Her strength came almost exclusively from necessity. As a young filly alone in the wilderness, her options were rather limited and when it really came down to it - her instinct to survive overrode everything else. But it wasn't something she consciously chose. It wasn't a choice she'd mentally mulled over and chosen. It just occurred. Maybe she is as strong as she seems but Bella wouldn't even know where to begin. Yet as she gazes at him, she wonders if perhaps her statement and question had been too blunt. The dark stallion seems a bit uncomfortable; guilt, hot and burning, rushes through her and for the briefest of moments it shows clear as day upon her face. As her lips part, an apology on the tip of her tongue, his words give her reason to pause. So pause she does. The pale filly hadn't expected her words to make him uncomfortable but really, her social skills are lacking. Well, that and she doesn't exactly have the same filter in her brain that many adults do. "Thank you." she replies, genuinely grateful he'd kept her safe while she slept.

He confirms her suspicions - at least, in that the Throat has sand. Somewhere deep down, she suspects that the Throat is where she was born and where she's been trying to get back to all this time but she can't know for sure until she sees it with her own eyes. Yet when Bella explains what happened with her parents, she becomes rather emotional. The tears misting her eyes making it difficult for her vision to focus on anything, not even Reich. To be fair, she doesn't hate her parents. She isn't angry with them, she simply doesn't understand why they left her behind (or why they didn't take her with them). To say that it doesn't hurt her anytime she thinks about it would be a lie. Were they to return, though, she'd probably forgive them without hesitation. That knowledge does little to stop the tears from forming or the pain in her heart because although she isn't livid, she still misses them. As Bella drifts closer, on the verge of letting the tears flow, Reich pulls her into his chest. Almost instantaneously the girl relaxes into his embrace. It's odd just how easy things were with him. Bella doesn't question it, instead she presses herself into his broad chest - comforted by his smell and the roughness of his jaw.

By the time he begins to speak again, her vision is clear and she's calm once again - the pain and sorrow of only a few moments ago is forgotten. Bellanaris is oddly patient, listening carefully for him to get everything out. The sandy girl readily meets his gaze when she feels him shift and in that instant she flashes him a bright smile. "Really?!" the young girl nearly squeaks, her excitement bubbling up so fast she could barely contain it. "I'd love to!" she exclaims as she shifts herself so that her smaller, narrower chest (sort of) meets with his and she curls her wings around towards him in an attempt to hug him. She is blatantly honest and perhaps a bit overexcited but she's been on her own so often for so long that any semblance of a promise for the future leaves her bouncing. Any promise of some sort of companionship leaves her nearly begging for more. At least for now. She finds it easy to accept her new role - no matter how complicated that role may be. She has the biggest smile lighting up her face, and her wide earthly green eyes gaze at the wilderness around them - trying to pinpoint the direction of home only to come up empty. Her sense of direction is quite poor (clearly she'd been born with a broken internal compass) and that is likely what lead to her getting lost in the first place. She quickly turns her attention back to Papa Reich, eagerly awaiting his next move.