Helion had often hoped to see Moira again - eager to figure out a way to get her back for her small prank. He’d occasionally stuck his head below water whenever he was lurking in a pond or lake, or the ocean near Loess, and checked to see if she would come swimming up and say hello. He’d been rather disappointed to discover that he had not hatched, as she had once asked, and there were no shining metallic eggshells that he could show her as proof.

His had been just a regular, ordinary birth with a regular, ordinary twin that followed. Sure they had both turned out to be some sort of horse slash celestial body hybrids but still - no eggs.

A smile is easy for the horned youth to find when he recognizes her, still pretty - still looking a little out of place when she’s standing on land. They’re near the river, though, and he’ll have to keep an eye out for any more waterbombs she may send his way. Though in the bright midsummer light, a splash would not be totally unwelcome.

He ruffles his golden feathers when his silver eyes notice her looking, not immune to the joy that attention brings, and a warm laugh escapes him when he follows her gaze up to the sun and the sky overhead.

“Why Fish, I can go up there now if you’re that eager for me to be away from you. I can fly now.”  It was still a relatively recent skill that he had (almost) mastered but that still counts as far as he's concerned. And he doesn't need to tell her those specifics.

Helion’s grin turns dazzling when she laughs and tells him not to go - as he had hoped. It would have been sad to be shooed away so soon into their reunion. As always, it delights him to have coaxed a laugh out of someone - and he does not know if this is something he inherited from his parents or if there is something about being a piece of the sun that rejoices at amusement and joy in others.

When she speaks again, his smile turns a little hazy but it does not fade. Her question pulls at him, actually pulls at him. He takes a step closer, his silver eyes dancing a little as he looks at her. “Yeah.” He says and it’s a soft word, but it sounds a little high-pitch - like the voice of a boy. And when she talks like that he doesn’t want to sound like a child.

So he lowers his voice, overshooting a little bit for the next few words. “I mean yes.” Yeah, a little too deep, there, so he gives up, clearing his throat and his voice levels out as he continues. “It sounds very nice now.”

His head clears enough that he wonders if his response is insulting to say that her voice sounded better now than it had before - even though that is exactly what she had asked. So he adds hurriedly, not wanting to get the answer wrong. “It did before too but… it especially did that second time.”

Although she hadn’t been actually singing, Helion accepts that her “Song” is an accurate enough description and he nods like he understands exactly what she’s saying - and maybe it’s only a little because he wants her to keep talking. He wonders what it would be like if she actually sang using it, and decides that might be too powerful. The whole Meadow might come flocking over and Helion thinks there’s only so close he can get to her without being rude about it. As it is, he’s already glancing around to see if anyone else is around - both wanting to share this beautiful noise with someone else and hoping no one else comes over to steal his friend.

She laughs, which is an equally enchanting noise, and although he doesn’t understand why - his smile brightens, glad that whatever is happening is brightening Moira’s day a little.

Without her Singing, Helion would have enthusiastically told her any nonsense stories without hesitation. Now, he pauses, thinking - trying to figure out which of them would be the best to share. Certainly not the one where he had been stuck in a tree while learning to fly, that was no good. Definitely not the one where he had been stung on the nose by a bee that had resented the fact that the flower it was on got sucked into Helion’s nostril as the colt slept. He had been swollen forever! It was hardly his fault that plants seemed to angle towards him when he was still for too long.

He’d like to impress Moira, as he takes another step closer when he begins to speak. “Oh you know, little ones here and there. No one’s dumped water on my head recently.” He tilts his head a little to the side as he says this, that smile of his still bright. “My family did move to Loess! Which is pretty neat. The sky is very big there and there’s these cool turtles that carry around plants and glow. I tried to catch one but my dad said it wasn’t very nice to try to keep it on land.” His silver eyes dance as a thought comes to him and he reaches out to nudge her playfully. “Kinda like you, I guess!”

Helion straightens a little when Moira calls him charming, though he deflates as soon as he catches the suspicion in her words and the comment about her mother. Well, it wouldn’t do any good if he went along trying to impress his fish friend only for that to be the very thing that drives her away! “Should I be less charming then? Would your mom like me better?”

He is mostly joking, his smile says, but he might try if she says it will help.

“It’s pretty cool! I haven’t explored it all yet but a lot of the plants are short so the sky is big and I think that’s why my dad liked it to start but it works pretty well for me too. There’s tons of water there too, all these hot and cold springs you can just hang in and soak.”

A good place for a fish to visit, he thinks, and he’s about to suggest it when he realizes he’s not even sure where she’s from. He knew she had hatched, and had a sister, and could turn into that horse-fish-thing, and apparently has a mom that doesn’t like charming people, but could not remember if she had told him about where she called home. “Where do you live?” And then he gets another (charming) idea and shakes his head with a little laugh and shining silver eyes “Wait wait, you live at the bottom of the ocean, don’t you?”

That Moira likes that he is charming is the more important thing, and his silver eyes dance at this response - clearly pleased with it even though he also knows not to underestimate mothers. Especially if Moira’s was anything like his own.

Though he had been distracted by other thoughts before he could invite Moira to come check out the various waters Loess had to offer, she brings it up and he is eager to agree - already thinking that he could introduce her to Cressida and then all three of them could have some fun. Or maybe Cressida would just “You definitely should!” There didn’t seem to be too many others that swam around in the Loess waters - just the occasional dip - and they could use some proper swimming, now that he thought about it. Plus it would be a good excuse to see more of Moira and that was definitely something this young boy would like.

Even though it had mostly been joking about the bottom of the ocean, he's glad that Moira laughs at his quesetion and that she doesn't live down there. He wouldn't be able to visit her if she did! “I guess it would be pretty dark down there. And you’d be farther away from the sun.” His bright grin makes it pretty clear which sun he's talking about (the best one).

He's not sure what a coral reef looks like but he's picturing sunny waters since she said it wasn't the depths, so he gets there anyway. And thinking about water encourages another thought - still spoken with a bright grin as he looks at her. “I’ve been practicing my swimming, you know. Just in case you try to drown me again.”