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 Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:33 pm
It was warm... unseasonably warm. Hayagriva squinted through the budding tree branches above him into the clear blue sky. It was only spring, so why did it already feel like summer? He could feel sweat sticking his fur to his back. He hadn't expected to have to endure that sensation again for some time.
"Nothing to be done about it," he grumbled to himself as he carefully worked his way down the steep mountain path. He had a specific destination in mind- his mother's favorite lake. She had met her lifemate there, or something like that. Whatever the significance, Haya just wanted to cool off.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:40 pm
Malchediel grumbled in irritation to himself as he plodded down the rocky forest path. He had already traveled so far that day and now he just had to walk more. Why couldn't the half-kalona be somewhere easier to get to? He had visited the herd of his relatives because he had heard of the half-kalona that lived there. Supposedly he was a huge golden monster with the strength to take down a full-blooded kalona. Mal had also heard that he was teaching the members of Padmapani herd how to fight.
A combination of intrigue for kalonas and their descendants and desire to toughen himself up had brought Mal from his home herd of Miakoda to find him.
If only he was a little easier to find...
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:25 pm
Haya sank in the cool water. He had waded out to where the water reached his belly and sinking lower made it rise even higher. The water still had the n** of winter's chill to it but in this weather that made it all the more refreshing. He shut his eyes in bliss. He could see why his mother liked this spot so much. It was so calm and peaceful. Maybe he'd spend the night out here. Maybe he'd even-
He was woken from his reverie by the sound of someone loudly descending the slope nearby him. It wasn't hard to spot the intruder. It was another stallion, a unicorn with a mane whose length almost rivaled Haya's own. Haya stood up more in the water and squinted at the stranger.
While he didn't recognize the stallion himself, the markings on his coat looked awfully familiar. Waterlily leaves, one of the markings that ran rampant through his mother's colorful family. That he didn't know all of his distant relatives wasn't a surprise to him. The surprise was that one of his distant relatives had somehow just happened to come to the same cool off spot as he had that day. Sighing a little, Haya began to wade back to the shallows. He supposed he'd have to greet the young stallion and see what he wanted. It wasn't that he minded meeting a new face so much as he was rather reluctant to leave the cool grasp of the waters just yet.
"Hello there!" he called to the new arrival.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:32 pm
There he was! Even while half-submerged in water, Malchediel could tell that the half-kalona was large and well-muscled. Instantly his frustration evaporated. Instead, he felt a stab of envy. From his father he had received the unicorn horn that gave him healing powers that he rarely used... but this soquili had gotten something much stronger.
Maybe he could at least pick up some of that kalona strength of spirit.
"Hello!" He called back in return as he reached the edge of the water. "Sir." he added in sudden afterthought.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:37 pm
... Did the young stallion just call him sir? Haya blinked a little in surprise. "Sir" seemed like something you called the old coots of the herd, and he wasn't that old. He snorted at the idea. He certainly wasn't that old.
"You look like you belong in my mother's family, but I admit that I have no idea who you are," he said to the stranger. "I'm Hayagriva, the son of Avalokiteshvara." Haya would bet that his mother was the only one who truly knew every member of her family. No one else would be able to keep up with all the members.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:45 pm
He already knew who the half-kalona was, of course. "I'm Malchediel," he replied. He quickly mentally reviewed his family tree as he understood it. "Vara is my grandmother. I'm the son of... uh... Sengdroma." He hesitated for a moment between his mother's nickname, Moon, and her given name. If Hayagriva didn't know who Mal was then he knew he probably wouldn't know his mom's nickname.
"Hey, I know we could do a lot of chit chat and catch up and everything... but that's not why I came here." He had practiced this speech in his mind and hoped it came out like he intended it to, confident and tough. "I came here to ask you something. I want you to teach me." He raised his head high and watched the half-kalona with his best impression of a steely gaze. Knowing that unicorns didn't usually cut impressive sights, he did all that he could to try to toughen his image.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:51 pm
Sengdroma. That explained why Haya didn't recognize the stallion. He had only briefly met Sengdroma before. Even though she might be his half-sister, he didn't feel any special kinship to her or to his other half-siblings. Had she been the one with the lily pads? She had to be. If she was, her son looked a lot like her.
"Teach you what?" he asked while trying to bring an image of Malchediel's mother into his mind.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:54 pm
Teach me what?! What did Haya expect him to ask for training in? Wallowing in lakes? Mal resisted the urge to bristle with impatience. "I want to be taught to fight." He tilted his head and looked haughtily at Haya with one eye. "I know you teach the other soquili in your herd. I want you to teach me too."
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:08 pm
This time Haya snorted it was louder and for an entirely different reason from his sheepishness of before. This brash kid needed a lesson in manners more than he needed fighting. Haya was already a little irritated at his manner and he certainly wasn't going to spend the time training him if he was going to annoy him the entire time.
"Why do you want to learn how to fight?" he asked shrewdly. He didn't like the idea of teaching the kid to harass other soquili more effectively.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:13 pm
Mal felt like he had gotten off on the wrong foot with the half-kalona.... or maybe it was just that he was naturally twitchy from having kalona blood. That was probably it. Mal could see the edges of sharp teeth when Haya talked. He wondered what those teeth felt like to be bitten with. He didn't want to find out.
Returning Haya a look that was just as shrewd, he replied slowly. "I want to learn how to fight because it's part of who I am... just like it's part of who you are." There. That ought to earn him some points.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:16 pm
"Part of who I am?" Haya could only laugh and shake his head at that proclamation. This kid... Glissando was cheeky but this kid was a level even above that. From another soquili he might have taken offense at the notion that just because he was a half-kalona he was violent... but he couldn't even take the statement seriously enough for that this time.
"Listen," he said with more seriousness but still bemused crinkling at the edges of his eyes. "Do your parents even
know that you're here?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:19 pm
"No, why?" asked Malchediel, annoyed and disgruntled. He hadn't asked his parents' permission for something for a long time now. He hadn't even liked asking permission as a foal. He was a grown stallion now. He liked to think that made it so that he could do whatever he liked.
Nothing about this encounter was going as planned or as anticipated.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:32 pm
"I'm not going to teach you if you don't get their permission," said Haya. A moment later he reconsidered. "Actually, I'm going to want to speak to them myself." Somehow, he wouldn't put it past Malchediel to stretch the truth a little.
He could already see the rebellion welling up in Mal's eyes. Haya decided to n** it in the bud. "Listen, kid." Mal looked like me might want to say something but he was resisting. Good. "If you were in the herd then I'd say that you can decide for yourself, but you're not in Padmapani. You're part of your parents' herd Miakoda, right? It'd be irresponsible of both me and you to let this go any further without getting the permission of the leaders of your herd... meaning your parents." Maybe the last thing the parents wanted would be for this kid to get any bite to match his bark. Haya wasn't about to create a problem in another herd just to stop a little pestering.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:40 pm
"That sounds awfully final," Mal grumbled sullenly. He could see Haya's point... he just hated the idea of having to explain all this to his parents. He also hated that he had come all this way only to be turned down. Haya was supposed to be a half-kalona! That meant he was supposed to be tough and not care about the rules, right?
"Why would you be afraid of my parents?" he asked. "You're a big mean half-kalona. They probably wouldn't bother you."
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:44 pm
"You don't know what you're talking about." Haya watched Malchediel levelly and no longer with humor. "First thing: I'm not afraid of your parents. I don't want to offend them because I'm respecting them, not because I'm afraid of them. Second thing." His tail idly twined and curled behind him.
"I am big but I'm not mean. It makes me a little worried that you'd talk to me if you think that I'm a mean half-kalona, though. Have you ever met a kalona before?"
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