Orhan

It was a lot to take in.

Not that her pregnancy was a surprise, mind: quite the opposite. It was the fact that she had finally broached the topic. No longer was it an unspoken understanding they both shared, or a pretend secret; now it was out in the open, and Orhan no longer needed to feel that he was forbidden from bringing it up for whatever reason.

What's more, it was hard to fathom the insinuation that something should happen to their unborn child... or that losing a child was something Arcana had been through before. Orhan lifted his head and tensed, trying his best to suppress his feelings of surprise and jealousy from showing on his face. It was unrealistic to expect Arcana to have saved herself for him all this time, and Orhan knew that. Rationally, it made sense that she would have found happiness with someone else.

He hated that he could not help but feel such envy. This was not about him, after all.

Even so, his thoughts turned to Izzy and El Aran: two of the most important horses in his life whom, in the end, he had been unable to protect.

Orhan closed his eyes and pressed his body against Arcana's. A deep, trembling sigh escaped from him. Part of him wanted nothing more than to empathize with the mare and tell her that he, too, had lost a child - that he knew what it was like. But, he suspected, that was likely not what Arcana wanted to hear right now. She wanted reassurance, and he would give it to her.

"I will be the happiest horse in the world when our child is born," he murmured into her shoulder. "And I would sooner walk into the sea than let that happiness be taken away. Whatever sadness you have been through..."

He lifted his head and touched her jawline, gentle as a breeze. "I will do my best to help you get past it. We'll make up for all the years we were apart."

A soft smile flitted across his lips, then disappeared. Unspoken words burned in his heart.