Restlessness made Rhaego impatient to finish what needed to be done, and that was to cover each mare who was of age to bear foals before any trespassers thought to outdo him. After recent events, Rhaego was resolute that he would put an abrupt halt to the transgressions against his herd and rule, beginning with this plan of action... and he had no intentions of wasting the precious time in order to ensure his success.

Though the plan and the need for quick action was firmly solidified in the burly stallion's mind, he was not beyond recognizing acts of loyalty among his herd, particularly at a time when so many of the allegiances of those nearest to him were in question. Previous experience as his years as King of the Dale had taught the brute that the loyalty of his herd, willing or not, was key to achieving the grandeur and fame that he so craved. Yet the satisfaction was so much sweeter when that loyalty was freely offered. It was the faithful actions of Shandy's mother which had appeased Rhaego enough so that when she requested he be gentle with her bay daughter, he did not outright deny her. The golden-eyed buckskin was only playing the role of a protective mother, yet Rhaego had essentially scoffed but had neither agreed or disagreed with her request, choosing to merely acknowledge her words with a slight incline of his proud head before they had parted ways.

After a quick trip to the lake for a drink, the Swedish Draft set out across the Dale's rolling terrain once more, fiery eyes bright and alert as he now sought out the youthful bay mare that was his beta's daughter. He'd known that eventually this day would come since that day two years ago when he'd first met the filly in the meadow with her mother and now that the time was here, he'd be damned if he allowed another to get to her first.

Shandy was no where to be seen, but the season was settling fully upon the mares, so it was not all too difficult to gather a general direction that she had went. Powerful strides carry the heavy stallion into a swifter lope with a growing sense of urgency and anticipation for what was to come. The thick earthen scent of deep forest surrounded him when the young mare's call rang out, distant but now giving himself a more accurate direction of travel to reach her more quickly. And as he draws closer to what he knows to be the south-easternmost border where the dense forest began to taper into an arid grassland, Rhaego's brows begin to furrow. The desert dunes lay just on the other side of that grassland... and it was a free land that could harbor any number of threats to his land and mares. With a grimace, the stallion pressed onward and was satisfied to come across the ivory-splashed mare not quite as near to the borders as he originally feared.


"Don't call so near the border next time." The stallion's gravelly and authoritative tone announced his approach, russet ears pinned slightly in reprimand. "There are others about who would have you for their own if possible." The swift journey to this far corner of his land left the stallion's breathing deep and huffing, a bit of sweat darkening his flanks from the warm spring air, yet in all other manners his attention was focused with the upmost attention upon Shandy, once pinned lobes raising to twist in her direction. Dark mahogany eyes trail over the young mare's figure without a trace of shyness. Whickering throatily, the stallion advanced a few steps nearer, extending his scarred muzzle towards her to test her receptiveness to him and to gauge if she was ready by how she reacted.