He does what he can to describe their world to her as they move, walking slow and deliberate with steps that were easily sounded against packed earth. It is another reason that he says she might like the place that is enclosed, a space tucked into the flatter and less dune-y portion of the place they now head. She would not be able to sense much through shifting sands beyond when she gre accustomed to that sound and the variations of it.

Part of him also sees her beauty and does not wish to upset the tentative balance of his brother so soon. Allow her to gain her bearings, allow his brother to establish himself a little better, then maybe let her also find in him favor - or not, thereby striking out to those who might better tickle her fancy. She would not be a First Wife, not of the People, but there is something about her that he cherishes, that he looks on and cannot feel anything but the pull he refuses to deny.

And it has nothing to do with the season. He had practiced against the flirtatious women of two kingdom’s courts and had not broken faith with his First Wife to come. He might have even been the better choice for Sayyida, had Antares not been the other half of her soul. He did not seek many wives, nor was the eye of Min cast heavily on him. He held the flames surely enough, but his was a scholar’s soul and beautiful women could be seen without wanting.

There lingers in him some gladness for his brother, knowing that he has found happiness in another. There are some parts of him that think perhaps his people were right and his brother had claim to the soul between them and had therefore sold it wantonly for his own benefit -- but it is the fear in him that says so, while his heart of hearts knows himself to be quite alive enough to have a soul of his own. At least a half of one given to the two of them as they were born twins.

"We have come to water, lady. I will swim at your pace so that you might always feel me there and follow me. When we arrive, if you wish to keep yourself private for a time, we must be quiet and I will lead you over the dunes so that no one need find you until such time as you wish to be found." He allows their touches to remain by their bodies, rather than the touch of his muzzle - finding it less poignant and potentially less stimulating for her worry.

He does as he promises, leading her in quiet and watchful secrecy once ashore - treading cautiously over the dunes until they reach the stoney place near to the desert and he leads her at his side into the mouth of the stone pathways where the underground lake, what they called the stone cistern, lapped at a sandy, pebbled, shore.

The dark of evening had begun but she was not so hampered as he, always in the dark as she was. "Lady I vow to you that you will be safe here. There is water to the one end, two entrances and a flattened that we once gathered during a storm on the other, but this slot canyon outcrop has a few paths that lead to cul de sacs if you were to follow the wall. I will tell my brothers that I claim this place for myself and you should find none to disturb your peace. Not unless you wish my company and seek me here by this entryway. I will leave the various ‘rooms’ to choose at your leisure..."

He stands nearby so as to let her do what exploring she might, or for her to ask him for the help she might need of him, but his eyes - even in the slowly decreasing light - find her beauty captivating and leave her for naught but the initial moment entering the opening in the rock facing the direction of the farthest southern shoreline.