Su chuckled, shaking his head slightly before Ro became apprehensive once more, eyes flicking around as if trying to find someone.

    Khonsu pinned his ears back, his crest rising up slightly before smoothing back to a point as he contemplated his brother’s question.

    “It is not endless but I heard that it takes more than a day's flight to reach its limits”, Khonsu answered slowly, almost unsure as he tried to correctly recall what his Mother had said in a lesson - if cataloguing and trying to memorize the name, properties, uses, native location and growing conditions counted as a lesson - Khonsu still believed his Mother had only wanted another set of talons as she organized her stock.

    “A race?”, the albino tiercel simply asked.

Alarogen

“That would be nice, but I’m not allowed to be away from home unless father is here.. I just can’t shake the feeling he is going to come swooping in at any moment, snatching us both up to take home and punish.” Alarogan said, glancing around once more before letting his eyes settle on his albino brother again. His own mother never saw anything outside the oasis, so in her stories the sand was endless, without a beginning or end, and hearing his brother made Ro wonder if maybe someone had deceived his flightless mother so she wouldn’t try running away. From what he heard, Thoth had bought her from a less thoughtful master, and thats where she had gotten the scars that crisscrossed her body. According to his mother, the only mark that was from his father was the brand in the side of her neck, which marred her pale coat with an ugly red-pink scar.

A smile touched the black adolescent’s beak when his brother offered to race however, and he flared his wings out. Most of the feathers were as dark as his body, but a few at the ends were starting to fade into a golden color, which made him feel pleased that he was not completely black. Feathers were such nice colorful displays on other saraphs, he felt he would be jealous if he was such a simple pallet of colors.

Of course, he didn’t have much room to complain to his brother, who was unnaturally white and didn’t show any signs of becoming more colorful.

“Gladly,” he said before kicking off the sandy ground, sparks coming from his hooves for a moment as he flapped his wings to get into the air. His wings ached from the strain of getting off the ground without help but once in the air it was easier, he could hold his wings out and only flap occasionally to keep high in the air… or when he tried to throw his brother off rhythm by having his wing flap down against Su’s upstroke.

The feeling of flying was unlike anything he imagined it would be, and the lack of their father’s critical gaze only made the sensation even sweeter. He could enjoy the wind blowing over his feathers and in his ear.

“So... which way to the end?” he called to Khonsu, realizing that he had no idea which way they were going or how they would find their way back.

Khonsu

Khonsu could not begrudge his brother’s unease, although with that being said, his unease was slowly becoming his own as he warily eyed their surroundings. Maybe absconding with his brother hadn't been the best idea afterall…

But when Alarogan flared his wings and smiled his approval at his albino half brother's suggestion, the sense of dread dissipated as he returned his smile and flared out his wings and took to the skies after his heavier brother. Whereas Alarogan was painfully slow to take wing from the ground, Khonsu rose higher and faster due to his lighter set frame, but stuck by his brother, their wings brushing and more than once he was sure Ro was disrupting his rhythm on purpose, with a sidelong glare he dipped, letting the current carry him out of reach before he rose above it and continued on his original flight path.

He looked at the dark adolescent, contemplating his answer.

“Since you are so frightened that Father will scare you out of your feathers - the finish is the Nest but we go around the marketplace”, Khonsu proposed, goading his brother as he sped up his wing beats and pulled ahead before breaking and falling back into pace with the darkling slave.

“The loser has to eat a rotten Scybilline egg!”, Khonsu called before he launched forward - the race was on! And who said they had to play fair?

Alarogan

“Then I can’t wait to see your face when you lose!” Ro laughed, though deep down he knew he was not going to be able to match his brother in speed. He had to either outsmart him or just use brute force to knock him from the skies. If he hit him hard enough he was fairly sure his brother would fall to the ground and he would get a fair distance before the albino could recover. But, he wasn’t one to enjoy tormenting his favorite brother… at least not to that extent, since with the same force it would take to knock Khonsu from the skies, he could also badly hurt him. Especially if the albino landed on his wings.

So, the dark slave pumped his wings hard through the air, ears back to cut the sound of wind in his ears, eyes trying to focus both on his brother and any obstacles that may get in the way. He dipped lower and reached out his talons to snatch up a scarf that was out on display as they reached the marketplace, then he angled his wings to cut the turn more sharply than his brother, cutting in front of him and trying to get the scarf to fly into his face and obscure his vision. No need to play fair indeed, he chirped in amusement as he tried to reach home. He wanted to see Khonsu’s face when his brother lost! Having to eat a rotten scybilline egg… Alarogan made a note to invite their other brother to watch that as well!

Khonsu

Khonsu hissed at his brother’s absurd thought - that he would lose? Surely not! The albino tiercel pumped his wings hard and fast, for what he lacked in strength, he made up for in agility - if only he could pass his lard-arse of a brother he could gain a comfortable lead. Su began to swerve left and right looking for an opening, almost touching his beak to Ro’s trailing tail. It was almost too late when Khonsu noticed the corner, banking hard and taking the turn wide but rejoiced at the open stretch in front of him until his vision was robbed from him when a scarf smacked into his face. His squawk of indignation was echoed by the offended merchant, as Su thrashed his head to dislodge the garment - losing altitude in those stolen moments, the scarf drifting forlornly onto the bustling street to get trampled into the sand.

The young tiercel pinned his ears back, as he stared in shock at the crowded street - swerving past bodies as they too dashed to get out of his way - shouting obscenities - before the crush of bodies proved too much and he rose high above the marketplace; searching for a sign of his darkling brother whom he found darting through the throngs, with his target acquired the white fledgling dove, foregoing all effort to conserve his energy and made a mad dash for the approaching finish line, soon he caught up the heavier tiercel, breezing past him with little room to spare between them - he knew he was being reckless, he could knock them both out of the sky! - giving a cheeky wink as he passed by before streaking ahead.

Alarogan

Alarogan chuckled to himself, wings pumping as quickly as they could while flying through an agitated crowd, who moved out of the way of the speeding slave well enough though they weren’t happy about having to do so. The slave didn’t want to consider that any one of these other saraphs could recognize the duo and report their behavior to their father; after all, he may be plain for others to look at, but his brother was pretty unique and obvious no matter how swift he flew.

Speak of the devil, they say. Ro was just starting to reach the finish line before a flash of white darted in, close enough to practically be under his wing, and past him with a smug look on his albino face. Ro growled and snapped at his brother before the white zipped out of reach and into their home, the black feathered slave right behind him, practically crashing to the ground as he tried to land a little too late. He tumbled to a stop and shook himself of the dust before shooting a glare at his brother.

“Fine, you win..” he said grudgingly, turning his head to try and straighten his feathers, which got badly ruffled in the landing. “Do you even have a scybilline egg?” he asked, thinking that if there was any, they would be in his brother’s mother’s private stores. She didn’t let him, his mother, or any of the other slaves near it. Had clawed up one of the nombeko slaves when they had tried to organize a new shipment of ingredients while Ma’at was away. The nombeko hadn’t harmed anything, his rat like hands actually very delicate, but everything was always a slave’s fault.

Khonsu

Khonsu almost tripped over his own talons as he touched down at the entrance to the nest, his sides heaving as he tried to calm his racing heart, he had barely staggered out of the way lest he be ploughed down by his brother as he landed. The white tiercel looked over his shoulder, his jaw slack as he panted for breath but he somehow found an ounce of energy to quirk the sides of his beak up into a small smug smile before he composed himself and trotted with a bouncy gait, flapping his wings for added show before he folded them to rest upon his back.

“Of course I would win, brother,” Khonsu replied smugly, “Hmm… Mother might have one in her stores… if not Father would have some?” the white tiercel supplied, his voice growing more unsure at the mention of their sire.

Alarogan

Alarogan shook himself again and continued to glare at his albino brother as Khonsu began his strutting victory lap around the room. It made the slave want to smack him across the beak and make that smug look go away. His muscles pumped with adrenaline, it was a tempting thought, but he didn’t. Slaves didn’t randomly strike out at others if they wanted to keep any semblance of decent treatment within the household.

He frowned at the mention of Ma’at and Thoth, stealing from either not really appealing to him. “Your mother would be the lesser evil, I think,” Ro pointed out, “At least if she finds out, she might listen to you.” Even as he said that, he knew it was unlikely. If angered enough, the hen would still lash out at the darkling slave, but even that was less than what their father would do to both of them if he caught them stealing anything that belonged to him.

Khonsu

The albino tiercel trilled in amusement at his brother’s glare, egging the dark tiercel on, but it soon became all too serious once again and Ro frowned at the mention of fulfilling the bet and the possibility that maybe they had gone too far this time.
“Then you don’t know my Mother enough, Ro”, Khonsu retorted but being pessimistic did not dissuade the white tiercel from heading in the direction of Ma’at’s quarters. “Come along then, loser”