It was really hard not to bow. Hadian wanted to, and he couldn't yet understand why his sister had instructed him not to. But he could see that not bowing was the right thing to do, apparently. It felt very backwards. She was so high and honored and yet...there was something simple about her. Something...relatable, he thought after an effort. Though she was arrayed for travel and hard roads, she sort of had the look of a laborer, if he were to guess. And, well, those were his people. Her gaze was intense, but after all, his sister was Ridahne. He was used to intense, and it did not unnerve him. Hadian wiped away a fresh surge of tears and, grinning, said, "No, you are Darin Torzinei!" He barely knew her, but in that moment he was overcome with love for her. Maybe it was because she saved the life of the last of his family. Maybe because Ridahne loved her and therefore, so did he. Ridahne had a lot of faults, but choosing her circle of people was not one of them. The gesture of calling her Torzinei meant more than he said. It was not diminishing of her titles, yet it proclaimed that she was family now. 

He blinked at the word 'guardian', absolutely catching the meaning that one of her tattoos indicated this. He looked at his sister with a new perspective and shook his head in utter disbelief. When she said she needed to go help the Seed-Bearer, this wasn't what he'd pictured. In fact, he thought she was merely facing exile. Where Ridahne might have paced and vocalized her shock and surprise and joy, Hadian just stood quietly, very still, amber eyes darting between the two women. For a while, it seemed like he wouldn't say anything, but then he murmured softly, "Ma and Da would be so proud of you, Ridahne. I'm--" 
Ridahne choked out a sudden, violent sob, followed by a laugh. "Oh Hadian, don't!" It was too overwhelming for her to hear in words, but she knew Hadian meant it, and that was everything to her.  "You'll ruin my hard, crusty exterior like that. Come, sit! sit!" 

Hadian did, still unsure of whether or not to stare at his sister, or the Seed Bearer of Astra. Belatedly, he remembered that she'd asked him questions. He had so many of his own, but he wasn't sure what to do with the information he'd already been given, so he would wait before asking more. "I...fishing is...hard work. I spend a lot of time away from home but it's worth it. It's honest work. And it...it makes me feel close to Jaisih, our father. I...I would be honored to teach you, Astra-Sol--" Ridahne nudged him with her elbow and he corrected, "Darin." He had the ability to read Ridahne like very few could. "I live in Atakhara, it's a humble place..."
"You can say it--it's poor." 
Hadian snorted. "Aye, it is. I inherited our family home and I live there with my wife--"
Ridahne gasped, physically turning his face to look again at his ojih. "You married Nyyvai! Did she take your clan name, or did you take hers?"
Hadian smiled a little, almost bashfully. "I tried to convince her to let me take her name." There was an unspoken, briefly awkward note of 'because of everything that happened with you' that faded into the dust as soon as he continued, "but she wanted to be a Torzinei." 
Ridahne nodded, a question she was hesitant to ask slowly bubbling to the surface. "How's Ajoran?"
Hadian nodded too. "He's as fine as ever. Misses you terribly." Seeing the look in her eyes, he added, "He doesn't know you're here. No one does. I had a vision in the middle of the night, and not even Nyyvai knows exactly what I'm up to. I had it, and I simply said it was about you, and she told me to go. But even she doesn't know about you," he said to Darin. He still couldn't believe she was even real. 

"So...there's a Seed after all...Have you seen the Tree? Do you know where you'll plant it? Or..." he looked between them, then decided, "That's what you've been up to, hasn't it? All this time? Ah! But you'll have to tell me, where do you come from? You are human, I see." Just then, Mitaja materialized from whatever shadows she'd been lurking in and almost knocked Hadian over with the force of her greeting. When she'd licked the dust off his face, she sat beside him, happily rumbling and purring as he stroked her silky fur.