“Yok!” El Aran woke with a jolt, the word flinging itself unbidden from her lips, and she lay trembling as the last sticky bits of nightmare loosed from her mind and faded. The rock wall at her back was warm from her own body heat and there was a small breeze today. It cooled the sweat that lathered her black body and gave it the sheen she had never inherited from her Akhal-Teke genes. The oasis held no foreign horses (or any at all that she could see) and El Aran rose on unsteady legs. She longed to set out at once for the other parts of her territory but right now she was in no condition to trek across the sands. Even on a good day it would have been unforgivably stupid to cross the hot sands on en empty stomach.

“Aşk, teşekkür ederim. Give me strength, for this day I walk for you.” The black mare inhaled deeply and shook the length of her body, an intentional shivering of her coat meant to enliven her and buoy her state of mind. She needed to be clear-headed and confident today. It was unacceptable that she had come so close to succumbing to her fear yesterday in the presence of a hated Purebred, but that could not be helped. She must move forward.

El Aran dropped her head to the grasses that grew under the shady trees of the main oasis and grazed. It was slow going at first, but as her energy rose her hunger awakened, and soon she was eating quickly and with purpose. It was typical of the mare to pull three or four mouthfuls out of the ground and raise her head to survey the surrounding area as she chewed, but today her movements were even shorter. Every two bites she lifted her slightly-dished face, and her ears moved constantly to pick up the noises around her and in the distance. El Aran would not be caught unawares. Her wariness had grown overnight, her vigilance grown to a near-constant thing.

As soon as her belly was reasonably full she would set out.