[center][h2][color=6AB1D3]Zahra[/color][/h2][/center]
Zahra hardly noticed the boy’s falter, too busy lighting up when the hawk took the offered meat like she’d seen her neighbour’s falcons do before. She bounced on the balls of her feet as she watched him, immeasurably pleased that her little ploy had worked out. She didn’t even need help that time!

Toruk, meanwhile, was a little less pleased, tensing at the hawk’s cheeky little wink. He kept his eyes trained suspiciously on the bird, lowering himself to either curl protectively around his young charge or discreetly hide himself behind her; it was hard to tell which, and Zahra wasn’t paying attention anyway. 

Zahra looked between boy and hawk as they had their little exchange, breaking into an excited fit of giggles when the bird [i]spoke[/i]. [color=6AB1D3]“Yes, yes!”[/color] she replied exuberantly, braids bouncing with a quick nod. [color=6AB1D3]“He did great! He must be very smart. And pretty,”[/color] she turned her attention to the bird, leaning over to deliver her compliment. [color=6AB1D3]“Your scarf is very handsome,”[/color] she told him sweetly. 

Straightening up, she turned a serious face to her brother’s tutelary. [color=6AB1D3]“Toruk, why don’t you ever talk?”[/color] she demanded, though she got little more than a bashful shrink out of the snake before he threw the hawk an equally accusatory glare for making him look bad. 

The girl [i]hmphed[/i] at the non-answer, but was all smiles again when she looked back up at the boy with the pretty pink hair. [color=6AB1D3]“A hawk family!”[/color] she declared again, suddenly remembering she’d been - sort of - asked a question. Crossing her arms and straightening up, her voice took on an overly-stiff ‘grown-up’ tone, imitating her father when he explained it in his stories. [color=6AB1D3]“Every family has a guardian, either a snake, a hawk, or a cat,”[/color] she explained, counting them off on her fingers. [color=6AB1D3]“You know, they bring you luck and protect you from evil! [i]My[/i] family is protected by the snake.”[/color] 

She held up the arm Toruk had coiled himself around to demonstrate. [color=6AB1D3]“This is Toruk. He’s my brother’s tutor-ary. Radaam says he was just a coincidence, but I’m pretty sure he showed up because we’re a snake family.”[/color] She grinned matter-of-factly before looking around, hoisting herself up on her tiptoes. Luckily even from her diminutive height Radaam was easy to spot, towering over much of the crowd not far off from them. She pointed in his direction, expecting the boy to know precisely who she was referring to. [color=6AB1D3]“That’s him over there. He’s a sorcerer like you!”[/color]

[color=6AB1D3]“Anyway,”[/color] she added, daintily repositioning one of her braids, [color=6AB1D3]“we’re a snake family, but I bet you’re like my neighbour. He’s a hawk family too - he even taught me how to feed them.”[/color] She perched her free hand on her hip, beaming triumphantly both at her excellent explanation and her suburb hawk-feeding skills. 
[right][sub][@Scribe of Thoth][/sub][/right]