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For some, their day was just beginning. For Tuli, it was nearing midday; she'd just eaten, and consequently, she was in a better mood than usual. The sun hadn't even risen yet, so she took to the skies, her wings leisurely fanned out to enjoy the breeze beneath them as she skimmed over the tops of the trees.

She wouldn't admit it to aloud, but she missed Blake. He'd gone away to have quality time with his mate, and it tore at her in ways that she didn't fully understand, much less approve of. She had Fairuz, of course, and he was a welcome and amusing distraction, but at the end of the day, he wasn't the stallion she'd idolized since she was a filly. It was good, probably, that he wasn't; she had no qualms about treating Fairuz any way she liked, which was sometimes worse than Blake, and sometimes much, much better.

The thought of her mate made her smile, a quick, fleeting twist of her lips. She hadn't told her family yet that she even had a mate, and that was the way she planned to keep it. Her father was too meddlesome for his own good, and Einarr... Einarr would want to fight him. Fairuz was well enough on his own, but she didn't want to see him against a large, halfblood Kalona stallion. He might not have been the love of her life, but he was the ones he preferred above all others, and she hardly wanted one of her relatives to tear him to tiny shreds.

Not that she didn't think Fairuz would get some good hits in. She was confident in that. She was just very certain that a Cerynei in the midst of Kalona of varying bloodlines was not going to last long.

Hooves thumping against the earth, she circled once, shaking her wings and then tucking them at her sides. Lifting her head, she cast a lazy glance about, noted a flurry of dark shapes rising and taking wing at once. Bats, she thought with distaste -- hardly worth the effort it took to catch them, mere snacks.

In their wake, however, was a curious sight. A tiny, compact body with spindly legs, she recognized the shape of a youth in the dark, and she hesitated. Out so early, and alone? She'd grown up with so many influences close by that she was lucky to go anywhere without being tailed. The sight of a foal alone was curious to her, then, and enough to catch her attention.

Hooves whispering over the grass, she stalked along the shadows, pink eyes twin pinpricks of brightness set in an otherwise dark face. Once she was close enough to speak without having to raise her voice, she debated with herself, then settled for being obnoxious:

"Boo, little boy."

Tuli was amused, and it showed when she bared her teeth into something that looked more like a grin than a snarl. She hadn't had occasion to be around many foals and wasn't certain she wanted to be; the majority of them seemed loud and irritating. However, she didn't have anything against putting a little of the fear of God into one if they passed her way. Though she wasn't nearly as senselessly violent as many of her face, it was still a good lesson to learn.

She stepped further out of the shadows, fanning her wings out a bit at the sides, making her seem a little larger than she was. Her tail flicked behind her, to and fro, as she circled the colt.

"What are you doing out all alone, little boy?" Her voice was smooth and friendly, in a pitch better suited to a sinister little girl than a fully grown mare. It bothered her sometimes, but she'd grown used to it. "Having a heart attack is the least of your worries."

Tuli continued her circle until she'd seen all angles of him, and was highly unimpressed. It didn't look like had an ounce of anything but regular blood in him; disappointing. She wasn't an elitist in the sense that she only associated with pureblood Kalona -- she wasn't even pure herself, though it would be impossible to tell looking at her -- but she considered regulars the lowest of the pecking order. Their only natural means of defending themselves were their flat teeth and rounded hooves, which weren't impressive on the best of days.

This one had a bit of a mouth on it, however. Her brows furrowed, and she contemplated him a moment with a curious half-frown on her face. He was either fearless or remarkably stupid, and she was willing to bet that it was a combination of the two considering his heritage. She'd met many a regular that thought the only thing to fear was fear itself, and she'd scarred a fair few who refused to cease believing that. This colt's parents were probably bringing him up to believe that he could win any fight he picked, which was preposterous.

She certainly couldn't win any fight she picked. That was why she was so selective about the ones she did choose to engage in.

"Watch your mouth," she said mildly, lashing at him with the spade tip of her tail. It streaked across his hind leg, angled well enough to scratch and leave a welt, but not break the skin. After a moment, she added, "Hasn't anyone taught you respect, whelp?"

Tuli laughed, a low, rumbling noise that started in her chest and escaped into girlish giggles by the time it passed her lips. This little whelp thought he was in a position to demand respect from anyone? He was the bottom of the food chain, the lowest of the low as far as Soquili went; a youngling regular. Someone had obviously put unrealistic expectations in his head, and she would be amused to see them come crashing down around him as he grew.

"That principle is fine in a perfect world, little one," she said, leaning forward to bare her teeth at the colt. She wasn't close enough to cause real concern unless you knew her well; she was strong, but not the strongest -- however, what she lacked in brute strength she made up for in speed and precision. If she wanted to end this foal, she had no doubt that she could.

It wasn't her style, however. There would be angry parents, and she would be biting off much more than she could chew, she was sure. That aside, no matter what the world thought of her for her heritage, she was not a ruthless killer; not even close. The idea of spilling a child's blood was not favorable to her.

"But this is not a perfect world, and you have not been in it long enough to demand respect. You will be the one to show it," she added, straightening and cuffing him upside the head with her wing, not gently. "Or you will find yourself in a world of pain."

She considered it a valuable life lesson, and while Tuli wasn't anywhere near altruistic, it wouldn't be a complete waste of her time to pass it along. After all, she had nothing better to do with her time at just that moment.

Tuli was a bit bemused, which is probably what had her lingering rather than simply pushing off the ground and flying away. He was small, and that whack probably hadn't felt very good, but he stood his ground. There was spirit in him, and she liked that even if she didn't show it; her expression remained as a faint snarl, though she furled her wings at her sides again.

If he wasn't going to go screaming back to his parents, he might be worth her time after all. He reminded her a bit of when she'd been a filly, not taking s**t from anyone but also getting her fair share of bumps and bruises for her efforts. She'd had Blake to take her under his wing, so to speak, and she'd learned how to get away with murder just by being his favorite little smart a**.

"Tuli," she said finally, expression relaxing into a sneer. She extended a wing again, this time using the tip of a claw to tilt his chin up and get a good look at his face.

Meanly, she added, "You don't look like much, but perhaps you'll grow into that insolent tongue of yours." and released him, looking bored. "Where's your mother, whelp?"