There was a hardness to the painted mare that Gecko was familiar with. Not that he knew her traumas or history, of course. She was still an enigma to him, but her armor was of the same general shape he'd seen a thousand others wear. It wasn't in his nature to pry, having long believed that mental burdens were well beyond his capacity to mend as a physical healer. Still, he wondered if she had anyone at all for whom she let that guard down, someone to whom she could truly speak from her heart, without worrying about what they may think.

He doubted it, and it made him sad for her. He knew what it was like to be the only one carrying on a torch, unable to put it down and let his arm rest.

"It is an understandable mistake," he murmured, though it were not strictly true. He did not like being lumped in with the Lagoon men and their brutish natures, but he understood it was safer for most mares to generalize than it was for them to give him the benefit of the doubt. "But I hope to never call myself of their number, if I can help it."

Should the fates carry his hooves to the swamp he would do his best to adjust, but he lacked any desire to go there himself. He had treated a fair number of their injuries over the years of his travel, and hearing their rhetoric never grew easier. Their worldview was not one that he had ever shared.

As she spoke of a cave and shelter, he let his eyes follow the direction she'd indicated, suddenly aware that her intention appeared to be to drag him here, drop him off, and then disappear. Strangely, the idea of being alone here left him conflicted but he did not speak this aloud, only pressed his charcoal lips together in a soft hum of acknowledgment. As she referenced his freedom to travel in the winter, however, he turned to her in confusion.

Gecko hesitated for a moment, brow furrowed, and then decided it would be safer to ask than assume. "I thought you said I was a prisoner?" The word still sat heavily in his mouth but he managed it with as much grace as he could. "What does that mean for me?"