Orhan

The worst of the desert summer had passed. Gone were the days when it was too hot to move; gone were the days Orhan looked at the shrinking banks of the oasis and worried, as he did each year, that he might have to move the herd to another watering hole. But gone also was the feverish veil of elation that had lain over him the past few months: well, perhaps not gone completely, but diminished. With the cooler weather came clarity of mind for the stallion. He felt as though he were thinking clearly for the first time in too long.

And something unsettled him. It unsettled him so much, in fact, that he woke in the middle of the night one night, sweating and heart racing. The oasis was quiet; the sky was a predictable canvas of black overhead. His family was likely sound asleep nearby. All should have been well, but in his gut lingered an unpleasant feeling, and he suddenly knew the exact cause.

In theory, he had no reason to be dissatisfied. Orhan was happier than perhaps he had ever been, with a small herd of mares he cared for deeply and two precious daughters. When he was not patrolling his home's borders (which he did infrequently anyway, for he had not come across any intruders in his home for a long time), Orhan was spending quality time with his family. He did his best to spend an equal amount of time with Arcana and Carisa (for while Arcana had the ability to make him feel light-headed with passion, they were both mothers of his children), and when foalsitting duties fell to him, he taught Feray and Indira all there was to living in the desert, until there was no more left to tell. One day soon, he had once promised, he would take them to the beach. Perhaps they would even make a family day of it.

The word 'family' made his heart hurt, though, for it turned his thoughts to Koray. Without a word, his son had disappeared the day Carisa introduced Feray to the herd. It was inevitable, and not a complete shock - for Orhan had made it clear to his son that there was no room for him here while Yusuf was his second - but when Carisa had bargained for him to let Koray stay until after Feray was born, Orhan had not thought Koray would take this so literally. He had expected a fight, or at least expected his son to draw out his stay for as long as he could get away with. But instead, Koray simply left, without offering so much as a goodbye.

But Yusuf had disappeared recently too, and now Orhan realized what a fool he had been. His first and only son was gone, their relationship damaged possibly beyond repair, and he had no second. Neither could he leave to search for Koray and offer him the position he had once denied him either; it would have been irresponsible with his herd so small and his young daughters running around. He would simply have to wait, and hope something drew his son back to his rightful home, and that he would not hold too much of a grudge over the whole affair.

Orhan closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.