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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:07 pm
 
The little colt bounded away from his white twin whose eyes were shut tight, and towards one of the many great trees in the Crystal Lands. After meeting a mare like himself without any markings, and a golden-feathered mare, he and Callie had been practicing hide-and-seek every day. The Crystal Lands provided many opportunities for such a game. Which tree would he hide behind this time?
"Four..."
He loped as fast as his spindly legs could carry him and ducked down behind it, laughing inwardly. She could never find him here!
"Five! Ready or not, here I come!" She giggled, opening her bright blue eyes, and bounded off through the trees. She was having lots of fun leaping over puddles, darting around ponds, and simply splashing all over in search of her twin. He was around here somewhere... But where? The only reason this was such a good place for hide-and-seek was because of all the trees. It'd be lots more fun if there were big rocks or more bushes to hide behind, too. Maybe even other nequus!
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:56 am
Pale hooves splashed through a puddle as the stallion moved along at an elegant high-kneed trot. So many places a Rit could be hiding among the shadows of the trees. Well at least he had some solid information this time; she had definitely been coming this way not too long ago. He could move faster than a Rit, obviously, so he had a decent chance of finding her before she moved on.
Having decided this, Sol trotted to a halt and bent to drink from a rivulet that burbled alongside him. The distinctive taste reminded him abruptly of the trips he'd made here as a foal. Oh not this specific area, no, but the water had the same flavour; the landscape the same basic features.
He'd played tag, hide and seek and sparred with Vince all through the puddles and around the trees. He’d watched as his feather-winged friend perfected flying and they’d laughed at his own attempts to get airborne. Flying, his black-winged friend had told him, was not what Ichsa were made for. The tendril-winged youth he had been had always smirked at that and pointed out that, compared to Ichsa other breeds were not designed for running. He’d only ever lost to his friend at hoof races when he managed to stumble.
Sol smiled and raised his head with a contented sigh. Those had been good times, very good times indeed.
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:13 am
The foals didn't notice the newcomer at all. The ebony coated colt had failed to notice much since he hid behind his tree, and the snow coated filly was too busy looking for her black twin to notice a pale coated anyone else. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, Damon! I'm going to find you, you know that!" She teased, trotting about, weaving in and around trees, looking for anything black. Trouble was, certain parts were dark already, so finding something darker still was a bit difficult. She always stuck out like a sore wing.
"You always pick the worst hiding places..." She taunted; hopefully it would work..
"I do not!" He couldn't help but yell, and knew immediately that was the wrong thing to do.
"Aha!" The colt bounded away from the tree, weaving through trees and bushes, jumping over streams, running from his twin sister as fast as he could. He knew though that his sister was faster than he was, by far, and wasn't as apt to fall. He shouldn't have been thinking such, for as soon as the thought entered his head, he tripped and stumbled, toppling over into a mass of black limbs. The snowy filly cantered over and prodded him with her muzzle. "Ha! I win!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:31 am
Speaking of hide and seek... Sol watched the foals antics, a smile creeping over his face as the white filly caught up with the colt, who he assumed was her brother. He could remember falling for similar tricks when hiding from Vince but the feather-winged creature had been given a far harder time at catching up than the patterned white filly had.
Perhaps he ought to announce himself; one it was not polite to stand about in what could be other people's land without identifying yourself and two they might know something of Kati. They seemed a bit preoccupied at the moment and so the Ichsa stallion decided to give them a sporting chance of ‘discovering’ him.
Sol whickered and waited for the young ones' to spot him.
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:40 pm
"Tag, you're it!" Calliope grinned, prancing about her brother in a circle. He didn't seem to notice, however, staring upside-down at a pale-coated Ichsa a little ways off.
"Who's that?" He posed the question, and while his sister looked for the newcomer the rainbow-lined colt rolled over onto his stomach, then quickly jumped to his feet. "Let's go see!" He exclaimed with enthusiasm only colts can have, and bounded towards Sol as fast as he could.
The filly blinked, then raced after him as fast as she could. "Hey, hey! Wait for me!" She caught up with him in a few moments, and in the same span of time following she had passed him, getting close to the Ichsa stallion ahead of them. "Who're you?" She asked, coming to a screeching halt in front of him.
"Yeah, what's your name?" Damon asked, halting near his sister, though not nearly as gracefully. In fact, he almost tripped once again. "We haven't seen you before!"
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:53 am
The feather adorned stallion smiled as the foals spotted him and hurried over. It had been too long since he'd had the chance to talk to little ones. "My name is Sol," the Ichsa said with a slight bow to the rainbow-lined pair. "I have not travelled to this part of the crystal lands before, which would explain why you have not seen me." How young were these two and where were their parents? A little trackless to ask perhaps, best left for later in the conversation if he decided to ask at all. At their age he knew he would have resented somebody asking where his parents were and if they didn't have parents then it would be even worse.
"I hate to interrupt your game young ones," the brown-eyed stallion went on, "but I was wondering if you could assist me." If they said no he'd move on and leave them to it but somehow he doubted they would say no out of hand. From what he'd seen and heard of them in his brief observation they seemed like decent sorts.
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:17 am
"Oh, that's a nice name, I like it," she said with a grin, ears perked up, and she pranced around. "My name is Calliope!"
"And I'm Damon!" He exclaimed, joining his sister. The both stopped in front of him again to listen, though Calliope lowered her muzzle to get rid of an itch on her foreleg. "Oh, no wonder we haven't seen you before!"
"Yeah, we've been here for a while, it's lots of fun here," she explained, lifting her head again to look at the Ichsa. "We haven't seen someone like you before! What are you?"
"Yeah, you've got neat wings!" He trotted over to Sol's side, studying the tendril wings closely.
"And a pretty horn!" Callie said, looking up at the pale stallion's horn, but his mention of assistance brought them back to reality, and the colt joined his sister's side once more. "And it's okay, it was getting boring anyway, Damon can't stay hidden long enough for it to be challenging. What do you want us to help you with?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:31 am
Sol smiled, just as he’d hoped. “Thank you, I must I rather you’re your names as well; they suit you both very well.” Odd how that was; sometimes a name sounded wrong on a Nequus but these one’s slotted into place perfectly even though the names were unfamiliar to him. “I’m an Ichsa,” he informed the young pair as he recalled their questions. “And thank you again, though I must confess aesthetics are most all my wings are good for. I can fly but not fast or for long.” He really ought to work on that; one never knew when being able to take to the air well might be essential.
“I am seeking a Rit,” the pale-coated stallion went on, sorting out the facts he was sure of in his mind. “A female named Kati. Her coat, I believe, is mostly with but with markings of red and black. She was known to be heading this way some days ago; I know not if I passed her on my journey or if she arrived here before me. She herself may well be looking for somebody; an Ichsa mare with much that same colouring as she possesses. Have you seen or heard of such a creature?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:46 am
"Thank you!" They both said at the same time, grins on their faces. They had named each other after hatching, though each had a dream of a mare that had told him their names, so it seemed only right to keep those names. "We can't fly yet, but at least you can," Calliope said with a nod.
"A Rit?" The colt asked, blinking.
"A furry little thing with claws, about this tall, remember?" The filly explained, lifting one foreleg up with her hoof showing how big they were, watching her brother for signs of understanding.
"Oh yeah!" He said, nodding vigorously, then looked toward Sol. "No, we haven't seen her around here, but then again they can get into trees, so we might not have seen her. D'you want us to help look for her?"
"Oh yes, I want to help, too! Can we please? Please?" She begged, both looking up at him expectantly. Looking for a pretty little Rit sounded like lots of fun to them both, plus it seemed more fun than playing hide-and-seek non-stop.
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:30 am
The dark-eyed stallion smiled and bobbed his head. "Certainly; any help you can give me would be most gratefully received. Three pairs of eyes can watch out far better than one after all and that goes without mentioning that a little company would be more than welcome." During his stay in D'ob the Ichsa had become accustomed to having people around. He hadn't realised it until he had set off once more and journeyed to the ocean alone.
"I suppose it can't be too easy to learn to fly here," Sol mused as he picked a direction and set off at an easy walk. "So many trees and such; wide open spaces are best for learning to take wing I think." It was also easier if you had somebody to teach you; a commodity that the tendril-winged stallion still wasn't sure the two little Reya possessed. If only he had the same kind of wings as they he might have tried to give them pointers but, as he didn't, the armoured Nequus chose to hold his tongue on the subject.
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:30 am
"Oh, yay!" The filly exclaimed, prancing about in a circle, clearly thrilled that she and her brother could do something other than play hide-and-seek. It got so boring after a while. "And no, learning to fly by ourselves is hard, no one's around to teach us."
"Yeah, the last pretty lady we had visit taught us how to play hide-and-seek really good!" Damon said, bobbing his head, obviously proud of his awesome hide-and-seek skills, which his sister thought were a bit lacking. "She also told us all about the.. About the... The..."
"The Kat-ih-leh-nuck herd," the filly said slowly, not entirely sure if she either remembered or said it correctly. "They're a bunch of the feathered ones with tears, the pretty lady said that they don't like us much because we're the ones with horns and bat wings," Calliope explained to Sol with a matter-of-fact sort of voice. "I don't know why they don't like us though, we haven't done anything wrong."
"She said it's because of something our Goddess did to theirs!" He added in, clearly proud of himself for remembering this important fact that his sister had forgotten, and she stuck her tongue out at him, to which he retaliated with the same action.
"So where is this Kati supposed to be?" Callie asked, changing the subject abruptly, upset at herself for not remembering the Goddess factor. "Is she supposed to be here somewhere, or nearby, or what? We haven't seen her here so far, but she could still be here somewhere."
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:20 am
The Katilenuck. He'd run across one of their patrols once and it had taken all his effort to break free of them and escape. He'd taken a bit of a pounding then, too, but he hadn't even been interfering with something the brindled creatures had been doing. Apparently just showing his face had warranted an attack. He seemed to remember the word slave being tossed around, too.
"Oh, yes; them." The brown-eyed stallion said as he recalled that he was in company. "A pack of bigoted bullies whom I should very much like to introduce to my horn. Sadly they seldom seem to travel alone if they are away from that mountain of theirs."
Sighing to himself over the tear-faced Jala, Sol looked about at their surroundings once more, hoping to see a flash of white. "I fear I do not know precisely where she was bound to," he told the foals with a shake of his head. "My information came from another Rit who had met her by the sea. All he knew was that she planned to come to the crystal lands and that he last saw here heading in more or less this direction." The Ichsa gave his matched companions a rueful smile. "I fear I my have recruited you for a hopeless mission and you need not accompany me any further than you wish but... Well I must keep looking; I swore an oath that I would not rest until I had found the one I seek and so I must go on."
He hoped they'd stay with him for a good while, especially not he'd found out that they were alone. Perhaps he could teach them the basics of how to fight; how best to bring horn hooves and teeth into play. They were perhaps a bit young for it but he could introduce it as half game half useful skill if they did remain with him for a significant length of time. No matter how well they seemed to be doing for themselves he knew he would feel uncomfortable knowing they were alone and unguarded.
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:41 am
"Yeah, the pretty lady Melantho told us they live on the red mountain. She told us that we shouldn't be here very long because this is so close to the mountain, but we like it here!" Damon explained with a bob of his small head. The only reason he remembered those facts was to try to best his sister with them, both of them being very competitive. He knew she was stronger and smarter than he was, but it didn't stop him from trying to show off when he thought he knew more than she did, or when he remembered something she had forgotten.
"We want to help anyway!" Callie piped up, ears perked, as she looked up at the Ichsa. "Can we, please? It sounds like a lot more fun than playing hide-and-seek all day long."
"It does, I want to help!" The colt exclaimed, prancing in a circle before he tripped over his own hooves and toppled over, eliciting an exasperated sigh from his twin sister.
"His balance isn't very good," she explained to Sol matter-of-factly. "He's gotten better, though."
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:45 am
Thinking of it, it really wasn't wise for a pair of young Reya to be around here. "Well, this area isn't the only like it you know," the dark-eyed stallion said with a smile. "The crystal lands extend almost all the way around our world, stopping only for the ocean. If you do wish to stay with me you'll be seeing a deal more of them; perhaps you will find a place you like just as well a little further from the tear-marked ones." He certainly hoped that they could be persuaded it was a good idea to move off a bit; the thought of what would happen to them if a patrol ran across them was unbearable.
"My own balance was rather poor for a while recently," the pale stallion informed the foals with a wry chuckle. "I managed to get on the wrong side of a large number of large Aeri and the Reya who led them. I believe they were rather annoyed with me for interfering on the behalf of a mare they were bothering." The feather-adorned stallion gave a crooked smile. "I was limping for a while after that but I have recovered myself now." One of these days he'd run across them again and this time he wouldn't let them get all around him.
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:04 am
"It isn't?" Damon asked, eyes wide. There were other places in the world, different from theirs? Nah... Only Shrilal, the valley, and the crystal lands. Weren't they? Could there be more? An ocean?
"Oh, I want to see the ocean!" Calliope said, almost bouncing in her excitement. "I want to go see more places, let's all go together!"
"It was?" The colt asked, eyes wide again. Adults could have bad balance, too? Impossible! Not naturally, anyway, he thought. Getting kicked by a big nequus might warrant a bit of limping for a while. "Oh, it's good you got better, then."
Before he could say much else, Calliope pranced around, apparently very eager to start, and start now. "Can we go? It sounds like lots of fun!" To her, anything besides hide-and-seek here would be lots of fun. In her mind, they could stay with Sol as long as he was looking for the Rit, then he might have to leave to do other, more important things, than play with them. They could explore and travel with him for as long as possible, until they found this Kati. She didn't want him to fail in his mission, she hoped he found the little Rit, but she also hoped it would take a while. Sol was nice, and with the prospect of seeing other places different from the crystal lands, the thought was very appealing.
She also wouldn't tell her twin, but she was uncomfortable being around the Red Mountain. What if the crying feathered ones found them? They would be in big trouble. Damon didn't seem to be too worried, but she did. If they were with Sol, at least he was big and could help them. If they were alone, they wouldn't stand much of a chance at all.
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