The feeling of bellowing out his victory into the chilly morning air was like none other and it felt so utterly right. The scarred copper and cream brute could feel his already overinflated, prideful ego swelling as he listened with rapt attention to the lingering echo of his throaty call that reverberated off the distant mountain slopes and the rolling hills. He stood poised in what could only be described as a kingly stance with his broad chest pressed proudly forward and his wedge-shaped skull pulled back to rest high upon his thick neck. It was a pose that few could pull off with the same ease, as naturally, as Rhaego did. Yet he sensed in the dying silence that none would challenge his call, and wisely so - for even with the crusty, bloody cuts scattered across the front half of his body and the way that he favored his hind leg - Rhaego bolstered the image of a battle-hardened stallion that wouldn't hesitate to maim and destroy any threat who dared to try and take what was his, again.

It felt like all his drive and determination had coalesced into a fierce blaze raging within the grand hearth that was his barrel-like chest - it had been there before but it had not burned quite so impressively hot, so eager and ready to explode into something truly beyond words. Any fools who challenged him now would only be throwing gasoline on that fire and be asking for death.

Fiery dark umber eyes sweep the terrain methodically as he waits expectantly, to see if his mares still lingered in the area. Surely his arrival has garnered someone's attention. The stallion did not wait for long before the he became distinctly aware that he was not alone - though he wasn't quite sure what alerted him at first, because he saw nothing. At least not until a sound from above caused him to start and look upward suddenly just as a golden-hued mare swept out of the sky and landed with practiced ease several lengths away from him on the grassy turf. A vicious recognition contorts his expression as she makes a few running strides before coming to a graceful halt just a few feet away. The scowl was not directed towards her personally, but rather at her golden wings - another confounded pegasus! The darn creatures (he still questioned whether they totally horse or not) were just so flighty and unreliable, flying the coop just as easily as their bird counterparts. He'd found the first winged mare he met to be utterly fascinating until she simply vanished without a trace after taking advantage of his home. The giant of a stallion who'd saved Aileen too was one of these, sweeping in and out of the Dale seemingly as he pleased. These creatures apparently thought their wings were their tickets to do anything they wanted - or at least that's what Rhaego thought, and truthfully it unnerved him, the freedom and advantages they had over a ground-dweller like himself.

Would this mare be the same? Lounge and enjoy the luxuries of his home and then fly off into the sunset? He suspected as much. Even as she bows and greets him with a surprising manner, the stallion's eyes remain narrowed and his ash-toned lips pursed. He blinks, remaining silent as he studies her tawny figure and watches her look him over, contemplating his actions. "Naturally." He states simply in a guttural rumble, ears pressing forward for a moment, looking to the horn on her forehead and then to her wings again in idle curiosity. He wondered, perhaps, if he could keep her grounded somehow... maybe if he grabbed a hold of a gilded wing and gave a simple twist? Were they as fragile as a bird's wings? The thoughts milled about in his mind as calmly as he might contemplate the weather, giving no outward impression exactly how dark his inner musings truly were. Instead he merely inclined his head slightly to one side, still studying her. "And you are? What brings you to the...Forbidden Dale?" He emphasized the word forbidden a bit, dark eyes narrowing slightly again as he extended his frosted white muzzle towards her for a whiff of her scent, curious if she belonged to another, or at least hoping to learn more of where she'd been recently.

It was then that the rhythmic sounds of hoofbeats across the earth stole his focus away from the golden mare and the draft's eyes sweep upward to seek out who was approaching. If anything was to earn a smile, even a wry and twisted one as his usually were, it was the familiar face galloping towards them now. The light earthen colored nymph held a peculiar place in Rhaego's eye, for he couldn't quite make perfect sense of what he thought about her. She could be a fiery and bold-tongued adversary, as she'd demonstrated to him when they first met... but he'd also seen her in her times of need after the births of each of her foals. It was an odd conundrum that when combined with his willingness to put her before an important battle left him not knowing at all what to expect in their relationship. However, one thing was first certain - any horse bold enough to touch a hair on hair on her lithe bodice was not afraid to die.

The crooked smile twisting upon the mealy bay dun's lips reaches his eyes as they scan over Aileen with a fondness and deep relief. It'd been a year since he'd laid eyes on her spotted figure and he drank her in now with an eagerness that he was not ashamed of before he stepped forward a few steps, muscular neck arched as he bumped his nose lightly against hers, breathing in her scent. "The next battle, my opponent will be lucky to walk away from my first assault." He replied in the low, gravelly tone filled with fierce conviction for the threat he directed to his next foe, whomever they ended up being. It was a subtle correction to Aileen's words, his smugness hinting he believed his opponent would hardly have a chance to truly harm him. Rhaego's focus flickers, drawn to the shaking off-black youth that stood with the appaloosa mare. His eyes brighten with recognition and then cloud with foreboding at what he noticed. "Have you been hurt?" The yearling filly was built very similarly to himself, stout and strong, but she shivered as if from the cold... but winter was still a good few weeks away at least. The foliage he'd recalled seeing in her tail on the day of her birth did not look healthy like her mother's. A seriousness gripped the burly stallion now and his breathing came deeper, in tense measured huffs as he glanced to the golden pegasus and then to the forest nymph for an answer. "Aileen?" His ears pinned as he contemplated the prospect of spilling blood in order to right this wrong, if one had indeed been done either Aileen or Andela.