Mazikeen had spent the last year traipsing across the islands, taking her sweet time flitting about from territory to territory. No border could contain her, and she was happy living that way. For a time, at least. There was only so much to see on the islands and she'd nearly had her fill, boredom beginning to take hold. For a time she considered leaving altogether, to see what the mainland might offer that could whet her appetite for adventure. But another thought in the back of her mind took shape and pulled her south instead, towards her home. Her first home. The one she'd all but forgotten, the memories nearly lost to the haze of early foalhood.

Pulling herself ashore on salem for the first time does feel like coming home. She shakes the briny water from her speckled coat and peers out over this strange new land. A sea of a different sort stretches out in a golden expanse before her, shallow waves of sand rippling as far as the eye could see. As she took her first few steps forward she marveled at how soft the ground was, how it gave way so easily beneath her delicate hooves. It was so unlike the hard, packed earth of the Bay.

The second thing she noticed was how hot it was, surprisingly so for early spring, her back already warming from the sun's intense rays. Mazikeen trekked forward with confidence, feeling instantly at home in this sun-scorched land. She'd never been blessed with a thick winter coat like the ones her adoptive siblings had, forcing her to stay glued to her family's side in order to keep warm. Even in the summer it never was warm enough for her liking, and the snow clung to the peaks of the mountains in perpetual winter. But here it seemed there was no snow or ice to chill her bones, no subzero temperatures that left her feeling frozen to the core.

How upset would the monarch here be if she simply invited herself to stay? She wondered with a quiet snicker, amber eyes flitting over the empty horizon. The place reeked of stallion, but there wasn't a body in sight. No one materialized from the rippling horizon to greet her, but the young mare had never been above trespassing before, and wasn't about to develop any sort of qualms about it now.

She continued on by her lonesome for some time, content to be alone but ever vigilant for any who might approach. The young mare paused as a flicker of movement on the ground nearby caught her attention: a snake slithering across the sand a short distance away. Its scales were mottled in pale shades of brown and tan and the sharp cut of its scales screamed danger. She watched intently, entranced by the winding motion of its body, until it disappeared behind a sand dune. Curious to see what else might lie in wait for her here, she continued on, a carefree spring in her step. Eventually she would get around to going to the Hills, but for now she was content to simply roam a little while longer.