The stallion’s words are calm but there’s still something about him that gives Izizel the impression that he’s on edge. She wonders if he’s having problems with someone - perhaps the leader of another territory is messing with a member of his herd. She knows that if anyone had tried anything with her mother, her father would have been on the warpath.

Her admiration of her father had made her decide at an early age that she’d wanted to be in the position one day of being a defender, a protector. She’d never gotten the chance to tell her family that she’d wanted to join her father as a member of the queensguard. She’s sure that Mariael wouldn’t have turned her down.

”I’m sorry,” she repeats. ”Next time, I’ll be sure to wait and let you know I’m here.”

She decides not to point out that a mare could be just as dangerous if she were to come with ill intent. He may be one of those stallions who prefers not to fight with females, and who is she to judge how he rules? She has to keep reminding herself that her family had given up any claim on the bay and how it is managed.

Izizel bobs her gold head in contemplation of how recently he’d settled here. ”It gets colder here than anywhere else on the islands. You’ll want to have suitable shelter for your family, especially your youngest foals. This place can be dangerous in winter.”

She doesn’t know if offering advice will upset Liland, but she can’t in good conscience let him go into his first winter in the bay unprepared. Tinuvel is brutal to those who don’t know what they’re in for.