“Woman?” Oswin asked, head tilting as she peered up at the much larger, thicker stallion standing before her. His loud, gruff advance did not make her cow or give any more space between them. Oswin stood exactly where she had before, ears perked to hear his words and then flicked back with irritation at his tone. “You may call me Oswin.” Maybe he didn’t care. Maybe she was biting right onto the bait he’d chucked, just trying to get under her skin.

Her chin lifted proudly. It always made her feel a bit alive when she found someone who was mildly disagreeable. That, of course, could prove to be a downfall. It was how both her children had accidentally been created. First with her fight and conflicting feelings with Koray, when she hadn’t been able to kick at him anymore, too worked up from their battle and high on her emotions to ignore how he made her feel. The second was Ernesto, who defeated her in a fight and forced her to live in the Lagoon, but spoke poems into her skin and made her feel like a young filly dazedly in love.

“I only wanted to meet more of the Lagoon bachelors.” She admitted plainly, and studied him with slightly narrowed eyes. She could see that, like her, his coat was marked in scars. He was tested in battle and held himself with confidence that didn’t need to be boasted. Was he of Rade’s similar mind?

There was only one way to find out, and Oswin had never been one for tact. The bachelors could take great offense to her snooping and mistrusting them but, it was how she felt, and Oswin wasn’t going to hide those feelings. She smiled at the spotted stallion.

“You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve been a Peak sister for a long, long time, it’s going to take me a little bit of poking around to see if you all are telling the truth about turning over a new leaf.” She paused and her smile curled a bit higher. Something glittered in her blue eyes - she was about to poke the bear and see what happened when she did. "Especially with all these rumors I'm hearing lately about some mare being stolen from the Harbor, and the Harbor mare stealing a Lagoon boy. Sounds like that might've been retaliation, not fair play."

oswin
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.