It was a mere shifting of particles down the dunes that disturbed the otherwise still serenity of the day. Nothing was to be seen. Nothing was to be felt. No sounds betrayed the silence. No breeze swept aside stray hairs, nor did nostrils flare to expose his breath to the chilly air. Yet a beast stood upon the dunes, unseen and unheard. His exposure was the sand. The few particles that slid down the dune were like stray fragments lost forever. One might have mistaken the disturbance for a small creature burrowing in and upsetting the balance of sand at the top of the dune. Muscles did not shift beneath his taught pale skin. Eyes did not sparkle in-spite of their crystal blue depths. It was sometimes his greatest desire to remain unseen in a world that quite often seemed envious of his solitude. It was not the beast they envied. Neither was it his personality, which remained unknown for how infrequently he designed to cross others paths, that drew in the green looks from those who spied his form. It was a desire to drag him back to his father's world to become the heir he'd been bred to be. He was a trophy so far un-won in his lands of origin.

So, the sands as his only ally, guarded his form from sight and his movements from sound. It masked his presence from the world as though it would protect him from those who wished to snatch the life from his lungs. He denied himself the desire to stand still forever, enjoying the momentary ignorance the world had of him. It was the deserts gift to him. It blended his golden form as if by his own desires, though he pretended it guarded him as a jealous lover. The little amusement he felt at the thought would not last long. His body ached to move. The glistening skin seemed to stretch tighter and nearly strangulated his muscles with the itch to shift his long legs forward. He gave in to the itch as he lifted off, verily floating on the land as one might float on air. It danced between his hooves and mixed playfully with the long strands of his tail. No breeze wafted upward to stir the fine dust. Instead, it moved like it was alive. It reached for him and fell away all at once. His hairless neck stretched over the land and his serpentine body pressed with ease over the sinking sands, uninhibited by the shifting and sinking as others might have been. This was his strength. His home. He lived and breathed to be one with the sand. He molded its designs and tested it like a sculptor creating a masterpiece. He would stay in the desert forever if they didn't hunt him; the shadows that trailed so far off in the desert searching for their prey, finding him elusive and angering at their empty-handedness. He could never go home. He could not stay in the desert. His only option was to find out what lay beyond.

The sand eventually began to disappear and grass sprinkled across the cold hard earth in tufts of brown. His heart raced within his chest as the desert was all together replaced by the coastline and the mystery that was the land before him. His blue eyes peered out over the water as he drew along the coast, skirting the waves as the air around him grew even colder than before. So far there had been nothing so intriguing as to draw him to a stop. His hooves moved in such a synchronized rhythm that one might have thought he had a destination in mind. Pale ears tipped forward as he saw the coastline curve inward and start to disappear. Curiously he slowed, for on the cold winter air scents lingered. Others. Almost hesitantly, he drew inward to follow the path of snow that lead away from the ocean. His nostrils flared, acutely aware of the male and female scents that co-mingled in this land. Perhaps it was unwise of him, but he couldn't help but push himself further into the land and farther away from everything he'd ever known. With a certainty that he did not quite feel, his movement belied actions that were not backed by sureness of mind. In short, he had found himself deep within these lands, his body moving as if his mind was certain that this was a good place to be.

He froze in his steps, spying something not far off in the snow. His body was so used to the desert heat that his muscles shivered beneath his pale hide. Yet he stood tall, as if he were completely unaffected. Very quietly he release a breathe into the air, attempting to scent the barely visible being that remained in the distance. It was equine, for certain. But the grey winter air and the white snow covered everything and his eyes nor his nose could discern just what kind it was.

PERLINO | STALLION | 7 | NO HOME