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Ara watched him sooth his hastar, a small smile forming on her lips as she saw how gentle he was with the beast. It seemed as if Detra was more comfortable with a creature than other magescians. She went to move in when he retrieved his supplies but paused, watching as he cleaned his own wounds. He was obviously used to cleaning and dressing his own wounds. She frowned at his simple, one word question. He seemed rather eager to continue on, ignoring his wound after having dressed it. Her gaze flit quickly down to the bandage and then out at the desert. She had only killed one beast. More practice would do her good. She would just have to remember to keep a close eye on Detra’s leg.

She moved back over to her hastar, patting it absently on the neck before pulling herself back up onto it. She took the lead this time, her hastar trotting past Detra before he had even climbed onto his hastar’s back. Minutes into their move forward and her hastar stopped, refusing the move forward another step. He snorted and stomped at the ground, restless and uneasy. Ara leaned forward, making soothing noises as she patted his neck. “What is it Leoi?” She asked quietly just as the ground began to shake and angry noises came from close by. She sat up straight, thighs gripping Leoi as he began to prance backwards, his nervousness increasing as two large rhamidons appeared. Both engaged in a heavy, brutal battle. One that had already beat up the two beasts bad enough that blood covered them in places.

Ara glanced back to Detra as she pulled back on Leoi’s reins, pulling her hastar away from the already engaged rhamidons, trying to put distance between them and the beasts so they wouldn’t catch their scent. The move was too late, though, as the rhamidon’s paused in their fight, attention instantly flicking to the pair of them. She dismounted quickly, whispering for Leoi to stay put as she moved forward just as the less injured of the two rhamidons charged forward. The wind around her picked up, throwing sand towards the beast and into its eyes. She gripped her weapon, bringing it around in front of her just in time to block a blow from the beast’s tail. She stumbled backwards from the impact but managed to stay on her feet.

This close to the beast, Ara was unable to throw her boomerang and instead, opted to swing it. So when the beast came barreling back at her, she stepped to the side, swinging her weapon out and slashing, with the obsidian blade, down the side of the rhamidon. It roared in pain and turned on her. Obviously angry at having been hurt, the beast charged again, tail sweeping out and aiming straight at Ara’s head. She ducked, rolling to the side and brought the blade up, slashing into the beast’s neck as she raised. A gurgled sound escaped the beast before it collapsed onto the ground.

Ara cleaned her weapon off and followed Detra’s gaze up to the sky and the dying sunlight. Though the afternoon had turned to evening it had seemed so quick. She was reluctant to head back just yet. The sun was still high enough that they could search for at least one or two more creatures and then head back home. “One more?” She asked as Leoi moved to nudge at her hand. She patted her hastar’s nose and grabbed hold of his reins as she glanced to Detra. “That is unless you think we should head home already.”

Ara pulled herself up on to Leoi’s back and nudged him into a trot. Detra’s words reminded her that his vision was completely different from her own. She tilted her head and watched the way the muscles in his back moved as she followed close behind. Thinking about his lack of eyes, made her think of her own and made her wonder how, exactly, hers looked to him. She was about to open her mouth to ask when a sound to their right drew her attention. Ara moved, not thinking twice to alert Detra that she was moving away from him. She navigated Leoi over some small rocks and came to an abrupt stop when three giant cah came into view. She knew this was a rare sight. Cah were known to hunt alone, mostly, so seeing three of them together made her frown.

She couldn’t take all three of them on alone. She slowly pulled at her hastar’s reins, trying to back Leoi up as quietly as she could. The rocks, however, were loose and when Leoi moved to make his way down them, his hooves slipped, sending pebbles and debris tumbling down the other rocks. In the next instant the cah’s attention was focused on her and her hastar. Ara reached back, gripping the boomerang’s handles as she tried her best to keep Leoi calm. The first time had been easy, that had been the first beast. Now, however, too many had come after them and he was becoming restless. Ready, unlike his owner, to head back home.

He stomped at the ground, snorting and prancing as the cah began to move towards them. She climbed down from Leio and brought her weapon around, planting her feet in the ground. “Go Leio, back down to Detra.” The hastar hesitated and she clicked her tongue and patted his butt to send him on the way. Once he was out of the way, she sent her boomerang flying, nicking one of the cah on the tail before it came zooming back to her. They spread, as if their intent was to block her in. Ara moved backwards, fingers gripping the handles of her weapon hard. She pulled at her magic, calling the wind to her as she spread her wings and let the wind carry her up into the air. The cah roared as their prey seemingly escaped. She smirked, holding her weapon up and twirling in the air, using her magic to propel her and the weapon. Ara let go of the boomerang and it whizzed through the air, whistling as it sliced from head to toe down the side of one of the cah’s. The boomerang came flying back to her and she caught it easily enough, all while still floating in the air.

Ara let herself settle back onto the sandy, desert floor as she saw Detra take out another one of the cahs. Her gaze darted around, searching for the third and final beast. Just where had the thing gone? She was just about to lift herself back up, with her wind, when she heard Leoi panicked calls. She froze in place as her gaze jerked to where her hastar had been standing, anxiously awaiting for her to return to him. Her knees threatened to give out on her as she saw the exact moment the tip of the cah’s tail made contact with Leoi. The hastar jerked, whinnied and was soon falling.

Ara’s screams echoed through the desert as she called out her hastar’s name. Her fingers gripped her boomerang as rage flowed through her body. Sand whipped around her as her magic intensified and she threw herself at the cah, the boomerang’s blade slicing through the beast’s tail. She jumped back as it turned on her, Leoi forgotten by it. It screeched, flinging it’s pincers at her. She easily avoided it as she stretched her wings out and used her wind to pull her back and away. With a last bit of energy she flung her boomerang. The magic that followed the weapon, flowing through it and around it, gave enough force to let it tear through the beast easily.

Ara didn’t bother retrieving her weapon and began to run as soon as her feet touched sand again. “Leoi...Leoi...I’m so sorry.” She fell to her knees as she reached her hastar, tears already falling down her cheeks as she pet her hastar. A low, keening sound came from the hastar as it’s body twitched in pain. Her fingers gripped in its mane as she kept murmuring sorry.

Ara’s body tensed at Detra’s words and her wings sagged as he said what she already knew was true. She clenched her eyes shut as she leaned forward and laid her cheek against Leoi’s neck. “Shhh, baby. It’s ok.” Her fingers combed through his mane, a calming action she often did when she was just visiting with him. Soon, the hastar’s keening was coming softly and his body was as still as it could be. Every few second, though, Ara felt a twitch of muscles. She forced herself to sit up. Tears stained her cheeks as even more continued to fall. She took a deep breath and looked to Detra. “Please…”

Ara’s gaze jerked away at the sight of Detra’s blades. Her wings quivered and her whole body shuddered as she dragged in a deep breath. That quick and her companion was gone. Ara’s hand was still in his mane, still clinging to the friend her hastar had become. She heard Detra’s words as he stood but they didn’t full click as she silently said her final goodbyes. She tucked her wings in close as she pushed up from the ground. Her eyes flit to the felled cah and her boomerang. Numbly, she retrieved her weapon, strapping it onto her back without a thought of even cleaning the blood from it and then she moved over to Detra. “I…” She opened her mouth to speak but the words that came out were dry, as if she hadn’t used her voice in years. She closed her eyes and cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

Ara’s eyes stung from the tears she shed and she knew they were likely puffy. Staring off into the distance, Ara kept her thoughts to herself. If not for her wanting to fight more beasts, Leoi would still be alive. She clenched her eyes shut, forcing the tears, that threatened to start falling again, back. She would not cry anymore. It did neither her or Leoi any good to continue on. Her eyes flit open as she noticed the pace of the hastar she was on slow. Ara’s looked down at Detra, frowning as she noticed the slight limp to his walk. “Detra.” His name came out on a hoarse whisper before she cleared her throat. “Maybe we should stop for tonight and find shelter.” She was worn out as well, mentally and physically. “Your leg’s bothering you, isn’t it?”