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"Aniki? Aniki."
Stinger looked up. He had been sitting outside of the abandoned warehouse, staring up into the sky. He hadn't been used to seeing the constellations at these angles, and had been trying to remember the correct shapes when Kotaro had walked up to him.
"Hey," Stinger said softly.
"Can I sit down with you?"
"Sure."
Kotaro sat down on the ground next to Stinger, close enough to keep his voice low, but not on top of him. "You can really see the stars tonight."
Stinger nodded. "It's nice out."
"Yeah." Kotaro paused for a moment, taking in Stinger's silence. He didn't really like it. "I'm glad Naga's back."
"Me, too," Stinger said.
"Do you think we'll be ok without the Orion?"
Stinger took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly. "I don't know."
"What's going to happen?"
"I don't know that, either. Stop talking about it right now."
"Sorry, Aniki."
Stinger sighed. "It's ok."
Kotaro was silent for another moment before talking again. "Where's your constellation?"
"Hmm?"
"Where's the Sasori constellation?"
"You don't know?"
"I'm still learning," Kotaro said. "I didn't know the constellations before. But I want to learn about all eighty-eight of them."
"That's good," Stinger said. "Study hard, all right?"
Kotaro smiled and nodded. "I will."
Stinger managed a soft smile and placed his hand on Kotaro's head for a moment.
"Where's your home planet?" Kotaro asked.
"You can't see it from here."
"You can't?"
Stinger shook his head. "I guess you can only see it from Earth in the summertime."
"Oh."
The two remained silent for a moment, staring up into the sky.
"Can I ask you a question?" Kotaro asked.
"Yeah."
"What constellation are we in?"
Stinger frowned, his eyebrow lifted in confusion. "Constellation?"
"Yeah. What constellation is Earth in?"
Stinger took another deep breath in. "Fratris."
"Fratris?"
"Yeah."
"What shape is that?"
"It represents the brothers."
"Brothers? What brothers?"
Stinger leaned back a little. "Alak and Tanga. Two mythological brothers."
"Tell me about them?"
Stinger paused a moment, trying to remember the old story. It was one of the stories that had frequently been remembered and repeated on his home planet. Storytelling was an important pastime for his people, but it had been a while since he had sat down to be able to tell any kind of story.
"Alak was the big brother," Stinger said. "A few years older than Tanga. He took care of Tanga after their parents died."
"Their parents died?"
"Yeah. They got sick."
"Oh," Kotaro said, looking sad.
"But Alak took good care of Tanga," Stinger continued. "Made sure he ate, was clean, was warm. He'd light a fire every night and they would sit around, looking up into the sky, remembering their parents."
Kotaro smiled.
"But one day, there was this horrible storm," Stinger said. "They lived in the desert on Lesath, and it just doesn't rain that much. But it came down, pouring, causing floods. Killed a lot of people."
"They died?" Kotaro asked.
"The myth says the brothers were so close, that Alak couldn't let his brother die, and he held onto him for so long that the massive flood ended up washing them away to the sky," Stinger said. "Eventually, Antares' heat evaporated a lot of the water, and Lesath became the herald of Spring. Legend has it that Alak looks down, watching over the planet, and the entire system, with the help of his little brother."
"Wow…."
"It looks similar to the constellation you know as Gemini, the twins," Stinger said. "Except that Tanga is a lot smaller than Alak."
"So they're saviors, too?"
Stinger smiled. "Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero."
Kotaro smiled. "I like being both."
"I know you do. Take good care of the galaxy, but always take better care of your brother, all right?"
"I will, I promise."
"Good. You should get to bed. We have a lot to figure out tomorrow."
"Ok." Kotaro stood up. "Good night, Aniki."
"Good night."
Kotaro walked back into the warehouse, smiling the entire way.
"Aibou."
Stinger looked up, almost startled hearing Champ's gruff voice.
"Can't a man get any privacy around here?" Stinger muttered.
"Earth isn't in the Fratris constellation. It's in the Cithara constellation, the guitar. You can see that from my home system, too."
"I know that," Stinger said. "Kotaro doesn't."
"You miss your brother, don't you?"
Stinger hesitated, but nodded. "Still doesn't feel real."
Champ didn't quite know what to say to that, that he hadn't already said a hundred times. "Good night, aibou."
"Good night."