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 Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:16 am
It was near the middle of the day in fertile D'ob, though at first glance it might have been difficult for an observer to tell this. Grey-black clouds covered the land, pouring their bounty down upon the soft grass below them. The rain was warm, fat and gentle upon the back of any who had not sought shelter at the first sign of the downpour.
One such creature moved across the verdant carpet. She was tall, muscled and she danced like a filly. Laughter, a deep contralto, escaped her lips as she spun with the weather, enjoying the feeling of being warm and sodden and alive.
This land was her's and it was beautiful no matter what the weather. When the sun smiled on her, she smiled back. When the moon laughed with her silver companions the stars, she laughed too. And when the rain danced, when it fell around her and sleeked her short coarse tail to silkiness she could not help but tread the beat beside it. She wouldn't wish to prevent herself even if she were able.
This was love, as much as the love between friends, family or lovers.
This was love of Urin itself and it was a perfect love.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:35 am
The stranger was wet. ...No, wet was probably not the best word. She was sodden. Her tail dragged across the grass, the end of it like a red puddle creeping along behind her, and her mane was plastered to her neck and forehead. Drips of water ran down her nose, tickling as they trickled past. She didn't bother shaking herself. It was raining so heavily now that it wouldn't make much difference.
Someone large was prancing about ahead of her - an Aeri mare, by the looks of her. Perhaps she had seen...well, there was a chance. There was always a chance, and at this point she'd take any chance she could get. Colleen blinked rainwater out of her eyes and approached the Aeri with tottering steps, unsure of the wet ground beneath her.
"Hello," she called, her expression full of a dazed friendliness. "Lovely weather we're having."
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:54 am
At the voice Nyx halted her dance, turning about with a smile to greet her visitor. Another Ichsa? Goodness but she was seeing a lot of the lovely creatures lately. This one was... Wow. Beautiful. No; stunning was probably a better word here. The black diamond patterning and the rich reds accented the whiteness of her wonderfully but she certainly didn’t possess the kind of coat that was traditionally labelled beautiful.
"Rather; I do love heavy rain like this," the Aeri said with a smile and a nod of her head. "I don't think I've seen you about here before dear,” she went on, “you must be new to this bit of the valley. I'm Nyx by the way." The Ichsa looked a little lost, poor thing. Had she been separated from her herd perhaps? From what the splotched mare had been able to gathered quite a few groups that lived in less kindly lands than she and her own herd did had been scattered by the harsh winter gone by. "Are you lost, friend Ichsa?" the blue-eyed mare quizzed with an encouraging smile.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:27 pm
Colleen blinked muzzily, swaying slightly where she stood. "Um...no, not as such," she managed, thinking hard. "Not so much lost myself as lost...someone. My Katie-nana. You haven't seen her, have you? You would know her if you did, for she looks very like me, only a little smaller."
That part out of the way, she looked around at the blurring horizon. "...Oh, and this is going to sound silly, but...I don't suppose...I don't suppose you've seen any water lately, have you?"
And she fell over. It was very neat, not particularly theatrical, and seemed to leave her completely unharmed - she simply went from standing upright to lying horizontally without very much actual change in position at all.
"Whoops," she said cheerfully, "I think I knocked the world over again. Are you all right? Just think "sticky hooves" and you won't fall off..."
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:07 am
"Like you?" Nyx mused with a thoughtful frown. "I can't say I've- oh!" The slender mare had just folded up on the ground, just like that. "Yes, right, sticky hooves," the Aeri agreed hurriedly. "Do you think you could put the world the right way up again?" she asked, dipping her head to give the other mare a gentle nudge. "There's a stream not far from here at all."
Maybe this small version of the odd mare was some sort of caretaker; the name certainly indicated so. "Perhaps you could tell me more about this Katie-nana," the splotched mare suggested, "I haven't seen her myself I don't think but I can ask everybody in my herd. They’re an observant lot on the whole so if she's been in this part of the valley somebody will have seen her. When did you lose her?" Did she mean a bae perhaps? Or maybe another Ichsa but shorter; a relative of some sort. That would explain the resemblance certainly.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:35 pm
Good question. Could she put it the right way up again? It was a dreadful burden sometimes, keeping the world as it ought to be. "I'll try," Colleen ventured muzzily, "but it's...terribly heavy today. I'm sorry."
Slowly, shakily, she staggered to her feet. The weight of the sky was making her head throb unpleasantly. "...There. Better?" She looked around with a dazed expression. "Where's the water? It might help, I think."
What would probably have helped, by the look of her, was some good food. Colleen was thin. Not emaciated, not yet, but certainly underweight. Perhaps she had simply been so absorbed in finding Katie-nana that she had forgotten to eat.
"Katie-nana...let me see. She'd come up to your knee, or thereabouts. Marked rather like I am, with soft fur. She's a darling, and she's got a lovely voice. She takes care of me. Some days she holds the world up for me. You'd know her if you saw her, I promise."
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:36 pm
Nyx blinked in surprise; not a Nequus at all then but a Rit by the sound of it. The tumbling little balls of fur had always amused her though she couldn't say she'd ever found the time to really get to know one. Hopefully somebody would have seen this Kati so that she and... The Ichsa mare whose name she hadn't got yet could be reunited.
"The stream's this way," the Aeri mare said with a gentle smile as she set off at an easy walk. "Thanks for fixing the world by the way," she went on with a dip of her head and a flick of her ears, "so much easier to get both of us to the water like this." A sweet, strange girl this one; innocent like a foal she seemed. No harm in humouring her as she would a youngling then.
"Would you like to graze a while after we drink?" the splotched mare asked with a glance at the Ichsa’s skinny form. "There's very good grass all about here but you have to be very careful not to eat more than makes you full at a time or it makes you ill for your greed." She'd only ever seen one or two go to the grass-sickness but the poor Nequus hadn't had easy deaths. For the most part they’d been foals of parents who hadn't impressed the message of moderation strongly enough. She would have to be sure to keep an eye on the girl at her side to make sure she didn't suffer the same fate.
"What's your name by the way love?" Nyx asked with a smile. "I can't keep thinking of you as 'the pretty Ichsa lass' forever."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 4:41 pm
Ah, of course. Name. "Colleen," she supplied. "And thank you for calling me pretty. Hee. ...I know I'm odd. I'm sorry. It's just...I see the world a certain way, you know? I can't seem to think of it in terms of how everyone else sees it, and I don't think I really should, because I'm not a seer and in the end I'd only be guessing...wouldn't I?" She was probably rambling. "Goodness, I talk too much. ...Oh, I can hear the water now! Even over the rain on the leaves - we must be close..."
She trotted forward, still a little unsteady, and reached the stream just before Nyx. It was hard not to drink herself sick when the cool, clear water finally passed her lips - oh, it had been so long. So long. Time passed strangely for her sometimes, days going by in a flash or hours dragging on like centuries: she measured time as it felt, not as the rest of the world reckoned it. And it had been so long since she had tasted fresh water.
Finally raising her head, she sighed contentedly. The dizziness was fading already. "That's much better. Thank you ever so much - and you mentioned the grass? Makes you sick? I...don't recall hearing of that before... Mind you, I've not been here often. Katie-nana always preferred the forests."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 4:08 am
Nyx smiled faintly and followed after the slim mare. "No need to apologise, promise. I like people who are a bit different you know; much more interesting than talking to people with the same opinions and the same point of view day in day out." The Ichsa was right; weren't they all only guessing? Certainly one of a kind this mare.
The splotched mare bent her own neck to take a drink before responding to the horned female’s other words. All that running about she’d done had quite worn her out and dried her throat out a treat despite the humid air.
"It's my pleasure Colleen, a beautiful name by the way, I do like to help people out. As to the grass, it's something my mother always warned me about when I was little. I don't know quite why, but too much D'ob grass at once makes you ill. You just have to be sure not to eat more than fills you up and to go quite slowly and you'll be fine." It sounded like they really did need to find this Rit, this Katie-nana.
"Can you remember where you were when you lost your Katie-nana?" the Aeri mare asked of the odd Ichsa. Any information she could glean from the elegant creature would be of use if they were going to locate the Rit. Perhaps if the red-splashed Nequus had a vague idea she could persuade some of the more adventurous members of her herd to go out looking. The Ichsa lad who'd turned up with Nizhoni not long ago would be willing she was almost sure of that at least.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 4:33 am
Colleen frowned at the question. Could she remember? "...Well, I..." ...She'd woken up, and...yes, the picture was coming back. "...I woke up in a wide, sandy place, with the sea a good way off. It was...hoof-shaped, I suppose. Big and hoof-shaped. And I don't remember going to sleep there. There were lots of beautiful shells and shiny pebbles, I remember that. And I know Katie-nana had been with me before, but...then she wasn't. I woke up on the sand, and my head felt like it was full of sharp rocks, and Katie-nana was gone."
She remembered her confusion, and the strange sickness that had threatened her at every turn. At least that was fading now. Had there been someone else, just before? Had there...been...no, the images were fading.
"I'm afraid that's all I can tell you," she said, somewhat apologetically. "I've been walking east-ish for a few days now, hoping to find her, but I haven't seen so much as a whisker."
A rumble of thunder from above made her look up. She'd seen Nequus spook at these sounds and run for shelter, but Katie-nana had always said that they were fine so long as you stayed in low places. And away from trees.
...Trees.
"...Nyx? We should probably get out into the open again...silly as it sounds, I think we'd be safer there."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 4:46 am
The tall mare smiled and nodded to the Ichsa; she had sense after all then. "Yes, good idea. These aren't the biggest trees around but it's still not a good idea to be under tall thing sduring storms." So saying, the blue-eyed Aeri turned and paced back out into the Weather, captial letter fully deserved.
"The ocean then," Nyx said with a nod. "I've never been myself but it sounds like you were in a little cove or something." It didn't sound like two friends simply losing track of one another... Surely this Katie wouldn't leave Colleen alone on purpose either.
"Well, I'll certainly ask around my folk about her and I think I've got a few who'd be happy to go out looking, too. Adventerous sorts you know; one stallion of your sort recently turned up here I think would be especially glad to help. He's... humm he's sort of a freelance hero I suppose; goes about righting wrongs and such. Got a bit beaten up last time he tried though so I think he might be glad of something useful he could do that wouldn't require him to be in peak condition." The pale-coated stallion had been doing little but train to get his strenght back, or so it seemed to her. Giving him something to do would probably be a kindness.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 4:01 am
The rain spilling over her coat, Colleen blinked. "...Oh. Well, I...thank you. That would be very kind of him, if he were willing. I miss her terribly, and I...well, I worry. She's so small that I'm afraid someone didn't see her coming and has trodden on her."
To own the truth she was afraid of more than that. Shreds of memories were returning, and only Katie-nana ever seemed to be able to put them back together for her. As it was, all she could remember...
All she could remember...
...a flash of purple and white...
"...I think there was someone else."
She must have been in a daze. Someone must have been hurt, she must have rescued them...things always went fuzzy for a while after that. Who was this purple creature? What was his purpose there? Had he been the one she'd rescued, or...was he the one she'd...she'd...
...a body swimming with blood, feathered wings, lovely feathered wings, tears rolling down fine cheeks...
"...I don't like remembering this," she mumbled weakly, her head drooping. "Why did they die? Why did they all have to...poor Jala, poor pretty Jala, don't cry, don't cry..."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 5:29 am
Uh-oh. This didn't look especially good. Crying Jala? Dying? What had this mare seen? Nyx wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know. She had to think of something to distract the Ichsa girl before she sank any deeper into... into whatever this was. Nyx generally considered herself good with people but the tendril-winged mare’s current behaviour was beyond her experience. The leather-winged creature flicked her ears anxiously; she hoped she was equal to the task of calming the horned Nequus.
"Hey, it's alright Colleen," the blue-splotched mare began hesitantly. "Whatever... whatever that was it's past now. Look, let's go and have something to eat shall we? I'm sure you'll feel better for some grass and then we can go to find Sol to tell him about your Katie-nana." Hopefully the pale stallion would be findable; he'd taking to racing up and down in the river of late and seemed to favour the stretch near to her copse for its even bed. His sweet manner, especially with mares, might cheer the red-splashed Ichsa some little at least.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 6:39 am
It seemed to Colleen that something nameless had suddenly tugged her from her mumblings. Ceasing her distressed behaviour, she raised her head, perked her ears, and frowned. ...Yes, there it was again - something pulling, gently pulling her away. Whatever could it be?
"...I think something bad happened around the time of the dark stallion," she said, eyes unfocused, surprisingly calm. "The other person, he was a dark stallion. I can see him more clearly now, but not much. He's Bae, dark, contrasting, that's all I know. It's the only reason I'd be remembering all the dead Jala - I always remember it when things go wrong. Probably someone got hurt and I had to save them. I don't know if it was him, or if he just met me when I was dizzy afterwards. That always happens too. But now something's...something's tugging, like a hook in my chest that doesn't hurt. I think I have to go. Sort of...that way. I don't know why, but the world's telling me to follow it."
Blinking a couple of times, she focused on Nyx with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry to leave you," she said. "You're so kind. And do tell Sol he's a nice boy from me, and that I'd thank him endlessly if he found Katie-nana. ...Thank you. I hope we see each other again, Nyx - you're lovely."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 7:07 am
Well, the other mare seemed to have calmed down now, that was the main thing. Nyx was half hesitant to let her wander off alone though but, for all her distance and oddness, Colleen had known about not standing under trees during storms and had known that she needed to drink and eat and such. She'd probably be fine and, though Nyx didn't want to leap to any conclusions, the Aeri mare suspected that delaying the Ichsa from following that tug would be a bad idea.
"Alright then Colleen," the splotched mare said with a slight smile. "It's best to follow feelings I find; they often know better than our heads do what we ought to be doing." The tall Aeri gave the other Nequus a gentle nudge on the shoulder with her muzzle. "Go on and follow the hook dear and once you've answered its call come back here if you can find the way. I'll talk to Sol later on today and you never know, by the time you get back he might've found your Kati-nana."
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