The salt stung his eyes which causes them to collect with tears. The sea was the perfect place to cry out your pain. No one could see you break down and the ocean would wash away all your tears like they never happened. By the time he made it to the Desert’s shore it was like the breakdown had ever even happened. A sigh rolled off the tongue of the young stallion as his blue eyes search the landscape in front of him. The fall had done little to settle the heat of the sun as it warms his back way above what he is used to. He had never gotten used to the heat even with his last time here tussling with Cain.

The very reason he was here today was to finally bring himself to talk to Cerosi again. He still remembers the bonding moment they had last year in the Inlet, but so much time had passed. His desert rose had never come to see him after he failed to bring her into his herd. Had she not liked that he had tried to take her away from the Desert? At the time that they first met, Cerosi had mentioned being new to the Desert. She seemed unsure of Cain, but was beginning to like him so it was his hope that he could bring her into the Inlet before they got too close. He had failed and surly they had bonded by now. He still had to try! Ironclad takes a fateful step forward and travels a short distance into the Desert until he calls for her. Out of respect for the painted stallion that has been kind to him even after his challenge, Ironclad does not venture too far into the stallion’s territory.

He waits for Cerosi with the sea to his back just a few miles back. Blue eyes desperately search the horizon for her as he prays, he was not too late. Life was too short to wait as long as he had. He knew that now. One day you could be standing close with your family and then next, they were gone. His father was now dead, his dam and his twin now gone from the islands, and he was left to pick up the pieces of the relationships they left behind.