He smiles sheepishly when she replies, and feels a pang of guilt in his gut. “Didn’t I?” he says, trying to think back to precisely what he had told her back on the crossing. He had attempted to hint to it, as far as he can recall, without explicitly using the word ‘desert’, but he supposes she must not have picked up on it and it’s quite evident to him that she doesn’t entirely approve. He gulps nervously and tries to focus on the good.

“You lived in a desert before?” he asks her politely, before turning to glance out again across the golden sands rolling away before them like a vast sandy sea.

“How about some shade and water?” Encantador asks her, but it’s less of a question than it is a promise. Determined to make up for letting her down by bringing her here, he doesn’t wait for an answer but instead begins to lead the way immediately, his hooves picking their way across the familiar ground at a leisurely pace to make sure she remains comfortable. He doesn’t expect her to want to break out into a sweat so soon upon arriving, after all, which it’s all too easy to do in a place like this, even in winter.

When she asks of his home, he cranes his head to meet her eyes and raises his eyebrows as if the answer requires serious thought. “Oh, about a quarter. You see those mountains out there?” He motions with his snout straight ahead, where great peaks loom over the vast stretch of land before them. In the distance, in the lowlands, there’s the shining silver promise of a river, but it’s not there he’s taking her to. Angling his body to lead her in a different direction, he continues. “That’s the boundary. But I wouldn’t call this place ‘lovely’ where it can hear you.”

The stallion grins at her. “It might start to get an ego.”