Nyimara is pleased to see the suspicion in her daughter’s stance, pleased to see the way her small muscles tense and her posture changes in preparation for an attack that only Nyimara knew would not come. Only when her bright eyes register that it is her dam does Rhaenys drop the tension from her muscles and approach with a proudly lifted head and prancing steps. Lowering her head slightly, Nyimara exchanges breath with her sooty daughter in greeting, savoring the warm familiar scent that clings to Rhaenys’ skin. Long gone is the scent of milk and baby softness. Instead there is an overwhelming wildness about her mingled with sand and salt. Salem. Rhaenys was truly a princess of the desert. ’Salem suffers no weak fools’ the words ring from the lips of her daughter and fill the silver witch with pride. Though she had not noticed Rhaenys following, it felt good to know that the charcoal filly was quickly learning the way of the world. She would not be a victim. The recognition widens the smile across her own dark lips as she blinks at the girl in approval. ”That’s my girl.” she coos, the tone soft with amusement. Rhaenys glances back in the direction the startled lizard had disappeared in with a stomp of her hoof. Nyimara follows her daughter’s gaze and resists the urge to stomp her own hoof in agreement. In truth, the little lizard was probably more wise than fool but if Rhaenys imagined it a fool then who was she to challenge that?

Just as she had hoped, the silver black girl’s eyes widen with excitement at the idea of joining her mother on patrol. After Fell’s visit, Nyimara was loath to give the obsidian stallion any opportunity to gaze upon the beautiful silver-haired filly. She and Quinn were still searching the sands of Salem high and low for a suitable replacement but for their plan to work to the fullest, Rhaenys needed to remain hidden from prying eyes. Yet after so long without the first hint of the dark stallion’s return, Nyimara was beginning to feel the suspicion begin to ebb from her thoughts. The night of the new moon was still a few weeks away but the time was growing short. It was time that Rhaenys was read into the plan before things could manage to go astray.

’You will have to do better than that!’ the laughter rumbling from the dark filly’s lungs draw a playful chuckle from her own lips. Mahogany ears disappear beneath the thick curtain of silver white mane. Ashen lips peel back to reveal blunt, yellowing teeth as Nyimara squeals in mock outrage at the challenge issued. The corners of her lips tug upwards as Rhaenys returns her playful nip with one of her own. Her heels kick a spray of sand up in her wake and Nyimara is forced to stutter a step to keep from slamming into the playful girl’s churning heels. Dark eyes glitter mischievously, ”Oh really?” she purrs, her lilted tones taunting and filled with challenges of their own.

Rhaenys is prideful, both a blessing and a curse, or so Nyimara has been forced to learn herself. Small, fluted ears appear from beneath the mantle of her mane, rotating atop her skull to follow the sounds of the prancing filly’s hooves as they shuffle through the malleable sands. Nyimara does not immediately rush after Rhaenys, instead lets the filly do the work for her. ”You can never practice too much.” she teases. The silver haired witch watches through guarded eyes as Rhaenys circles around, her growing tail flagging high over her lanky hips like she had no doubt seen her mother do time and time again. A wolfish grin spreads upon her lips now as she lunges forward in a flurry of spraying sand, digging her small heels into the grit only to rear at the last second with thrashing hooves. Nyimara takes advantage of the girl’s unsteady position. Instead of pivoting away from Rhaenys’ thrashing hooves and forward motion, the witch queen steps towards her, angling her lithe body just to her right so that as she wheels around, her hips find contact with Rhaenys’ flailing form. The sting of the girl’s thrashing hooves is nothing in comparison to the satisfaction of contact. Grant it, she is not facing a seasoned enemy but at least she can be sure that Rhaenys will not make the same mistake in her own battles in the future. ”Never throw yourself off balance. It will give your opponent the advantage.” she murmurs, quickening her own gait to an extended trot as she widens the circle around them charging off again down the sloping hill, her own unusually long tail flagging high over her hips. ”Come on little pup, lets see how fast you can run!” she adds with a breathless laugh, not bothering to turn back and wait for Rhaenys. The girl was more like her mother than she knew.