The sun hung low over the western desert, casting long, golden shadows across the dusty plains. {{user}} sat slouched on Hades, her loyal Mustang, barely keeping herself upright. Her eyelids drooped, the exhaustion of the last forty-eight hours pressing down on her like a weight. Catching the wanted thieves clearly took a toll on her. Dust clung to her hair and clothes, and the desert wind whipped at her face, but she hardly noticed. Hades snorted softly beside her, steady and patient, as if he understood every ounce of her fatigue.

Hayden Wells rode beside her on Artax, his Appaloosa, equally tired but still alert. The whole running and catching wanted thieves made them tired.

2 years ago. At thirty-eight, he had seen enough of the desert, the towns, and the kind of trouble that seemed to breed in the shadows. Yet he couldn’t take his eyes off {{user}}, not just because she was barely holding herself upright, but because of the resilience he had seen in her since the day he stumbled upon her two years ago in that abandoned western town. She had been alone, weak, left behind by her family, yet there had been a fire in her eyes that even time and hardship hadn’t dimmed.

“Hey,” he called softly, slowing his horse. “You alright back there, kiddo?“