For the first time in as many days as Rehoboam can remember, he wants to run from his problems. The moment his last foot lands, he freezes warily in place, his ears tucking back beneath the inky tangle of his mane. Like two wary combatants they stare each other down, as if afraid to show the slightest sign of weakness, lest their opponent leap upon it and steal the advantage. He wouldn't put it past her to mistake the lifting of his head for an invitation to crush his windpipe between her jaws, nor for her to take his words and twist them for use against him later.

Although that, he thought ruefully, would require her to listen to him in the first place.

For once the boy recognizes the bait for what it was, and holds his tongue. He'd heard plenty about his 'brothers' and had said all of it and more himself when he had been younger and more idealistic. As a child, he'd swore that he could never be a dirty old Lagoonie, and cussed them out in chorus with his brothers when they thought their father wasn't looking.

And yet, here he was.

I judge them to be cowards, she snarls and the faintest trace of a smile curls along his lips. "They are," he says quietly, holding his voice as steady as possible to hide the fact that he is more uncomfortable now than he ever has been before. The Lagoon had never lived up to the potential of what it could be and it seemed that everyone on the islands knew it… the men just didn't care. What other explanation was there to be had from the fact that half of his brothers liked to abuse women, and the other half wanted all the joys of herd life with none of the responsibilities? It was easy to run off and leave your mares behind while you fucked up the islands if you knew that you had a whole contingent of brothers to fight your battles for you.

Except you, she snarls at him and his chin lifts slightly, his gaze meeting hers. You're a fool, she spat at him and his ears tucked back beneath his mane in discomfort. Everything in him bristled at her accusation, but he didn't necessarily consider her wrong. He was a fool for coming here. It didn't take a bitter prisoner to tell him that - he'd known it the moment he'd abandoned his family to chase after the woman who had never wanted him in the beginning.

I'm not blind, she snaps at him, breaking him away from his thoughts and quite before he can stop himself, snarky words trip out of his mouth under his breath. "No, just deaf." He can't take them back once they're out, but he doesn't really even want to. All of this could have been avoided if she'd just listened to him on the sandy beaches of Salem instead of assuming the worst.

She continued speaking, revealing more of herself even as she desperately tried to conceal it from his gaze. It was as if she expected him to want something more from her. That she expected him to show some sort of possessiveness over her or even Azizi. As if he had some nefarious motive hidden beneath his foolish exterior. And the more she spoke and implied his villainy, the angrier he became until he half-turned away from her in rage, his nostril curled upward in disgust.

"I don't want to break you," he finally snarled as he turned back, having opted not to leave her until she finally listened to him. Dropping his head lower and stalking a step forward, he drove his point home with jagged words whose tone was nonetheless kept low to keep his brothers from overhearing. "I tried to help you. You could have taken my offer and gone into hiding. We wouldn't have known where to collect him from. It's not my fault the two of you are here, Shenzi. It's yours."

Lashing the dark strands of his tail like a whip across his own haunches (fitting for how much he loathed himself at the moment), he stepped forward again with ears pinned and jaw set stubbornly. "So no, Shenzi, I won't be staying away from Azizi."

Raising his head back to her level, he fixed her with a gaze that could not decide if it should be filled with contempt and loathing or sympathy and understanding. "He needs someone to look out for his best interests, and it's clearly not you."