He himself had not slept, although Hydra had been kind to him. He had created a child, and from there, simply lived: content in Hydra's heat, in the shadows of the Crucible, in the sparkle of its rivers. He was, in a word, happy. It was a simple life, but a good one, and as a cautious creature he'd been relatively safe. He knew where to sleep to avoid the spiders; he knew to watch the skies, and stay under cover, to avoid the Eyehooks (though his size kept him mostly safe from them, now). He avoided the Dunes altogether and, when he did skirt their edges, he kept close watch on the subterranean worms with his magic; and he had magic, too, to distract them if ever one did draw close.

The trial, though, still weighed heavily on his mind. Warrior now paced slowly, in a leisurely manner, along one of the ravines toward the Dunes, to where Cryogen had hatched. He enjoyed lying there, in the overhanging shade, watching the endless dunes and their sands shifting beneath the light. But as he walked, memories--nightmares that still haunted him--flickered past his mind now and again. The cold; the snow. The Great Worm, and its death; and the deaths of those who had failed the tests.

He shivered, despite the heat of the day, and his hide twitched at the motion.

The horse turned his attention to his surroundings; it never did to be lazy, to lose attention to one's surroundings. Magicka flickered up, dim red shapes showing against Hydra's glare. One in particular, near the edge of the Dunes, caught his eye: a slightly-moving, almost... vibrating, little rope of red.

Oh-!

His pace picked up, a swifter walk, ears pricking up and head rising. Was that Vee-? It was the only long-small-shape he knew, though if it was Vee she'd grown a little bit.

"Vee?" he called out, softly, as he rounded the final rocky corner; "Is that you?" And then, remembering that he'd changed, that he looked different, now: "It's me--Warrior!"

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The tail-rattle gave him pause, and he drew up short, pulling his head back just a tad. He didn't want to get bitten, struck by those fangs; he didn't know they were venomous but he figured they'd probably hurt, at least, and anyway, most things in Hydra were venomous. Best to assume, really. But she recognized him, after a moment; and at first her question hurt his feelings, a little. "What happened to you" sounded as though he looked bad, and his heart dropped, a bit; was the white so very ugly, now?

But her next question had him blinking, offering a little laugh.

"The snow-? No! No, no. Well--sort of. I'm glad you're all right," he added, and then glanced around, squinting against the sudden gust of stinging, wind-driven sand. "I can tell you the whole story, but I think we should go find shelter... I think this might get bad." Warrior had never seen a true sandstorm before, but something about this felt... off.

He backed a safe distance up from Vee, and swathed himself in magicka; the driving sand became glass, but whirled around him instead of into him, creating a sort of dynamic shield. "Don't come too close," he warned, having to raise his voice against another howl of wind; "But there's some places we can hide this way--if you can follow?" Warrior turned, prepared to lead the way, squinting and blinking back to see if Vee could manage.

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Warrior put his head down, bracing against the sudden sweep of roaring wind from behind him: a wind that rushed into the tunnel, that staggered him and stung at his rump and legs. If he wasn't focusing on his magicka, it'd have undoubtedly done worse.

A squinting, blinking glance back--and he realized just how thick the sand had gotten. He'd lost Vee already. Warrior raised his voice into a whinny, eyes widening--and then slamming shut as sand scraped into them. "VEE?!" he called.

He hesitated, thinking, then dropped his shards, in an attempt to instead find Vee with his magic. Almost at once the pain of the sand grew intense, and he yelped a little as he reached out. There-!

He darted back, honing not on physical sight but magic vision, the little red noodle clear in this imagery; and he called to her--"DON'T BITE ME--IT'S JUST ME!" before trying to pick the snake up carefully in his teeth.

If Vee allowed it he'd gallop into the ravine with her... toward shelter, away from the burning sand.

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His build, his design, was that of an agile endurance horse, and it showed. He'd turned back in a flash, and now a few seconds later he had spun and lurched straight back into a full gallop down the ravine, his acceleration both sudden and smooth. Hooves hammered the rock, a clatter lost to the wind's roar, his ears pinned and his mane and tail a tangled flow behind him.

He did his best not to squeeze Vee unduly; her rattle ignited some primal fear in him that he wasn't sure what to do with. But the sudden storm was infinitely more terrifying, and he nearly missed, in fact, his 'exit.' Hooves skidded and scrabbled across the rock as he jerked back, nostrils flaring in a snort, and pulled off into the little alcove that he sometimes used as shelter.

There he gently set Vee down, and then pranced away to lean against the wall, wide eyes blinking away sand and flanks heaving with great, panting breaths. The wind was no quieter--this was no cave, only a shallow shelter, though it protected them at least from the sand. "What is that-?" he asked, voice a little shriller, a little softer, than usual. He looked to Vee, as if hoping that she knew. Fear flowed through him; was it another monster? -No, another dangerous creature? (for he tried to think of the Ice Worm as a victim, as much as predator.) He took another breath and tried to steady himself, to draw his magicka in to replenish some of the stamina he'd used; they were safe, for now, or... at least as safe as he could make them. But was Hydra ever truly safe-?

Unless he knew what they were facing (and he didn't) he couldn't quite relax... maybe Vee had more insight. he hoped.

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