"Thanks, I guess." He says with a soft chuckle. He isn't quite sure how to receive Cae's compliment, having never really been complimented before. They continue walking, and Dixon wonders if she really thinks it's beautiful here, and if she's truly comfortable, being here with him. He knows she's in a strange place, with a strange man, and that would put anyone on edge. "You know you're safe, right?" He turns to look at her as he walks. "The lagoon might be full of cruel, sex-driven men, but I won't let them lay a hoof on you."

It is then that there is a rustling in the bushes nearby, and Dixon jolts forward, angling himself so his shoulder is pressing against Cae's chest. He watches as a pale stallion emerges from the underbrush, blue eyes focused directly on Cae. He certainly was not a stallion of the lagoon, so Dixon surmises that he must be Cae's keeper. Whatever his name was, the black stallion felt annoyed and angered by his presence. Had he followed her here? Had he been following her since their meeting in the commons? He must have some mean insecurities if that was the case. Dixon glares at the stallion as he speaks to Cae, his tone vicious and condescending.

"That ain't no way to talk to a lady." Dixon says venemously, pressing himself closer to Cae. The stallion speaks again, and Dixon only grows more annoyed. "Her what?" He demands harshly, dark eyes hardening as he stares down the pale-coated stallion. "Her soulmate?" He says mockingly, scoffing as his eyes roll in their sockets. "Yeah, right. Sure seems like it. You ain't even care about her enough to make sure she's safe where she's supposed to be. And the way you talk to her? No soulmate would talk that way to someone they supposedly love." He glances towards Cae. "'Sides," he continues. "If you were her soulmate," his face twists into a sneer at the word, as if it tastes disgusting upon his tongue, "Why would she be out gallavantin' 'round with other men and not cozied up with you in the Forest, huh?" He smirks triumphantly to himself. For some reason, the presence of this stallion only served to anger him further. He felt the desire to rub it in his face, like salt in an open wound - the fact that Cae was with him, here in the Lagoon, and not where she was "supposed" to be.

The stallion seems to relax a little, but Dixon remains on edge, ears pinned back into his dishevelled mane. He doesn't give Lyden his name, doesn't bother to introduce himself. When Lyden speaks again to Cae, Dixon snorts harshly, interjecting before she has a chance to respond for herself. "She's here 'cause I invited her." He says, his tone still sour. "Seemed to me like she was tired of being holed up in the Forest all the time." He says, glancing briefly towards the pale mare next to him, wondering how she was going to go about all this. Would she stay with him, in the lagoon? Or would she be the obedient woman she was "supposed" to be and follow Lyden back to the Forest? It was all up to her now.