Sidra stayed quiet as both stallions spoke of the future of Luthien, of uniting the island regardless of whether or not the tension between Tinuvel and Salem ever grew great enough to become a war. While she had been used to her father being a leader her entire life, watching Bacardi do so struck her with a different sense of awe and respect. She almost felt a little flush if she focused on it too long, a little light-headed. It was nice to have even a second of feeling a bit giddy (and, quite frankly - turned on) versus the woe that had gripped her heart as of late. Everything she’d been fearing, that’d kept her from having any restful sleep, seemed to be slowly solving itself. With her father back and healing, her mother surely would too. Sidra did not doubt her father’s capabilities to take back the Prairie in the spring, but that came with being a daughter who still thought the world of her father, even in his current condition.
When her father parted, Sidra found herself feeling almost overcome with emotion at his clear acceptance and his insistence that she remain with Bacardi. She watched his retreating form with her head lifted high, golden and white-freckled ears pointed forward. It wasn’t until he was a fair distance away that she finally turned her gaze back to Bacardi. Her expression warmed gratefully, and she finally did as she’d been wanting to do this entire time, side-stepping so she could press the length of her body invitingly up against his side, then tucking her face against his broad chest, sighing a warm breath into his rich brown coat.
“Thank you for letting me go to him,” she said. Sidra had known Bacardi wouldn’t have tried to stop her, but she was grateful he allowed it without question all the same. That he took the time away from watching over the rest of the herd to meet her here. She had been so anxious she’d hardly said a thing before she’d taken off through the Forest to find her father.
“My mother is still alive,” she said with a touch of gratitude among the sorrow, “She’s with him in the Savanna, she’s… ill, as I feared she’d be, but she's still alive.” Sidra couldn’t remember if she’d told Bacardi her worry - that she was going to watch her mother waste away as her father stayed missing - but the worry had been weighing on her enough that it felt good to share the good news with him. Despite the hurt Sidra carried when it came to her mother, she was too tender-hearted to want to see Luna gone. So long as her father was alive and with her, Sidra knew her mother would be okay.
Sidra sighed again, enveloped comfortably in his protective warmth. “You have done so much for me, all without knowing how much you’ve done.” Her eyelids fluttered as she blinked them open, slowly pulling her face away so she could truly look at the handsome Forest king. A smile tilted the corners of her charcoal lips upwards. “I would like to continue to live here with you,” they hadn’t exactly discussed if she would stay once her father had come back, but Sidra’s mind had already been made up. “If you’d have me.” She was sure he would, but she couldn’t deny her heart the way it wanted to feel after hearing him confirm it was so.
|
