The summer sun, which had once felt tolerable, now seemed miserable without the ocean breeze to temper it. This far inland it felt like each breath was sandpaper scraping inside his lungs, sucking the moisture from his body like a used-up juice box. Even so, he did not regret the trip back to Salem, even though he had no real purpose in being here. Nyimara's silence weighed more heavily on his mind than it should have, and though he didn't necessarily intend to come and poke the bear, he did want to reassure himself that she was still here.

And perhaps to make sure she had not already slipped hand in hand with the Dunes stallion she was so enamored with.

A short jaunt along the no-man's land between the two territories provided no such evidence, however, and he was nearly ready to turn back when the sight of two mares caught his attention. He wasn't sure exactly why - it wasn't as if he intended to fill the Shore with residents who did not wish to be there, but he couldn't deny a strange sense of familiarity about the taller, spotted mare. She reminded him of Antoinette, in a strange way that went beyond their spotted coats. The tobiano's head turned toward them and he watched for a moment before impulsivity won out over reason.

"From what I know of your stallion," he drawled as he settled nearish to them, ears twisting forward. "Decisive action is not a skill he possesses." Much like Asmodeus' own sire, his observation of the Dune's King had led him to the conclusion that Helios was a wait-and-see type, rather than a make-it-happen type. Which wasn't necessarily bad, by itself, but had made Asmo's quest for a monarchy rather tedious and long-winded.

The next words from his lips were not well thought out, which was, perhaps quite unlike him. Asmo had learned the hard way to always be careful about his decisions, to be cautious and to think things through before he did them. But Nyimara's absence had him unsettled, and he - though he would not admit it aloud - still resented the fact that Helios' support had come with a caveat. Granted, the caveat was almost certainly entirely Nyimara's doing, but he could not prove that.

His gaze roved over both of them and he favored the shorter mare with a brief smile. The smaller mare seemed sweet. Gentle. The sort of mare that his father enjoyed keeping around the Cove, but not the sort of mare that Asmodeus wanted in the Shore. Something about the fire in the spotted mare's eyes, though… that held promise. "Tired of waiting for him to do something about it yet?" He asked with the equivalent of an arched brow to the nameless spotted mare, despite not having an entirely clear idea about what it was that had the two of them upset. His gaze sharpened and head tilted with an inquisitive air. He would not force the spotted mare anywhere, but he'd be remiss to not open the door for the sort of spirited, strong-willed resource she might prove to be. "Come with me to the Shore and I'll either help you solve it, or help you figure out how to solve it for yourself."

Adult Stallion 16.0HClassic Champagne ChimeraSolomon x Xiomara