My ears turned back as the mare smiled at me, and pinned fully as it pawed at the earth. I arched my neck and flattened my back hoof to even my weight in case the mare was threatening me. It didn’t look aggressive. I maintained my ready stance as it moved away and watched it approach a tree. As long as it did not leave my sight, I didn’t much care what it did. To be in my herd was to stay in a group, something I enforced with teeth and hoof.

Satisfied the mare wasn’t going to run off, I observed it scratching itself for a moment before I pushed my ears up and stared out into the woods. I thought of my Black, and of laying my teeth along its broad back to groom it. Once, in the Lagoon, I had permitted it to reciprocate. I let my thoughts slide into the memory and exhaled deeply as I glanced at the blanketed mare. It was done scratching and moved back to where it belonged, near me, where I could defend it immediately. I tipped an ear toward it as it moved closer, and pushed my ears down as it reached for me with its mouth. I felt teeth on my skin —weak, uncertain— and lunged at the mare with my own mouth, aiming to deliver a savage bite that would likely welt along the fine black flesh of its neck. Once I would have attacked with a frenzy, but this mare was so much smaller than the Black and I was older now, wiser in the ways of communicating. I did not follow it with a second bite, though I did snake my head out, jaw gaped and ready to do it again if the mare tried to bite me a second time.

My skin stung, but it was easily ignored. There had not been any force behind its attack, nothing like the tyrant’s vicious mouth. My body was littered with scars from the bastard. A little nip from the mare was nothing in comparison, but that did not mean I would tolerate it. I snorted and glanced away, always wary of my surroundings, and saw a large horse staring at us through the trees. Already tense from the brief altercation with the blanketed mare, I surged toward the intruder. It didn’t matter if it was a mare or a stallion, only that it was in my territory and it would be collected or driven off accordingly.

It was hard to charge through the trees, but I managed to cross the distance at a swift trot. A foal stood at the horse’s hip, and the female scent of them was one that calmed my territorial ire. The mare was easily my size and build, thicker than even the Black had been. I arched my neck and slowed as I rounded the pair of the mare on the opposite side of the foal. I had no interest in the filly, but I knew the mother would likely defend it if it felt threatened. A mare of this size could actually do some damage. I was careful as I pressed my muzzle to its hip and claimed it with a pinch of my teeth. I dropped my head and nipped at its heels to drive it forward and to the little grove where I had left the blanketed mare. This mare was mine now, and its daughter, too. I would not allow my herd to wander, solitary, through my territory. I kept the mares where I could see them, and where I could protect what was mine from predators or foolishly optimistic stallions.

There was no room for stragglers in my herd. We were a group, and I would punish any who strayed.