Talien and Baylor's arrival in the Dale had no doubt been notable - for many reasons. Her mere appearance there had been something of roguish intrigue to the mealy dun king - that the exotic daughter of his long-time enemy would willingly enter his home. The impish satisfaction that swelled within his muscular chest was so great that should he have tried to contain it, he would have failed miserably. Instead, he wore it proudly and without shame - the smug grin and dangerous glint of unspoken thoughts shining in his dark mahogany eyes whenever his gaze sought her out, always seeming to caress and fondle her feminine curves even from a distance. There was something enticingly exotic about her that thus far, he did not tire of. No matter the season - such as that autumn day she'd came to him with their daughter in tow - there was a feral excitement she stirred in his veins which was normally reserved for the warmer days of spring. It was a tension that sharpened his senses upon her, made him increasingly aware of her every action, no matter how small and burned with a fiery heat through the sinews of muscles and deeper still to his groin. And those crystal blue eyes, whenever she turned them on him, it only fueled that fire to greater heights. Such a raw beauty was terribly uncommon - and equally uncommon were the number of Paraiso mares who ventured willingly into his lair.

The day had also been marked as the one that had taken the southern realms quite literally by storm - the smothering fogs and earth-shaking thunder claiming the familiar lands of Mist Meadows into a white oblivion. He found it mildly unsettling that the whiteness appeared to settle just beyond the range of mountains that shielded his home along the southern border. What was truly even more unsettling than that - the possibility that the mists should grow stronger and cross the threshold of mountains to claim the Dale - was that of another storm, one much fiercer than the distant mists posed. The dryad mare whom stumbled across the three of them had been a force of pure fury. Rhaego had felt strangely beguiled by the genuine rage directed at him - with what he was sure had been... admiration? Though he had been too distracted by the accusing words spat at him, too irked and irritated to feel much else but defensive and indignant anger at the mare. She'd incited a blazing fire within him and then proceeded to fan the flames. It still rankled him beyond measure that her venomous words truly did sting, those whispered words cutting him deeper than anything else that she'd said. And of course, he reacted the only way that came naturally to him - with anger and violent force. There wasn't any possible way he could let a mare get away with speaking to him in such a manner - and allow others to see such disrespect was at all tolerable.

Needless to say, Rhaego had only saw fleeting glimpses of the forest nymph since that day and he'd been content to leave it at that. His mood had grown sour and distant, even with the coming of spring and as the perfume of his little harem called to his baser urges, he resisted the siren call for a time. Yet as the season of procreation dawned further upon them and the scents wafting on the air ripened, the burly stud found he could resist no longer.

Already he had come across the tawny buckskin, Kitty, just a day prior - ripe with heat and willing. Instinct drove his actions, the primal urge to sire as many foals as he could to ensure a healthy and strong herd. Though, equally strong was the fierce possessiveness that kept him on his metaphorical toes in maintaining a vigilant watch of the borders for any casanova brave enough to have a go at what was rightfully his. There were an assortment of ridges that offered ideal vantage points to watch for these fools - a place from which he could overlook the distant foothills and maintain a close proximity to the small band of mares he'd acquired, in case... something... should arise.

The day had been relatively quiet though - both a blessing and a curse, in Rhaego's mind, yet he would not complain... for it gave him time to watch the mares, his dark and brooding vision straying often to scan over the open ground with silent expectations. The time was right for the remaining mares to come fully into their heats. He could taste it in the air, inhaling and deeply and filling his lungs with the scent. If they did not find their way to him, he would seek them out himself. Yet, as the stallion cast another cursory glance across the rolling terrain, he finds that startlingly set of baby-blue eyes locked upon him and freezes in place. For a moment, he does not blink but holds her gaze - a surge of desire drawing his breath in and causing his muscular frame to straighten subconsciously. Even across the distance, he can feel the heat growing in his body at the sight of her... of her eyes on him - and the sensation brings him to huff deeply, thick neck flexing slightly. Without any direction from his mind, his heavy hooves lifted into a swift gait over the sloping hillside towards the amber-coated mare. He breezed lightly over the familiar ground with ease, slackening into a slow canter as he drew nearer with a throaty whicker - head raised and eyes and ears trained intently upon her. Powerful and sure-footed strides slowed further to close the distance to something more familiar, mahogany-brown eyes rich with the burning desire that raged in his husky frame. Greedily, the brute drank in the sight of her lithe figure and round hips - hungry gaze returning to lock with hers without hesitation, stepping forward slowly until he drew even with her head, powerful neck flexing as he whuffed deeply. "Here you are..." He rumbled with deep satisfaction, a single corner of his ash-hued lips lifting slightly.