Trapped by a sense of obligation, Rehoboam's eyes do not waver from the blood bay colt and his too-honest eyes. Both of them are awkward and unsure, tripping over their intentions and avoiding eye contact. It gives him a sort of relief that he immediately ridicules himself for. Imagine that - he, a brand new Lagoon stallion - feeling relieved that a weanling colt was not expecting too much of him. It sent his dark lips pressing into a thin line that did little to hide his nerves.

When the colt spoke again, his words were old beyond his years and Rehoboam found his ears pricking forward to listen. It felt like a prophecy from the boy's mouth, and Reh once again felt as though he had intervened in something far greater than himself… and something that he should have stayed far away from. The words fall quiet as both boys grow thoughtful, but the silence grows too heavy for the grullo to bear. "You have to be strong to survive here," he says quietly, his thoughts roving through the stories he'd heard of this place. The longer he stayed here, the more his father's cautionary tales proved to have truth woven through them.

She's just angry. Azizi offers and a soft, sardonic chuckle slips from Reh's lips. He had gathered that much already. The young boy's clarification that the world was the problem, not anything that the young tobiano did specifically, does not sway Rehoboam. He'd seen the hate reflected in her wild, untrusting eyes and knew that if she'd felt as though she had an opportunity, he would not have seen the light of this morning. Again, his almost-mother rises to his thoughts and he wonders if Banshee would have reacted similarly if someone had tried to stifle her freedom. She had already proven herself more than capable, and would not have hesitated to protect her children with any means necessary.

Sometimes she smiles for me, the bay offers, hope flickering to life in his eyes. Reh wasn't sure what he was supposed to take from the statement, but he nodded all the same. Even monsters smiled sometimes, but it did not make them any less beastial. Still, it made him hope that perhaps Shenzi was at least a more doting mother than she appeared to be on the surface.

Thankfully the topic moves away from the boy's mother, and his request offers a reprieve from the awkwardness of their situation. As Azizi explains his problem finding water, Reh chuckles warmly and nods his assent. It hadn't been easy for him to find either, and it wasn't until his fourth day (and after returning from his third trip to the Falls) that someone took pity on him to show him the way. "It took me a while to find it too," he assures the colt, although he isn't sure why he bothers to try and make him more comfortable. A habit from long days spent with his baby siblings perhaps, that refuses to die even in these surroundings.

They are not far from the small hill with the spring that bubbled up from deep within the earth, although calling it a hill was being generous. It sat just barely above the water level and was prone to becoming flooded with seawater when the tide pulled in too high. For now, though, it was still fresh and shaded by a thicket of opportunistic plants that grew over the small pool. Rehoboam led his young charge to the water and peeled back the tangled branches to allow access to the shallow depression. "Just here."

"It's not the best," he says as a way to pass time, uncomfortable with their sudden nearness. It reminded him poignantly of home and he swallowed hard. "The Cove has the best water. Way up in the mountain its fresh and cold because its melting from the snow. Even in the summer, it's still chilled." A half-smile ghosts across his lips. "This is the closest I've found."

He steps back when it seems as though the colt has finished drinking and settles a more comfortable distance away, his gaze skirting off to the side. He was curious about the two of them, although he was more surprised at why she had refused his offer in the first place. Granted, it had been a hasty offer on his part, but it would have allowed them both to leave. Now, they were both stuck here, and Rehoboam couldn't think of a worse place for a mare with a foal to be.

"Why did she say no when I offered her her freedom?" He questioned with a twist in his brow, his gaze suddenly intense. "I don't understand." He shook his head, doubt creeping in. "Then again, not much in here makes sense at all." Like why they had no purpose here, no training or goals or aspirations. Just men that wanted to live without laws.