Perhaps Işıksız's assumptions were correct. Perhaps Rehoboam was overreacting to a threat that was neither justified nor real. Perhaps it was a control issue, rather than the instinct to protect, that led him to issue his ultimatum. And perhaps the sooty stallion's version of chaos is all talk and no bite. Or, perhaps he was inventing an opponent when there was nothing there for him to oppose. Maybe he was just looking for a fight after being unable to stop Frey and Bellona from staying in the Lagoon.

But perhaps he was not.

Perhaps he was proactively stating his stake in the health and wellbeing of those he considered his to protect. Perhaps he was saving the soot-colored stranger from a fate worse than a midnight scuffle. And perhaps he was doing what he could to impress upon this shadowy stranger that no matter what sort of life he aimed to lead, nothing came without consequences.

Their clash is short - hardly more than a few seconds long - and yet they both come out of it breathing hard. Rehoboam lands heavily in the freshly fallen snow but tries to ready himself for what he assumes will be another attack from the sooty stranger. Given that the tobiano had not instigated this altercation beyond a verbal warning, it was almost satisfying to see Işık be the one to step away from the fight that he had started. Neither one of them had come out of it unscathed, but it was Rehoboam whose hooves remained planted near to where they had started, and Işık who had been forced to yield.

He stood still, with blood creeping slowly from the mouth-shaped scrape over his jaw toward his muzzle, the liquid too cold to flow and yet too warm to freeze. He'd been lucky. If Işıksız had managed to grasp onto his throat, it was very likely that their scuffle would have ended in a much different fashion.

But it hadn't and so the Marauder watched quietly as the newcomer opened his mouth as if to speak and then turned to walk away, and said nothing. His point had been made.