“She sounds lovely, even if you do happen to be more polite,” Şahin said with a chuckle. “Although I’d say you’re pretty bold in the things you do say.” Or perhaps everyone else was just conservative. Şahin knew that Dia would always be honest with him— she was a horse he could rely on to give him a little kick in the ass if he started down a road that didn’t bode well for the herd. He liked that about her— loved it, really. For the millionth time his heart lifted with joy that she had chosen to settled in Paradise with him even though they’d only met once, and briefly. Sometimes a horse could feel closer to a stranger in the course of an afternoon than to the rest of those they lived with.

He smiled when she mentioned Xina and the children, pleased that Dia was willing to meet the mare and of course happy to hear about the children. Mera was a fine young mare now and Conquistador was growing into a healthy and —he hoped— happy yearling. The two of them were his joy incarnate. He doubted anything would change that. Even when the children were fully matured adults and moving on to make their own way in the world, Şahin would still recall them fondly as little foals.

Even if they weren’t technically his children.

He sighed, then caught his breath as Dia dropped the strong hint that she wanted another foal. “Really?” he said as he turned to train one dark eye on her. “I’d be delighted to raise one with you, if that’s what you wanted.” Şahin wanted a foal of his own more than anything— he’d had several children off the Islands and loved them dearly, but the two he’d sired her, he’d never actually met. And not that Mera and Conquistador were not enough, or that he would favor a child of his own over the foals he had helped raise. No, Şahin simply loved foals: they were a delight, so full of vigor and curiosity and joy and unweighted, for a time, by the drama and stresses of adult life.

Şahin liked to think his life was drama free but that was a fantasy. Having children around made life better for everyone. They were little bundles of love, even the ones with feisty and hard to handle attitudes. He doubted Xina would procure a third foal for him to act as a surrogate father to this season. To have Dia express her wish for another foal (and Şahin could only assume she meant with him, given how the conversation had gone and their own level of comfort and intimacy with one another) made him feel like he could leap through the sun and come out the other side unscathed.

He was full of light.