The appearance of his mother was not so much surprising as it was unexpected, and Orhan felt his nerves come alight like fire as he jerked sideways, out of the range of his mother’s snapping teeth. The curse she screamed he did not recognize, for he had never heard such foul language in his life, yet the pure venom in her voice was impossible to miss. Ears flicking frantically atop his head, Orhan could do nothing but stand back and watch with confusion as the stranger dodged and replied in his mother’s own tongue [with only a couple words he understood]. His animosity towards the tall bay stallion had dissipated like a cloud of smoke; he now felt half a boy again as he stood there helplessly, trying to make sense of the situation.
His mother’s rage was understandable; he had seen her react in very similar ways to intruding stallions before. Yet there was something... off about her. It was the first time he had seen her since her short absence, and now, what with their exchange of words in her tongue, he began to wonder just what had happened to her while she’d been gone, and whether this stallion had somehow been involved. Still he did not register that the stranger was one of the dreaded ‘Tekes his mother had warned him about so many times, else he might have understood instantly what was happening and felt more shame for needing his mother to do his purebred-displacing for him.
When the stranger resumed speaking in the islanders’ common tongue and made eye contact with him again, Orhan made an attempt to regain some dignity by straightening his stance and hardening his expression. Uncertain how to respond, however, he soon let his dark eyes flit back to the trembling black silhouette that was his mother and wondered again what was wrong with her, why she seemed so shaken and disturbed. He thought about saying something to her, reaching out to her, but remembered that whatever he said, the stranger would understand.
Finally he asked the most pressing question on his mind. “Do you two know each other?”
|
