"Only a year?" Orhan swallowed against a wave of embarrassment and tilted his chin downward slightly to indicate his humility. The Arabian mare's expression was calm, but he did not doubt his comment had offended her. I spent just as much time away on the continent.
Standing stiffly, he watched the mare wade through the greenery to emerge on the banks of the oasis. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. The sense that he had spoken too much weighed heavily on his shoulders, yet he could not help but feel the need to speak more, to explain why he was so quick to make assumptions about anyone who romanticized his desert.
After a moment of gawking, he followed her.
The stallion pulled up on her left side a respectful distance away and resisted the urge to side-eye her as their heads hung level over the water. Yet he hardly tasted the water as it slid down his throat. As soon as the mare had slaked her thirst, he too raised his head and angled his lean body toward her. What poured from her mouth then was a monologue which stirred something within him while also making him feel as though he had been shrunken on the spot: as if he was a colt again, and not a lead stallion taller than the stranger who stood before him. She speaks like a leader, he mused, and felt all the more foolish for his previous remarks.
"I am sorry if I offended you; I did not mean to assume that you are ignorant. Of course you may stay here as long as you wish. We are always in need of more pairs of eyes." It was slightly unnerving holding her gaze, but he managed it all the same, knowing that to lower his eyes in front of this mare like a child would likely not help her opinion of him. Gently, he smiled. "Ben Orhan duyuyorum, by the way."
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