Ashamin had a lot to learn about herd life. The first thing was that everywhere you looked, there was someone else. It was impossible for him to find a place where he could be alone in the open hills and frozen plains of the herdlands; he was beginning to understand why Phantom had claimed a cave all for herself.

And it was good, sometimes, to never be alone. When Ashamin was alone he found his thoughts turning to darker, sadder things--with another, he could be distracted. But whether or not he knew which was better--to distract or to dwell--remained to be seen. And with neither option proving to be a clear winner, the young stallion had decided it would be best to cover all of his bases.

Ashamin had wandered far into the depths of the territory and wove his way now between the pine-covered hills at the base of the mountains to the North-Easternmost part of the territory. He scanned with black eyes that seemed empty for a crag or a nook, a den of shadow where he might be alone for a moment and able to rest his weary mind.

But of course, Ashamin was in a herd, now. And he never really would be alone, again. So even though he had sought solitude, time to reflect in a darker wood in the night, he found the presence of another in no time at all. A dark mare, almost blending into the surroundings, walked through the area, twigs and pines littered at her feet. Ashamin knew that the proper thing to do, then, was to greet her. She was a fellow herd member, he hoped, and if she wasn't he had a duty to perform as a soldier. How proud Einarr and the others would be if he successfully performed that task.

His daydreams were useless, however, for it was not a task that needed performing. It quickly became clear, by the stature and familiar knowledge of the land that this mare seemed to have, that she was no trespasser. Besides, this deep in the Basin, a trespasser surely would have already been caught.

So that left herdmate, and the obligation to be social. Ashamin stiffened with anxiousness and stood still in the shadow, holding his breath. He knew what he had to do, but a part of him so badly wanted to be a stranger to her, passing in the night. He sneaked around her in a wide circle, making use of the shadow as best as he could, but when a cloud shifted and he realized how thin the canopy was above him, he was caught in a cool, wash of moonlight and knew he would be seen.

Frozen, he stood directly in front of the mare he had been hoping to avoid. The white parts of his coat and the smooth stone in his horn seemed to glow in the sudden burst of light from the heavens and his posture stiffened with a facade of confidence. He nodded to the mare in a sort of quiet hello, slowly and deliberately, and resigned himself to his fate.

With one white, cleft hoof put forward, then another, he drew closer to the mare and reached out his face as he always did to touch hers, proffering a touch and a physical greeting before even speaking a word.

[[Tagged: @[Zandora]; he is a soldier, his rank just isn't changed yet.]]

Ashamin