ORHAN
When the breeze brought him the scent, Orhan tensed. He looked westward, toward the border his herd shared with the Dunes, and attempted to calculate how long it had been since he had seen Valve. He had almost forgotten her promise to visit when the seasons turned; the changes in Salem's climate were so subtle that Orhan often did not notice summer was over until the winter floods had arrived. Time had moved fast since he'd returned home.
Beside him, he felt the bulk of his son tense as well. Koray had caught the scent too. Orhan side-eyed the taller, paler stallion and picked his next words carefully. "That will be Valve, making good on her promise. I think it may be best if I see her alo--"
Koray was already gone, trotting ahead and leaving his father in the dust. Orhan's heart leapt into his mouth. The few conversations he'd tried to initiate regarding the Desert's relationship with other herd lands had proven unproductive, and alarmingly so. When Orhan had informed his son that he'd succeeded in fostering an alliance with their neighbors, Koray had only snorted and said, "No alliances." When Orhan had tried to coerce him into reconsidering, his son had merely reminded him that it was he who had looked after the Desert in the months Orhan had been away. It was he who the islands knew as the Desert's ruler now. Orhan could only imagine that Koray thought Valve should see him in the flesh, so that she began to see him as the leader rather than Orhan.
The buckskin stallion mentally cursed the gods and awkwardly scurried to keep up with his son, doing his best to minimize his limp. It was not long before the dark silhouette of the Akhal-Teke mare appeared, stark against the gold backdrop of the distant Dunes, and to his surprise Orhan saw that she was not alone. Beside her was a small, fine-boned golden mare who almost blended into her surroundings.
While Orhan racked his mind as to whom she could be, he carefully watched Koray out of the corner of his eye. The perlino stallion approached the mares with a high, haughty head and twisted-back ears, his green eyes solemn and unfriendly. He said nothing, but for this Orhan was grateful; it was best if he did most of the talking rather than Koray.
Orhan offered the two mares a polite smile and bobbed his head. Valve looked healthy and composed as usual; the mare beside her looked a little worse for the wear, however, and it took all of Orhan's self-control not to stare at her disfigured ear. It intrigued him that Valve kept the company of such a mare. She had always struck him as the sort who might prefer to surround herself with fit and able-bodied horses like her, which is why he was glad that he was in somewhat better condition than when they had last met.
"Hello, Valve. Good to see you again. This is my son, Koray. Who is this you've brought with you?"
ARABIAN/AKHAL-TEKE/MUSTANG; 15’1HH; BUCKSKIN; 12 |