Welcome to Gaia! ::

To say Claude was tired would be an understatment. He had teaching gigs all day long. Don't get him wrong, he loved what he did. Training Lady and Sir Knights was a dream vocation for him. But he'd been at it all day. Now he was at the river which marked the halfway mark between his last student's home and his. Perhaps a quick dip to clean off wouldn't be such a bad plan. He was, afterall, dirty and sweaty from his classes. The vast majority of his students really had a fervor for learning this stuff, and put up more than a decent fight. In fact, he had a few good bruises and bite marks. He laughed at the memory of the day fondly, proud of every one of his students.
The cool water was like a tonic to him. It washed away sweat and caked on dirt easily as well as the aches from constant movement. He sighed and sunk into the water easily. Maybe not a -quick- dip. Perhaps he'd just sit in the water for a while and relax. Gods knew he deserved it after today. Tomorrow was set to be a great deal slower. Just one class, then a day to himself. He'd like that. Maybe he'd find Istas and take her to the beach. She'd been so upset about his hawk Genevive latley, that she deserved the alone time with him. Maybe he'd just nap... who knew. The point was that he wasn't looking for any great adventure tomorrow.

Claude's wings flittered a little at the mare who stomped over to the river. He tilted his head a little as he watched her. It looked as though someone was throwing a temper tantrum. He smiled to himself and waded over to calm her down until her parents found her. It shouldn't be long, parents almost never stray too far from thier foals. He almost didn't see her at first, to be honest. She rather blended in with the night-time air around her. It was the markings that alerted him to her whereabouts and her white mane as well. My, she was an adorable little thing, wasn't she, he remarked to himself. Any parent would be very proud of her. However, this pretty little face was marred with a frown. Now, that certainly wouldn't do.
"Now, what could be troubling such a pretty filly, hmm," he asked softly as he neared her. "It's such a nice night, I can't imagine such turmoil." He put out a wing as an invitation to come closer, maybe have a dip with him. "It's alright, Little One, I won't hurt you. It's strictly against my honor code."

Claude was unaffected by the name. He worked with children, and had been called all manner of things when they didn't want to learn a certain thing, such as flying, or defense. He simply kept his wing open, and his smile kind. "For someone who doesn't want help, you sure look like you could use it. What has someone done to reduce you to such sadness, Little One," he asked softly. He didn't move towards her. It would be better if she came to him. She would trust him more if she accepted his comfort herself. He was in the shallows of the water, it only came up to his knees. Oh, the poor thing. Claude couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a foal so upset. What could have caused this? Anger bubbled in his stomach. It was a child, an innocent child? Who could be so evil? He couldn't fathom the kind of Soquili who could do this. Even Kalona's loved thier children, and this wasn't a Kalona child. She wasn't a Skinwalker child either. She was a regular, Soquili foal, in tears, because some monster hurt her.
"That's it, come on over," he cooed gently, only betraying his happy face with and angry twich of his ear. He truly wanted to help her. Not just because of his Hero Complex, but becasue... he felt that it was necessary. He knew what could happen to foals who grew up in this way. He knew that they could grow callus and angry with everything. If he could show one foal that there is love... then maybe he'd done enough...