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The male’s face seemed frozen in its confused expression. There was no inkling of the understanding she so desired, but still she held onto a tiny shred of hope. Why, she did not know. Logically, she should wish to be rid of humans. Though the last humans she stayed with had rehabilitated her, trimmed her feet again, and gently groomed her, even they had put the cold metal in her mouth. Even the Kind Ones had let her down in a way, when she was taken from them. Another wave of sadness swept over her at the memory.

The painted mare perked up when he responded, thinking that perhaps he had come to his senses. She was quickly disappointed by his words. He had never seen a human, or anything that looked like one. This was reasonable. Not many other creatures resembled humans. All the same, her ears fell back – not in anger, but in frustration. It seemed she would be unable to make him understand. ”Oh,” she said, her voice falling to its initial softness once again. ”I see.”

As she waited, she looked around her once more. There were no fences, no buildings, no signs of anything remotely related to people. If she inhaled, there was no scent of them either, nor their fires they used to keep warm. No barking dogs warned her of their closeness, and as she turned back to her acquaintance she saw no marks of humans on him, either. Regretfully, she admitted to herself that he was telling the truth.

The buckskin asked his own questions then, which hit a nerve and seemed to be almost an accusation. She lowered her eyes and sighed, her skin taut over her ribs as the mist of breath escaped her nostrils with a barely audible snort. ”You act as though I know nothing. Since I escaped, I imagine I’ve lived much like you do. Before that, the humans cared for me. It is not so strange as you might think.” She paused. Should she share the more deplorable side of the humans? It wouldn’t hurt to hint at it. ”As you may guess, some are not so gentle or caring with the task they have been given.”