Rehoboam's dusky lips pressed into a frown at Nahawi's dismissive view of the Peak, but he didn't seek to interrupt him. Not all of the Peak mares were like that, but it was likely some of them were. Likely some of them had good reason to believe so as well, given what men like Cullen and Aranck were capable of. Given what he had once done in the name of the Lagoon.

"And you know for certain that no one near your mysterious friend will teach her the same?" He asked, fully aware he was playing devil's advocate to a man already stretched thin by worry and stress. "That men are dangerous is not an opinion restricted to the Peak."

Rehoboam let that thought simmer for a long moment before he finally answered Nahawi's actual question, his voice quieter and thoughtful. "I couldn't tell you whether it is wise or not. I do not know your friend, nor who leads the Forest, nor even who else rules the rest of the island." He made a soft noise somewhere between a hum and a huff and then decided to trust Nahawi... just a little. He had never before spoken of Osiris to anyone, and to do so now felt blasphemous, but she was out of the Lagoon's reach... or, well, as much as anyone on the islands was out of the Lagoon's reach. "I kept my daughter on the Crossing when she was small because I couldn't bear to be parted from her again and I stayed awake more nights than not out of worry. I did not take her to the Peak because I had missed her first months and did not want to miss the rest... and now that I am older, I wonder what else could have been if I'd not been so selfish with her."

His dark tail flicked at his hocks briefly and he considered the red dun before him contemplatively. "She might have made friends that would have been more willing to speak to us, moreso than the last time Tyr and I tried. She would have learned to protect herself, while having the autonomy to learn to be a leader - if she wanted, to challenge and defend as a lead might do." His jaw clenched for a moment and his gaze slipped far away, wondering if the children that Shenzi and Nyimara and Titania had carried had fared well without him before jumping back to the Boss. "But hindsight doesn't change what happened, nor can I say the same thing would happen for your child. The Forest might be a perfectly lovely place for a child to grow up, I wouldn't know."

Huffing a soft, rueful laugh, Rehoboam rocked his weight back onto his hinds. "Welcome to fatherhood, a non-stop gauntlet of hard decisions."

StallionMutt15.2hGrullo TobianoSolomon x Keres