T
he Badlands had offered a peaceful solitude. He'd become intimately familiar with its harsh beauty, charting every nook and cranny in the hardened sands. He knew where the freshest water sprang, cool and sweet, and where patches of succulent grass defied the arid landscape, nourished by fleeting rains and sheltered from the sun's relentless blaze. His wanderings had taken him to the bordering dunes, the shifting sands marking the territory of his neighbors. He'd even followed the ancient tracks of those who once held sway over these sagebrush-dotted plains. Now, standing on a precipice overlooking the abyss, the wind sang through his mane as he watched the darkening sky with a silent longing.
Today, however, his journey had led him far from his familiar home, to a place of transition. A complex scent, the combined fragrance of many others, drew the Chimera King from the sea foam. His ears flicked, twitching within the sodden dreadlocks that matted against his neck, a testament to the wind-battered land he had left behind. His gaze swept across the crowded commons, passing throng after throng of horses, until it settled on a solitary figure.
Silently, his hooves moved through the grass, his eyes fixed on the russet-coated, white-marked mare. He paused, drawing a breath across his lips. His ears flicked. He cleared his throat.
"It is a beautiful night, wouldn't you agree?" he murmured, tilting his head, his forelock falling across one eye. His tail swished against his white-splashed haunches as he settled nearby, eager to hear her voice carried on the wind, to learn of the adventures that had brought her here.
