The silence is comfortable, and Fell finds himself nearly dozing before Maziel speaks again. His ears flick up, listening, but he doesn’t lift his head right away.

If Mariael hasn’t come to visit before summer is through, she says, I’d like to take our child and Charmeine for her to meet, and so I can meet my nephew. Along with you, of course. At this, Fell’s head rises slightly from the warmth of Maziel’s back. The initial meeting between Fell and Maziel’s family across the border had been strained at best, and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to doing that again, but he could read the conviction in Maziel’s voice. She would cross into the Arch with or without him.

Hesitantly, he nods against her flank once again. Though the mute stallion can be protective to a fault, he must admit he finds it hard to believe that Maziel’s own sister would do anything to harm her. Even Suleiman had given him nothing for his paranoia to latch onto, though Fell remains stubbornly prickly about the other stallion simply for the fact that he’s another stallion.

Having the children there makes him anxious as well, but at the same time he suspects it might smooth things out. Charmeine is no longer the tiny filly nearly swept away by the intruder in her first few days of life. Maybe her presence, along with the new foal and Maziel’s nephew, will lower tensions. Part of him hopes Mariael will make the journey herself before then, but if she does not, Fell will take the little family into the Arch.

FELL

stallion. 16hh. black. marwari x. Rougaru x visurix.