Welcome to Gaia! ::

A sharp gust of wind whipped across the mountain peak, curving down and around to whistle through a nearly hidden rocky chasm and burst out, exhilarated, across a high, stark plateau. Perched on a jutting finger of rock at the far edge of the plateau, Hayalet stood in sharp resistance to the force of the wind; though the gust did its best, it couldn't move a muscle of the stallion's body. A closer inspection made it doubtful Hayalet even noticed the wind; though his long mane and tail were whipped back and around like a swirling tornado, his eyes remained closed, and his countenance serene. He'd spent far too long up here in the mountains to let something as mundane as a breeze, even a gale force wind, disturb his meditations.

Today, the direction of those meditations was nebulous. He'd felt the familiar nagging emptiness that had dogged his thoughts ever since the aftermath of the horrible Kalona War; his tentative forays into the Kawani lands below the mountain had done nothing to quiet the voices that told Hayalet he could be doing more. The trouble was, the world below might have needs, but it could also be vicious, brutal, and needlessly violent. Hayalet had never understood the desire to hurt another creature, and being among such Soquili was enough to cause him physical pain. He had originally hoped that his presence would serve as a calming influence; time and experience had taught him that idea had been incredibly naive. Still, he held out hope that there was good for him to do.

He just had to figure out what it was, and how to find it.

Hayalet knew that he'd made a good start. After spending years observing the world from the safety of his plateau, he'd started to actually go down and touch the Kawani world. He'd done a little bit of good; he'd helped an anxious mare overcome some of her fears, and he'd taken in a pair of homeless flutters. It had been a pleasant surprise, how much he'd enjoyed meeting those strangers; before, his social life had revolved around his family, and even familial interactions were few and far between. He'd never thought of himself as a social creature, but it was starting to become clear; no Soquili was an island, nor were they a mountain.

The mare's arrival was so quiet that Hayalet could easily have overlooked it, wrapped up as he was in his own thoughts and the enveloping peace that came with meditation. Part of the beauty of this place was its isolation; the mountain region was hardly the most hospitable, and the higher one went, the more hostile the terrain became. Hayalet's home sported no obvious vegetation, not even a stunted shrub; this meant that even if someone DID happen to pass by, they wouldn't care to stop. His visitors tended to be few and far between; his sisters, or his parents, made up the vast majority of the plateau's company. This was the way it has always been, and he was used to it.

But though the plateau lacked Soquili company, it was often alive with activity all the same; even before he had started visiting the lowlands, Hayalet had developed a kinship with the mountain's songbirds. They were his friends and informants, carrying news of the Kawani land up to his plateau multiple times per day. One bird had become so devoted to Hayalet that he'd even taken up residence there, stepping into the role Hayalet knew to be that of a familiar. Geist was often at Hayalet's side, keeping quiet vigil when the Angeni was lost in thought. It was he, clinging tightly to the base of one of Hayalet's wings, that observed the arrival of the pair, and the subsequent departure of the much larger bird. However, he remained silent until the mare began making her way towards them, at which point he hopped forward and chirruped into the stallion's ear. "Haya...we have company."

"Hmm?" Geist's high-pitched voice was more than enough to break into Hayalet's reverie, as unfocused as it was. He'd heard Geist clearly, and was equal parts surprised and curious. Company?

Turning away from the edge of the plateau, he took in the mare as she made her silent way along. She seemed to be coming towards him, but she wasn't saying anything. Well, his curiosity was officially piqued.

In his soft but deep-voiced way, he inquired, "May I help you with anything, Miss?"

Hayalet watched the mare curiously, his interest now piqued by more than just her surprise arrival. Her deliberate movements hadn't initially registered, but now he watched as she flared, then lowered her wings; turned her head; tilted her head. She had stopped moving towards him, but there was still something very....purposeful in even how she was standing. It could be due to the strong mountain wind, he supposed, but somehow that supposition felt 'off.' Who, he wondered, was she? And what had brought her to this removed part of the world?

Well, it might be his home, but the mare had no real way of knowing that. From his last encounter, he had learned that there were some Soquili who were skittish about strange Soquili, particularly those who were larger/of the opposite gender. Since this mare had landed and approached him, he doubted she suffered from either of those fears, but it was one thing to approach an immobile stranger, another to have that stranger approach YOU. So he remained as he was, allowing the mare to set the distance between them.

He found it curious that she responded to his question with only a shake of her head, but decided it was ultimately of no matter. Why worry about yelling over the wind when a gesture would do quite as well? He never had to worry about his voice not carrying; in spite of his softness his voice tended to resonate well. But others did not have his voice, and a mare, with a higher pitched voice, would no doubt struggle. So after that first moment of surprise, he thought no more of the silence and simply gave the mare a smile. "Well, it is no trouble if there is. Feel free to help yourself to the food between those rocks," he said with a slight inclination of his head towards the outcropping in question. Safely tucked there out of the wind was a bushel or so of dried grass and a few apples; provisions for when he didn't feel like leaving the plateau. "It's nothing fancy, but it's filling."

Well, it was clear the mare wasn't afraid of him; this was very much a good thing, in Hayalet's eyes. From his father, he had inherited massive size, along with his four spreading Angeni wings. Soquili who weren't familiar with Angeni could easily be cowed by just how much of Hayalet there was, which is what had happened the last time he'd been down in the Lowlands. As a dyed in the wool pacifist and truly gentle giant, it was deeply distressing to Hayalet to think anyone might be afraid of him; consequently, if he detected even the least bit of hesitation or distress from this mare, he would give her all the space she needed.

Even if it meant leaving the plateau!

Fortunately, such drastic measures seemed unnecessary for the time being, and Hayalet smiled his relief as the mare picked her way closer. It was nice to meet someone on his own turf for a change, particularly someone who wasn't the least bit intimidated by what they saw.

Or...

As she stepped closer, Hayalet saw for the first time that the mare's eyes were closed. With the distance between them and the wind whipping around her mane, he hadn't noticed before, but as she came nearer the fact suddenly registered. Once again, he was curious; he knew that the wind up here could be fierce! And since she was facing him, that meant she was also facing right into the wind.

Well, there was something he could do about that, at any rate. Leaving his little 'finger' of rock, Hayalet took a few strides closer to the mare, shortening the distance between to a mere two yards. Raising his wings slightly, he spread out the strong feathers in stiff resistance to the wind, forming between his wings and body a perfect windbreak for the mare. As for himself, well...he was used to it.

"I commend your strength, Miss; there are many who would have blown away by now up here. It's not always like this, but you've chosen a dramatic day."

Hayalet had never liked to make assumptions; that was how prejudices formed and miscommunication tended to start. Still, he was only a Soquili, and as a Soquili, his mind tended to draw conclusions based on whatever information he was able to pick up. At this distance, with the mare now safely sheltered from the wind, there was no mistaking that her eyes were still closed. Fortunately, she saved him the awkwardness of drawing any erroneous conclusions. As he watched, she drew her wings up to gently touch her eyelids, then her lips, and then the light bulb suddenly lit up.

"Ah, you neither see nor speak, is that so?" Though the question was obvious in his inflection, his tone remained mild and his voice soft. It was an awkward thing to be asking, but he didn't want to misinterpret her gestures, single-purposed as they seemed to be. It would save time for both of them, as well as potential discomfort, to have the true situation out in the open. "If so, please feel free to take as much or as little space as you need." He started to nod towards the shoulder she'd originally reached out towards, then paused, realizing the flaw in that arrangement. "If it would make you more comfortable to touch me to 'see' me, please go ahead. Just be aware you might encounter more than just me," he added with a chuckle as Geist hastily hopped up to higher on Hayalet's back, out of the mare's nose range. "My quetzal friend is often found on my person, as are occasional other things," he said with a slight shudder of distaste. Fortunately, the wind was keeping the spiders at bay...for now.

At the mare's nod, Hayalet nodded himself in turn, more out of habit than anything. So, he'd guessed correctly then; the mare was both blind and mute. Amazing, that she would venture so far herself; he hadn't noticed her approach, but she'd either flown in and managed to land on the small and rocky plateau without mishap, or hiked in on the narrow, winding, and rocky path up from the lowlands. Neither method would be easy for one who couldn't see where they were going...though now that Hayalet thought about it, it was probable that the wheeling condor/vulture bird he'd noticed briefly before had something to do with the mare. There was nothing up here to draw a bird that large; few creatures living meant fewer creatures dying, and from what he knew of condors, death was necessary to sustain their life.

He was glad he wasn't a condor.

It would be interesting to get more information on the relationship between mare and bird; he'd always respected and appreciated the bond between Soquili and other animals. Hadn't he himself benefited greatly from his relationship with the songbirds? Perhaps the condor itself, if it was indeed a familiar, would return and prove capable of speech itself.

But Hayalet wasn't about to wish away this encounter, silent as it might be. He stood patiently as the mare reached out to touch his shoulder, hoping that she drew whatever comfort or information the gesture was supposed to provide. At the questioning tilt of her head, he once again shrugged out of habit, then, catching himself, chuckled. "Geist, my quetzel, is lurking around somewhere. He'd much more leery of contact, though, so I doubt you'll catch up with him." Hopefully that was what she'd meant by the head tilt; he was used to dealing with small animals who didn't speak, but Soquili sign language was by and large new to him.

It was a little harder to interpret her 'sweeping' gesture, and he was silent for a few moments as he tried to puzzle it out. "Are you asking where I was? Or what I'm doing up here? Or what I was doing when you arrived? Or what it is in that general direction? Or are you perhaps wondering how to get somewhere from here?" Hayalet spaced the questions out carefully, hoping to give the mare enough time to let him know if one them was what she was looking for. He was perfectly capable of answering them, but it seemed like an awful lot of info to dump all at once!

For his own part, Hayalet was deeply grateful to be in possession of his sight, in general as well as with regarding the current situation. He could see the motion of the mare's leg, but any sound the stomps might have made was lost on the wind. Fortunately, he didn't need to hear to get the gist of things. She was counting out steps, very slowly and deliberately. Numbers? Two and three steps...second and third questions? That seemed logical, given what he'd said to her, so he decided to start there. If he misconstrued the steps, then no doubt she'd figure out a new way to 'ask' him.

His brow knit in thought as he considered the two questions. Both were easy, in their own ways; the complicated part had always been, for others, at least, understanding. It wasn't an easy thing, making sense out of self-imposed isolation, particularly for Soquili of a more social bent. "Well, Miss, I live here. This place, as windblown and barren as it might seem, has been my place of retreat and refuge for years, since I was old enough to leave my mother's side. It's not much, but it suits my needs and I enjoy the atmosphere." Smiling, he continued in the same vein, answering both questions simultaneously. "I've always enjoyed the serenity of the mountains; I find meditation easier when I'm in solitude. You might call me a spiritualist; I like to consider myself at one with the spirits, particularly on days like today." Pausing, he turned his head to look back at the little finger rock. "You can really hear their voices in the wind, don't you think?"

Hayalet was quite aware that there were many Soquili, particularly of his own and younger generations, who dismissed the spirits and those who communed with them as pure hocus pocus. However, Hayalet knew better than most how powerful and real the great spirits were, and how real the power of prayer could be. He drew solace from the connection he felt with the gods, not just during meditation but in his day to day life. How could he feel anything but connected while staring into the face of the sky? He was what he was, and he felt no shame, no hesitation in sharing that fact. Hayalet would never be the sort of Soquili to hide his beliefs, or his character.

"However, please know you didn't interrupt anything. I tend to spend hours in meditation and prayer, and sometimes, like today, there is nothing specific to guide me or call my attention."