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 Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:08 pm
"We don't know if dey was 'just talking' until we go ask." Yayo'jin's frown pulled her lips against her tusks, giving her an unintentionally dangerous look. She knew that people didn't like her. She made no effort to be likeable and didn't like people right back in return. She didn't care who hated her, but if they were talking about displacing her from her home, that was a problem.
Dismissively, she decided to clarify something with the kalona. "And when I say 'we,' I'm not meanin' you." She had no interest in bringing along a gawker who probably wanted to eat her, anyways. She wasn't going to spend a minute longer with the kalona than was strictly necessary. "Where did you say you saw dem talking?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:28 pm
"If you wanted to talk to them, they were in the oak grove the last time I saw them." Xelloss paused a moment, then added, "The one with the big rock in the middle. Looks a little like a face, if you ask me." She hadn't directly asked for their location but seemed ready for it. Looking at the large draft mare, Xelloss wished he could sneak along and watch the confrontation that would follow. Would the uniflutter Gwendolen be intimidated by her foe's bulk? It was a pity he would be too busy destroying their livelihoods and homes to find out.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:32 pm
It was far away, but not too far for Yayo'jin's aggravation to reach it. "Dat is all I need from you." She fixed Xelloss with a particularly cold glare. "And I don't want to be seein' you around after, do you understand? We don't got room for any kalonas around here." She edged away from him, unwilling to turn her back on what was still a potentially dangerous creature. Once she judged that she was far enough away she sped up her pace and started heading off for the oak grove. That Gwendolen mare was going to regret ever talking that way about her...
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:35 pm
"Ta ta, now." Xelloss' smile drew wider as Yayo'jin grew further away. Both had taken the bait. That had been the hard part, though not really difficult at all as it turned out. Now that it was over, it was time to find Xellra. The fun part was about to begin.
Taking to the sky once more, Xelloss searched for his son. Hopefully, Xellra had been able to acquire the fire without delay...
~~~
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:01 am
Gwendolen reached the clearing in good time, of course she had spent most of the trip alternating between trotting and galloping when the terrain allowed for it. She hadn't wanted to miss a chance at meeting the mare that was making rude implications about her mother's talent. Unfortunately, upon arrival, Gwendolen found herself completely alone in the clearing. Frowning, she looked about double checking that she was in the correct place. Oak grove with a big rock, this was definitely the place the kalona had described, but she was still alone.
"I just missed her." She mumbled.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:36 pm
Yayo'jin had covered the distance from her home to the oak grove much swifter than usual. She didn't want to arrive too late and find that Gwendolen and her mother had already disappeared. All the way up she coldly fumed over what the kalona had told her. She could think of little reason for a kalona to lie. She entirely believed that he was telling the truth. He was probably especially pleased to have cruel conversation to convey.
She slowed when she came into sight of the area, glaring around suspiciously for the two she was looking for. There was one soquili by the rock, but not the pair she was looking for. Yayo'jin looked again. Only one soquili, but it was Gwendolen. Her mother had disappeared, but the younger mare remained. Yayo'jin didn't need to prepare herself for this confrontation. She was never one to hold back her words.
"You dere." She stepped out into the grove without hesitation. "I was hoping to find you here." There was nothing that could suggest friendliness in Yayo'jin at that moment.
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:30 pm
Gwendolen's ears twitched as a harsh, accented voice bit into the silence. She faced the stranger and could only assume that this was the mare that the kalona had mentioned. She had a bright mane and what could only be described as unnatural lined markings on her coat. She had large fangs protruding from her lower jaw and those weren't the only things that were large about her. Gwendolen swallowed slightly, this was a draft mare, and she sounded pissed.
"You were hoping to find me? Why?" She asked bitterly. "So you can insult my mother more?" she added quietly. Gwendolen had been hoping that this was just a misunderstanding but from the mare's tone Gwendolen could assumed that she was holding some sort of grudge and Gwen wasn't about to back down. Her mother's good name was on the line here and if that meant forgoing some manners then so be it. She wouldn't toss them to the side completely, though, she wanted to live and she was quite certain that this Yayo could flatten her is she sat on Gwen.
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:39 pm
Angered, Yayo'jin tossed her head. The pouch around her neck, full of medicine, thumped against her chest in the movement. The kalona had apparently been telling the truth. Knowing that she was much greater in size and weight than the uniflutter, Yayo'jin drew herself up even taller. It was a strategy that had served to intimidate many aggravating individuals in the past.
"If your mother gives me reason t' insult her, she shouldn't be surprised when I do," Yayo'jin rumbled. She assumed that Gwendolen spoke of her presence as an insult to her mother somehow. Maybe her mother considered the proximity of another healer as an insult to her own expertise.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:42 am
Gwendolen found that intimidation tactics were cheap but she would have been lying if she said they weren't effective. Gwendolen took a half step backwards as the mare stood up taller. It was like a mountain and a horse had produced and child and that child was this mare. The nervousness she felt faded, though, when the mare spoke ill of Gwendolen's mother. So the kalona had been right after all. She was running around spitting out venomous lies for no reason.
"How dare you! What reason could my mother have given you to insult her?" Gwendolen was angry, an uncommon state for the young mare. "Is it jealousy over her skill that provokes you? That's pathetic!" She snorted, perhaps she would have to toss all of her manners away for this.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:23 am
~~~  Xellra stood in the meeting place, scanning the skies for his father. He had the fire. It burned at the end of something called a "torch" and the heat was enough to send sweat beading on his face. It took concentration to hold onto it and not drop it. Instinct told him that fire should be avoided at all costs, even a controlled one. A shadow passed by overhead. Xellra squinted upwards and soon heard a familiar beating of leathery wings. It looked like Xelloss had arrived. They had gotten together with pretty decent timing, all things considered.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:29 am
Xelloss landed swiftly and soon was by his son's side. he was pleased to see that Xellra had acquired the fire successfully. The whole operation would be pointless if Xellra had failed his task. "Follow me," said Xelloss swiftly. "Things went perfectly and they're both distracted." He let himself smirk a little. He loved when a plan went well.
They were close enough to run to Gwendolen's home. Xelloss lowered his head and cantered through the underbrush, making sure to keep one eye on Xellra and their precious fire. Soon enough they were back where Xelloss had first encountered the healer. She had collected all sorts of medicinal herbs here and had obviously made herself a nice little home.
"Burn it," said Xelloss, eyes wickedly gleaming.
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 7:04 pm
~~~
The smoke was just starting to become visible from Gwendolen's home when they arrived at Yayo'jin's abode. Xelloss could see that Xellra's eyes stung and watered from holding the torch so close to him for so long, but that would soon be over. Quick and efficient, they prepared their second site for arson. They piled as much dry vegetation as they could find around the more important looking places. Xelloss swept large piles of leaves under a few prominent trees, hoping to compel them to catch fire.
Once the preparations were complete, they lit the flames. The fire took easily to their gathered material. Neither rain nor snow had fallen for over a week now and the dryness that suffused the area was ripe for a spark. Xelloss didn't let Xellra drop the torch until one of the larger trees was aflame. They flew out of the area then, letting the rising hot air carry them upwards. Once flying, Xelloss could easily see the two patches of forest burning. It was finished. Unless he was very mistaken, there were not enough soquili in the area to put out even one of the fires before it spread. Content with a job completed, Xelloss smiled.
"Let's go find a hill to watch from, shall we?" he asked Xellra, father and son fiends happily flitting away from their destruction.
~~~
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 9:16 am
As far as diplomatic encounters went this meeting could easily be considered a failure. It seemed to have been destined to fail from the start as Yayo'jin clearly had some sort of grudge with Gwendolen and her family. Gwendolen couldn't fathom why this might be the case but her accusations of the mare giving into jealousy hadn't helped matters in the slightest. They had done nothing but bicker from the start and Gwendolen found that she still wasn't done with the mare. She opened her mouth to let out a stream of crass insults when something stopped her. From over the trees she could see smoke rising and that meant fire. It would not have bothered her as there were humans in the area but the volume of smoke didn't make sense. It was much too large to be a cooking fire.
"What is burn...?" Gwendolen didn't finish the thought, Yayo'jin didn't need to know what was going on in her mind. She was too bull-headed to make sense of it anyway. There was something about the location of the smoke that was troubling her when she figured it out she bolted faster than a startled pheasant. The place burning was somewhere near her home. Gwendolen had always been intending to go check out the fire to see if she could help but the thought that it might reach her home gave her a burst of energy. Never for a second, in the entire time that she was racing towards the blaze, did she stop to think that it might have been her home burning.
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:08 am
Yayo'jin didn't hide her disregard for Gwendolen. Gwendolen seemed to be trying to blame her even when it had been the uniflutter and her mother that had caused all the trouble. Yayo'jin couldn't stand people who dodged their responsibility. Her opinion of Gwendolen fell further and further the longer they argued. She was so distracted by the discussion that she didn't even notice the scent of smoke on the air until Gwendolen was running off.
As Gwendolen disappeared, finally she stared at the inky black smoke rising against the winter sky. It was the wrong season for wildfires. She stared at the smoke for a moment longer before she realized the direction it was coming from. She realized what Gwendolen had not. The fire was right in the direction of her home. With a high-pitched whinny, Yayo'jin began to sprint towards her home. She wanted to save what she could, not knowing that it was far too late already.
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