Hadian blinked, frowning in confusion as Darin informed him Istaerih thought he was cute. Like a kitten. "...Cute...?" There were men in Astra who might have found this an insult to their manliness or toughness, but not Hadian. Anyone who wanted to question his would have to hoist sails and nets all day before he'd give their opinion on the matter any sway. Instead he was mostly confused. He'd never thought of Istaerih like that. A fickle mistress, yes, both a tempest and the cool caress of a woman's touch, but he never imagined anything seemed cute to her. Such things always seemed beneath her might and power. But he supposed he was honored anyway. It was a good thing to be liked by the sea when you took from her bounty. He understood keenly, too, that just because Jaisih had died did not mean that Istaerih was displeased with him. Darin had that right. When a life was owed to the sea, a blood price to be paid for the livelihood they made in the waves, she would get her due. All sailors knew this. 

Ridahne knew this too, as she'd spent enough time on the sea in her younger years to understand its ways. But the mention of their father spoken of in such high honor got both the siblings emotional. As always, Hadian was a little more stoic about it as he studied the ground, and Ridahne openly wiped away a tear or two. Their mother, at least, they had time to prepare for. They had all known she was dying for some time and got to say their goodbyes. The death of Jaisih felt like something being ripped away from their souls, suddenly and painfully. They missed them both terribly.

A huge release of tension eased the subtle clench in Ridahne's shoulders as she let out a breath she'd been holding. She looked so relieved as Darin clarified her plan. Ridahne didn't say it in words, but she gave her partner a look that said, 'you'd do this for me?' But then, of course she would. She was Darin Torzinei, and she had shown time and time again that Ridahne was loved. "Thank you," she said softly. It was going to be a whirlwind, these next several days. It was good to know her partner was there to support her along the way.

At the comment about a "seasonless heat trap", Ridahne guffawed and gave Darin a playful shove. "Oh come now! It's not so bad! Especially at night, it cools down a lot. We'd call it cold, but I'm sure since you've seen snow before, you have a different understanding of cold. Deserts don't hold a lot of heat, see. They get scorching hot in the daytime, but at night when the sun is gone, they keep almost none of that heat." She laughed. "Why else do you think we're called Children of the [I]Night[/I] Sky? In the summer we [I]almost[/I] turn nocturnal. Not exactly I guess, but we do very little in the middle of the day when it's hottest. And even in the winter, we are not exactly quiet at night, not like the North. We stay up much later. Speaking of, we should probably sleep. We'll want an early start tomorrow before it gets too hot, and if we get a good pace, we can reach Tasen by nightfall. We'll have our meeting, I'll introduce you to Ajoran, and I'll see if we can get into the palace bathhouse. It sounds frilly and excessive, but trust me, after the ride we're going to have tomorrow, you'll want it. And it's the only honest bath you'll get here in the south. It's different in the mountains, but on the coast, we don't have much fresh water, and we spare very little for bathing. Most 'baths' are a quick scrub with some soap and a jug of water dumped over you for a rinse." Ridahne buried the fire since the night was reasonably warm on its own and the moon was bright enough to see by. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, but finally, [I]finally[/I], she was ready.