Falls

El Aran’s brow furrowed, and her ears tipped back as she tried to wrap her head around what Taytim said, when suddenly she recalled where else she had seen such careless confidence before. "You are as arrogant as Iftikhar," she said, jerking her head up and pointing her ears out in surprise. The red Arabian would tell the Gods “No,” and do it with her head held high, staunchly prepared to set her hooves against a deity. It was a terrifying thing to witness, a mortal unafraid to do battle with the Gods. Such a horse had no concept of limitations. They broke barriers of all kinds in whatever manner they deemed best, and were not saddled with something as trivial as a conscience. They answered to no one but themselves, just as the Gods did, and El Aran sent a brief prayer of thanks to Aşk for allowing the black mare to have lived her life without coming into combat with Iftikhar. That was a fight the seer did not think she would win.

Taytim, however, did not frighten El Aran. Arrogant might not be the right word to describe what she was trying to say: Taytim did not carry herself with an air of superiority or speak to El Aran as if the black mare was as unsavory as shit on the bottom of one’s hoof, but “arrogant” did encompass El Aran’s impression of a mortal claiming equality with the Gods— an impossible thing, something only the truly arrogant would think to be true. It was hubris of the highest degree.

It had not been her intent to give insult, and so El Aran pointed her ears at her companion, prepared to amend her statement, and found herself asking Taytim another question instead. "How do you define the Gods? I do not think that you and I share the same idea as to what divinity is.” She paused, rested the tip of one forehoof on the ground and listened to the song of the waterfall as she considered her next words carefully. "It is like this," she said as she lifted her head to meet Taytim’s eyes. "The Gods created the horses who walk the Earth. Without Them, we would not exist, and we exist because They want us to. As mortals, we cannot do all that the Gods can do. And as the creations of the Gods, we are Theirs. You claim equality with a God, but as a mortal who would not even be here were it not for the divine, it is impossible for you —or any mortal— to claim equality with Them. Do you see now?"