Welcome to Gaia! ::

Umeko had been holding steady a way back from where she and Astucia had spotted the quarry they were after. The mare was a little worried about Gabriel as her familiar had not returned to her side after she had sent him off. That was a little unusual as the hummingbird always tried to stay close by. Her gaze flickered from side to side before she realized that staying up in the air, although safer, was taking a toll on her.

What was holding up the hunting party? Umeko flew another circle in the air before reducing her altitude a little. A green blur registered in her sight as she almost ran into Gabriel. At least he was okay. Umeko nuzzled the hummingbird as he ducked behind her. Her voice was a whisper as she talked with her familiar, getting information on where Daenerys's party was located.

"Your land?" Daenerys glaring at the white bird. She heard Ser Jorah calling a question to her from below, but she didn't have time to answer him just yet. Still, she was glad to know that he was close in case the bird somehow proved troublesome.

"Should I take it that you serve the marauding kalona, then?" The bird sent by her scouts hadn't mentioned any other soquili. She assumed that she would have been notified if there had been another herd nearby, so the raven was probably a familiar of the kalona...

"If you are the servant of our enemy, know that we trespass knowingly."

Illyria had paced the hunting party from a distance. She had not let anyone in to her decision to "join" the group. The mare had heard of the habits of the Kalona they were tracking and hunting and felt a scathing hatred boil up inside of her. Monsters like these needed to be exterminated. In the back of her mind Illyria was also thinking of this as practice. She needed to toughen herself up if her own idea was to work. Pausing long enough to slip off to the side Illyria witnessed both Daenerys talking to a white bird and also the stallion Jorah Mormont.

Illyria was not sure on the newest member of the Queensguard. Her wings twitched a little before she slunk past the pair. Both seemed distracted enough. Her eyes scanned the horizon before her ears picked up the sound of movement. Her head turned in the direction the sounds came from before she registered a gray blur in her sights. Illyria's eyes widened at the sheer size of the Kalona. Her first instinct was to fly out of the way of danger but Illyria squelched her reaction. Her icy blue gaze locked on the kalona as she moved forward. She wordlessly broke into a gallop and angled her trajectory towards the beast.

(( :: rolls a 4 in the Khalasar plot thread :: ))

Illyria's charge took her into close quarters to the stallion but her attempt to lash out at the beast with her hooves left her kicking out at nothing but air. She had mistimed her attack. Her wings spread out as she turned around to face the beast. Her eyes narrowed as she caught her breath. "I see you."

One moment Daenerys was talking to the white raven. The next, she was staring as Illyria streaked out of nowhere to attack what Daenerys now saw was a kalona, huge, brutish, and entirely too close to their group. He had been sneaking up on them! Had the raven just been a diversion? Anger coursed through her and she dropped swiftly to the ground, needing to be among her herd members to be able to give warning and commands.

"Illyria has found the kalona!" She saw that Charon too was already on the attack. "Give her aid!" Why on earth had Illyria charged in alone like that? Daenerys hadn't thought of her as a fighter and knew she would need help. "Keep him back from the healers!" He was obviously a crafty monster and she expected he would just love to attack their weaker members.

Charon had stayed to the ground. He was not as adept at flying as some of the others--combat moves, he was good at but flying in general was not anything he had focused on. The scouts had went out far ahead of him and he had stayed back with Daenarys.

She fashioned herself a queen, a khaleesi. The Unburnt, Mother of Dragons--he'd heard the names before, heard others think they same of themselves. In the end, they'd all proved manipulative and greedy--not that those were bad things. But this...this mare was not that at all. She was kind and she was fair, but she was also iron and steel. He had thought that her enemies would cut her down and he had been surprised when they hadn't.

Maybe there was more to her than what she seemed, a girl fighting a war with dragons. But he couldn't think of anymore of that now, he needed to press onward. In the long run, it did not matter much about her except that she lived long enough to pay him.

His eyes found the kalona in the distance and he saw the blue mare dashing at the kalona, but her hooves missed. He cut by him and lashed a glancing blow at the stallion's side. He felt as though he'd struck flesh but he wasn't sure.

Whipping around, he faced the stallion for the first time.

It can't be....

"You," he growled as he stood his ground. "You."

Suddenly, fighting had erupted. Rallie stared at the massive dark kalona that had sprung out and the two soquili that thus far had run out to face him. Daenerys had told the warriors to face the kalona and defend the herd, so that's what Rallie did. He thundered forward, joining the defensive line and putting himself between the kalona and the rest of the others. He saw the kalona fighting Charon for now. Deciding that he might do more harm than good if he dived in and distracted Charon, he held his ground.

Lowering his horns like a stag, Rallie defended his position.

Auchindoun spotted the crow first. Allide had been paying more attention to the group's tactics so he alerted her then lowered altitude to meet with the brighter male. He intentionally kept his decent slow, hoping to get some answers without scaring the other bird away.

"Stranger! Would you be so kind as to tell me why so many come to attack only one?"

Astucia saw Daenerys stop her flight, seeming to be talking to someone. As his eyes followed where she was looking, he saw a glint of white and silver. They seemed to be having an idle conversation. Then commotion from below them. As he watched, he saw that the large blue winged mare had actually darted toward the Kalona, rearing wildly at him. He was rather startled by her attempt at something so much larger than herself. Though her wingspan was nothing to sneeze at. He then saw another from the herd head towards the Kalona. And they seemed to... know each other. It must have been before the Great War. Or even during. Astucia didn't like to think about those he had known before. Those who had changed...

Astucia watched carefully as some of the others in the herd started attacking the Kalona they were after. He wanted to wait for some kind of opening, no matter how small it seemed. Then he saw it! Swooping down Astucia landed in front of the large Kalona, rearing up and landing a glacing blow before retreating back a bit. He certainly didn't want to push his luck right away...