When Ava posed her question, Orhan could only stare blankly back at her for a few moments, unfathoming. Slipping in and out of the tongue he had learned from his dam came as naturally as breathing, and he often did not notice when he was doing it. Then realization kicked in, and his eyes widened in understanding.
“Oh, you mean yılan?” He shifted his weight and smiled sheepishly. “It’s the tongue my mother spoke in her homeland. She taught pieces of it to me when I was young. I’m sorry; sometimes I use it without realizing.” It intrigued him that she had chosen to ask that question rather than what the word itself had meant – evidently she had garnered his meaning from context. Maybe she is not completely soft in the head yet.
Then the little mare responded to the question he had given her, and the look on her face – though fleeting and subtle – was enough to make him wish he had not asked it at all. Averting his gaze guiltily, the stallion followed her line of sight out across the still silver surface of the oasis to watch the flies that danced above it.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He paused respectfully, and when he met her eye again there were lines on his face that belied his years. “I have my mother, but... she doesn’t live here any more.” Orhan fought to ignore the twisting sensation that gripped his gut. The memories were still raw, and he had no more desire to linger on them than Ava likely had to linger on her own estranged family. “I had a sire and grandsire too, but they both died before I was born. Now the mares that live here are my family.”
It struck him then that Ava must have lived a lonely existence – neither of them apparently had any real family left anymore, but at least he had his herd. Ava seemed to have no home, and no one left to keep her company in her old age. The longer he thought about that, the more his heart ached with sympathy.
His pale brown eyes gleamed with sudden emotion as he looked down at her. “You know, I... I don’t have much to offer, but... if you need a place to stay, Ava, you’re welcome to stay here. Even just for a little while.”
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