the touch of her brother’s muzzle against her cheek is a soft reassurance that he did not mind her intrusion and bhaskara is glad of that. she does not know the language of his blessing, but her finely built head nods in acknowledgment of it, hearing the warmth of his words and drinking it in.

bhaskara keeps close watch on the pair who had greeted them first, keeping her expression schooled and quiet. her curled ears twist toward them respectively as they speak, inwardly slightly alarmed at the smile the lighter stallion adopts upon looking at her. she is utterly unused to any attention that may be attributed to her sex. the mare had always seen herself as utterly plain and unremarkable. though she had been brave enough twice to challenge the beast who now ruled over the desert, she had lost, cementing the low opinion of herself.

her eyes, shining deep brown against the desert sands, fall on the gilded leader then. his words are heavy, purposefully, and he doesn’t seem to care to wield his authority with any amount of finesse. he mentions bahadir’s mother, someone she has never met, and then, at the mention of their father, the bay mare can’t help but take a curious half-step forward, head tipping ever so slightly in question. what exactly did he know of their father? likely more than the two of them…

bhaskara had been whisked away from the desert few short months after her birth and had lost her mother shortly after that. aside from the way the desert called to her, the rightness of the sun scorching down on her back, and the memories of the place she had begun her life, she knew nothing of their culture. she had been a stranger to her own blood.

she blinks these thoughts away actively, willing herself to think of the future alone, with her blood family standing beside her. bhaskara isn’t sure his reason for coming here, exactly, for things seemed relatively comfortable in the badlands, but looking at the three before them, she knows they tread on delicate ground. the stallion before them did not seem to have any interest in relinquishing to her brother, not that she blamed him, but perhaps some other deal may be struck. at the very least, bhaskara hoped for an opportunity to speak of what he knew of their family.

though something of a challenge falls from the golden stallion’s lips, she thinks her brother wiser than to take it at it’s face. she only nods her thanks, remaining quiet. it is better they think her soft and pliable and merely a face at her brother’s side.