[PRP] Unexpected Family (Kaikea, Calfuray & Hippolytus)

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Since her decision to join the herd, her life had been so much fuller. It had taken some time to fully adjust to herd life, after all, she had been a lone wanderer for quite some time. And she was still not entirely used to the training. Kakiea was not a fighter, but part of being a herd member was learning the basics. Now she could truly appreciate how much work it took for the other members to keep in shape. It had taken weeks for her muscles to become accustomed to such strenuous activity.

But what had truly kept her busy lately was her unexpected family. She and Calfuray had grown closer since she had joined and she loved the mare with all her heart. When she had heard a rumor a while back about a star that could grant wishes, she had wished upon it for a family. Honestly, Kaikea had not expected anything from it. But then when she had found a basket one day, a basket that had both her and Caluray's colors on it, she knew her wish had been granted. Of course, it could have just been a coincidence that some mare had abandoned her own child her and her colors just happened to match that of Kaikea and her mate. But Kaikea liked to think that this was truly her and Calfuray's child, a blessing from star.

She had been so nervous and excited about it. And when the foal had finally emerged, she had fallen in love instantly. But she had also worried. The foal was male and she knew his life would not be ideal here. Regardless, she was happy to raise the colt with Calfuray and do her best to keep him happy in a herd where males were lesser.

Having completed her duties for the morning, Kaikea led Hippylotus out into the herd lands. Calfuray should just be finishing her training and they would be able to spend some quality time together.













There wasn't much to do for him most days. He was too young to fulfill his role of slave within the herd just yet, but even so, limitations were put on him. It was hard sometimes, but spending time with him mothers made him forget about it. The colt happily followed behind his mother as they made their way to where they would see his other mother. Had it not been for Penthesilea and Achilles' family, Hippolytus might have never learned that this set up of having two mothers was anything but normal. Sometimes, he was jealous of those other foals, for they had a 'proper' family, but the love he received from both his mothers made up for it.

"What will we be doing today?" He asked as they navigated one of the many trails within the herd territory. One day he would be tasked with keeping these trails free of debris - while his mothers and other herd members used them for patrols and other important duties.  

[JetAlmeara]

Calfuray had indeed finished her training for the day and despite how tired she was the mare couldn't help but decide to play a little prank on Kaikea and Hippolytus when she spotted them walking together on the trail back towards home.

Stealing trough the undergrowth Calfuray managed to get ahead of the pair and lay in wait in the brush around a bend. Listening intently for them to round the bend Calfuray heard the young colt ask his mother what they were going to do today. It was the perfect time. Leaping from the bushes in front of them she gave a mighty howl.

"Today we are going to eat little foals!" she mock growled at the colt "Rawr! Rawr! Rawr!" she mock snapped and pretended to stalk forward. Others in the herd might laugh if they saw her but Calfuray didn't care, playing with Hippolytus was probably one of the funnest things she had done in years (at least as far as she could recall anyways)  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Hippolytus couldn't help but backpedal a few feet as his mother jumped out in front of him. She had always moved quietly, like most of the herd member, but he had not expected such a sudden entrance. Once he had regained himself, he put on a brave face and jumped towards his mother, kicking out in a playful manner. "Not funny mom!" Though even as he said that, the colt was laughing. The other herd members didn't play with him, though they would if he had been a female, so any opportunity to play with him mothers was precious.

"Can we go to the river?" He asked, practically dancing around Calfuray, playful but weary that she might do another mock charge at any moment. It didn't matter where they went, all he wanted to do was spend time with them.

Even Kaikea couldn't help but be a bit startled at Calfuray's sudden entrance. Seeing Hippolytus back away in temporary fright bought a slight frown to her lips, but that was quickly replaced by a smile as she watched her mate and son start to play. "The river would be nice." She said, watching their son. There was plenty to do there. They could swim, explore the surrounding area and there was almost always something of interest to find as well.

Turning her attention to her mate, Kaikea smiled. "How was training?" While she trained as well, it was much less intensive than Calfurays, for the mare was a more active warrior and protector of the herd. Kaikea had taken on a more simple role, helping with the foals and anything else that required a gentle approach.  

[JetAlmeara]

Calfuray pretended to be afraid of the colts playful kicks,dancing away from them but spinning to n** at him playfully as he dodged around her. So what if he were a colt - sure Calfuray followed the herds traditions but perhaps because pf her broken memory she didn't tend to believe in them quite as much as some of the others, it was something the mare was sure the rest of the herd frowned upon but they seemed to chalk it up to a symptom of her memory problem and ignore it for the most part.

"I don't see why not, I don't have anything else to do today." She agreed to the colts idea, turning to lead them all in that direction before answering her mates question. "It was fine, kind of light today which is a nice break."  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Seeing his moms agree to the river, Hippolytus danced with happiness. "I love the river!" He exclaimed and then followed after Calfuray. Though it didn't take long for his excitement to hurry him along, passing his mother and taking the lead on their journey. Glancing back he smile dat them. He knew that technically he should be following them, but when they were spending time together away from the herd, the rules with which they lived by got a little blurred. He liked that. Knowing that, even for a short period of time, he could do what he wanted, and they would let him. But, he still kept his eyes and ears open, just in case a patrol came along, he did not want to get his mothers in trouble for letting him break the rules.

Turning around he tried to walk backwards, so that he could still lead but also talk to his mothers. It turned out to be horribly awkward and it slowed him down a great deal. "Do you think we will see any frogs? Or maybe a turtle?" He asked. The river was such an interesting place that he never knew what to expect there.

Kaikea fell into step beside Calfuray and watched their son take the lead. A smile crossed her lips, even as she took a moment to look around, ensuring that no other herd member was around. They were alone...for now. Reaching over, she nuzzled her mate. "I'm glad to hear training was easy today." She herself had done training, though never the intense training that Calfuray did, but she had watched her mate do training before and sometimes it was downright brutal. She understood why, they were warriors after all and had trained like this their whole life, but it was a hard thing to watch, and she was grateful she only had to do minimal training.

She turned her attention back to their son. "Hopefully we will see both." If she could give Hippolytus everything he wanted in life, she would.  

[JetAlmeara]

Calfury couldn't help but chuckle at the colts enthusiasm, it was nice that he was such a happy colt and she hoped that he would remain that way throughout his life even with the herds opinions about males. Calfuray thought perhaps she would have cared more about the colt being in front of them in another lifetime - before she had lost who she was and been given the chance to start over but in this new life the herds ideals, while honored, did not seem so pressing any longer and she felt no need to squash the foals fun. He was young let him be young and enjoy his time with them and should any of the other herd members dare to say anything different well she would quickly show them the error of their ways.

Distracted by these thoughts by Kaikea's nuzzle Calfuray gave the mare a warm look "Me too, once in a while it is nice to take a break from it all." She agreed.

"Perhaps! If you are very lucky you might even see an otter." She told the colt.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Hippolytus stopped in his tracks. "An otter?! That would be so cool." Otters certainly lived in the river here, but they were pretty skittish, so they weren't as easily spotted as the fish, frogs and turtles. Having decided that walking backwards was just too darn hard, he turned around and took to walking normal once more. If one could call what he was doing walking. The colt was too excited to walk, so he was doing this strange combination of prancing, jumping and trotting, wanting to get to the river as soon as possible, but not get too far ahead of his mothers.

As the walked he kept looking back at them, making sure he didn't get too far ahead. And before long he was rewarded with the gentle sound of the river. "It's just ahead!" He called out to them and all but ran off, forgetting all about sticking close to them. At least he had enough sense to stop at the rivers edge and wait for them.

"Some days I feel like they work you too hard." She admitted, though surely Calfuray already knew that. Especially when Kaikea would worry over her after a particularly hard training session. Call it her natural need to nurture others, but any time Calfuray, or Hippolytus for that matter, came home with a bruise, scrap or the tiniest of cuts, it set her into a panic to make sure they were properly taken care of. It was funny, but she didn't remember her own parents stressing out about things. Yes, her parents took care of her and her siblings, but not in an overprotective way like Kaikea had a habit of doing. Perhaps being raised in such a laid back manner made Kaikea the opposite of her parents.

When Hippolytus took off she felt the panic rise. "Wait for us!" And then she hurried to catch up to him.  

[JetAlmeara]

Calfuray laughed as Hippolytus ran off "It's okay" She assured Kaikea taking note of the mares panicked expression "The river is not very deep here and the herds lands are well protected, he'll be fine." And really they were right behind him.

"It is sweet that you care so much for us all though." She told the other mare with a nuzzle and really it was, altohugh Calfuray couldn't recall much of anything from her past life she was fairly certain she would have at least vague hints of memory if someone had ever cared for her the way KaiKea did. Picking up the pace she trotted after the rest of her family. She certainly hoped that Hippolytus got to see his creatures but considering how much noise he'd made rushing off she thought it rather unlikely.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Hippolytus wasn't sure if he should slow down to let his mothers catch up or hurry ahead even more and make a game out of it. In the end he chose the latter and raced on, letting out a laugh. He had all the freedom in the world right now and he was taking full advantage of it. If only he knew that the noise from his excitement might scare away the fish, otters and anything else that called the river home. But he wasn't thinking about that at the moment. All he had on his mind was having fun with his mothers. Anything else he got to see or do on top of that was pure bonus.

Following a bend in the trail, Hippolytus could see that the river was just ahead. He slowed just a bit now, looking around to see if there was anything special to see. Then he got an idea. He was out of his mothers view, but that would change soon as they were coming up fast. Maybe he could hid and scare them both. Spotting a large tree which had fallen some time ago the colt dashed behind it and ducked down, listening to the hoof beats of his mothers coming up the trail. Hopefully they didn't see him hide or it would ruin the surprise.

"I can't help but worry about him." She admitted to her mate. This was her first time raising a foal, really her first experience with a foal, and she wasn't always sure that she was doing the right thing. There were times where she wished that she could go talk to her mother and ask her so many questions about parenting. But that would mean either leaving Hippolytus here or bringing him with her, and if she did take the colt would Calfuray be able to come with them? Would she even be able to find her mother easily? Kamakana was a wanderer at heart and could be just about anywhere. Too much uncertainty surrounded such a trip and so she would remain here and hope she was doing everything right.  

[JetAlmeara]

"I know" Calfuray soothed the other mare with a warm nuzzle "It is hard to be responsible for something so small and naive." She agreed, foals were difficult on one hand you wanted to them fall every so often so they could learn from their mistakes and on the other you didn't want them to fall so often they were badly injured. It was a fine path to stay on. She was pretty sure that she and Kaikea were doing an okay job however, I mean Hippolytus seemed happy and he was certainly a healthy foal. Of course this was her first time attempting to raise a foal so she couldn't be entirely certain.

"He is happy and we are happy, that is all that we can do really, everything else we will just have to figure out along the way and so far I think we've been doing a pretty good job of it all." she went on, although Kaikea had not voiced her worries it was easy to tell now and then that they preyed upon her and as Calfuray had the same reservations she could only guess that they haunted Kaikea as well. On the plus side if ever they found themselves looking after a basket again it would be much easier with this experience to draw upon.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Hidden behind the half rotten stump, Hippolytus waited, and waited and waited for his mothers to come close enough. They walked way too slow! He could hear them approaching, but it seemed like they were too busy talking to bother walking fast enough for his liking. Why were adults so slow? He knew they didn't always walk this slow, in fact he had seen his mothers at a full gallop before, during a training session he spied on for a few moments, so he didn't know why they weren't moving faster.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore and came out of his hiding spot. "Hurry up" He was practically dancing on the spot in impatience. He wanted to get to the river, to see what neat things they would find, to spend time with hims moms and they were moving like snails! Okay, they weren't moving that slow, but to a foal it felt like that slow.

It was funny how well Calfuray's words reflected Kaikea's own thoughts and made her a little less stressed. Was her mate somehow reading her mind? Or did Calfuray think/worry about the same things? It was likely the later. "You're right. He is a happy foal and..." Before she could finish the sentence out popped Hippolytus from a little ways down the trail looking slightly irritated and yet happy at the same time. "Okay, we're coming." She soothed the colt and to show she wasn't lying, she broke out into a trot.  

[JetAlmeara]

"Patience is a virture* Calfuray told the young colt with a slight laugh before she too broke into a trot in order to appease him. It was a nice day and really why should they bother wasting their time worrying and fretting about things outside of their control rather then spending it at the river?

"Come on I'll race you!" She challenged Hippolytus as she came up next to him. "One, Two , Three GO!" She called out, of course rather then dash ahead she would let him win because that was the sort of things she knew parents did.