Qud had always been the leader.
He was the first to hatch, after all, and since that moment Kajj had always been racing to catch up. Qud was the first among them to molt, and the first among them to sing fundamental. He was the strongest and he was the fastest, the biggest and the smartest… but perhaps not the bravest.
Kajj had led the way in that. It had been his idea to sneak out to see the stars, and his enthusiasm that had saw them through the stumbling blocks. Though of course, it was also his fault that the pair of them were forced to sit in the shaming cage for a full ten-days worth of meals. Regardless, both of them had considered their first sight of the wide galaxy worth it.
They were always together, and always compared. Each trying to one up the other, playing off of strengths and weaknesses, trying to get ahead. It could have been a point of contention, but truly it only made their relationship stronger. A pair in binary orbit, pushing, pulling. Growing by the strength of the other. Rivals, yes, but partners too.
They were a matched set, hatched together. Raised together. Trained together. Stars, for several years after their arrival on the Star-bloom that had even lived together, their other never more than a few arm’s lengths away. It was only the need to further privacy that drove them to different warrens. Had accident and love not intervened, they may have remained together forever.
Truth be told, Kajj had never minded being the follower. There was a comfort in having a certain escape from responsibility and an other who did not shy away from the eyes of the public. Qud had always loved talking, and had a sort of ease about him that allowed him to fit himself easily into any conversation, though he sometimes had trouble sustaining it. Kajj also enjoyed speaking, but found that his own enthusiasm often tripped him up. And so, Qud would lead and Kajj would follow Qud would make the entrance and Kajj would hold the interest. Both of them a team, working better together than alone.
Rivals, perhaps. But brothers first. And friends.