[ pretending it's day because Larkspur wrote about midday xD ]

He was too restless to sleep that day. Every time he sought out the cool caves of the Frozen Arch something tugged at his mind, at his soul, at his feet, and no matter how hard he pressed his eyes shut the daylight kept worming its way inside. Before he knew what had happened, his blue eyes were open again and his frosted hooves shuffling thin snow aside. Spring never quite reached the northland.

Not that he minded.

The nights were for walking tirelessly, not the days. He had since long developed the routine of passing time in darkness by moving and trying not to think, and passing time in daylight by sleeping hidden away somewhere, where he could be alone. It had worked, nearly flawlessly, for weeks, so why could he find no peace today? Why did his heart start thundering when he paused, why did his thoughts chase him into wakefulness each time he found a sunny spot in which to rest? Again, his eyes were open and his hooves moving, carrying his pale shape into the rolling hills behind the Arch. He thought that he had seen it all, explored every nook and cranny in his earlier attempts of finding a way back home, but the sunlight guided him into a pass which he had previously not entered. Frowning, Mauja paused at its mouth and turned to look over his shoulder. How come he had not found it before? Had he not walked here a hundred times? Too curious to feel tired, he shrugged, and stepped into it.

Time passed easily as he moved, ever watchful, curiosity tugging him forward even when caution bade him wait. What if it was a trap? What if whatever force held him here had decided to play some cruel game with him? But each time the worry crossed his mind, Irma soothed him in her usual high-handed manner — just like she did each time he contemplated death, or being dead. Sometimes it irritated him, but now he was grateful for it. Nothing like something new to keep his mind off his situation, and if she thought it was fine.. then why should he not keep going? There was no reason and so he kept going, placing one hoof in front of the other, until a hidden valley spread out before him. Unlike the snow-laden Steppe he had left behind, it was covered in lush tundra grass, and the ground felt soft — the frost would sit deep here, perhaps even be gone entirely by summer. What a hidden wonder, and his 'brows rose in unhidden surprise. Did this exist in the real world too? Was he meant to find it, to bring it as a gift to his people?

Hah. How could he, when he was here, and they weren't?

Moving deeper into the secret paradise he found himself drawn towards one of the slopes. Irma descended from the skies to settle upon his shoulder, giving his scarred skin a squeeze with one talon. If he had looked at her, would he have seen the smug, satisfied look flash in her blue eyes? Was that a stirring of excitement in her soul, too large to hide entirely from him? The celestial pull kept him going, too entranced, enchanted, by the glow of blue to fully notice his companion's emotions. He slipped into a cave, one side taken up by a surface much like water, yet somehow held upright. His breath pooled into the air, rising in clouds of smoke, and through the glow and bubbles he caught a hint of white, and frowned. Was it himself, or someone else he was seeing? Slowly he drew to a halt in front of it, nearly touching it with his muzzle. It beckoned to him, and nothing in Irma suggested he should hold back (it was amazing, how he had come to trust her as his guide after her return). But what was it? His portal into death, into finally being allowed to rest? He would not mind... When Irma's rejection of his theory came, he was not surprised. Something had her utterly convinced they were both alive, and as he certainly knew no better, he let her be.

Maybe even trusted her.

Muzzle and horn touched its smooth surface, the rift of darkness widening to accommodate his height and width as the air grew even colder.

Winter was coming.

Nothing made him pause midway, nothing made him cease his step through time and space, and perhaps he was so used to deviltry that no surprise registered on his face. With easy grace his large hooves met the cold cavern floor, deftly avoiding Myrddin's kneeling shape as Mauja gently disentangled himself from the mirror. He had stepped out into the very cave where he had stepped into it, as if he had somehow turned himself inside out when he passed through it, and that was the thing which confused him the most. That the air tasted different, like something from a memory, and that two unicorns he knew and a few more he didn't was standing there confused him less. He had no power to spare to ponder that, no defense except to treat it like any other encounter. He did not understand, did not know, couldn't be certain, and at the same time, he knew that he would go mad if he tried to think about it. "Myrddin," he said, his voice deep and cool, so calm, as if nothing at all had happened. "You do not need to kneel before me."

[ Mauja also got a spark amulet the moment he stepped through the mirror but he's too frazzled to notice. xD also, unless you are an active part of the Basin or told, in a thread, by any of the horses present in this thread, you do not know he's back. ^-^ ]