Desert

Romulus had never been ambitious. He seemed to drift through life, perpetually running from his problems and fighting with his father. It had never been a particularly driven path, but in the Lagoon he was actually stagnant, and he hated it. There was nothing to think about other than Dexter and the scent of stallions, and nothing to do about that other than stand there and tune it all out. He felt like a zombie most days, somehow even less of a stallion than he had always been. There was hardly any life to him; he was a shell, walking circles into the wet ground of the bachelor territory. He knew that something needed to change, that ultimately he had to just get out, but there was nothing to pull him away from the comfortable depression that was the Lagoon until that day in the Ruins.

The strange little sunshine mare had yanked him out of his dormancy like an electric shock. It had been absolutely impossible to tear himself away from her, but the grullo stallion would have to be caught dead before he saw Dhaniyā in the Lagoon with him. He hadn’t yet asked if she would ever come live with him; even if the offer was much nicer than the bachelor’s home, the idea that she might not want to stay in his company left him terrified. It wasn’t enough to discourage him from trying, though. Even if he could not convince her to stay with him, he wasn’t exactly losing by getting out of the Lagoon and finding a place for himself. It was about time.

It was exactly the kick in the butt he needed, and Romulus grabbed the uncharacteristic motivation and ran with it. He found himself on the hot shores of the Desert before he could think to hard about it, and strode forward into the territory before he could stop himself. The place was only scented by one stallion, so there was a chance whoever lived here might have room for a second. He halted just beyond the edge of the beach, looking out over the dry landscape. It was vaguely familiar — this was the kind of territory Dexter liked, and Romulus had spent much of his youth in sand and scrubland. He only hoped he had a chance of being allowed to stay here peacefully, and that Dhaniyā might want to stay with him.

After a brief moment observing the territory, Romulus let out a deep bellow across the open land, summoning whoever called this place home.