Indira worries for her daughter. Kalayani is a sweet mare but her timid nature has compelled her to cling too tightly to her mother's side for far too long. Indira hopes that someday soon, Kalayani will spread her wings, and explore the world on her own. She needs to have some adventures of her own, and find herself. Indira likes to encourage her children to develop their own personalities, and make their own choices. Tarek took the opportunities his mother presented, and ran with them, developing much the same independent streak that Indira has. Kalayani has not. She and her brother couldn't be more different.
Kalayani has been spending some time with her brother and his family now that they have settled in the Forest, and Indira is glad for it. It's good for Kalayani to form other relationships, but when Kalayani joins her in the chest deep water and questions her, Indira knows her daughter has a long way to go before she finds real independence.
The older mare doesn't answer her daughter. Her only ear swivels, and curious eyes remain trained on the falls until a shadow emerges. The stallion doesn't need to speak the same spoken language to say what needs to be said. His embarrassment reads clear upon his face as he moves past them. Indira casts her eyes sheepishly aside, sorry for prying, but not sorry for making the connection. Every trembling breath breathes of loss. Indira knows the feeling all too well. She doesn't know who or how he's lost, but she sees his pain, and her heart swells with sympathy.
The sight of such sadness brings her back to darker days, when their family's reign in the Desert ended in death and destruction. Her parents' well-loved faces often haunt her dreams, and her heart aches for the space they left behind that no others have been able to fill. She weeps for Enjolras too, a lover lost to time and distance.
The stranger pauses on his way. The meaning in his foreign tongue is lost on Indira. The painted mare turns is place, soft tendrils of her long mane and tail swirling around her. Side-by-side with the dark stallion, she reaches out. Her dark eyes brim with sympathy. She offers her support, but won't touch him without an invitation to do so.