Orhan looked confused by her words, although he did not comment on them. Ava was not offended, however, nor even slightly perturbed in any way. She did not expect him to understand – he was still young and strong and no doubt he had many friends and family to keep him anchored and satisfied. Ava, on the other hand, had no one to hold her back and, since she didn’t know how much time she had left, she had to take advantage of that sad fact. Instead of lingering on that idea, Orhan changed the subject then and Ava was glad of the distraction. Her pretty face contorted momentarily into a curious frown as another unfamiliar word slipped from the stallion’s lips. Yýlan? What did that mean? Snake, presumably, but it was not a word from the islands’ common language, that much was for sure. Nevertheless, she let her confusion melt into a bright smile again at his kind words. “Thank you,” she replied, her tone earnest. She paused for just a moment, trying to decide whether he question was appropriate or not. “If you don’t mind me asking, what tongue is that? It’s so unusual...” she trailed off, her green eyes watching him with interest. The attention was turned back to herself then, however, and Ava hesitated momentarily before she answered Orhan’s question. His prompting conjured up many faces in the back of her mind, many of them painful to think of. Oh how she wished she could gather all of her children around her and hold them close – she missed them all so, and she didn’t even know where they were. Taking a moment to swallow, she ensured that her voice would not crack as she spoke. “I used to,” she replied, looking away across the still water for a second. “I used to have friends and family on just about every island, but they don’t live here anymore.” Some of them don’t live at all, she thought. “What about you, Orhan?” she enquired, trying to brighten her tone again as she turned her face back to him with a small smile. |