Rhaego had not been within his home for long that spring day and in fact, he had not been in his home much at all the past several days. To be honest he'd lost track of the time that had passed since he'd decided to go to the Oasis in search the most treasured members of his harem. He'd made himself scarce to the remaining mares that lived under him, but neither had he abandoned them or the grand rolling hills and forests that made up the Forbidden Dale. In many ways, to guard and patrol the borders from afar was a wise method to take advantage of - to minimize the needless distractions of the inner workings of the harem and to focus more on the equines that frequented the mountain path and nearby lands.

It was the first step in catching the conniving thief who had somehow outwitted him. Aileen was no where to be found and once he figured out where she had been taken, there would be hell to pay. The crazy thought had briefly crossed his mind and tossed quickly away that perhaps she had left on her own will... especially since he had yet to find the familiar scent of any of the leading stallions snooping about. What other options did he have to consider? If a stallion had not stolen her, then the only other reason would be that she had simply left on her own. The thought nagged at him still even though he thought it was absurd. That silly mare loved the Dale's forest too much... her forest. And their daughter, Andela, she wouldn't have just left her without saying anything would she? Rhaego didn't think that she would, but truthfully how well did he know her?

A jumbled mess of thoughts grated at him about the situation and what he planned to do about it all... and all that he'd truly decided on was to find the mare. The rest could be decided then. But first, he'd needed to sweep in to account for the rest of his herd. Several of the mares had met with him at the lake this year and he guessed that they would be foaling soon... but even then he didn't plan on hanging around for long before heading out again. It's not like he would be doing any good lingering around; the mares had each other and for that he was glad. They seemed to all be fairing well as could be and no foals had hit the ground yet, so Rhaego took that as his cue to escape to the narrow lake nestled in the foothills.

The Swedish Draft had just lowered his pale muzzle to the cool water as the spring breeze began to shift and stir, toying with the coarse strands of his ivory-frosted mane and tail. There was time enough for him to take a few deep gulps before the faint and distant scents reached his nostrils - for the same breeze that brought the visiting stallion of scent of his lady friend, carried both their scents into the Dale and directly to Rhaego as he drank. Strained and well-worked muscles tense and contract readily in anticipation of the battle that he had been denied for so long. Would this be it? Initially he was almost certain that it would be; until the moment that the masculine whinny echoed across the Dale.

Lips tightening into something akin to a grimace, the mealy dun stallion laced his ears back into the mass of black and ivory mane, snorting as he whipped his tail once and leapt into a canter. The source of the call was not hard to follow with the breeze still blowing and he found himself cresting a knobby hill not far from the border that the stallion colored with deep browns and singed ochers. Rhaego's dark mahogany eyes lock upon the unfamiliar brute instantly, narrowing in suspicion as his throaty and rough voice breaks the relative silence. "Who... are you?" His heavy footfalls slow and he flexes his thick neck reflexively, his sharp attention missing nothing. He struck once at the air with a large forehoof, scarring the earth as the hoof struck down - a threatening move, but thus far only that - a threat. Given the circumstances, it was perhaps a generous gesture from Rhaego.