Salem seemed never changing in the eyes of Vadim, who was used to watching the colors shift from green to red, yellow and gold on the trees. To feel the temperatures dip at night, and the coming storms from the weather change. The heat in the Badlands was consistent, unrelenting, and the draft stallion found himself sleeping most of the days away in the shade, to come to life at night instead. His pale coat had sun faded so drastically, he was almost a solid off white. A shade he couldn’t recall ever being, but it still gleamed in a healthy way. Vadim wasn’t lacking for anything, not even company. Sarama and even Eira had seen to that.


Arsinoe had not abandoned him to solitude either. The painted mare, and their daughter, had spent plenty of time with him too. Only when she chose to be around Rafe or any other Badlands herd members, did Vadim make himself scarce. Although he wasn’t shy per-say, he also knew he wasn’t particularly wanted here. Making friends with the family wasn’t exactly on his to-do list.


It was in a rare moment of being alone, that Vadim found himself on the beach of Salem, his green eyes cast out across the salt water towards the Crossing. Elections would be coming to a close, and voting would start in the Lagoon. Would Psych hold his power, with no one to oppose him? The old paint would probably gloat, having Vadim locked away here and unable to make an attempt at overthrowing him. Although the stallion was always a nagging thought, he wasn’t the only one any longer. The mares he had left behind were now in a dangerous position. Fall; whether he could feel the change of season here or not, he knew it was happening. Surrounded by a bunch of stallions, how could they possibly be safe?


A harsh snort escaped his nose, and he cast a glance over his shoulder. In the distance he could see figures of others. No doubt they could see him too. Would they chase him down, if he was to finally leave the Badlands? Vadim had promised not to make an escape, or fight for his freedom, but would Arsinoe truly believe him? He supposed there was only one way to find out.


Facing forward again, Vadim slipped off into the water and made the swim to the Crossing. As he pulled himself up on the familiar beach, the stallion couldn’t help but let out a comforted sigh after shaking off the water. The color of the trees, the thick vegetation, the cooler temperature; it was all like a balm to the stallion who had never lived anywhere else. But basking in familiarity wasn’t what he had come for. Instead, he refocused, and made his way quickly to the Lagoon. As he crossed the border, he immediately started searching for any mare scent he could find, doing his best to avoid the stallions of the Lagoon.


When Vadim spotted Mercury, he felt the same sort of relief as he had when first arriving to the Crossing. She seemed whole and unharmed, without any sort of rank stallion scent mixed with hers, aside from the Lagoon scent itself. With a low rumbling nicker meant strictly for her ears, he approached the buckskin mare. But with how he had acted before, he didn’t really know what sort of greeting he was going to get.