"Out of Breath"- Gurjin, Naia
“N-Naia!” Gurjin huffs. “Will you- just hang on a sec, alright?”
She laughs from her perch among the low branches, somehow twice as nimble as him even with her wings not yet broken through. “Why should I? It’s not my fault you’re as slow as an old nebrie. You can’t always lag behind just because you were born after me!”
“And you can’t always lord that over me, it was three minutes!” he retorts, still breathing hard. She will, though, and there’s something comforting in that. She’s been too tired and irritable to tease him much lately, now that Mother has begun training her in earnest to take over as Maudra someday. It’s strange to imagine Naia- rough-and-tumble Naia, all sharp edges and dirty feet- as a calm, wise maudra like their mother. The process will be long.
He wonders what will become of him once she no longer has time to be his constant companion. Things are changing so fast.
Her giggle echoes above his head, and she calls, “You know if you stand in that spot too long, you’ll sink.”
He looks down, realizing too late that she’s right and watching his toes disappear beneath the muck.
“...Great.”