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 Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 6:08 pm
"I will not treat this monster!" Yayo'jin's voice was raised now too, though her anger had always been cold rather than hot. She stopped glaring at the queen to watch the little skinwalker. He was on his feet now and she didn't trust him not to attack while her back was turned. "If you have any sense... you will have the guards chase him away or kill him!" Immediately, she realized that she had made a mistake in speaking like that. It had been such a long time since she'd been a part of a herd that her language was not always automatically respectful. Most of the time the queen could laugh it off, but she had a feeling that Daenerys was in a bit less forgiving of a mood.
"Senseless, you call me?" The fire was burning within her now, fueled by both past and present emotion. "Perhaps you are right. If I were not such a senseless young mare, I would have more loyal followers. Go, then. Go back to the others while I still have patience to spare."
Nicoletta felt stunned. Things were going so wrong so quickly. If only she had brought Helki over rather than Yayo'jin! Anyone would have been better than the stubborn Yayo'jin. Anyone else would have known to be respectful in their disagreements even if they did think the foal was a skinwalker. Even if the foal was indeed a skinwalker... She looked at the foal in new horror. If it was a foal, was there an angry parent skinwalker lurking nearby?
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 6:28 pm
Yayo'jin had nothing left to say. She spun around and began fiercely walking back to the herd, then thinking again and moving more swiftly. Alaina was there, but it would be best to alert some of the other guards.
Daenerys watched her leave for a moment before turning back to the foal. She tried to compose her expression to something less furious, though was unsure of the results. "No matter what you are, I promise that you will not be harmed," she told the foal, echos of Mi Ren Ko's doomed brood haunting her again.
Mauhur had watched the argument, his own energy building as they shouted at each other. This was the sort of thing he was more used to. Even though he was still riddled with fever, he could feel his energy building at the aggression in the air and his claws began to grip the grass beneath them more strongly. Skinwalker, they called him. Skinwalker skinwalker skinwalker. It was what he was, and in some part of him he knew that they were right to fear him, even when he was as weak as this.
When the scaled mare turned back to look at him, it was as if some switch was flicked in his brain. Her kindness provoked predatory instinct, and he lunged at her with claws raised.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:58 am
If Alaina had not been watching the foal so closely, things may have happened very differently. Because of her watchfulness, she was able to leap forward as soon as she saw the skinwalker's muscles tensing for attack. She knocked into the foal an instant before he would have struck the queen and they both staggered sideways. Alaina grunted as she felt claws catch her flank, but she didn't draw back. Though her formal position was as a scout, she still would protect Daenerys.
Daenerys felt queerly frozen as the skinwalker attempted to attack her, and then as Alaina tackled it out of the way. It happened so quickly that her mind strained to process what had befallen her. She had been fighting with one of her followers on the foal's behalf one moment, and it was trying to tear her throat out the next. How could a soquili so small be capable of such hatred and violence?
Mauhur was momentarily blinded by rage and bloodlust, slashing his claws at whatever bits of the blue mare that he could find. It went well enough... until one of her hooves caught him painfully across the ribs. Suddenly his lungs seemed to clench, as if remembering that he was deathly ill. His claws had red at the tips but his legs were so weak...
The anger left him and was replaced by fear just as quickly. They were going to kill him. With all the strength he had left, he turned and ran.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:01 pm
Alaina turned to give chase, took a step, and faltered. One of her scratched legs gave her pain when she put weight on it. A closer inspection revealed a deeper gash than she had thought and blood already had begun to stain her blue fur. She looked up, seeing Yayo'jin galloping back her way. That was good. She didn't even need to call for the healer and there she was...
Yayo'jin's previous fight was banished from her mind. She wasn't a warrior and the type to go chasing off after the skinwalker foal, she was a healer. She was by Alaina's side and pressing absorbent plant material to her wound before most of the herd even had time to react. It was bleeding heavily, but not the fierce arterial spurting that would signify something life-threatening. This was an injury that she could treat.
Daenerys recovered herself enough to call for her guards then, but it was too late. The foal had seemed close to death when they had first found him, but now it was as if he had disappeared. Perhaps he had turned into a bird and flown away, or maybe just found some hiding place too clever for the rest of them. Regardless, he was gone and there was nothing they could do but tend to Alaina and keep watchful eyes open.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:31 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time of the evening, their search had still yielded no results and the herd had only moved a short distance. Daenerys considered pushing them onward, in case they lingered now in skinwalker territory, but decided against it. If there were skinwalkers in the area, certainly they could follow a trail so wide as one left by the khalasar. Her guards all stood alert and watchful now. At least the skinwalker would not approach unnoticed if it did approach at all.
Wearily, Daenerys stood beside Nicoletta while her friend grazed. She herself had found no will to hunt that day and would go hungry, though she barely noticed it. "Nicoletta," she said, finally breaking the silence. "Do you believe that skinwalker foals are truly born evil? There is no chance for redemption no matter what kindnesses are shown to them?
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:38 pm
Nicoletta swallowed the mouthful of grass that she had been chewing. She was among the herdmates left rattled by the day's events. She had been standing right there when the foal had attacked and knew that it easily could have struck at her instead if things had gone differently. Alaina's injuries weren't bad, but it still was a scary experience. First they encountered the dead usdia left by the skinwalker... and now a child skinwalker itself. What would be next?
"From what I have heard from the others... yes, they are born evil." Nicoletta had learned a lot about skinwalkers since earlier that day. Some of the herd members were apparently quite well-learned on the subject, even. "Only some skinwalkers can have skinwalker children, but those are the worst and most vicious. They cannot be tamed... or so the others say."
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:54 pm
"Born evil," murmured Daenerys, staring off into the distance. "If foals can be born evil, it makes me wonder about this world." It was one of the most horrible things that she had ever heard. She would have laughed if someone had tried to tell her the same thing that morning, but now she thought she might be able to believe it. The hatred that had blazed in the foal's eyes as he tried to kill her had been absolute. If that wasn't some element of evil, she didn't know what to call it.
Her father had been cursed into being a skinwalker. Even after understanding Viserys' true petty nature, she still had always somewhat believed what he had said about their father. That their father had been cursed into being a skinwalker, but still had his mind. That he was not the Mad King that they called him, simply persecuted for a curse that did not overly hinder him. After seeing this foal... those lies were harder to believe. If her father had become a skinwalker, he undoubtedly had been the same sort of monster that the foal was.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:03 pm
"There are a lot of skinwalkers in this land!" exclaimed Nicoletta, hoping to steer the conversation to a slightly less rocky version of the subject. "They are lucky that this place does not have the knights of our homeland. Think of what a human with a lance on top of a charging unicorn could do to one of those things!" She shook her head, imagining it.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:21 pm
Daenerys couldn't enjoy Nicoletta's diversions now. There were too many things weighing on her mind. "I'm sorry, Nicoletta. But can we talk later? There are some matters that I must attend to." She smiled weakly in apology. What she needed to do would hurt her pride, but it would hurt worse not to.
"Of course," replied Nicoletta, blinking. As Daenerys left, she went back to her grazing. She was just as glad to be able to let her mind wander again, try to distract herself from what had been a stressful day.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:42 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~
Yayo'jin was resting after what had been a very chaotic day. Alaina was tended to, the blue mare now lying down somewhere protected near the center of the herd. Her wounds would heal without problem, so long as they didn't get infected. It would be best if they could find a pure unicorn to help them. Mi Ren Ko's diluted heritage just wasn't enough for Yayo'jin's specifications. Yayo'jin had a lot of respect for the healing magic that unicorns wielded, though she maintained that it was care with healing herbs that made recovery certain.
She stood tiredly, eying the surroundings warily. She couldn't settle down after seeing that skinwalker foal. It reminded her too much of the time she had lost her home to burning when a kalona pack had wandered through. She wouldn't underestimate the amount of damage only a few monstrous soquili could do.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:51 pm
Daenerys approached Yayo'jin, seeing the mare standing to one side of the others. Everyone was edgy after the encounter, but Yayo'jin just seemed still and cold. Daenerys suspected that the healer grated at her in part because they had such differing personalities. Daenerys was fire while Yayo'jin was ice. They even physically looked very different, with Daenerys being small and delicately built while Yayo'jin was a much larger draft.
Shaking off these thoughts, Daenerys focused on the mission at hand, reconciliation.
"Yayo'jin," she said. "Are you busy?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:37 am
Yayo'jin's ears flicked slightly as Daenerys approached. She wasn't one to give up on anger easily and she had been very angered indeed by the queen earlier that day. Suspicious, she wondered what exactly it was that Daenerys wanted to talk about now. Skinwalkers? The proper care of foals? Respect?
"I am not busy," she said succinctly.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 4:16 pm
"I would like to apologize," said Daenerys simply. Her pride stung to admit it, but she had badly misjudged the situation and had lashed out at the people who had tried to council her. It was not behavior fit for a leader and she couldn't leave that rift between her and Yayo'jin, especially not after Yayo'jin had taken the time to heal Alaina.
"I should have listened to you about the skinwalker," she added. If she had taken heed then Alaina wouldn't be hurt and they could have captured the skinwalker foal. "Captured and done what with it?" she asked herself.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 4:21 pm
Yayo'jin's brows arched in surprise. That was unexpected. Her prepared snippy responses died on her tongue. She wasn't very trustful and tended to assume the worst about motives, but the apology seemed honest, even if somewhat forced.
"That was a pure skinwalker, I think." She could think of no real response to the apology, so told Daenerys one of the things she had been thinking about instead. "It had claws. Those ones, they're born dangerous. Will bite you straight out of the basket."
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 4:34 pm
Born dangerous. Born evil.
She had heard such similar things from Nicoletta just moments earlier that Daenerys wondered if it was Yayo'jin who had told her friend that. Perhaps, perhaps not. What she did know is that she had now heard this information from two separate herd members, and that their encounter with the foal certainly seemed to imply the truthfulness of the statement.
"If we are able to find that foal... I'll have him killed." The statement rang strangely in her ears, like it had been said by someone other than herself. "You have my word as a Targaryen of that." She still had the memory of those poor little foals that died without baskets... but mistake by mistake, she was learning that using the past as an excuse was just that, an excuse.
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