Bright sea-green eyes glinted in the harsh light of an autumn sun. The orbs swept their focus across the arid landscape, over-critical of anything that moved. Pale eyelids swept downward in one slow blink. Another minute of methodical vigil passed before the young creature, convinced of her isolation, flicked her ears and pressed forward into the windswept reaches of the Desert. Dust and grit rose in small, low plumes as the black splash appraised the land. Her course wound through the hill on the outskirts of the land as she was unwilling to risk further detection.
She'd grown up nearby in the neighboring Badlands territory. Impera likely would have lived there still had it not been for whatever it was that had attacked her father. The young mare shut her eyes tightly as though she were taking in his badly healing wounds once again. A breath huffed harshly from pale nostrils as the maiden shook her head to rid herself of the memory. Sigurdr (the newest claimer of the Badlands) had interrupted the reunion with her father Raeger. She'd hadn't had a chance to find out what had happened to him before run off. Well.. she could tell that he'd been attacked and that he had not been healing properly from his wounds, of course, but Impera wanted to hear it. Hear it from his lips so she could understand.
So, here she was. Looking for him. Still looking for a stallion she wasn't sure wanted to be found. And her mother wasn't even trying to help! She was just hiding away in the North! Anger and frustration coursed through the female like a flashfire. Violently, Impera struck out at the ground with her forehooves. The blow sent a rock scattering down the hillside below. The wing-marked maiden stood stock still for a few long minutes, breathing hard with hot tears pricking at her eyes. She scowled out at the barren hills around her, seafoam eyes raking over the landscape for any signs that someone was reacting to her clatter. Impera looked and found nothing; so she trudged again, tail lashing through the air.
There was always nothing.