Orhan

Orhan watched as his daughter moved toward him and stopped short. He frowned at her failure to follow his command, and his eyes darted up to the bay stallion behind her, to ascertain that he was not about to take advantage of the situation and make any sudden moves. But the stranger was still: tense and readied, but still. Orhan's eyes dropped back down to his daughter, his heart thumping in his chest. He resisted the urge to physically shove her behind him. No matter how strong his instinct to protect her was, he did not want to shame himself or his daughter, especially in front of a stranger, by making a scene. Orhan had never considered himself a harsh horse, and he did not want to give himself that reputation now.

So he listened to Indira instead. He could see how terrified his daughter was, standing before him and attempting to calmly diffuse the situation with her own explanation of what had happened. His heart swelled with love for her. When the name Gabbar left her lips, his eyes darted up to the stallion again, and all at once he saw him in a new light. He saw the stallion's delicate Arabian build; he smelled the familiar musk he had scented on the breeze so many times in the past. He heard the voice that he had never heard before, but had imagined in his head many times. At last, they were meeting face-to-face. Orhan would have preferred that they had met in different circumstances, but there was nothing to be done about that now. Fate always had its own ideas.

After a brief pause in which he mulled over the situation, Orhan stepped forward and ran his muzzle lightly over his daughter's body, pressing her here and there with his snout in the appearance of affection, when really he was making certain there was no evidence that she had been touched or hurt by Gabbar. When he was satisfied that she was okay, he lowered his nose to Indira's ear and whispered, "There's someone you should meet. Why don't you go say hello?" The buckskin stallion lifted his head and looked pointedly back at Arcana and Evren. The newborn filly was indifferent to the situation at hand and was nursing greedily. Orhan smiled gently, and felt his heartbeat returning to normal. Everything would be all right.

He turned back to Gabbar and took a few steps closer. He made an effort to relax his stance, lowering the carriage of his head and pricking his ears forward, and dipped his head briefly in apology. "Gabbar. I'm sorry. I should have recognized your scent; we've lived as neighbors for so long. I'm sure you know already, but I'm Orhan. Thank you for returning my daughter in one piece. Arcana and I were... otherwise occupied, as you can see, and weren't aware that she had wandered off." He motioned to the mare and foal, but he was sure it was already clear, from the presence of a newborn and their dishevelled states, what sort of day they'd had. Orhan exhaled deeply and regarded Gabbar with curious brown eyes.

"It's good to meet you at last. I'd been meaning to come by for some time, but never got around to it. Life always got in the way."