|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:27 am
Sekhmet took a couple of paces backwards, surprised by the other Jala’s sudden fury. She shouldn’t be really she supposed; she’d be pissed if anyone said something like that about a member of her family even if it was true. “Okay... look, sorry.” The gold-eyed mare cleared her throat uncomfortably and scuffed a hoof on the ground. “I saw her when I was coming towards the mountains... She looked pretty rough and she was acting kind of off... she seemed better at the end of the conversation though, and it was her that kind of encouraged me to come up here and try to join... I... err... Well she was really insightful and that doesn’t seem too crazy... Could be that she was just really stressed and kind of cracking up.”
Had she saved the situation? She hoped so, she’d gone too far with the mother comments; way too far. She wouldn’t blame him at all if he arranged for her petition to join the herd to be rejected. “Sorry,” she said again, “I was out of line there.” Teasing him about himself was all well and good, but she shouldn’t have brought family into it. She was sensible enough to know that, in fact she had known it but she’d gone ahead and said it anyway. Idiot.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:02 pm
...Sekhmet had seen her? “Damn right you were,” Dahak snapped, turning to face the slender mare, “you’re lucky I don’t kill you here and now...” She’d seen his mother. “Did... Did she say where she was going?” He disliked asking, disliked letting this annoying little worm know he needed something of her but there it was. He would do anything for news of his mother, including speak well of the black-coated creature to whoever was in charge of admitting people to the herd on the day she decided to go and ask. “Did she look alright?” In for an elppa, in for a treeful. “Do you know if she’s coming back?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:13 pm
Phew, he wasn’t too furious... he was... he was scared. Now she felt even worse; she’d been teasing the poor sap when he had to be terrified for his dam. “Well she looked pretty bedraggled,” Sekhmet said slowly, “but... well part way through our conversation she seemed to change a bit. At first she was edgy and angry and tossing her head like there was something in her ear but then she calmed down all of a sudden and she seemed more rational. She said I had good sense, and offered to answer any other questions I had about the herd... I didn’t really right then though, so we went our sperate ways but she didn’t seem like someone who was leaving their home behind forever. Like I say, I’m guessing she was just close to snapping from pressure or something and felt she had to get away for a while. I’m sure she’ll come back Dahak.”
It really hit her where it hurt to see such pain and worry in his blue eyes; it made her think of her father. He must have been like this when she’d first disappeared, perhaps he still was. There hadn’t been any other way though, she’d done what she’d had to do. She’d be going home soon with any luck, and she just had to hope that her family didn’t hate her for leaving them behind in favour of securing her freedom. If they did... if they did hate her... Well she’d learn to live with it she supposed; she probably deserved it for her selfishness, but given the chance to choose again, she would still leave even if she knew for sure she would lose their love. She had to have her freedom, no matter what.
“I... I guess she just felt like she had to go away for a while no matter what. I’m sure she didn’t mean for you to be worried about her, Dahak.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:05 am
“Yes, of course!” Dahak laughed, not out of merriment but out of relief. Of course; he’d told her she needed to take it easy for a while. She’d done so for a few days and it hadn’t got better, so she’d decided to get away completely. It made perfect sense, though he couldn’t help but remain somewhat worried. It was still quite possible that his mother had gone mad and just had moments of clarity now. Still, Sekhmet’s words were encouraging.
“I’m glad to hear that,” the tall stallion went on, “but I’d appreciate it if you kept your seeing her to yourself. When she returns I imagine she will want to be free to explain her absence in her own way, so it would be best if nobody had been told anything she needed to work into it.” This outsider didn’t seem half so bad anymore; he had reason to be grateful to her now, and much as he didn’t usually like feeling he owed people he felt able to put up with it in this case. Besides, he could easily repay the debt by putting in a good word for her when she asked to join the herd. Everything would work out equal in the end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:11 am
The striped mare smiled and nodded, extremely glad that Dahak didn’t seem to be holding the tasteless dig against her. “Sure, no problem; lips are sealed,” she assured him. “So, anyway...” Sekhmet grinned over at her companion and stepped up to the edge of the plateau again. “I’m glad you brought be up here. I feel like I can see the whole world, almost all the way back to my old herdlands... If I joined this herd, would I still be able to go and see my family?” If not, then she’d come a long way on with this plan for nothing. Being parted from her parents and siblings forever was unacceptable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:22 am
Dahak turned his attention back to the view and twitched a smile. “Yes, you can see rather a long way can’t you? You can see further still just after a rainstorm when the air is very clear... If you did join - which I recommend you do; this is the greatest herd in all of Urin - I see no reason why you wouldn’t be able to come and go more or less as you pleased. So long as you remain an ordinary herd member with few real duties to attend to of course; people like me can’t just saunter off on holiday ever time we feel like it. You might even be able to get yourself some useful duties to attend to out in the world, things it would be difficult for a born Katilenuck to do. Our reputation proceeds us wherever we go, and depressingly enough most revile us for our ways of life. They cannot see that we are the only ones living the right way, the ones chosen by Jala herself to be the greatest...”
Trailing off, Dahak looked back over at Sekhmet with a faint smile. “I cannot imagine the Jala who wouldn’t join us if offered the chance. You would be throwing away the chance of a lifetime if you left, you would be refusing what should be the birthright of all good-minded Jala. Besides, as I said, I couldn’t in good conscience allow someone with such excellent blood to walk away. We are a mighty herd, but even the mightiest can be brought down by poor breeding. We are always in need of new members.” It would be interesting to have her around; he did need someone other than his family to keep him sharp. Fawning ‘friends’ were all very well but they encouraged him to become lax, lazy, dull-witted. Somebody who was willing to snip at him, to insult him without a care for the consequences would stop him falling into that trap.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:28 am
Sekhmet snorted at him and shook her head slightly. “Well then, I shall have to join up! Wouldn’t want to go turning my back on my destiny now would I?” Provided it included the freedom he had assured her it did, it was just fine by her. The slavery issue was still a bit of a down-point, but as she’d thought before, if she came to live here she could make a few slaves’ lives a little bit more bearable. Taking a stand for ‘what was right’ was all very well but it wouldn’t do anyone any good in the end. Far better to go along with the culture and just be kind to those poor unfortunates who became the property of the herd.
“I’ll have to keep you around,” the dark-coated Jala added with a smirk, “goodness knows I’d hate to accidentally miss out on any more destiny that comes my way; you’re so good at pointing it out to me.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:34 am
Dahak snorted and rolled his eyes; he could definitely see Sekhmet bringing her share of annoyances his way at the same time as keeping him sharp. Oh well, he could put up with that. “Sweet Jala forbid,” he murmured tonelessly, “that you should miss your destiny. Fear not; when I see the perfect chance for you to meet your destiny in a crumpled heap at the bottom of a cliff, I shall give you a good shove in the right direction.”
She laughed at that, and he smirked along with her. Well, he’d say one thing for her, the girl knew how to take a joke.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
