[PRP] Storm warning (many. the storm approaches!)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akkhana too followed after the strange angeni. She thought of her herd then, both the herd she had left behind, and the new herd that she had joined, the Padmapani. She wondered, if she was swept away by this storm, would they ever know? Would anyone here be able to match her lotus markings to her home? She could have said something to someone then, but knew her voice wouldn't carry over the wind. She just had to wonder, while part of her mind quietly chanted prayers that had not crossed her lips in years.

And then, came the shelter.

She didn't have the strength to run. Instead she staggered the last few lengths before heaving herself under the rocky ledge. She slumped against the back wall, shivering violently.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Strangely, once Bernadette started following the stranger, she felt a calm come over her. It was out of her hooves now. Her survival depended not on her own actions, but upon the actions of this outsider. Soquili functioned best in herds, and in their cobbled together one, clearly this stallion was their protector.

She followed him in this detached lightheadedness, walking under the rocky ledge without so much as a rush. Her body and mind were beyond fear and terror now. She was too emotionally and physically exhausted to do anything but exist and keep breathing. Dimly, she watched the branches blow by beyond their ledge. How many creatures were out there dying right now? Many frightened animals huddled against her legs. Those were the lucky ones, to be sure.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Dumah wanted to shout at them. He wanted to score them with his claws and make them hurry, make them run. He wanted to do all these things, but he resisted. He knew that running would not help in a gale like this. These soquili did not know the woods like he did. Their hooves would find holes. Their legs would splinter. Their lives depended on speed, and yet they had to plod along with the slow insistence of snails.

He didn't know why he helped them.

This repeated in his head with every step towards safety he led them on. He didn't know why he cared whether they should live or die. He doubted that any of them were without sin. Undoubtedly, they were all tainted by the same ichor that tainted the world. He knew he should have left them, and yet he brought them to shelter. They all stepped into safety while his sister was out there, alone.

The winds shrieked and screamed, but he stood at the very front of the shelter, looking outside, his eyes like red beacons in the tempest.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Emiko found herself with Akkhana at the back of the cave. They were huddled together, side against side. Emiko sensed that Akkhana did not want to speak, so she focused her attention on Fuuka. Terror lived in her veins as she sensed the tornado growing closer and closer, but she focused on the cat and how much she cared for the little creature. She nuzzled her, groomed her, tried to get the water from her fur. She kept her eyes fixated on her little friend, until she dared to take one look up.

The world beyond their protected shelter was a whirl of movement and chaos. She had lived in this world for all her life, and yet for the first time, she found she could no longer understand it.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akkhana shut her eyes. She hurt and was wet and cold. No one seemed to want to say it, but it hung in the air over them like poison. They still could die. The rain and wind still plucked at them even from their position. Gusts still caught her and pulled at her hair. She was afraid. Would she ever be able to fly again? She didn't know.

As the heart of the storm passed over them, she kept her eyes squeezed shut, her own shelter against calamity. Would she be missed if the storm took her now? Did she deserve to be? Pain swelled within her. If she survived, there would be changes to her life. She swore it, then and there.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Hush, little ones," Bernadette found herself cooing to the animals, scared and even more miserable than she. "It will be all right. Storms like this, they are brought by the spirits to clear away the dust. It's only a little spring cleaning." The words meant nonsense, but they spoke to her. Had her own mother said something like this to her once? She thought back and touched a memory. She was small, hiding beneath the equally fragile and beautiful wings of a mare that towered over her. It wasn't her mother, but her grandmother, singing a song about rain and rainbows in her creaky voice.

Somehow, Bernadette was able to bring this song to her lips now. "Rain comes and rain goes, but rain sees and rainbows know." With the song returned a little of her strength. Though the storm still raged, she had a feeling that the worst was over.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

His sister was nowhere to be seen, not in the storm, and not even in the drifting rain that came along after it. No one dared to move for some time even after the winds ceased. Dumah looked at the sky. He had not recognized the weather that had made the first tornado. Would he be similarly blindsided if another struck? He thought about leaving to look for Diantha, but thought better of it. There would be little visibility in the rain and they could easily pass by each other without even noticing.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Eventually the storm ceased. Exhausted, Emiko didn't dare to move, even after she knew the danger was gone. Fuuka was a dispirited lump against her. She felt worried for the cat, wondered if the stress and damp might make her ill. She looked around at those that had made it into the shelter. All things considered, they had done well. No one was dead. No one had broken any legs. Some looked like they had damaged wings, but no one howled in agony. They would all be able to walk out, even if they couldn't fly.

Belatedly, she began to look over herself. She was sore and cold, soaked the bone. She had knocked into debris on her way over, so wouldn't be surprised if she had small injuries. She took note of some areas where she felt bruises under the fur. Some of her scales had been torn out as well, leaving bare patches of red skin that would scab over, but eventually heal. There were a few other cuts and scrapes, but nothing major. A few days in the hotsprings and resting would put her to rights, in body if not quite in nerves.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Desolately, Akkhana looked out into the world beyond the cave. She hurt all over. Her wings were certainly hurt, and she still couldn't tell how badly they were. Now that she thought about it, her head was sore as well. That probably explained why she was so dizzy, even when sitting...

"Does anyone have a familiar?" she asked, her voice croaking from exhaustion. "I... don't know if I can make it back to my herd alone." She hated to admit it. She didn't like to rely on other soquili, especially not on strangers. Still, there was no use denying that she needed help. Maybe someone from Padmapani would be able to come out here and help her get back. Maybe they'd be able to bring a unicorn to heal her a little first...  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Bernadette blinked hazily over at Akkhana. She wasn't exactly feeling her best, but the kindness of her heart woke to the pain in the mare's voice. "I don't have a familiar," she admitted. "But I know a lot of birds. I think I could find one to take a message for you if you needed." She blinked suddenly, a look of quiet sadness coming across her.

"As long as they are all right. I wonder if they were able to find shelter..." She started to blink back tears. She had survived, but the idea of her friends suffering was more than she could handle in her current state. She started feeling overwhelmed. The storm had torn past them. How did she know that anyone she cared about had made it out safely? She had a sudden urge to see her family...  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Dumah eyed the animals as they started to leave the shelter. The bravest left even while rain still fell. Others began to trickle out only once the sun first peaked through a break in the clouds. That was when Dumah decided it was time for him to leave as well.

He turned to the soquili that he had become the unwilling guardian of. They had survived due to his help. Now he was connected to them, like it or not. He frowned. He had sought to live his life free of other soquili, and yet they appeared to him like a flock of lost birds.

"I am leaving now," he told them without preamble. "You should not stay in this area long." That was, of course, because it was part of what he considered "his territory" and he didn't much like guests. He wouldn't harm them if they stayed, but he wouldn't like it either.

Saying nothing more, he left. He had his sister to look for.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

It didn't take much longer after that for Emiko to gather herself up. She said her goodbyes to the other soquili, and finally learned their names. It felt strange to only be first meeting someone as they departed, but they hadn't exactly had time for pleasantries while they fought for their lives. Bedraggled and chilled, she began the long walk back to her home. Not since her shipwreck had she faced such danger, and yet she had survived just the same.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Bernadette went out to look for one of her spirit-touched friends while other stayed behind and tended to Akkhana. She was lucky, she didn't have to look long before she found one. The little orange sparrow was rattled but seemed to have weathered the storm far better than the soquili. Bernadette supposed there were far more hiding places that suited the size of a sparrow, after all.

She came with the sparrow back to the cave, and watched as the bird flitted off with the message for Akkhana's herd. Soon, there would be rescue for the poor wounded kalona-wind.

It was around there that Bernadette left. She was tired beyond belief, and was a little grateful for that fact. She was too tired to be scared anymore. Maybe she would be scared again later, but for now, she just moved on.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akkhana waited longer than she would have liked for Padmapani members to arrive, but when they did, she was shocked to see who had come. It was none less than the alpha and the protector both, Shrivatsa and Hayagriva. Akkhana was stunned to speechlessness, even as Shrivatsa began to tend to her wounds. The alpha was an accomplished healer, and often just as taciturn as Akkhana herself.

Akkhana was bandaged neatly, then Haya helped her to stand. She was supported by the strong flanks of the golden elder, with the alpha on her other side, watchful and concerned. It was like that that she was taken back to the Padmapani herd.

Though each step jarred her and made her wince a little in pain, she felt something warm and perhaps even more painful growing inside. They cared about her. They really did care about her, in this herd.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Diantha?" called Dumah, raising his voice when looking alone didn't help him. He grew irritated at his inability to find her, and despite himself, he grew worried as well. He suspected that Diantha had gone off in search of the very soquili to protect that he had ended up finding. Without finding her wards, what had she done? Frustrated, he raised his head to the air, sniffing. All he could smell was rain.

"Diantha?" his voice was louder this time, echoing off the trees that surrounded all sides of him. He paused, listening again.

"Dumah! I'm here! Over here!"

... It was her. With relief that he never would give voice to, Dumah trotted hurriedly over to where he found his sister, blown about, but fine. They had all survived the storm, though they certainly would see more again someday.

~ Fin.