Careful, careful. The white stallion focused on following the Clovenheart through the wet woods, eyes fixed on the tail that dragged a path through the mud in front of him. He could feel the mud slicked on his own legs and the flecks of it hanging on his belly where the rain hadn't had the chance to wash it away. There was plenty of rain to make mud, but it seemed never really enough to was clean.

"It rained sometimes. Short, violent storms, usually heralded by heat lightning and winds that whipped the sands into a frenzy until you couldn't see your own hooves, even in broad daylight." His ears swiveled forward, fixed on the other stallion as he spoke of herd and freedom. Freedom? It seemed a strange thing to be concerned about. If you weren't trapped, then weren't you free? He had never seen the social obligations of a herd as a hindrance to that but then, he'd never lived without. Even as a young stallion driven from his home herd to learn his independence, he'd known where bachelor groups roamed. He had quickly found one and made his place in it. It was simply how things were done.

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief as they finally entered into a dryer patch of woods. His whole body shook like a dog, trying to relive itself of the excess weight of moisture. It didn't do terribly much, especially since the cover wasn't total. Still Seanan felt a little better. He considered the other's point. It was.... foreign to him. Like many things here. The front of his muzzle scrunched delicately as he rolled the idea over in his mind.

"A collective." The word is a statement, carefully neutral. He was still trying out the idea, not sure what he thought of it. "There are reasons why one might choose to remain apart." Obviously, he had his own. He paused to think a moment longer, carefully choosing his words.

"It seems to me that such a network or collective is essentially a herd without the social obligation." There. he thought that conveyed what irritated him about the idea. Outcasts working together- that is a herd, no matter if it isn't called one or has no lands to call it's own. Not naming it as it was simply absolved those involved of the social obligation to care about each other beyond selfish need. Still, he could see how such a group could be useful. After all, he had no desire to bind himself to a herd (he wanted no herd but his). The aid of those who were more familiar with the land could be of use though.

He almost smiled. It was, essentially, the exact thing he'd just been irritated with. It was selfishness that drove his interest in the network, and the appeal of not being obligated.

"Though I suppose I could see the appeal."