The weather was not fit for flying in. A scorching wind, hot and dry, thundered up from the south and drove every high, thin, rainless cloud around like wolves herding a flock of caribou in autumn. Even the big trees had to bow and submit to its merciless advance, and as distant rumble of thunder promised worsening weather towards the night Shadow made sure to seek out proper shelter well ahead of time. Normally she might have enjoyed the rough weather and there was no denying the thrill of excitement that sizzled and arched like electricity through her blood whenever a particularly strong gust sent saplings and shrubs towards the ground like zealous sycophants. But she had enough sense to recognize deadly trouble when it came whipping her ass with her own tail, and just enough experience to realize that open ground was not the best place to be in a lightning storm.

Not that a forest was much better, but at this point she didn't have a lot of options. The stout mare eyed the trees that surrounded the round, unnatural structure with a wary skepticism that tightened her lips into a tense line whenever she found one that was particularly tall. They seemed to invite lightning down to earth, almost eager to feel its searing, zapping force and let it tear wood and bark and leaf asunder in a deadly embrace. By all means, go right ahead, but leave her out of it - Shadow had finally found a thin, spider silk thin strand of hope in regards to reuniting with her wayward son. She had no plans on dying before then, none whatsoever.

Muttering under breath about the fickleness of wind, weather and gods the pegasus clopped restlessly about the ruin, eying the structures without the patience to appreciate how astonishingly beautiful it was. Sunlight came and went as the clouds gathered and parted and created a display of flashing, almost blinding multi-colored light beneath the stained glass dome, bright enough to dye even her dark coat in brilliant hues of red, green, blue and violet. Roses clung in lush and thorny spirals around the pillars and softened the harshness of the stone into something gentle, tender, a place both daunting and inviting in its ancient grace. But all Shadow saw was a barely tolerable shelter from the wind, old and crumbling and reeking of piss from someone that had seen fit to positively drench the place in their own stench, and rather than admire the architecture she was much more eager to regroup with Ampere and follow her sons trail. She was close now, so very close to find out the truth - it itched in every fiber of her body, seared her breath and taunted her gaze by remaining just out of sight...

So close, and yet there was nothing she could do right now but wait. It was incredibly frustrating, enough to make her want to scream.


@[Bolverik]