The man had been wise to step away as Vercingetorix greeted him with teeth and hooves. The distance that had been acquired between the mare and the stallion was more than agreeable, and the red dun could finish his bristling and pay more attention to the mare.

He could easily see that she was heavily pregnant, another one of the unfortunate ladies that had been forgotten by their previous lover. Vercingetorix knows that she must belong here, for she owns a heady scent full of pine needles and wet leaves, like she had been in hiding in the belly of the forest for quite some time before she had wandered out. This he respects, knowing that a pregnant woman had more reason to defend herself and stay out of sight. The rest stallion had not wanted to keep the women in the forest living in fear, for it was his responsibility to keep them safe and out of harms way- the very sort of rhetorical harm that the strange stallion had brought with him when he had stepped across the border and into the red dun's home.

The grey mare's lips brush against Vercingetorix's shoulder briefly in greeting, and he calms himself as best he can, still keeping a tentative eye on the now wary stallion standing amongst the trees not to far from himself and dappled girl. “Yes, I am.” He answers her with his soft, quiet voice, so different from the booming yell that had been directed at the trespasser- he has no reason to harm or intimidate this woman, and so stands still and patient whilst Yscha speaks. Flicking one ear towards the grullo, the red stallion nods his head slightly in reply to the mare's words, speaking up once she had finished. “You are welcome to stay as long as you like, Yscha.” Then he is back to the matter at hand.

As the stranger starts to make his way back towards Vercingetorix and Yscha, the red dun turns back to him, heading his head with teeth that are prepared to snap at skin and ears that are pressed back as far as they go. These are just the warning signs- they he best keep his distance until he has justified his reasons for being here.

No one across the islands would know that the red dun had all the reasons in the world to be hostile towards other stallions, thanks to his own experiences with his own sex. Naturally and strangely, he found himself more protective over women that were swollen in the hips due to their unborn children that he was determined not to leave motherless. Perhaps this would explain his easy comfort with virgins or mares that were not currently carrying.

Any matter, he is disquieted at the appearance of another male in his home.

Cocking ears forwards ever so slightly to listen to what the intruder had to say. The concept of 'herd business' is almost lost on him, and he has no idea what another male could possibly want in his herd except that he might be searching for a home to stay in (Vercingetorix had no interest in sacrificing a fraction of his land to a mere passer-by) or to make off with one of the women currently residing here (another concept that made the red dun almost spit at the idea). He could think of almost no reason for the black dun to be here, except the above two. “So what do you want?” He almost spits the words, still not wanting to relax his defensive position until he was entirely certain that the stallion posed no threat to Yscha and her herdmates.