There was something mildly unnerving about the tawny-coated mare and the show she had put on in the meadow when he first expressed his intent to claim her and her daughter. It was something that Rhaego wasn't quite sure if he'd noticed before in the mare's previous time living in the Dale. She had seemed normal enough; a little disagreeable perhaps at times, but that was something all mares had in common he thought. Rhaego was slowly learning though - much to his dislike - that there seemed to be more and more equines among the general population that held unique abilities of the arcane type. He'd chanced across a few healers over the years and he knew that Aileen carried a bit of some magic within her - and truthfully he did not mind them so much - but it was the rest that made him leery and suspicious of what the extent of their abilities were. He didn't trust them. And had he been a human living in Salem the late 1600's, Rhaego would have been the one with a torch in hand and a mob of angry townfolk at his back knocking on the doors of the accused witches. An eerie intuition had kicked when Kitty grew angry at him in the meadow - an adrenaline usually only triggered in dangerous situations burned hot in his veins before he was even truly aware of the cause... but then he glimpsed the distorted teeth in the mare's mouth as she bared them to him. They were reminiscent of a predator's and her throaty voice rumbled like a growl not even remotely horse-like in nature. It was then that the stallion realized there was something truly... off, about the mare.

It had seemed wise at that moment to take his leave as much as the thought rankled him to take directions from a mare. Yet neither was he positive about testing his luck by staying to find out more about Kitty and what abilities she held. Perhaps he would be better off if she conveniently ignored his claim - the thought crossed his mind, but then he'd looked at the bay daughter and reconsidered the greed surging within him. His herd would benefit from the added numbers. And so he'd nodded in agreement to Kitty and without another word, left to meadow to return home.

That had been three days ago and the fierce grip of winter had closed in upon the realm just as he'd suspected it would. That very next night the temperatures had plummeted and today had brought flurries of snow swirling about on the currents of air. Rhaego thankfully though was well adapted to this type of climate with a thick, almost shaggy winter coat that shielded his from the worst of the bitter temperatures. His breed was one that was selected to withstand the frigid cold and deep snows and pull heavy loads while doing so. The stallion seemed almost oblivious to the frosty chill except for when the occasional snowflake flew into his eye, causing him to snort irritably and blink away the brief stinging pain. That happened just now and Rhaego shook his heavy wedge-shaped head, sending ebony and white streaked mane into a wild disarray as he walked through across the rolling meadows, never once hesitating in his stride.

A distant whinny to the north brought him up short however and drew his heavy brows closer together in contemplation as he considered the voice. Had that been a stallion's tone? Three days though. It had been three days. A morbid curiosity had drove him to count the days, wondering if the mare would truly honor her word. He had seen her nearly adult daughter in passing but somehow he had still doubted Kitty. She was a mare after all and his trust was truly a difficult one to earn. Breaking into a heavy, ground-covering trot, Rhaego trekked towards the northern border where a band of rocky hills and ridges divided his home from the rest of Beyond. He does not rush but neither does he waste any time heading, content to remain at the steady trot. When he does come within sight of the pair, Kitty and a young stallion standing just slightly beyond the edge of what Rhaego considered the Dale, he can't help but regard them in mild surprise. "You came..." It was a statement made more to himself in surprise as he glanced over the buckskin mare briefly, carefully even, as if expecting to see some of the abnormalities he witnessed before. Though it is the young stallion that captures his attention - strapping and muscular like he imagined his own son to be now. "And you brought a friend?" Rhaego's deep voice hardened with the question, tension seeping into his frame as he sized up the other brute with suspicion and readiness.