Please that Sylvia agreed with him, the stallion snorted once and grinned out over the waves, moving up to stand beside the mare after she made room for him. He quirked an ear at her as she spoke, followed by a minute turn of his head to give her more of his attention. Ah. So she had a mate, a permanent love. Şahin himself had had several, but only one from the Islands and Azaleya was elsewhere. His love for her had not faded, of course, and he was still quite fond of the various other mares he’d connected with so intimately, but the culture of the Island horses baffled him in this regard: how could one feel that degree of affection for only one other horse throughout their entire lives?

Although if mares in herds never left the lands of their stallions and thus were only ever exposed to the same few horses over and over again, he supposed it made sense. But it was hardly fair, wasn’t it, that a stallion should travel about and meet four or five mares and bring them all home one at a time to live with him, while those same mares would only ever know him and, eventually, the other mares he brought home with him. Şahin had never understood why herds were collected in such a way; it hardly encouraged affection between the mares, and instead forced it. Maybe that’s why only Xina and Dia lived with him: the Nez Perce never went out of his way to seek out and bring a mare home with him, although he did often extend the invitation.

He blinked and refocused on Sylvia, who clearly had more to say, and heard her out in comfortable silence, though when she admitted to already being pregnant he chuckled and gave a small toss of his head. “Sylvia, don’t be absurd,” he said once she’d finished speaking, his own voice cutting across the tail end of her last sentence. “I’m not about to turn you out of Paradise because you chose to breed with someone who didn’t happen to be me. You are more than welcome to stay, provided Xina and Dia don’t object overmuch to your company —not that that will be a problem, I’m sure— and once your foal is born I’ll give it the same attention and protection that I have given to all the foals in Paradise. If you wish, I can make it clear to the child that I am most definitely not its sire.” He pressed his lips together and looked out over the ocean again. “Do you know when your Midas will return?” he asked.