Welcome to Gaia! ::

In retrospect, it had been naïve of Aleda to think that the hardest part of this journey would be talking to her father. Yes, it had been weird and awkward, but it had also been amusing as hell explaining to her father why she felt they both needed to get out and live. Specifically, that they each needed to shake themselves out of their respective ruts, get out, and find a little romance.

Aleda had told herself at the time that she was most concerned for her father; after all, he had actually had a female companion, Aleda’s mother, but they’d separated when she and her brothers were barely out of foalhood. Since then, he had become round and complacent, with seemingly no desire to move past Nigalya. Aleda had wanted him to truly be happy, not just complacent. She had watched him, waiting for him to make any motions indicating he was moving on. And nothing had happened.

Finally, she had taken the proverbial bull by the horns, explaining to her father in no uncertain terms that they both needed to do something with their lives, find someone to love, to have a family with. Aleda enjoyed being a daughter, but she wanted to be a mother; the idea of being for someone what her father had been for her was the height of her ambition. It had been a long time coming, but her biological clock had finally taken off in full force.

Well, she had successfully started her father off on a new life experience, and now she was trying to get started on one herself. Today wasn’t a bad day for continuing the Grand Adventure; pleasant and temperate, with a light breeze and the smell of rain on the air. She’d need to find shelter eventually, but in the meantime, she would just enjoy the day…

Or at least, that was the plan until she tripped over the little mare who lay, almost completely hidden, in the tall grass. “Oop!”

Well, that could have gone better; there were certainly better ways to meet someone that to trample them, for pete’s sake! Aleda had managed to keep her balance, but it was an awkward thing and required a bit of hopping before she was finally able to regain her balance. “No need to apologize, none at all. I should have been watching where I was going, and it's my fault.” She chuckled and shook her head, offering the other mare an apologetic smile. “I’m Aleda, and I’m not usually this clumsy. I’m fine, but did I hurt you at all there? I know that hooves can be sharp,” she added as she lifted a front foot. They weren’t glamorous hooves, but they could mean business!

Well, that was nice! If she was going to run into someone, then thank the spirits it was someone with a sense of humor. At the other mare's size comment, Aleda looked from her back to herself; it was difficult to say who was actually smaller, but no matter; both of them were eligible for winning the midget of the year award! Chuckling, she nodded her head in agreement with the other mare, offering a wry "Too true. Apparently I've been tripped over enough that I felt like trying it out myself!"

Dusting herself off with her tail, she shook her head at the other mare. "Can't say I have any purpose in wandering around, or even in tripping on you. Though I'm glad you're not hurt, because I think that would be excitement neither of us needed." Chuckling again, she shrugged at the other mare in a sort of helpless 'what can you do' manner before saying with a grin, "Would it shock you if I said I was hunting?"

"Well, good show for you, girlie; we little mares need to be confident in our smallness and not let it bug us when the larger Soquili treat us like we're not there. Or when we're thwarted in doing things because we're small; after all, there's a lot of things we can do that they can't, right? Like sneak through a hollow log!" Aleda grinned, remembering a time she had done just that when she was trying to get a little peace and quiet away from her brothers. She'd never tried hiding from a large Soquili that way, but it was nice to know she could, if the opportunity arose!

And it was nice to know she could tease, if the opportunity arose. At the other mare's surprised comment, Aleda laughed and shook her head to dismiss the false image she seemed to have in her mind. "Not the kind of hunting where you kill and eat something, or even just kill. No thanks, not my thing. But I AM hunting for something just as important to a well-rounded life," she said with no small amount of ceremony. "See, I'm hunting for a stallion!"

"Amen to that, sister!" Aleda had never been what might be called a 'small' personality. As far as she was concerned, she lived a respectable life with nothing in it to be ashamed of. Consequently, she had never had any qualms about discussing things with others, even if they, like this mare, were new acquaintances. Timidity was for the timid, and no one had ever been able to accuse her of being timid!

So she beamed as she nodded her head at Carmella. "You've got it, right on the nose. I figure, why should I expect a proper stallion to just stumble over me? Why shouldn't I go out and find him myself, seeing a bit of the world on the way?" She laughed, pleased that Carmella thought the idea was good as well. She didn't plan to let anyone's judgement bother her...but that didn't mean she wasn't happy to have approval! "I don't really have anyone in mind; crazily enough, I haven't met any stallions yet. But I will, and when I do, I will set to work! Within reason, of course." She chuckled, giving Carmella a sly wink. "Do you have any prospects to point me towards?"

Oh well; Aleda hadn't expected finding a lifemate to be that easy, though she hadn't been able to resist giving it a try! Laughing, she shook her head to dismiss Carmella's concern and apology. "Hey, don't worry about it; we only just met ourselves, it's hardly your job to play matchmaker for me, you know?" Though she had to admit, it was nice of Carmella to be so eager to help out...even if she had an ulterior motive herself! When Carmella ventured the idea that they go stallion hunting together, Aleda couldn't help but laugh again, her deep chuckles rolling out like waves on the sea.

"Well, the more the merrier; perhaps as a party of two, we'll attract more attention than either of us would alone! However many hooves and eyes and tails and noses we have, we'll put them all to good use in our hunt!" Carmella might be tripping over her words, but it was obvious the sentiments were correct, and the sentiment was all that mattered to Aleda. "Let's just hope we don't both end up setting our sights on the same stallion; that would be the most awkward option!" Not that Aleda had ever been the competitive type before, but this was sure a new experience!

Oh, a pact! That had an exciting ring to it; Aleda had never made a pact with anyone before! In fact, she wasn’t even sure she knew exactly what a pact was. Still, it sounded pretty awesome, and she was ok with that. It would certainly help seal the new friendship she was making with Carmella! “Awesome, that sounds great to me. The last thing we want to worry about while looking for a stallion is having to compete with each other and having bad feelings and stuff, right?” Beaming, she gave Carmella a bright nod, then stepped forward before whispering in a conspiratorial manner, “By the way, how do we make a pact?”

Obviously Carmella knew what she was talking about, otherwise she never would have suggested it, right? That meant that she was in the perfect position to tell Aleda all about it. And who knew, maybe this was just the beginning of number of friendly pacts! “And then after we’ve done that, we should totally figure out how we want to go about looking for these stallions. Since neither of us has any experience, maybe we ought to try something totally new, you know? Go to a place neither of us has been, for starters? Because if you don’t know any here, then maybe that means we’ll have better luck somewhere else.”

Aleda had never been the sort of mare to sit back and wait for something to come to her, not once she'd actually set her mind towards something. While it was true that she, like her father, tended towards indolence as a general state, she could be quite determined when she wanted to be! The trick for Aleda had always been getting to the point where she wanted something, though; life had been relatively easy for her, so there had never been anything she really needed to strive for, that she really needed to viscerally want. But a lifemate fit that description to a 't.' and there was going to be no stopping her until she found one! With her determination, it was only a matter of time before she found the perfect stallion and he swept her off her feet...or possibly even the other way around. Aleda was no sexist; she was perfectly capable of doing her own sweeping!

And now, thanks to Carmella, she even had a friend to do that sweeping with, or at least near. Really, it was a great stroke of fortune that she'd found the other mare, particularly seeing as Carmella was so nice and friendly and helpful. And interested in the same sort of quest, to boot! Some mares might be nervous to have a friend who could so easily be also called a rival, but Aleda wasn't worried. They already had the perfect system established!