Bacardi arrived quickly and Sidra was instantly grateful. Her warm eyes softened on the sight of him as he moved into the clearing she and her father stopped in. Briefly she worried he would be cross with her for bringing her father here, but just as quickly she dismissed it as paranoia. So long as her father was respectful of Bacardi (and she couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t be), surely there would be no possible conflict, right?
It was her that Bacardi’s yellow eyes found first, and Sidra softened beneath his gaze. If her father wasn’t there she might’ve rushed to push herself up against Bacardi’s skin and tucked herself against his comforting warmth. Every inch of her skin almost buzzed with how badly she wanted to, but Sidra only walked at a normal pace to gingerly brush her lips against Bacardi’s. She hoped her father seeing that she drifted back to Bacardi’s side was further proof of everything she’d just told him in the Savanna. The Forest was her home now.
Bacardi addressed her father and Sidra glanced over at him. She couldn’t help but look worriedly at the healing wounds along his back leg, then back to his face as he began to speak. Sidra smiled softly as her father spoke, glancing over at Bacardi and then back to Zevulun again. Though he hadn’t said it directly, Sidra absolutely felt confident that her father was not going to ask her to leave the Forest or Bacardi. Why else would he be so grateful?
Then, the leader her father had been since Sidra had been born took the place of the kind, loving father he could also be. Zevulun told Bacardi of the new stallion who took the Prairie, the one who’s strange scent had frightened Sidra and sent her deep into the heart of the Forest with Bacardi and his herd. He went on to talk of meetings between all of the Luthien leaders and of the impending war between Tinuvel and Salem. Sidra had been hearing whispers of this war her entire life within the Prairie, and each time it sent chills down her spine and dread heavy in her stomach. She wished there was no need for it, that whatever the issues were would be worked out some other way, but if her father was still speaking of it with such gravity… Sidra studied the worried, grave expression on her father’s face and drifted a step closer to Bacardi, her heart seeking the reassurance just his presence alone always provided her.
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