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 Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:07 pm
 Embri snuck away from Lachtna, leaving the half-grown colt behind in their informal sleeping spot, under a grand old oak tree who's roots formed a comfortable nest. Lazyhead is likely to sleep all morning if I let him... The little filly giggled to herself, snatching breakfast along the way as she trotted towards the bluff that looked out across the ocean. A stiff breeze tanged with the taste of salt filled her nostrils, refreshing after the musty damp scent of the forest. As she did each morning since they had arrived here, Embri trotted up the hill bracing herself against the wind, toes digging into the sandy soil as she made her ascent. Flexing her pinions, she spreads her wings and pumps vigorously, practicing the movements that should carry her airborne. Much to her embarrassment, the filly was still unable to fly properly; her best attempts were usually in the morning, while the prevailing wind gave her a boost. She takes a running jump at the bluff's edge, wings spread wide as the rising sun sparkled off the rolling whitecaps lapping against the sandy shore.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:20 pm
Helki had woken up to a clear morning with the sun already shinning brightly. She yawned and stretched out her front legs and opened up her wings. Folding the feathered wings back she trotted off towards a small spring of fresh water and took a deep drink and nibbled some grass. Today was a good day to fly to the main land. When it came to having wings and being able to fly using them she felt no need to swim the channel like the other kirin.
Helki spread out her wings again once she reached a more spacious area and snorted. She started with a trotted and then speed up quickly as she galloped quickly over the dirt and sandy ground. Her wings flapped quickly and when she ran out of ground she took off using strong muscles in her legs to push off. Helki pumped her wings as she soared into the sky looking for a decent thermal to allow her to glide more easily. Glancing down she realized she had ascended high quickly today and smiled. Then took noticed of another winged kirin over near the bluff. She tilted on her wings and glided in the direction.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:29 pm
The cream coated filly stretched her legs out in front of her, fluffy feathered wings flapping rapidly. Not doing to badly today, maybe I should try some turns... As she neared the end of her glide, she tucked one wing in to turn... and promptly forgot to flap the other, stalling out and tumbling into the wet sand with a flop.
A curious fiddler crab scuttles by, experimentally tapping the soft nose on the sand. A whuff of warm air sends the crustacean off in the opposite direction.
Darn it... I almost had it that time. Dejected, the filly shakes sand out of her mane and feathers, trudging back towards the bluff to climb it and try again. Feeling somewhat sorry for herself and irritated, the foal stares off towards the horizon.
Why can't I do this properly? I know I should be able to fly. I've got wings, right? No sense in having wings if you can't use them. BIrds don't seem to have any problems.... She snorts and frowns, staring at what she thought was a bird, but now seems far too large for a gull or spoonbill wader.
I wonder what that is...
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:40 pm
Helki had the unfortunately pleasure of watching the kirin filly take a nose dive into the sandy beach below. "Ohhhh that's gotta be disappointing," she murmured to herself as she climbed the thermals higher into the sky. All the while watching the filly climb back to the bluff and stand there. Helki then folded in both sets of wings and dove back down rapidly towards the bluff and at the last moment opening them up and climbing back up a bit. She twirled in the air and landed upon the bluff a ways behind the filly.
Feeling confident that her hooves where firmly on the ground Helki folded in her wings and turned about to looked at the filly. She could see that the little foal was cream cooled with fiery accents and an odd horn. "Hello young one," Helki called to her. It was rare she got to see another winged kirin and one so young at that.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:50 pm
Embri stared wide eyed as another Kirin soared out of the sky, with style no less. She was mostly white marked with blue socks and gold patterns, and completely unlike any other creature the filly had ever seen. For starters, she had not only one set of wings, but two! Taking a few steps back to give the stranger more room to land, Embri ducked her head shyly as the adult Kirin addressed her.
"I-I'm Emb-REEEE!" Forelegs pedaling comically in the air, the filly tumbles off the bluff edge she'd forgotten to pay attention to and into the sandbar below.
Oh, wonderful.. that'll make a good first impression, Embri you dolt ... With a sigh, she pulls her wings out of the sand and shakes from nose to tail.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:12 pm
Helki had smiled at Embri but her expression quickly changed to sudden surprise at Embri going over the edge of the bluff. She hurried over to look over at Embri. "Are you alright?" she inquired of the foal. She watched as Embri recovered from the fall.
With a light grace of wing Helki jumped down by Embri in a gliding motion. She was pleased that Embri appeared for the most part unscathed. Helki recalled her early years as a young foal and learning to fly. She too hand many falls and even failures to get off the ground. It was very discouraging at times. "Do not fret," Helki said in a soothing voice. "You where made to have wings and with the right help and some encouragement you'll get off the ground just fine."
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:19 pm
With a soft sigh, the filly gathers her legs back up and ducks her head with embarrassment. Bad enough to take a stupid fall, worse to have an audience!
"Mhrweee... I'm fine, thank you for asking... that's why I practice here, it hurts less when I crash." Absently she straightens a few feathers, picking her way down from the sand dune towards the winged stranger, full of questions.
"Who are you? Where did you come from? How do you manage with four wings? Did you have a hard time flying when you were little too?" As abruptly as the stream of questions had begun, it ended as Embri's sense of manners asserted itself. "Sorry... I've just never met another winged Kirin before. I thought I was the only one... Lachtna... he's my friend, he doesn't have any wings." Oh, brilliant deduction - you already said you'd never met another winged Kirin, of course Lazybones doesn't have wings...
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:06 pm
Helki nodded at Embri's statement about her choice of practice. "That's a good idea," she murred softly at the little filly. She watched Embri pick her way over where she stood.
Helki was though taken aback by a wave of questions the spilled from the foal's mouth and she blinked at her for a moment. The foal had quickly apologized to her for it and it seemed as if Embri was mentally chiding herself for something she said or did. Helki wasn't sure what. Curiousity and questions where natural parts of being a foal.
But Helki merely smiled softly at Embri and decided that answering these questions would be best. "Ah....full of spunk it seems. But don't apologize. Questions are good to vocalize. My name is Helki and I'm from the little islands over there. And it wasn't easy to manage with four wings....if I recall right I've not met another with as many. So it was tricky for my mother to teach me how to use two pairs. Which meant a lot of crashing and failed attempts at getting off the ground."
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:21 pm
The little filly nodded, rolling the mare's name across her tongue. "Helki... that's a pretty name. I don't know who my dam is, she was not there when I hatched. You flew all the way from the islands?" Embri's eyes were wide as Helki described her point of origin. She knew the islands well, many a morning they could be seen far in the distance before the sun rose completely and blotted them out. More than once she had wondered if anyone or anything lived on the sandy shores and forests opposite of her own.
Embri winced, pulling a broken feather out with her teeth. "I can sympathize with the crashing part... seems most days I do more of that than flying." she admitted, shaking the last of the sand out of her mane. "Does anyone else live on the islands? I mean.. are there more winged Kirin somewhere?" Embri looked up at the mare eagerly, more than anything she wanted to meet others that were like herself. Not that Lachtna isn't a wonderful companion... but he can't teach me what I need to know.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:43 pm
Helki looked out towards the islands and smiled. "Yeah...I live there. It's a very pretty place and so peaceful. Not many can get there. Not many have wings so they would have to swim. Once you have flying down...getting there isn't so hard..." Helki watched the waves of the ocean gently lap at the beach. The salty breeze lifted her mane and played with it.
"Crashing is part of learning to fly...you'll loose plenty of feathers in the process...I sure did...." Helki smiled down at Embri as the foal shook sand from her mane. "I'm not sure...I usually keep to myself. I'm sure there are more winged kirin. Somewhere....maybe we'll meet another one someday." Helki had looked away from Embri now and gazed toward the islands with a more somber look upon her serene features. It would be nice to meet another winged kirin other than Embri and herself. A stallion with wings would be nice too.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:36 pm
The little filly tilted her head, watching Helki get a far off look in her eyes. Embri turned her head to look out across the white capped breakers that rolled lazily in to the beach, towards the distant islands.
Hard to believe anyone could fly that far.... maybe having four wings makes it easier.
The little filly exudes a sigh. "I'd very much like to get flying down. Falling flat on my rear, or worse, my nose, isn't all that enjoyable. The birds make it look so easy... they flit about with hardly a care in the world. Aren't you lonely if you keep to yourself?" Embri tilted her head to the side, hoping she wasn't asking too personal a question. She noted that Helki hadn't said she had ever met more winged Kirin either, other than her dam.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:47 pm
Helki was caught in a far off memory as she stared out towards the islands. A memory that her dam was in back when Helki was but a young mare. She had finally got flying down and her mother left the island for something. Helki could not remember what it was that took her mother from the island, but news spread a couple days later that a predator took down a winged mare. For days Helki had watched the main land in hopes that mare wasn't her mother. But as days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years Helki deemed her mother gone forever and for the most part...rarely left the island keeping to herself.
She nearly missed the question Embri posed to her but suddenly she snapped out of it and gazed down at the little filly as if seeing her for the first time. "Ohh...I'm sorry, I must have spaced out there for a moment." She looked rather abashed at herself. "Uh...I guess I get a little lonely...but now I don't think I will be anymore.." Helki smiled at Embri. "What about you? You said you had a friend...are they a foal too? Do you not have a herd or an adult that looks after you?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:43 pm
Embri pranced on the hot sand as she considered Helki's question, warming as the sun rose higher into the sky.
"It's just me and Lachtna... he's bigger and older than I am, but not by that much. We haven't met any others so far, not close up. Kirin don't seem to come here very often, or at least not that we've seen. No herd. I met Lachtna when I hatched... well, shortly thereafter. We got chased by one of those big tree felines, and fell in a river, nearly drowned... " She decides it probably wouldn't be a good idea to mention the flaming Kirin they had met. "And after a long journey, we ended up here, and decided to stay. There's lots of good things to eat here." A frown crosses Embri's face.
"I'd better go back soon, Lachtna is going to be looking for me. Maybe you could come back tomorrow, too?" The little filly looked at Helki hopefully. "You could meet Lachtna, I think he might like you. Sometimes he seems... lonely. He used to be part of a herd."
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:01 am
Helki listened quietly to Embri's tale about how she met Lachtna and the adventure they went on though Helki felt some more interesting parts where left out. Though for the best she wasn't sure. Helki was sheltered for most of her life upon that island before and after the disappearance and possible death of her mother.
"Sounds like quiet the adventure," Helki had murmured quietly. She'd never been on a adventure. It was only recently she started to come to the main land. Having mostly stayed on her island home and only flying high above the sea to stretch her wings out.
But now she seemed startled by this meeting with Embri sounding as if it was coming to end. She was now regretting going back to the island for she would be alone once again and still fearing the main land too much to stay. Even in the day light she was nervous. "So soon?" she crooned practically too silent for Embri's ears to hear. So Lachtna seemed lonely too. Helki didn't blame him. To be with others like her or even just grounded kirin would be nice.
"Umm...alright," she said softly. "I could come back tomorrow....same time?" she inquired.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:09 pm
"I'd like that." Embri smiled, tilting her head slightly. "I'm always out and about during the mornings, while Lachtna's sleeping. Sometimes I think he tries to stay up the whole night through." She shakes her head.
"I have to get back before he wakes up, otherwise he'll be worried about me. Bye Helki!" The little filly turned tail and galloped up the beach towards the cool, shady forest, fairly prancing over the sparkling sand. It was good to know she wasn't the only flyer amongst the Kirindae, why Helki looked even more different than she did. Not that there was anything wrong with different; she hoped to be as graceful and lovely as her new acquaintance someday soon.
Little did she realize events were about to transpire the next day that would drive all thoughts of Helki from her forgetful young mind....Continued In: Beachcombers Anonymous
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