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 Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:47 pm
Daenerys kept an eye on the two of them as she practiced pulling out her own stalks. It was interesting that Mi Ren Ko's nervousness seemed to disappear when she started explaining the process to Nicoletta. It was a testament to Mi Ren Ko's ability to control herself that she was able to work so nicely with the understandably snippy Nicoletta. Dany herself sometimes found Nicoletta hard to work with.
Her own sharp teeth were more suited to shearing flesh than gripping plants so she found herself cutting through them more often than she would have liked. She was able to mangle fewer the more she practiced but it was still difficult work.
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:52 pm
Nicoletta found herself chagrined in the face of Mi Ren Ko's response. Mi Ren Ko's calm made her own impatience seem childish. She paid attention when Mi Ren Ko showed her how to pull up the plant, but shook her head when offered the stem. "I'll get my own." With a look of intense determination she bent herself to the task.
Seeing Dany pulling up plants beside her gave her the patience to keep at it even when she broke a few stems. She nibbled at the first one she managed to unearth whole and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor. The bitterness wasn't nearly so apparent at the stem. The flavor was strange, but bearable. She didn't know if she would call it pleasant, but it was something she could get used to.
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:56 pm
"Very good," murmured Mi Ren Ko as Nicoletta pulled out another. It wasn't a difficult technique, it just required some finesse. She pulled a few of her own and grazed on them as the others practiced. She noticed that Nicoletta wasn't trying any of the seeds, but just getting her this far was task enough for now.
Still guilty, she resolved to personally teach as many of her herdmates as she could. She would pull up plants until her neck was sore if the herd needed it of her. They deserved that much for her unintentional neglect. She pulled up another but didn't eat this one. Nicoletta may have refused her first offering, but she had hope that the mare might take some now.
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:31 pm
Daenerys didn't stop pulling stalks until she had a row of them laid out in the muddy water. She felt a twinge of pain in her neck as she straightened up again. That wasn't easy work. Mi Ren Ko was still going strong with her harvest, while Nicoletta was taking things more slowly and stopping to eat between extractions.
"Mi Ren Ko," she said to the unicorn mare. "I'm going to go gather the others and bring them over." She stepped back onto dry ground and flicked water from her tail. "I'll be back with the khalasar shortly." They weren't far away and it wouldn't take long. Walking off briskly, Daenerys left the other two to their work.
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:35 pm
Nicoletta was eating the stalks more heartily now and even found the courage to eat the feathery seeds. The flavor was still strange, but it was still better than starving. Hesitantly, she stole a look at Mi Ren Ko. The mare was still resolutely pulling up stalks, even though Nicoletta could see beads of sweat standing out on her neck. Nicoletta chewed and then swallowed her mouthful of plant before clearing her throat.
"Thank you for telling us about the plants," she said stiffly. Apologizing wasn't easy for her, but she tried to do it when she knew she was in the wrong.
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:38 pm
"You're welcome," replied Mi Ren Ko back, a little too quickly. She was still feeling poorly about the whole thing, though her mood was slowly increasing with her efforts. It was hard to be moody when you were doing hard work. That was a technique that her mother had taught her and it had served her well throughout her life.
She hoped that the rest of the herd wouldn't react quite the same way as Nicoletta did. She could tolerate a certain amount of negativity, but it was draining in large amounts. Mi Ren Ko grew lost in thought so much that it seemed like no time at all had passed before Daenerys returned with the rest of the khalasar. Her time to teach had come, it seemed.
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:50 pm
The rest of the khalasar rounded up in record time when Daenerys told them that Mi Ren Ko had discovered a new food source for them. She led them over to Mi Ren Ko, briefly introduced the concept, and then stepped back and let Mi Ren Ko take over instructing them.
It was easy to tell that Mi Ren Ko felt responsible for not telling them sooner, but Daenerys knew better. It wasn't Mi Ren Ko's fault... it was her own. Only now did Dany realize how truly short-sighted she had been. This was an environment and a land that she knew next to nothing about. She couldn't expect to be able to rule on high like her father had once ruled over the great herd of Westeros. Up until now she had held herself apart from the rest, above them. She hadn't spent as much time getting to know them as she ought to and this was the results of that.
From now on she would speak to them more and listen, especially listening to any advice that they might have. She might call herself "queen," but these soquili didn't need a queen, they needed an alpha. A wise mare that led from within. Someday she would return to her homeland and retake what was hers... but journeys started with small steps.
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:55 pm
Somehow Nicoletta found herself alongside Mi Ren Ko, showing her herdmates how to pull out the plants and coaxing them to try a bite of the strange seeds. She wasn't nearly as skilled at it as Mi Ren Ko... or nearly as patient with the others... but she did well enough. As her stomach filled and she helped more people, Nicoletta's spirits slowly rose. This wasn't nearly as bad as the desert. It was uncomfortable here, but they could survive it.
Nicoletta looked to Daenerys and saw her standing apart, watching the others as they worked and learned. Nicoletta often wondered what Dany thought of during times like that but had learned from experience that Dany wouldn't usually answer when asked. Nicoletta only knew part of Daenerys' background, but what she did know was sad enough to merit some long silences. Nicoletta toyed with the idea of going to her but decided not to. There were a few bites of cattail left, after all!
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 3:00 pm
Mi Ren Ko couldn't help but be reminded of the Padmapani. Here it was, the whole khalasar coming together to work and learn. They had all come from different backgrounds but here they were, finally acting like a herd. She couldn't have been more proud of Nicoletta. The gray mare was in the thick of it, helping people grasp the plants and sharing their frustrations when the plant ripped.
As it turned out, most of the other soquili were grateful rather than irritated, especially when they found that Nicoletta and Daenerys had already laid out a number of the plants for them to eat. Lotuses were precious to the Padmapani herd because they were the flowers that rose pure from the murk of the swamp. Mi Ren Ko was reminded of that now, seeing everyone fetlocks-deep in the water. She really had made the right choice to come with Roarke and follow Daenerys. This was a new herd, but she could already see it beginning to blossom.
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