Fakir gave an odd sort of grin. It looked a bit regretful, but he didn't look sad or upset. "Yeah, that's why I'm out here," he answered. "Since I'm smaller, they're making sure mares can't get fond of me and offer to let me mate. It used to be only the strongest would mate, but we've been brought to healthy numbers, so it's a bit laxer. Of course, now you have power displays on both a stallion and a mare's side. But that means the less popular horses can mate now. But they don't want me to make any smaller foals or colts, so I was chosen to be merchant until I get my own colt to replace me," he answered plainly, sounding content with the idea. Some may rebel against the idea, and maybe he did at first too.<br/><br/>He nodded as Mesut continued. "Yes, we share the same tradition. While we travel in a herd, every few years, centaurs hold a Great Meeting, where herds converge and trade members to make sure our bloodline is not stagnant. Both stallions and mares, as well as colts and foals, are welcome to come and go. We do not raise children individually, like humans do, but as one great herd. I think we may have tried individual familial units once, but we realized by watching humans that this may cause distress, so we changed our ways," Fakir said. After all, so many humans seemed obsessed with 'pure blood' and 'bloodlines' or such nonsense. Cut any living creature and it bled red. No human was greater than another by circumstance, only by effort. But humans didn't see it that way.<br/><br/>"Hmm," Fakir scratched his mane, his tail flicking every time Mesut's claws smoothed over a sensitive spot. "I don't know about you snakes. I think some humans find it disgusting. Not your kind specifically. Some humans obsess over some vague idea of purity, and think humans should only be with humans, and even then, they still value other humans differently," he said slowly. "Other humans can be like yours, I think, where they may see it as an act of worship to a deity. Then other humans just want to rut with other beings like you and I because we're exotic and different," he said before gesturing towards Mesut's genital slit. "I assume you're not shaped like a human, right? Have you ever seen a human male's prong? I'm not shaped like them either," he said with a matter-of-fact voice, even if his skin got a bit darker. "I, ahem, can't say how I feel about it. When I was a younger colt, I may have let an occasional maid, er... I mean, there was never..." Fakir gestured awkwardly. He wasn't ashamed or shy about sex, per se, but with Mesut seeming so childlike, it felt quite inappropriate trying to explain all this to him.<br/><br/>Fakir furrowed his brow, but nodded plainly to Mesut's question if he asked too much. "Your questions are not a problem. You just seem to want to ask them most when I'm ready to sleep," he chuckled. "You can ride my back during the day and ask me then. I'd be much more awake and walking on a road does not take too much focus," he said, as if to soothe Mesut before the snake could take offense or be chastised. "Besides, you seem to like the sun. So long as you don't actually make me walk the wagon into my ass again, it shouldn't be a problem. Though we'd have to keep an eye out for humans. I don't want them to see you until we know we're in a town that is welcoming of Gulsapa," he said before shuffling his legs to a more comfortable position. "Alright, sleep. I shall do my best not to step on you," he urged.<br/><br/>The centaur closed his eyes, and like before, seemed to fall quickly into that meditative state. Only his deep breathing and occasional snorts indicated he was sleep, rather than a hermit focusing on nothing in the middle of nowhere. Like clockwork, Fakir was on his feet within a few hours, but he had stirred enough, capable of entering full wakefulness to stand without crushing Mesut, before going back to sleep. He had even walked to the wagon to grab the horse blanket Mesut used when in the wagon, using it as a blanket to drape over the naga. If he got cold, Mesut had proved capable of alighting into the wagon on his own, and he could bring the horse blanket with him.