Luneshale Pass si una vez

@Samirseti already had this one open :p

The afternoon sun hung high over, its pale light muted by a thin haze of desert dust. The land glowed with an unnatural brightness, as though the light refracting minerals in the white shale refused to let the shadows linger. Even now, with the sun blazing down, the badlands held a strange, ethereal quality—vast and exposed, yet brimming with hidden life.  

Ximena moved through the arid scrub with measured ease, her paws brushing over patches of cracked earth and scattered tufts of hardy vegetation. The chollah cacti stood like sentinels in the stillness, their spiny arms reaching for the endless sky, while night-blooming opuntia remained closed, waiting for dusk.  

The river was little more than a pale ribbon of water threading its way through the flatlands, and as Ximena neared its bank, the faintest hint of a breeze stirred the sparse chaparral. She paused to take in the landscape, her golden eyes narrowing as they swept over the ivory sandstone formations.

She dipped her muzzle to drink from the river. Above her, a hawk circled lazily in the pale sky, its sharp cry slicing through the silence. Ximena smirked at the sight. The hawk’s hunt was its own, but she understood the thrill of it—the chase, the patience, the satisfaction of claiming what was hers.  

Her gaze shifted to the horizon, where the white shale seemed to shimmer unnaturally under the sunlight. Ximena’s tail flicked behind her as she straightened, her silhouette sharp against the bright, barren land. Her instincts pulled her forward, past the river and deeper into the shimmering expanse.