Calder had forgotten how treacherous the path to the Basin had been the first time he’d come.  Then he’d been half-dead from exhaustion and had still managed better than his clumsy attempt today.  And to think he’d lived his entire life on the side of a mountain that put any peak in Helovia to shame.  His ancestors would be disappointed.
 
The grey unicorn had been hoping to find some remnants of his family here in Helovia.  He’d been so encouraged to find so many other unicorns – including those sporting antlers – that he’d been foolish enough to hope that perhaps some of his family or his herdmates had escaped the mother mountain.  Calder dreamed vividly of his sister, to the point where he had convinced himself that she was alive.  He wouldn’t put it past the stubborn lass.  It’d take just a hair past the apocalypse to rid the world of the hardheaded mare that was his wee sister.  Still, when he had reason to hope that perhaps they to had found sanctuary here, the borders of the Basin simply could not hold him.  The pain was too raw and the potential of a familiar face was far too tempting.  So he’d gone before he’d ever really established himself as one of them.  A mere ghost on their doorstep.
 
Only now seasons had come and gone with little more than a whisper on the wind, and none of those whispers spoke anything of the life he had left behind.  So he supposed that after all his wanderings, it was time to close the door on hoping his family had made it through the water and the mud as the mountain gave way to gravity.  It was time to begin a new chapter and to close the door on the hurtful memories that kept him tethered to his past.
 
The great brute made his way slowly back towards the snowy land that had once welcomed him when he had so needed sanctuary after he was rendered all but a refugee from his old home.  He wondered if he would still be welcome after his short residence, knowing that his personal excuses for leaving were likely nothing that any herd leader wanted to hear.  The antlered stallion shook his head in an attempt to clear away the thoughts. If he had to find residence elsewhere, so be it.  He had little left to lose in the world – nearly all he had was already gone.  He was wary, and felt that it would be rude to waltz right back to the center of the Basin as if he had never left, so he remained at a respectful distance.  He was content to wait for the time being for he knew someone would be along shortly.