Strangely, as they conversed he began to find her lip-reading infectious, and caught himself once or twice watching the way her mouth moved rather than meeting her eyes. It was difficult to make out her words from shape alone in the darkness, and he was just marvelling that she did a remarkable job of holding a conversation and speaking coherently when her words were cut off by a sudden, dramatic sneeze. Somehow, this made her all the more likeable to him, and he found himself smiling as she continued on.
At the word 'perfect', however, Orhan's expression faltered and turned solemn again. The desert was a hard place, and he did not believe in romanticizing it. Carisa already looked like she was built for cooler climes; he could only hope that she knew what she was getting into. Else she's in for a rude awakening.
When their noses brushed, he started at the sudden contact, having been lost in his thoughts, but he did not pull away. Warmth spread across his cheeks as the taller mare stared at him intensely while not breaking the physical contact between them. "Of course," he said quietly, and nodded his head in case she was unable to 'hear' him from such close proximity.
Soon enough his discomfort from such intimacy with a complete stranger took over, however, and Orhan stepped backwards and to the side, his eyes darting about the oasis and avoiding direct contact with Carisa. "We should get some rest. You can meet the herd in the morning."
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