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Heartbroken, tired, and anything but triumphant, Behnam had returned to his pride. He looked around, wondering if he shouldn't have just given it up and gone with her. Maybe he should have. Or maybe he was doing the right thing, just...

A flash of white caught his eye. He had shown Fara to the den, telling her that he would inform his parents that she was there, and wanted to meet them. He knew that coat, he thought, heading for it. "Scheherazade," he called. "I mean, Banu Scheherazade!"

"Hey, now," he said, moving so he was next to her, "see the mane? This is far fuller than most manes will ever be. You can't call me a freak anymore." He grinned at her, now starting to be happy that he was home. "I was right when I said you would be a beauty. How have you been?"

This was repairing his poor heart, somewhat. It was nice just to talk with a friend, one who wouldn't scream at him for wanting a proper harem as any pad was raised to have!

He thought for a long moment, sitting down and looking at her. "It was lonely, for some of it," he said finally. "But there were some places so beautiful that they took my breath away. I met many interesting people, even a wild dog. She was very polite. I liked her name, as well," he said with a smile. "It was Ancientheart."

He cocked his head at her, wondering if that faint shadow in her eyes meant something was wrong. "And you? Have you found the perfect pad while I was gone?"

"Really," he drawled, looking at her for a moment. "Scheherazade, I'm starting to get the feeling you don't really care about a pad. Have you at least thought about what you want in one?"

He was really lightening up with this conversation. It was good to talk to her, as strange as she was. She was very... calming, he supposed. "If you keep going like this, some random pad will think you're beautiful and ask your adopted father for you, and you'll get no say in it." Which was probably how it should go, anyway, but he did want her to be able to choose for herself.

"That should be easy enough to find," Behnam said, a bit confused as to who wouldn't like her. She was quite fun to talk with! "I rather like you," he added. "Who wouldn't?"

He sat down. "But," he said, "I could take you now that I've returned. I'll have to ask your step-father for permission, but... would you be willing to be my banu?"

"She is... like gentle moonlight," he said quietly, thinking of Fara. "Sweet and thoughtful. She taught me how to hunt better." Whereas Scheherazade would be his stars, bright and wandering, distracted yet constant. And his sun...

He shook that thought away. "But if you find a pad you prefer, you will tell me," he told her. "I do not want you unhappy." Not his Scheherazade. He wouldn't be able to handle that, too.

"I would like it very much if you were happy with me," he said, a hint of vulnerability in his eyes. "But I am a bit... new to this pad thing," he added. "I won't say that there aren't better pads than I out there, that would be arrogant and untrue. My father is an excellent pad, for one. I hope that my banu get along as well as his do, and..."

He sighed. "I want you," he admitted quietly. "But I want you to be happy where you are, even more. You're my best friend."

He gave her a smile, leaning forward and rubbing against her lovingly. "I will go ask your father for permission to take you as my banu," he said, licking her cheek. "I will do everything in my ability to make sure you don't regret it, Banu Scheherazade."

His heart was still missing a large part, but... well... he just hoped that both he and Koko could be happy with the choices they had made. With Scheherazade and Fara beside him, perhaps, slowly, he could recover.