He does not flinch when Valve confirms his folly. He feels, instead, the hard tangle in his gut loosen a trifle as the Akhal-Teke tells him exactly where they stand together— and his heart lifts, a bit, for she does not reject him. Trust eroded but not broken can be more easily built upon. Gabbar will mend this.

"Of course," he says. There is little he can say that will convince her —at this time— that he has corrected his erroneous thinking. His actions will reinforce her trust in him, but even that will take time. The stallion is prepared to work to earn his way back into Valve’s favor. He almost relishes the challenge that presents: it gives him a goal to focus on, something that will take energy and care to develop as he corrects his mistake.

The conversation turns, as it should, to the bachelors who invaded the Dunes. Only now does Gabbar relax his eye-contact with Valve as he turns his dished head toward a far dune and frowns. "That buckskin came years ago, representing the Lagoon. He knew I was new to Salem and claimed to extend an offer of peace, but threatened enmity if I failed to accept. Of course I did not accept it." Such tyranny is exactly what Gabbar will fight against, and never again for. He meets Valve’s gaze again. "He sounded like a bully bluffing, and I gave it no more thought once he left. At the time it was only we two in the Dunes, and I knew we could handle ourselves. I did not think he would hold such a petty grudge for so long." Gabbar is not surprised now, though. Did not Iftikhar do the same thing? Hang on to all slights, whether real or imagined, and force others to suffer for existing in ways that displeased her?

These Isles are unlike home, but the horses within them, he is discovering, are fully capable of the same shortcomings of the Purebreds in the desert. He will take care not to underestimate any others again.