The sun rode high in the summer sky, and a breeze passed through the boughs of the trees upon the mountainside. The dainty-looking Arcturus mare paused under the shade of some trees, catching her breath from the climb. She had left her foals with their father before he could really object. D didn't want her to come. D didn't want her involved with this vampire hunting business. Too bad. He'd lifemated her, and Emma Mariah Darcy wasn't going to be left out. Meekness wasn't exactly in her blood. And if their parents were going to be involved, then, so, too, would their two foals.
But foals couldn't be dropped into a war like this willy-nilly. They would need education, guidance, and protection from adults committed to their upbringing, and foals would be a prime source for recruitment. In addition, looking around this plateau, the other part of their organization became more visibly apparent.
This castle wouldn't just be the central hub of a vampire hunting organization. This castle would be the heart and focus of an entire community, and if it became anything like the other herds Emma and D had passed while drifting this way, then the organization would become a cultural and political entity, too. Families would come, and families would form. The castle and the herd would need some kind of space and apparatus for Stars to devote themselves to the care, protection, and guidance of young foals, the future of the herd.
And thus it was that Emma Mariah Darcy had climbed the winding path to the castle on a summer's day, while her mate slumbered with the foals, to talk to the herd's leader about the subject of the future.
Sir Integra paced from the place she'd been staying in the cavern systems of the mountain, blinking grumpily against the glare of the sun reflecting off her glasses. Even if she was human, the sun was too damned bright and hot. The bronze mare clenched her cigar in her teeth as she looked around warily. Slowly, the castle had been undergoing construction, albeit at odd hours, considering that their primary mason was a dhampir, and their engineers were a mad scientist and his probably robotic assistant. It was nowhere near completion, would not be for some time, but it was still slowly taking shape.
A pale shape caught her eye. An unfamiliar "Star," as the species she'd so recently joined were called. She looked like the unicorns of legend, albeit colored like a dark-haired young human woman, wearing creamy golden roses in her mane, and a silken white cravat pinned with a cross around her throat. Probably not vampiric, especially in the daytime, with her darker complexion. But the cross might not really mean much of anything in this world, so she couldn't count on it as a sign of whether the young mare was a vampire. The horn was dangerous, but the way that she carried herself seemed more like a well-bred lady than a warrior.
Sir Integra sighed. It was probably a good idea to clarify to the young mare whose territory she'd wandered into, and to find out whether she was intending on joining the herd, although she had no idea what the young mare could do for the Organization.
"Good afternoon," she called out as she made her way over. "What is your business at the castle of the Night Hunters Organization?" The castle name needed some work, and the knight inwardly winced at the poor phrasing it induced. Something to deal with when they weren't so busy, perhaps.
