Common

The tobiano mare wasn't certain what she had said to cause such a change of heart in the black stallion, but she watched his expression change with a sense of rising panic. Unlike the first time she'd been approached by two stallions, this man didn't seem interested in attempting to woo her. Rather, he seemed to wilt in the presence of the other stallion, making excuses before he'd ever made an offer.

Hymn tried to console herself that perhaps it was for the better. Perhaps the gentlemanly Percheron was not even a land owner or a herd stallion at all. Perhaps he was just another Sigurdr, poised to draw her in only to drop her the second she made it to his home. Perhaps he was merely a wraith that stalked the Commons to warn mares about its dangers while drawing the attention of other suitors. She didn't know. Either way, it didn't really matter as he walked away from the chance to know them, leaving her at the mercy of the stallion who presumed to know her.

Promise stared after the retreating stallion with hurt in her eyes and pressed closer to her mother until the silvery stallion began to speak. He wasn't at all familiar to her, but that was hardly surprising given how sheltered she had been thus far. She wanted to know him though, wanted so badly to make another friend and to have someone to play with when her momma was sleeping.

Swallowing against the anxious lump in her throat, the tobiano mare turned her attention back to Annubis. She could try to fight, she knew, to protest against being herded like chattel to a place of his choosing, but what good would that truly do her? She was not a fighter, nor did she have anywhere else to go, apart from perhaps the Peak. And while the support of her "sisters" might be welcome right about now, she had a feeling that it would only be prolonging the inevitable. There was something about this stallion that struck her as… permanent in a way. As if - by entering her life - she would never truly be rid of him. It was a strange feeling and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear it.

"I will make it easy for you on one condition," she spoke again, the words carefully measured to hide how anxious she felt. Shame had flooded her cheeks at the realization that she was bargaining away her freedom, but the price she was asking was more than worth it. "Do not harm my little girl." The girl in question glanced up at her momma in confusion, too young to realize that Annubis was less playmate and more threat to them both.