Ridahne had...a feeling. It was never something she could put her finger on, nor was it usually something she could accurately identify as it happened. If pressed, she would describe it as an electricity to the air, a faint change in the air pressure, or maybe just the odd tension felt in a muscle in response to the feeling of another presence close to the skin. But when Taja landed on her head and preened through her hair, and when the crack of thunder slapped across an otherwise relaxed sky, she did not flinch. And only after the fact did she know beyond doubt that Astra was listening to Darin, though what was being whispered to the universe, she would never know. Her attention sharpened, though. As a cool thrill washed through her, she watched both in awe and with an assessing eye, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. 

Hadian, on the other hand, was a different story.

The man had just been about to open his mouth to speak, a breath primed and ready to be pushed through his vocal cords, when the sudden thunder squeezed it out of him in a startled yelp. He jumped, craning his neck to the sky. He'd thought the clouds had been thin and sparse, not storming? And while he was still puzzling that out, he watched as the ocean rose to meet Darin in a fluid arm, like the firm handshake of a long time friend. He'd been on his feet, but he dropped to his knees then, face straight into the red sand with such fervency that his forehead left an impression. The sailor in him saw the water and gasped, "Istaerih, Spirit of the Sea, have mercy!" The belief in the entity ran as firmly in sailors as their love for strong drinks. Said to occasionally take the shape of a siren when benevolent, and of dark, alien creatures when she was angry, elvish sailors from each of the three tribes believed she was the very spirit of the sea, and without her, the ocean would be as flat and still as a mirror pond. 

Ridahne smiled, practically beaming. "No, not Istaerih. The Seed Bearer of Astra." 
Hadian looked up, still in a prostrate position in the sand. "What...?" His tone held awe and wonder, but also a little disbelief, too. 
"When Darin speaks, Astra listens." 
Hadian straightened a little, though he was still on his knees. He reached one timid, uncertain hand out to touch the stream of water that curled around him. "Ai..." he breathed. He'd heard the Gardener had some mystical powers but...well...he never expected any of those to be true. "Darin that's...incredible. Is this...normal for the two of you?" Ridahne's lack of reaction did not entirely escape him, now that he thought about it. 
Ridahne smiled, almost teasingly. "You get used to it." That was only a half truth. She didn't get used to it like one got used to and desensitized to the beauty of the ocean, or the vastness of the stars. But rather, it did not grip her and shake her as it used to, mostly because she could almost feel it coming. Still, it never ceased to fill her with wonder every time.

Both siblings got very quiet after Darin amended the plan. Each of them sort of grimaced, and though the expression was so alike on both their faces, Ridahne was unerringly the more expressive one. She was quiet as her face twisted through a quick repertoire of mixed, tangled emotions ranging from acceptance, to frustration, to disappointment, to fear. She kept trying to rein them in and failed, which ended up with her making a face like she'd bitten into a bitter lime peel. After the initial grimace, Hadian was studiously quiet and still, except to introduce his horse as Halyih, and she dipped her head and lifted one foreleg in greeting to Darin. 

"I understand," Ridahne finally said, her tone controlled. And then, a little more honestly and genuinely in her tone she added, "it's just...as much as I don't want to give the Sols my time, it's...well, the nimarih is like a free pass, so to speak. It doesn't cover up my ojih, and especially not [I]the[/I] mark, but it's sort of symbolic of...of...well, of everything you have come to understand about that night, and about me and how this all happened and it's not real forgiveness but it's amnesty and without it...well I'd hoped...I'd hoped for...some measure of peace." The last part was barely breathed, as if it had been wrung out of her. She dipped her head in acknowledgement as some of her prior anxiety from earlier in the night crept back into her chest. "But I understand. I will do as you ask." Ridahne would defend herself or Darin if it ever came down to it. And Ridahne just hoped she wouldn't have to cut the hands off of anyone she personally knew.