I’ve gotta go, Arsinoe, to find out why… Parting from his sister for the first time, properly leaving the Badlands without her, journeying alone to the verdant isle of Luthien, had been harder than he’d thought it’d be. Not only because he’d never made such a journey alone, but also because he didn’t want to leave Arsinoe behind. Of anyone, she knew how he felt, of not growing up with a mother. Arsinoe’s had left long before Darshan had left him, and back when they’d first met, Khan had made her a promise. Today, he made a new one. I promise I’ll come back to you. And then he slunk towards the sea, looking back twice, and departed Salem for the first time, holding fast to the oath he’d made, determined to find out why Darshan had failed to hold to hers.

The ocean crossing was daunting, not just because he feared how the reunion would play out, but also, it was the first time since he’d found himself in the grip of the sea since he’d been a child, and Darshan had been with him then. But a potent mix of emotions drew him on, and at least he made it, breathless and trembling from exertion, to Luthien’s shores. The white patched buckskin took a moment to catch his breath, eying the treeline just beyond the beach with wary curiosity. Should he call for her? (Would she come, if he did?)

He knew little of who else lived here, except that one of the mares was his father’s sister, so Khan reasoned that as long as he didn’t cause any trouble, he’d be safe enough. And he hadn’t come to make a nuisance of himself, he just… He needed to talk to Darshan. All he wanted was answers, and if she was happier here without him, he’d tuck his chin and accept that, but if nothing else, he deserved to know, didn’t he? It’d save him from wasting time looking to the dusty horizon, waiting foolishly for her to come back.

There was movement, and he caught sight of a figure. Slightly curled ears twisting forwards, Khan approached at what he hoped was an appropriate pace - he didn’t want to arouse suspicion by lingering too long, but nor did he wish to cause alarm by closing too quickly. “Hey, um… I - ” The slender young male stopped in the treeline at a respectable distance from the stranger, who he assumed called this place home. Khan caught himself, and decided to make sure he was in the right place before venturing any further. “Is this the Prairie?”

But even as the answer came, blue eyes caught sight of the rolling field that stretched beyond the trees. After all the time he’d spent growing up in the Badlands, used to foraging for meagre scrub and rarely having the luxury of finding a patch of grass to eat, it was such an astounding sight. Khan wondered how it would feel to race across the lush plains, and imagined it would be far softer underfoot than the stone and scree and iron-hard earth of the place where he’d found his home. “I’ve never seen so much grass, ‘cept when I was little and we traveled through the Meadow. Me and my…” The wonder in his silvery voice was quick to dry up as the memory of that journey with his mother surfaced. Shifting his weight, the youthful overo steeled his nerves, drew in a breath, and cut right to the reason for his being here.

“I’m Khan, ‘n’ I’m looking for Darshan.”

A sudden thought occured to him, and Khan was quick to backtrack. There was obviously a reason why she hadn't come back. Maybe she was happier here, with the family she'd stayed away from for so long because of him. “If she doesn't want to see me -- ” The delicate, fine-boned stallion shook his head, cutting himself off. Khan felt heat rise to his cheeks and turned aside, to avoid meeting the other young male’s gaze, suddenly very self-conscious and regretting he’d left the Badlands in the first place. If only he’d given Arsinoe a chance to talk him out of coming here…

“M’just gonna go, ” he mumbled, half turning away. “When you see her, can you tell her…” There were two reasons for Khan’s trailing off; he didn’t really know what he’d come here to say, besides the obvious ‘you said you’d come back and you never did’, and there was something off about the other young stallion’s expression, something that made Khan’s blood run cold. Standing there, eye to eye, gaze fixed upon the pale golden boy, despite the warning in his heart that told him to leave, Khan turned back and took a tentative step closer, working hard to keep his pale face impassive, though his eyes - they gave him away.

He’d come here from across the sea, and if something had changed her mind about him, if something had happened to keep her from him… Khan had to know.