It was a quiet morning, warm beams of sunlight breaking through the walls of the forest's thick canopy. Like scattered shards of stars held captive in its leafy grasp, Niphredil could feel the sun's distant warmth from where he sat, watching the treetops, its golden light making his turquoise eyes shimmer. That morning had offered the young wolf a rare reprieve from all the hustle and bustle of the pack, and he hadn't hesitated to bask in it. It was a nice moment. Peaceful.  

Until someone stepped on his tail.  

Pulled from his reveries, a sharp yelp fired out of Niphredil's throat, and he twisted around instinctively to bare his teeth at his offender, ready to ward them away with a sharp snap. There was a brief flash of familiar fur though, and before he knew it, the silver haired youth found himself sprawled on the ground, looking up at the canopy — again — with his brother leaning heavily into him, snuggling into his neck. Withholding a groan, Niphredil hid his fangs, relaxing, trying to ignore the throbbing ache in his tail.

"Lylum," he sighed, "we really need to do something about your hair." Leaning absently into his brother's warm embrace, he gently brushed Saturn's messy locks out of his eyes, giving the other male his complete attention while he waited for him to him speak.

"Niph, I can smell it's you. Can we talk today?"

What a silly question, the silver haired youth thought, suddenly feeling a little sad. "You can talk to me whenever you want. You know you don't need to ask," he said, very quietly, and that was true. Niphredil would never distance himself from his siblings or deny any of them his company. They all carried too similar of a weight on their shoulders. Their heartache was the same. 

Nothing could break that. 

"My head feels.... full of things. I had a dream where I lost all my teeth again."

…….

Niphredil blinked. Then blinked again. And again, before he huffed quietly, amusedly, slowly shaking his head. Sometimes he couldn't believe the things that came out of his brother's mouth. It was an endearing trait, though, and one that he secretly hoped Saturn would never outgrow. 

"Do you think, it'd be hard to love someone without teeth? They wouldn't be good for much."

He thumped his golden tail (which was still somewhat smarting) against the ground, humming thoughtfully. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think you could do plenty of things without your teeth—" he paused to push Saturn's hair out of his face again, waiting until they made eye contact—"like gum someone to death." His tone was grave as he finished, matching the look on his face. 

"Would you get rid of a toothless person? Even if they were family?"

This time, there was no thoughtful hum, and Nephredil didn't even hesitate.

"No," he said, and if there had been a playful glint lingering in his gaze before, that look was long gone now. "You don't throw away your family. Even if they're missing something." He tried not to think about their broken father and all his missing pieces, tried not to think if it would be Anglachel who Saturn would have been confiding his thoughts to right now had he not disappeared. Niphredil leaned back slightly, just enough so that he could get a proper look at his brother's face. Turquoise eyes carefully studied red. 

"Would you get rid of me if I lost all my teeth?" he suddenly challenged.

Wincing just barely as a gentle paw brush away bangs and light flooded into his eyes. "Sorry, Niph. I try to move them all the time, but they always just go back." Came a small, mellow voice. "I think they're happy where they are, I stopped fighting them a long time ago." His eyes motioning upward to the long chunks of fur that frames his slender face. Crimson gaze would go back to meet teal then, tail thumping thoughtfully behind him as he listened to his brother's words.

"Sometimes you look very busy. I don't wanna bother you when you look like that, it's rude, Niph. I'm not rude." Honest, I'm not. He looked at his brother sternly, lower lip jutting out in a pouting sort of way. But the boy was soon over it as his brother began to answer him.

Niph was like Nebula, the two of them were really very smart, and it amazed Saturn every time. He'd sit contently by them and spill out his heart, his thoughts, all those feelings that would bottled up and threaten to make his brain feel full and sick. They always told him, that it was better to talk it out than to keep it inside. Only they knew how delicate their brother's mind really was. He'd tilt his head at Niph then, quirking a brow upward and opening his mouth to show off his teeth. "I guess, but you couldn't chew." Mouth closing gently around one of Niph's ears and tugging ever so slightly, ever so gently and then he'd let it go. "I dunno, but I don't think that's quite right." But I don't know enough about not having teeth to dispute it.

"You can't gum your food to death, oh.. oh wait, it's already dead. But! But eating it, you couldn't do that." He countered, whining as he nuzzled into his brother's white-blue locks, messing them up. Saturn would be the one to say what Niph was thinking though. "Dad lost his leg, not his teeth, but.. we could take care of him!" That hope that he was still here, the complete ignorance and boy was it blissful. Who had lied to this boy? "Maybe his leg will grow back."

Head leaning into his brother's neck, he'd roll to the side and FINALLY off of his brother, though he rolled closely against him, blinking at his brother as if to say 'you know me better than that'. "No, I'd take care of you. I'd chew your food for you! Like a mom bird." A paw would raise to pat against Niph's back. "I wouldn't mind taking care of you, Niph. I love you! You're my brother!" We'll always be there for each other. There'd be a silence that fell over him for a moment and then his eyes would glance up to the sky above.

"What do you think about when you're on your own? It must be pretty important. Is it something happy?"