Ridahne followed Darin back to the little shaded room where the bird was being kept. She was normally a light footed person anyway, but without shoes (which she still hadn't bothered to put back on) she was nearly silent without much effort. That was due in part to her training but also elves had a natural inclination for it. The elderly jokingly said that was because elves were 'pulled skyward' at all times while humans were drawn to the stone. Once, Ridahne asked about Sirens and was told, [I]"Have you ever seen them move, child? They are themselves like water; equally at home in either land or sky. They are both the oceans and the rain, child. They are the rivers and the mist."[/I]

"Arm..." she muttered, still sort of trying to grasp Darin's reasoning for the name. But she shrugged. If she liked it, then that was all that mattered really. She stepped softly inside and spoke to the hawk in Azurian.

[I]"You've had a hard day, sharp-eyed one."[/I] Ridahne came near but still kept some distance between them and she knelt to be closer to his eye level. [I]"Are you called Taja? Yes, I think you are. I am called Ridahne. Darin is your keeper. It is fortunate the winds brought you here, Taja. You will be well kept."[/I] Ridahne was taught that it was proper to speak to animals and to treat them with great respect, so she cooed softly to him. 

Ridahne looked up and turned to Darin. [I]"Isfa'ali?[/I] Fire-bread? That's what toast is, right?" She chuckled. "You could name him toast. Or in the Azurei fashion, fire-bread." Her tone was a bit flat, but she had a smirk on her face that showed her teasing sarcasm. "But I think Taja is better, you're right." Her smile broadened. 

Ridahne rose slowly and shook her head. "Trust me," she said with a kind of bitter laugh, "I don't have any plans to go straight back home. To be honest with you I am both yearning for and dreading that day all at once. When it comes, it will be..." She inhaled a breath and let it out in a huff, "Well...it will be a lot. For both of us. All of my personal baggage aside, it's going to be different than going other places. The entire Court of Sols at the least will know my purpose and thus, who and what you are. And there's no telling what kind of word got around to the common folk about the traitorous murderer called to accompany the Seed-Bearer. One look at my ojih and I think a lot of people will put it together. You won't be able to hide so much out there. Neither of us will."

Ridahne sighed with a kind of exhausted air. "What's more, you can bet that we'll be brought to the Court. I at least will have to go in order to get a [I]nimarih[/I]." Ridahne shaped her fingers like a circlet and mimed putting on her head. "Or else every eija and eija-alihn, every taja and every able-bodied do-gooder would pounce on me like hunting cats, and I'd be endlessly harassed, potentially assaulted, definitely arrested, and likely refused service anywhere and everywhere. I have to get a symbol to show I have leave to be there and to be alive." She made a grim expression. "Azurians do not take kindly to betrayal, and especially not regicide, and I can guarantee you most people won't even know half the story." She set her jaw and a kind of cold fierceness settled on her. "Every story needs a villain. And the best villains are the ones that are the most believable. What's more believable than a beloved leader assassinated by a depraved madwoman? Even with a nimarih it's going to be..."

Ridahne turned away. There was anger in her voice but it wasn't directed at Darin, nor was it directed at the people of Azurei. If they did not know the truth, how could she blame them for filling in the story? If she had served a Sol who was just and honorable and good, and she had been assassinated, Ridahne would be outraged too. She was angry at fate--no. No. She was angry at Khaltira-Sol. And for the first time, right there in the shadowed little room, Ridahne realized that. Not at herself. Not at fate. [I]Her.[/I] She whom Ridahne had served and protected, defended and obeyed. 

The elf's hand was coiled around her other arm like a rope, her knuckles white from the effort. And with her back to Darin she took forcibly controlled, deep breaths. One. Two. Three. Four. And then, straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin with the pride and fierceness of the ocean in storm, Ridahne released her grip on her own arm and turned back to face Darin. Her amber eyes were bright with the threat of tears that had not yet fallen. But everything else about her was the picture of control, poise, and dignity. She'd been taught over the decades to never let anyone see her waver or fall. Physically, emotionally, or otherwise. None but a select few like her family or Ajoran. And, she supposed, Darin ought to be added to that list at some point. But old habits live long and die hard. So she swallowed her rage, her fear, and the crushing weight of loss like she'd been taught. "No," she said, her voice even. "I don't intend to go back to Azurei in anything resembling a straight line. We'll end up there eventually I think, but we have all of Eluri to wander first. If fate is good to us then we won't have to go there at all, but I have a feeling we will someday. And..." She took a slow breath and, recalling that Darin mentioned a desire to learn Azurian she said, [I]"J'tuli ali'han--[/I]If I show my heart, or as you say, to be honest...I...have a lot of healing to do before I am ready to go back. I think I understand that now." She released a breath she didn't know she was holding. That was harder to admit than she thought.

Ridahne shrugged, and with that shrug she attempted to release some of the tension she still felt within her. "Day after tomorrow is fine by me. You are the one with the mission, after all. My mission is simply to keep you safe wherever you are. And anyway, it will be good to be indoors among friendly company for a while. There's no telling how long it will be before we find that again. But we should use that time wisely."