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Well, that was a bit of a relief; obviously Berry had a much larger stake in the situation than Laureat did, but he did so want to hear 'the end of the story' now that he was involved! If Berry did prove to be related, or even strongly suspected of being related, then perhaps Laureat's father and brother could let go of some of their feelings of guilt over what had happened with Amary's missing sons. And just as she was doing something positive for them, maybe they could do something nice for Berry, too. Her foster father sounded a decent sort, but in Laureat's biased opinion, he was no substitute for the real thing. Or even a possible real thing, if that possibility was Laureat's family!

So he returned her smile, nodding in agreement with what she was saying. "Indeed, we could be all sorts of possible relations! And if that turns out to be true, then prepare to be staggered at the amount of relations you acquire at the same time," he said with a laugh. "Remember, I have a looooooot of siblings! And I approve of the plant idea; I could always use another set of legs helping me out in my collecting," he said as he turned and started to follow a small stream uphill. "Also, there's a bit of climbing involved, but nothing too strenuous. Tony and his mate seem to have a fondness for caves and rocks; they live in a somewhat craggy part of the woods."

"Well, good; I know this region can be a bit tiring for people not used to ups and downs, but if your legs are used to it, then we ought to be good!" Though he had no idea where Grandmother Mountain was, anything with 'Mountain' in the name had to be a good climb!

Laureat had always prided himself on his honesty. While he was well known in his family circle for his merry attitude and positive outlook on life, he didn't believe in lying and could be scrupulously honest when any situation called for it. That said, though, he also had a strongly developed sense of mischief and wasn't above withholding information, or giving only partial information, as the case might be.

Berry's question offered Laureat a unique opportunity for the latter, and his grin widened as set about answering in his most sincere way. "Well, Tony...Antony, to give his proper name, is one of my oldest brothers. He's actually 'the oldest' in terms of actual connection to the family, since my dad didn't know my oldest brother Guiliaume even existed until shortly before I myself was born. So yeah, Tony's one of the oldesters. And he lives up to it, I guess you could say; he's very...well, very responsible. Very family oriented. He's one of the few of my siblings who could say he actually has met all of us; even I can't say that, and I live at home!" He chuckled, giving Berry a 'what can you do?' sort of shrug before continuing.

"His mate, Loveless, is gorgeous, but energetic. They're a strong couple, and have been together for...well, a long time. Her dad is my dad's best friend, and I think Tony and Loveless met when she was still a foal. Apparently she was quite a firecracker," Laureat managed to say with a straight face. From what he'd heard, 'firecracker' wasn't so much the right term as borderline homicidally raging biyatch, but who needed to drag up ancient history? "They have six children these days, and are by all acounts a model family. Tony also raised our nephew, as I mentioned, due to circumstances. All in all, he and Loveless are a great couple of Soquili. They like having their quiet little homeplace, but they also enjoy seeing the family."

Yep, that summed them up pretty well...personality-wise. Sure, there was a lot more he could mention about their LOOKS, but why ruin the surprise?

Laureat couldn't help but grin at Berry's comment; perhaps six WAS a lot of children, but in his family, the remarkable thing was that all six shared the same parents! "Large broods do seem to run in the family for us; like I mentioned earlier, very few of us were single births. In fact, I only know of one sibling of mine who was born alone, so...there's that."

They had climbed their way up to the top of the very long hill and Laureat now turned, continuing to follow the stream as it meandered off towards a particularly dark patch of forest. The trees and shrubs grew thickly here; a Soquili who was casual about their wanderings would be hard-pressed to carry on through this undergrowth! But Laureat knew the way, and he led Berry along carefully through some of the thinnest paths.

"It's highly likely that they'll be home, or at least Tony will be. He's been sticking pretty close to the area over the past several months, dealing with some things." Laureat frowned as he ducked under a broken branch, pulling it back with one wing so Berry could pass more easily. "He was hurt pretty badly in the Kalona Herd war; I don't know if your herd was affected by that nastiness at all, but this region was hit hard. Tony and Loveless both fought, in addition to a couple of their kids, and Tony took a pretty devastating injury." He paused, deciding that THIS at least was something he ought to mention. "If possible, try not to stare at his scar. He's not exactly sensitive about it, but he doesn't like seeing others uncomfortable about it. If that makes sense."

If Laureat hadn't thought Berry's herd had sounded peculiar before, this new information would definitely have made him a bit leery. Stallions fighting each other, literally fighting, over mares? And the mares being 'stolen'? It sounded as though the mares in question had no say in the matter and were just taken, to be...used. To Laureat's way of thinking, Berry was well suited to have left that herd and their fellow similiarly minded herds behind. No mare deserved to be a commodity; they needed to find the stallion (or stallionS, or mare; love for everyone!) who made them happy and go with that, period.

Laureat was glad he hadn't been raised in Berry's territory; it sounded like it was a rough life all it's own. But he kept his opinions to himself; after all, it wasn't his place to pass judgement, and Berry was here now, obviously making her own choices. And her herd had allowed her to do that, in some fashion, which showed a great deal of forward thinking. But still... "Your herd and the land you came from are certainly something very different, Berry; I can't imagine living that sort of life, so it's just as well I'm not," he said with a chuckle.

But he continued, glad for a chance to share information that could be quite pertinent to Berry, in the near future! "Kalona are a type of Soquili, one of many," Laureat said with a smile. "Like, I'm a Wind Soquili; as a Wind, I have these lovely bird-like wings," he said, feathery those appendages lightly. "We're the fastest Soquili in the air, Winds, and we can outfly just about anything. But aside of the flight thing, we aren't very different from regular Soquili, like you," he added with a nod to Berry.

"Kalona, on the other hand, have a LOT of differences. For starters, they're very big, on average; HUGE, in fact. They're over a head taller than me, and that's only on average. They also have wings, though Kalona wings are large and leathery, like bat wings, if you're ever seen a bat. Let's see..." Gnawing thoughtfully on his tongue, Laureat continued his list. "Pure Kalona always have horns on their head, like a goat or a ram; they have spikes growing at the base of their wings. Their hooves are split and have two toes, like a deer, and instead of having hair tails they have...well, weird tails, to be honest. A lot of them are leathery, long, and can be used to pick things up; they end in either...well, a sort of oak leaf shape, or else a multiple-strand whip-like thing," he said with a frown before continuing, "And they have fangs. Pure Kalona are carnivores, and they hunt, kill, and eat meat. Some of them are nice, in spite of all that, but there are a lot of very mean Kalona out there, even murderous ones," he said with a shudder. "It was a herd of the murderous type that attacked here. With all those physical attributes, you can see why they were a force to fear. It was very brave Kawani Soquili who faced them and turned them back from these lands."

Laureat could see where Berry was coming from in her opinion that the Kalona were a bit of a hodgepodge. After all, their traits seemed to be pulled from who knows where, with few coming from the same animal (other than the Kalona themselves, of course!). Though Laureat himself had heard too much about the Kalona War and some other nasty pieces of Kalona work to give their attributes such an innocent portrayal. "Maybe they do seem a bit random, but apparently those various traits make Kalona excellent hunters and predators. They can attack their prey with almost every part of their body, which can be quite unpleasant if you're the prey," he said with a frown. Laureat himself had never actually encountered a bad Kalona, but he'd heard enough from his brother to consider himself MORE than well enough informed!

But while he wanted to inform Berry, he also didn't want to scare her off, either. The world's Kalona weren't all bad, after all! "Many of them are bad, yes, especially the pure-blooded Kalona that come from pure-blooded Kalona parents. They have a pretty high opinion of themselves as a rule, so they don't look kinder on other Soquili breeds, or Soquili who have Kalona blood mixed with other types. The bad types use this twisted logic to justify being cruel; it was a desire to...well, to hunt the Kawani Soquili and people, as well as wipe out the large number of mixed blood Kalonas here, that caused the Kalona herd to attack the Kawani lands. Fortunately, they didn't make it too far, and ended up being driven back."

They had made it through the entwining trees now, and were walking a wide, well-trampled earthen path. The forest was clearly old here, with the branches rising high overhead. Still, bits of light broke through the canopy with pleasant regularity, illuminating wide patches of the path below.

"Basically, with Kalona you have to use your best judgement. If you get a creepy feeling from a Kalona...or really, from ANY Soquili, then you ought to just hoof it out of there. That said, not all Kalona are bad, and in fact lots of them can be quite nice, even if they ARE carnivores."

"Well, some of them do. Kalona have to eat meat, you see, the same way we have to eat grass and things. Their bodies actually need the nutrients in flesh, or they'll get sick and die. But I've heard some Kalona will only scavenge, and others will only hunt very specific types of animal. Unscrupulous Kalona will hunt anything, including other Soquili," Laureat said with a slight shake of his head. He hadn't MEANT for the conversation to take such a dark turn, but Berry was proving surprisingly innocent in some things; the best he could do for her, really, was enlighten her. Carefully.

"They can fly, yes; not nearly as fast as a Wind Soquili, but they have a lot more stamina and can keep up in the air for hours. Needless to say, the goal would be to fly away as fast as possible to an effective hiding place, like a forest or something, as soon as possible. Fortunately, the Kawani Soquili drove out almost all of the nasty ones from the region; while it's possible you could encounter a bad Kalona, you're much more likely to encounter a dangerous...well, a dangerous bear," he said with a chuckle. "And bears aren't in high supply around here!"

The path was running alongside a small stream now, and they were fast approaching a sharp downhill. They couldn't yet see it, but through the pauses in the conversation, Berry might be able to hear the burbling sound of the small waterfall made as the stream sharply dipped downward, falling about 10 feet before continuing its gentle progression.

"Really? It might have been a familiar, then; I've heard that some predators have formed familiar bonds with certain Soquili, predators including wolves. Obviously, the predator in question is no common wolf, or bear, or owl, or whatever," Laureat said with a bob of his head as they came up on the drop off. He'd never had a familiar of his own, but he had to admit he was curious about the idea. If he ever found a likely animal, he would definitely make overtures; the very idea of having a constant companion was an appealing one to a stallion so interested in socialization!

Though it was possible that Berry was just to nastier wolves! "I've never been out of the Kawani lands, but I've heard a similar opinion from other migrants," he said with a laugh. "My oldest brother was born in another land; he's been among the Kawani for years now, and he's still often bewildered by everything. I think it must just take some getting used to...and a very open mind. Watch your step, by the way," Laureat added as the path suddenly took a steep downward jog, forcing both Soquili to choose their footings very carefully if they wanted to continue along. "Is this the noise you're talking about, though?" With one wing, he gestured to the now visible waterfall, which fell alongside the path as the path angled downward towards the fall pool. "There are a lot of these random little falls out here; the terrain is so uneven that even the water has to make adjustments!"

~~~

At the bottom of the waterfall, on the other side of the stream, Antony had been standing, deep in thought. He found the sight of the rushing water soothing; it matched the state of his mind, all tossed and turned and jumbled up in chaos now, but soon to smooth itself out into a nice, orderly stream of regularity. Or so he hoped, anyway.

The falls were vocal, but with barely ten feet to fall there was nowhere near the deafening crash of water one would expect from a mountain waterfall; it was possible to have a conversation in a relatively normal voice and still be heard. For Antony, used to picking out sounds from the cacophony, Berry and Laureat's voices were audible several moments before they came into sight. Antony was surprised; it wasn't a common occurrence for strangers to wander this way, nor was it a common thing for his young brother to journey this way; there was little in the way of novel plants in this part of the woods.

Consequently, Antony was curious, and before the reddish Soquili had reached the bottom of the trail, he had neatly leapt the stream, aided by a slight spread of his massive leathery wings.

"This is certainly a surprise, Laureat. What brings you out to this lonely part of the forest?" Antony's voice was smooth, the sound a lot like Laureat's voice, but much deeper. Antony's appearance was striking, as always; a massive stallion, the top of Laureat's head didn't even come up to Tony's chin, and he outweighed the other by at least another third. After his jump, he'd settled his wings back at his sides, but there was no disguising their nature, any more than her could disguise the gleamingly sharp tips of his fangs as they protruded from the corners of his mouth, white against the darkness of a cardinal mask marking exactly like Laureat's. Pale grey eyes so light they almost seemed white flicked from Laureat to Berry, the question almost palpable, but without any sense of urgency.

And dominating the whole sight to any casual observer would likely be The Scar. Dark and ugly against Antony's white hide, a massive black scar covered nearly a third of the left side of Tony's neck and throat: a memento of where a Kalona had tried to rip Tony's throat out, and nearly succeeded.