Şahin stood with his legs locked and his head hanging, dozing lightly in the dusky summer evening. Paradise had been fairly calm lately, despite the mess that Xina had brought into the territory and that storm that had herded another stallion into his home. The foals were safe and the mares did not bicker (at least not where he could hear). Life was good.

Still, a stallion’s duties did not allow for lengthy periods of deep sleep, and Şahin woke just as the sun began to set. Sleepy-eyed and yawning, he looked around to check the status of his herd. Two mares. Check. Two foals. Check. He whickered a greeting to them all and walked over to join them, moving to stand beside Dia in the quiet of the early evening. Şahin reached out to nibble at the Akhal-Teke’s mane in fond greeting before his eyes returned to the children.

Neither foal was his, but he loved them as much as he would his own children. Even Conquistador, whom he barely knew, held a fond place in the stallion’s heart. Although Mera hardly counted as a filly any longer. He sighed, and when he spoke his voice was low and pitched only for Dia’s ears. “I’m going to miss her when she goes,” he said, his eyes on Esmeralda. “Back when we visited the Falls she said she’d never leave here without me, but..” He snorted. “She’s older now, and I think soon this herd won’t be enough for her.” And then where would he be? Şahin pressed his nose against Dia’s neck to breath in her scent as he reminded himself he would still have a herd, and the company of the fine palomino mare beside him.