It was not at all what he had wanted to happen.

Seeing the mare swim angrily back to the Lagoon, defeat burning in her eyes, had been the last outcome he had wanted of the entire exchange… even though it was the one that personally benefitted him the most. That wild creature he'd found running on the beaches of Salem had no place here among the Lagoon men, and he'd tried to give her a way out. Rehoboam did know her well enough to understand why she had not taken his offer of freedom. He did not ask to keep the son indefinitely either, only long enough to let him see the Lagoon for what Rehoboam wanted it to eventually become.

If he could not change the heart of the Lagoon itself, he would work on changing the men that called it home.

Either way, the mare pretended to be deaf to his offer, and had instead snarled at him before charging back into the waves with no time for the colt to rest. Rehoboam had worried about him for the entire journey home; he could feel the exhaustion of an inter-island swim lapping at his muscles and he could only imagine how the two of them might feel. It was enough to make him regret following her at all.

Mere moments after making land shore, the Barb and her son had slunk away from him and back into the shadows, leaving the tobiano stallion to marinate in his guilt. He resolved to spend the rest of the fall watching over them - protecting them - until he could figure out some sort of solution. He even considered seeking out his father to fight on the mare's behalf, but the thought of telling Solomon where he was and why made him uneasy. If Solomon knew he was here, it would not be Shenzi that he would challenge for.

Lost in his thoughts, Rehoboam took to a sedate meandering pace after the wandering colt, his muzzle trailing over the ground as he worked out the answer to this problem. There had to be one somewhere. A way to give the mare her freedom without betraying the men he had just come to join.

Is that you? The voice startles him and he freezes in place, his gaze darting sharply in the direction of the sound. He knew the voice, even though he'd only heard it twice. He knew it because it ran circles through his thoughts through the sleepless nights. Sighing against the damp dirt, Rehoboam raised his head and answered, his jaw tight with a mix of emotions he could not untangle. "It is."

He moved quietly closer, his ears flicking uneasily back. "You uh, you made the swim back pretty good." Flicking his tail, Rehoboam's gaze lifted to the swampy depths behind him. "Your mom… she's okay?" He asked, his words still uneasy. Reh wouldn't put it past the ferocious mare to come bursting out of the darkness to punish him for stopping her desperate escape.