His call was answered soon enough by a buckskin stallion who was easily a decade younger than Şahin. The shining palomino came to an easy halt as the other male approached him and stood considering the situation in the few seconds it took for the other male to reach him. Here was a young stallion, likely ready to start a family and make a name for himself on the Islands, with his whole life ahead of him. And Şahin was standing in the way.

He was pleased to see a noticeable lack of aggression in the other male’s body language, but he could not stop his own ears from flicking back when the other stallion said his name. How the stranger knew it was a mystery to Şahin, for the other stallion’s scent was unfamiliar to him and as far as he was aware, Xina and Dia and Sylvia had all been at Paradise to take care of the children and other family business. He pushed his ears forward and gave his head a small shake. Maybe Mera had gone adventuring and invited the stallion back. It didn’t matter now.

“Were I younger, I’d imagine I would expend a great deal of energy and bravado trying to run you out of my home,” he said, and added a smile to the end of his words to indicate he was joking. Şahin was not interested in a battle. But a door had been opened to him, and he wanted to consider the possibility it represented as fully as he could before making any rash decisions. Perhaps he could use this stallion’s arrival as a sort of blessing in that regard. “But I am old enough now to admit I would likely be outmatched, this time. I have a family here.” Şahin exhaled slowly through his nostrils. “And children, still young. Most under a year. I won’t fight you for the right to call myself lead stallion of the Paradise. I seem to have lost that right voluntarily, if not unintentionally. But I would ask that my family and I be allowed to stay here, at least until the children have grown and can face the ocean with their own strength.” Sokka was not even weaned, he did not think. Şahin would not force any foal into the water until they could swim it.

If the stranger before him refused, Şahin would take his little family over to the next territory and seek asylum there. Failing that, he’d do what needed to be done to keep the children and mares safe.