Orhan

Orhan's posture was relaxed as he stood in the shade. His head was low, one hind hoof was cocked, and his bottom lip drooped lazily. Beside him, his youngest daughter was anything but relaxed. The bay tobiano filly did not seem to feel the heat as she pranced and reared, shoving her weight against Orhan's barrel and nibbling his skin with blunt teeth. "Play with me, Papa," she insisted, and though her young voice tugged at his heartstrings, the stallion could not bring himself to wrestle with his daughter for the third time in a day. It was too hot, and he was too tired.

"Why don't you go play with your sister? You haven't bothered her yet today," Orhan said, angling his head ever so slightly to look at Evren. Her dark eyes were bright and wild, and her tiny nostrils fluttered with quick breaths. For a moment father and daughter regarded each other in a silent battle of wits, until the filly conceded with a melodramatic sigh. "Okay," she said, and trotted away to find Indira with her white-streaked tail high. Orhan watched her go with his lips tugging in a faint smile of amusement. He knew Evren loved her sister, but their time together always left her under-stimulated. Evren was a wildfire in a filly's body, and was always looking for something bigger and better to challenge her.

Moments after his daughter disappeared into the foliage, a strange scent caught Orhan's nostrils. He lifted his head and tested the air, breathing the scent in deeply to decipher it. When he realized it was a stallion's musk, he straightened and passed his gaze over the oasis to locate his family. He could see the mares and fillies grouped loosely together on the opposite shore, looking peaceful and unaware of the situation. Koray was nowhere to be seen, but he had not seen his grown son all day, and this scent belonged to someone else altogether. It was time to investigate.

The stallion moved slowly at first, testing his weight on his front left leg to see whether his old injury had decided to play up today. Thankfully, he felt no pain, only a slight stiffness, and so he picked up his pace to a brisk trot. Orhan quickly crested the large hill that overlooked the oasis, and almost immediately he saw the intruder, a figure gleaming copper in the sun. He wasted no time in descending and approaching the stranger across the wide stretch of sand, his tail held high and his ears forward. Though his heart hammered in his chest with instinctive suspicion, he made no move to show the stallion any aggression. Something about this stranger was oddly familiar and Orhan sensed that he would not be a threat.

"Hello," he said finally, coming to a halt a few strides away and regarding the chestnut stallion with a curious expression. "What brings you to my home?"