A third arrives, a winged mare. She's given a curious glance before Badger's attention turns back to the owl-thing. Something warm touches his mind and the gelding's ears momentarily flatten, afraid, but the contact doesn't seem nefarious and he allows himself to relax. Images come of helpless lives needing nurturing, of a bond unlike anything he's ever known - curiosity replaces fear and he watches for what will happen next.

Suddenly, three deer appear out of the air - one for each of the gathered horses. At first the gelding is wary, because surely they cannot be real when they were conjured from nowhere? But his short time in Helovia has taught him anything is possible, and who is he to decide if the stags are sentient or not? He reaches his nose out to the nearest one, delight evident on his face as he cocks his ears forward and snorts towards its nostrils, as he would with another horse. Your name is Squishy and you shall be MY Squishy. "Hello there," he says gently, his brown eyes warm and kind. "Aren't you the cutest little pudding in the world?" So intent is he on his crooning towards the deer that he almost doesn't notice the predators, until his senses tell him to snap his attention away and turn.

Snakes.

Obnoxiously large snakes.

Their intentions are clear; they want to nom the deer. A more intelligent - or more world-wise - horse would use logic, would deduct that neither cerndyr nor snake can possibly be real. But Badger has no reason to believe that what he sees isn't real, and his own cowardice is forced aside at the notion that Cutie von Deerface might soon become a snake's dinner. The unicorn stallion jangles his horn and acts with a bravery Badger can only dream of - he wishes he could lunge forward and attack the snakes, fend them away, but he is frozen to the ground with fear. Until he remembers the deer, his deer, and shuffles his wonderfully large backside in front of the horned creature.

He puts himself between his deer and the snake, his ears slicked back and a shrill whinny of warning coming from his gullet. Stay back! He doesn't attack the snake, because doing so would only encourage an attack; instead he tries to push the deer backwards with his butt, away from the threatening creatures and to safety. Perhaps this will stop the snakes attacking and save Cutie von Deerface - and himself - from a painful death. After all, maybe the snakes will change their mind and leave if they see that their chance of an easy meal is fading away, or so the gelding can hope.

He makes no move to save the other two cerdyrs, focusing entirely on the one he's claimed as his own. The others will hopefully be protected by the other two horses - Badger only cares about his one.

_______

Badger stands in front of the nearest deer, the one he thinks is 'his', to protect it from the snakes. He doesn't attack the snakes, so as not to provoke them.