The big bay used to receive those looks constantly but his time outside the badlands had diminished the stares of awe. His tiny herd never stared at him like she does, and it he cannot fathom why it makes him feel this way. No matter, he thinks, shaking his head as she moved in closer. She is definitely more feisty than he initially took her for, and she nickers and steps out before him in a good pace. He cannot help himself; he snakes his head after her, brandishing his horns at her heels as he drives her from the Field and towards his homeland.

It is not long before he falls into step beside her, his natural instinct to harry her forth faster has dimmed and he steals small glances at her green roan face from time to time from beneath the thick black cloud of his forelock. She will stand out like a jewel amongst the orange canyons caught in a sunset glow and for the first time, Mandan is a little less grouchy and more friendly towards his present company. He still says nothing as they near the border of the badlands and their hooves strike rock more than grass. Up ahead, he can see the hawk sentinel that patrols this particular area of canyons and he nods his head to him in acknowledgment - the hawk has the skies and the stallion has the land, a land that is far too quiet in his daughter’s absence.

He can still smell his two mares but they tend to keep to themselves or seek out his unwelcome company, at times. But now he presses Zelena, herding her through the tight twists and turns until ushering her into the beautiful balmy air of the oasis tucked away inside all that orange-red rock. “What do you think?” The snows never reached this part of the herdland, it remained tropical and protected most of the year. He gives her a nudge to her green speckled flesh as if to say go ahead, look around.