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 Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:50 pm
"I've only treated you as I would wish to be treated, with honesty and fairness, which what is right." His sense of duty assuaged by her words, Rajah softly nuzzles her mane, giving in to the scent, letting it flow into his lungs and fill his being. He closes his eyes, it brought back all the memories, flashes of the past.
When he opens them again, looking at Helki, his face is unaccountably sad. "I'd never hurt one of my own kind if it was at all avoidable. You do me great honor with your company, a wretched Kirin I would be to repay that with rough treatment." His tail was not quite as controllable as hers, but Rajah managed to curl it over and under Helki's tail, thick fur against smooth skin. "I'm staying here."
He shakes his head slightly, nose twitching. "You need not fear for me... I would not be the one in danger should another try to take you." Hooded eyelids fall part way, and Rajah looks deeply upset. "Fear for them, not I."
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:10 pm
When she heard him say that he was staying it seemed final in a way. But a small voice in her head seemed to say that with the rutting season you just never know the outcome. The unknown didn't frighten her unless it came in the form of the main land. She laughed inwardly to herself. That place still scared her only because she lived her whole life alone on a island.
She allowed her eyes to stray as they moved over him to take in his appearance up close. He appeared as wild and unknown as the main land. And in truth he was just as odd as she. Helki looked down when she felt a soft caress along her tail and a smile made itself known upon her face as she curled her tail a bit around his.
"Are you that confident in yourself that I should fear the safety of a stranger?" she finally replied...her smile gone.
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:31 pm
"Unfortunately... it's not confidence. It's established fact." His eyes take on a distant look, remembering. "I was a yearling stallion, new-found adulthood still wet on my shoulders. In my clan, when you could track, stalk, and take down a Leparra by yourself, cleanly, you earned the right to seek a mate. The Herd Leaders would mark you with the Leparra's black blood in honor of your new status. I had had a few run ins with other stallions, most much bigger, older, and definitely more experienced than I, so the fights were predictable but educational. I travelled far, for many sun circles, eventually I started back to my maternal clan, without luck. Most yearlings fail too, so I was not disappointed. The lessons I had learned would serve me well in times to come. I was barely a sun circle from home, when I found her. She was drinking by the river, with an old grizzled stag. I challenged him, as was my right, for her, his daughter. I wish I had never laid eyes on them." Rajah's voice was flat with remorse.
"We fought, as Kirin have since the Goddess made the world. Horn to horn, hoof to hoof, circling and shoving. He stumbled, to my surprise, and I pressed home the advantage, pinning him with my horn. I asked for his yield, but he refused, screamed at me... " His ears pin back, flattened. "Unearthly noise, he was mad, crazy, attacked me with hoof and horn and teeth! Teeth are not allowed in a joust, it's far too dangerous. The rest... the rest is hazy. I remember the pain, red at the edge of my vision, mare-scent, the blood, and the drive." Rajah shivered, tightening his tail around Helki's. "He would not yield, no matter how many times I brought him down. We were savage... but I was younger and stronger, and in the end, he rose no more, and I was still standing." The stallion tucks his head against his forelegs to hide the tears in the corners of his eyes. "And I mated her, his daughter, right then and there, while he lay broken and still. I took her back to my clan... and I left, the next night. They didn't blame me. They said he was old, all his mares already claimed and taken, and that was the way some stallions preferred to go... but I can't erase that day from my mind. It was horrible, and I hope to never fight again." Rajah licked his lips, feeling sick to his stomach. "That's why I avoid males, always, during the rutting season... because I don't want to ever go through that again."
He had said it, his past, his burden, and his shame. What she would do now, he did not know, but at least he could go forward with a clean conscience, having held nothing back.
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:22 pm
Helki had listened in silent horror of Rajah's first rutting season experience. It had sent even a physical shiver down her body. Stallions where capable of quite horrifying things. "That's....cruel," she murmured quietly.
She looked up at him suddenly. "But what happens if it's a young stallion who encounters you? That was a old stallion...." She looked away from him. Mares didn't seem to have much of a say at times. If a stallion has a right that mare is bred. Her ears where laying back now as she stared out but at nothing in particular. So this was the world of kirin. Both harsh and beautiful.
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:39 pm
Rajah's ears unflatten slightly, face still morose. "Yes.. it is cruel. Life is very often unfair." I never even knew her name. Did she tell me? I can't remember. All I remember is the pain, bright red blood on the ground, knowing I had to go home. I don't even know if she bore young from our brief union. I didn't want to know.
"Most jousts... " He rumbles and clears his throat. "Most jousts, don't go like that. They're supposed to be a contest of strength, wits, and endurance, not a fight to the death. He was old, I know, but I was young, much younger, barely grown my first antler. I've travelled a long way since then. I don't know what would happen if I met an equal, or my better, but it would not be pretty." He sets his head down grimly, leaning against Helki's soft feathers. "I'm sorry if I distressed you." Rajah sighs slowly, nostrils flaring. He rubs his muzzle against her neck in apology.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:56 pm
Helki tilted her head at him which made herself appear the experienced foal. "Will I ever witness such a battle between two stallions? I'm sure if I was to see one it would be quite impressive but also sad when the loser must give up his rights to a mare that caught his eye." She pondered this new info and absorbed it into memory. "I want to experience life Rajah. And I want to learn as much as possible." She was looking out one of the holes towards the sea.
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