Common

She left under the cover of daylight, knowing that her youngest child would not dare to follow her beyond the shaded canopy. It was not that she feared that Wulfric would truly stop her - he was just a child, and a deformed one at that - but she was certain that Drogon would stand in her way. Her eldest had an annoying belief that it was their duty to stay in Paradise and wait for Rougaru. To keep up his presence in Paradise, even though two different interlopers had snuck in and stolen her crown and home from beneath her.

Once she would have agreed with Drogon. Even now, a part of her kept hoping that she would hear the familiar thunder of Rougaru's hooves as he raced to angrily collect her again from her latest misadventure... but that part of her had been drowned out by her anger.

He had abandoned them. All of them. Because of him, they'd lost their home. Their reputation. Their credibility. But most importantly of all: he'd abandoned her.

Not just to run into the arms of another mare. Not for a day. Not for a week. For months Vanya had been racing around Paradise trying to pretend that all was well. That their King was still around and therefore, none of the angry little captive mares could leave. The instant Vihar's claim rang out, Vanya's ability to hold the rest of the mares evaporated. One by one they all left. Titania first, to the south. Then Feray and her child, and the quiet little tobiano mare without a name. Then the irritating Tinuvel stallion had come to collect his equally irritating tobiano daughter. With the claiming call of the second, unknown mare, Vanya had lost hope.

And now there was silence. Just her angry little family and the quiet remnants of other the mares too sad to move on from Rougaru's faded glory. Vanya didn't do well in silence, especially not after growing used to the weight and heft of the crown that she'd fought so hard to obtain. She still had no wish to claim land by herself. The prospect of physically fighting to earn her position was just as unpalatable as it had always been, but she was no longer willing to accept a commoner's role either.

She had done her time as a nobody, and refused to countenance returning to that role again.

Vanya had braved the Commons twice before, both times with the intent of beguiling her way into someone's herd. This time, she had no patience for her normal games of coquettish flirtation. As she danced into the time-worn battlegrounds of fate, her dainty face lifted with the force of her challenging bugle, and her coal-black tail arched over her back as she continued forward, seeking the heart of the land. She would not leave this day empty-handed.

OOC: Open for anyone <3