Brotherly Love
"You need me, sis. You can't do laundry and your cooking can only be called destructive."
Sisterly Love
"The title given to an older sister who is strict but at times, kind as a mother."
Her bags were packed, the last of her supplies safely stored, and he fought the lump in his throat. She was sitting at the dinner table, surrounded with the last of her work to be completed for school. He sat down hard, and she glanced at him curiously. "What's the matter?"
"Take me with you." Eyes of the same shade, carved from the same trials, the same parentage and the same sibling love met hers in a battle of wills. Neither dominated.
"No." The protector, always the protector, had steel in her voice. It was a tone she normally reserved for the school, when disobedience had to be heeled as quickly as possible. He knew what she was thinking. They had gone over this before. Why was he bringing it up again? How could he convince her not to go alone? Not to leave him like…
He stood, hands on the table, eyes blazing, "You need me, sis. You can't do laundry and your cooking can only be called destructive."
Her eye twitched.
As she prepared to pull rank on her brother, finger mid-wave, she saw it. Hiding from her gaze, the little half-elven boy who might never again see the only family he had ever known and was terrified of being alone, trapped in a teenager's body. The world had never been clearer.
Swallowing hard, she leveled her gaze. "The road will be long and dangerous - too dangerous for you. While the mercenary is skilled, he can't protect you if we get into trouble. Neither can I throw you into that danger knowingly. My answer is no."
She forced herself to remaining sitting as he ran off to his rooms, slamming the door like the little lost child he was, at the moment. Protecting younger brothers from the world as long as they could was the elder sister's task. That didn't stop the headache, or the clench in her throat, but it did make it easier for him to allow the hug and light kiss on the head when she went to check on him.
