The sight of their companions embracing brings a small smile to the beast's face, pleased that the red seems to have a friend. That's something Vadir sorely lacks, with her draconic pride preventing her from offering kindness to anybody but fellow royals. Even those she tries to dominate beneath her bulk, and that attitude does not lend itself to friendship.
Sikeax's reassurance that Kid is fine causes a pang of relief to spread through him. "That is good news," he says. The colt - now a stallion - has always seemed independent, but that doesn't mean Volterra doesn't worry about him. Kid might not like his father, but the feeling is not mutual. He is of the Indomitable's seed, and thus earns the titanic man's worry and well-wishes. She adds - with a break in her voice - that Zhu is gone too, and the beast's face twists into an expression of concern. "He returned many months ago and seemed to be a man grown, however our meeting was a brief one. I've been tempted to send my dragons to search for him, but I fear he may resent it." Normally Volterra does what he wants with little regard for anybody in his path, but with his children he tries to approach things with more subtlety, more consideration for their feelings instead of just his own. There's a fine line between being a caring father and being a smothering one, and it's a line Volterra is reluctant to cross.
Rather than rejecting his touch as he'd feared, Sikeax instead embraces it, and Volterra finds himself sinking into the warm scent of her. She is familiarity, she is friendship, she is motherly warmth and subtle, sea-born strength. He finds himself pressing closer, ensuring that he has a steel grasp upon any hint of lust that tries to rear its head and conquer his body. This isn't the time for such things, not when he's still working hard to repair the bridges he burnt that day when he forced her into bedding him.
He gives a wistful sigh at her words, feeling an odd spasm of sadness at the seeming refusal to return home. Does he blame her, though? She'd been screwed over by people she called her family, and whilst Volterra is now a proud member of the Throat, he can't help musing over the coup and how it hadn't sat quite right with him. "I understand," he rumbles. Suddenly he can't think of any more words; there's just him and her, standing in an embrace that is both comfortable and alluring.
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