It had been many weeks since the stallion had found his new home and he felt as though he had barely explored all of it. The sand hills shifted with the constant wind and every day the land changed a little bit quicker than most. Perhaps in a few months when foals were born and grew somewhat the sand would have shifted enough to form new hills and flatten others. The wind was not as strong that day has it had been a week or two before and it seemed to carry higher. Sand still blew at the pasterns and stung a bit but a breeze swept over the land and brought scent easier.

Xanti took the day to walk up one of the many hills and gaze out across his land. The hills stretched out farther than the eye could see and it seemed to continue on forever. The stallion knew behind him the ocean called for him to leave and gather mares, but he still was not ready. When he left his paradise of heat and cool nights he would find himself wandering a snowy land and dealing with cold that would cut through his thin winter coat. The one drawback to living in a desert was when you leave you have to deal with the cold. It was not something The grullo enjoyed doing.

Farther out in front of him the hills flattened out into a sandy plain. Plants were found much more easily there but Xanti was glad he had picked out these dunes for his home. Oases were plentiful and plants grew around them. Some grew farther out where the sand had shifted to cover what was once an oasis and the water still managed to stay. The grass was not as plentiful there nor did it provide anything more than something to fill the belly. Turning around and nearly slipping down the hill he was on, the stallion flared his nostrils at the bottom and caught scent of a mare. He snorted and began trotting towards it, not sure if the smell of saltwater also filling his nose was simply playing a trick on him.

As the blue ocean began to come into sight he noticed a dark shape standing on the beach. The dunes had thinned out abruptly before sweeping low and letting the waves lap at its shore. The mare was still wet and appeared to have just arrived. Xanti stopped a few feet away from her before speaking. "Hello," he stretched out his neck to exchange breaths. "Was the swim nice?" His swim across the ocean had not been nice, though the one to the Dunes was better. The sky was blue and filled with clouds that threatened snow the further away it got from the island. Perhaps she wanted to be in clear weather. Pulling away, he hoped a conversation would come of his simple question.