She had sounded distressed and it had drawn him out towards her, unaware of just what Kahraman and Antares had spoken of. "I do not think he’ll be coming back for me," her voice is despondent and it makes his face soften only the more for the young girl’s loss. He wasn’t surprised, of course, as all four brothers had a mind for what the Teke had intended for her by bringing her here once they’d established themselves in the domain of Maslakhat.

He does not voice to her his agreement, she needed no further blow than the one of the disappearing figure in the distance. His assurances too would only sound patronizing, he is certain. Instead he steps forward and offers a risky, but worthy-of-risk touch of only his whiskers and breath to her shoulder. He maintained her honor but still offered the radiating warmth of himself to act as a salve to her sore heart. He had a thought she might have taken Kahraman as her own, except that Tekes rarely dabbled in loves of ‘other’ breeds.

When Shahrazad looks back to their oasis again, so does he, only his body follows suit. ."The Sadim grows, Shahrazad. It is good, kind, structured, welcoming. You are as much of us as you were of Kahraman, now." He smiles, though there is a wistful wish that Varajakshi might have been included in the view. It was too strange. His eldest brother should have been the one amassing his harem, improving his standing -- and yet three women now stood at the doorway, just awaiting to be welcomed into the shade of his own harem instead. Shahrazad was treated as royalty and it makes him wonder if perhaps Sayyida and Antares had intended her to join them.

Surely, at the least as a sister, they could still speak of stories and tales beneath the stars? Surely he would not have to give all of their time together up? "What of your heart, though, Shahrazad? Has your guardian taken that along with him?" He tries to sound casual, pretends he asks for his brother and not himself in his thoughts. He had never thought in greed, but there was some sense of ‘belonging’ he felt beside Shahrazad - as though only he could appreciate the wonderfully woven tales she tells him in the early evenings he spends with her.