Meadow

The little mare beside him shivers as the breeze picks up and he shifts his stance to the windward side. He had done the same maneuver so many times it was practically second nature to utilize his larger frame to block the wind, and he is almost entirely through moving before it occurs to his conscious mind that she might not appreciate the gesture. He hadn't come close enough to touch her, nor really even to align them fully side by side as he might have with literally every other creature he'd done this to, but it did bring them noticeably closer than they had been before.

As if to soften the suddenness of his movement, he shifts back a step and clears his throat, and then cocks a hip to signal his lack of ill intent. Her answer gives him something to mull over in the wake of his movement and he considers it quietly in contrast to his own life experience. Solomon didn't necessarily consider himself dishonest, but he was well aware that he had bent or obscured or deflected the truth about himself in the past to give himself an advantage. Much of his meteoric rise to success on the islands could be attributed to carefully choosing what parts of himself to show to his companions.

Sometimes he could gain a better advantage by revealing his kingship and sometimes it was better to leave that particular piece of information to the side. Likewise, it was sometimes more helpful to pretend he didn't care, even when he cared far more than was advisable… like with Valka. He couldn't remember ever having liked to make himself seem bigger, but he was certain that he had at some point in his life.

"There's something to that," he admits, raising his gaze back to her with a thoughtful twist of his lips. "But is omission excusable in your eyes, or is it just as bad as an embellishment?" His head tilts inquisitively but he doesn't press if she doesn't wish to elaborate.

Their conversation rolls onward and she poses the next question, which gives him pause. In truth, Solomon had few friends. Even the other leaders that he counted as allies could only be loosely considered his friends. Most of his allies were born out of necessity, rather than any true sort of companionship, although some of them had grown into more with time. Even as a young stallion, Solomon's focus had been on growing his legacy, not on making friendships. Perhaps that was why he struggled to relate to other stallions and poured so much of his time into charming the fairer sex.

The realization made him uncomfortable, and he thought back to the stallions that he had considered his friends. Rougaru had betrayed him and abused his family and Ironclad had abandoned them all. In hindsight, neither of them had truly been his friend… but that didn't mean that he didn't have them. A memory - sharp as broken glass - of one of the trips he'd taken to the Ridge to look for Cicek flickered in his mind, tempered by the recollection of the gentle way that Faolain had been there. She - unlike Valka and Xiomara - had never carried his child or entertained his flirtations for more than a moment, but she still unequivocally held his trust.

That still didn't answer precisely what made her a good friend. Had he never flirted with her and Cicek on the Crossing, he might never have found himself in need of allying himself with the Ridge. Nor would it have set him on the path of breaking his family's long-held sexist traditions either.

"That's a hard question to answer," he said after a long moment of staring off into the distance while he considered. "Power doesn't lend itself to having many true friends." As if suddenly realizing how maudlin that sounded, a lopsided smile curled on his lips and he turned back to her. "But of the few that I've had… I guess to some degree it's consistency. I know that sounds pompous, but I've met far too many horses who act one way until you aren't looking, and then reveal their true colors."

Raising his gaze back to hers, he nods as he shoots a question back, his gaze shrewdly trying to read her reaction to everything that had happened so far. "Do you have many friends on the islands, Eden?"

Solomon