Deirdre had watched him go off on his mission, her tongue - and her judgment - caged behind her teeth. She was immensely proud of the handsome dun stallion she so adored, but there was a part of her that wished he was a little less like her father. She would never understand their drive to own land, rather than just occupy it, but she knew it meant a lot to Arroyo to call a place home. Enough he was willing to bleed for it.

To risk dying for it.

Who was she to pass judgment on something he felt so deeply? Even so, she had driven Sionainn (and likely Naoise, too) near crazy with her constant fussing and pestering, with the constant questions about their lives and fussing over their looks. She was anxious, and she knew it, but Deirdre didn't know how to open up with anyone - let alone herself - about how afraid the thought of losing Arroyo made her. She had no doubts that the little family they'd built would endure even if one of their numbers was lost, but she did not wish to lose any of them, let alone the one that held her heart so securely.

At his call, a heavy sigh of relief rushes from her mouth and she calls out eagerly for him, turning in the same breath as Sionainn to jog in his direction.

Unfettered by the deep worry that plagued her mother, Sionainn is quick to reach her father and immediately seeks to wrap her neck around his in an embrace. "Did you win?" She asked breathlessly, eyes alight with excitement. She had never doubted her father, but there were a million things that could have happened between then and now and she wanted to hear all of it. If she had had her own way she would have gone with him to watch the fight itself, rather than staying behind.