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 Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:43 pm
What have I gotten myself into? It was morning and Alaina awoke with that dismayed thought. In retrospect, she wasn't entirely certain what had possessed her to offer to show the kalona stallion around. Had it been fear of the kalona? Mistrust? Hatred? She certainly didn't want to see the foreign kalona go rampaging around, but in reality she doubted her ability to stop him if he decided to do so.
She huffed a sigh out through her nostrils and started to forage about for her breakfast. Browsing too much on the road would slow her down. She liked to eat up before she started on a day's journey.
But what will Illidan be eating for his breakfast? She didn't like to think about it and didn't follow that thought. She hadn't seen him yet for the morning. Hopefully it would be some time before he showed up. She wanted some time to think about what she had done... and what she was going to do.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:15 pm
Illidan shook himself with a snort as he woke, then looked about, wondering what he should eat before joining the mare for a tour of this new land. It was far too early to bother scaring up some game, so he settled for some fruit and grass nearby. As he ate, he considered the mare.
She seemed nice and helpful enough, also she knew the land and was willing to show it to him. Illidan had a feeling she was more or less keeping tabs on him, though. If she was, then Alaina would soon see that he wasn't interested in destruction or rampages. He merely wanted to find a home to settle in.
After awhile, he felt full and decided to locate the mare. Feeling too early morning lazy to fly out to find her, he headed in the direction of the last place he'd seen her on foot.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:59 pm
Alaina had found a nice place to graze and quickly became lost in thought as she did. She found herself in a rare moment of wishing she was a little closer to home. She wondered what her father would have to say about this. He didn't much like kalonas, that she was certain of. He'd told her to avoid them if possible in her travels and, if confronted, to fight only as much as she needed to in order to escape.
... So what was she doing now? She was traveling with a kalona for the purpose of fighting him away from any soquili prey he might attempt to attack. Definitely not what her father told her to do.
She raised her head from the grass and set her ears back in irritation. No, she wasn't obeying her father's wishes... but she didn't have to. She felt a responsibility to see that this kalona didn't cause any harm and she was going to see that through. She-
A sound drew her attention away from her pondering. Belatedly she whirled around to see Illidan behind her. She was on the alert for foul play but the stallion's relaxed demeanor made her immediately chagrined at her response. It didn't look like he had come to rip her throat out... yet, at least.
"Good morning," she said with more poise than her jumpy actions merited.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:26 pm
"Greetings," Illidan yawned, coming to a stop before her. He was usually more alert in the morning than this, but it had been a somewhat restless night, the old memories not letting him sleep.
He shook himself a bit again, wings flapping, then looked at the mare through his blindfold. "Where are we going first?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 5:20 pm
"Well, we're going..." Alaina trailed off. The way the kalona managed to fix his gaze on her even through the blindfold disquieted her. Could it be that he could see perfectly fine and was looking through the blindfold at her? Or was it that he had some other way of sensing the world around him?
"Well," she said slowly once she had gathered her wits again. "I don't really know what a kalona like you would find most pertinent. Obviously you don't need to know the best grazing grounds." She wondered if he would deny that he ate meat and ask for her to show him them anyways. It'd be a good place to find other soquili to prey upon, after all.
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:34 pm
"Grazing areas are good to know, actually, for times when game is scarce. I prefer grass and fruits," Illidan explained, walking toward the mare. "I was raised on that. I only eat meat to survive if edible plants are not readily available."
He shrugged a bit, looking at her through the blindfold. "Mostly I'm interested in areas that would make a good home. I'm ready to finally settle down. Preferably not around other kalonas."
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:14 pm
Alaina couldn't keep the surprise from her expression at the stallion's statements. He didn't eat meat that often? He ate plants like a regular soquili? She had never heard of a kalona that ate grass, but then again, most of the stories she heard about kalona were no better than tales to frighten foals. She had never talked to one in person and had never made a point to ask the others she had met about their experiences with them.
"Places that would make a good home..." she murmured as she thought about the local area. "What sort of terrain or environment do you like?" As he drew closer to her she unconsciously stiffened. Even if he said he ate grass, her instincts still told her he was a predator.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:32 pm
"I'm not very particular," Illidan said, shrugging and pretending not to notice the mare's apprehension. "A forest thicket would be nice, but anywhere private and away from other kalonas will do."
He snorted a bit, shaking his head, still waking up. Daylight hours were still rather unfamiliar to him, especially those existing before dusk. "Well, let's head out."
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:30 pm
Alaina nodded to the kalona's directive but was still in thought. "Let me think for a moment," she said while wracking her brain for where might be a good place for a kalona to settle.
In the midst of those thoughts it occurred to her that it was a good thing that she was here to show him somewhere he could live. She could deliberately find him somewhere far away from any other soquili, somewhere he couldn't bother anyone. It wasn't hard to come up with a couple ideas. There were more areas left unsettled by human or soquili than otherwise.
"All right," she said once she had come to a decision. "I know where we're going." Then she set off, walking towards the slope of distant mountain ranges.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:36 pm
Illidan followed, trusting the mare to show him somewhere fitting. "If it's not to my liking, you'll show me other places, won't you?" It was an almost innocent question, but he knew most Soqs would try to trick him, sticking him with a cave in the middle of a desert or rocky gorge than show him to their lush forests. He trusted this mare not to do that. She seemed honorable to him, but he still had to ask.
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:42 pm
"Of course I will." The words came out overly fast and somewhat gruff. Alaina didn't always have the ability to converse fluently with a stranger in an ordinary situation. Apparently, she reflected, she had an even harder time being friendly to a kalona. Not entirely surprising... but she didn't want to inspire him to irateness.
"There are a lot of places that I think would be suitable." These words were softer than the first, but not by much. "So..." she took a slow breath and steadied herself. "So I don't think it will be a problem eventually finding somewhere that you like."
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 9:43 am
"I trust you to show me the way then," Illidan told her, plodding alongside her. He didn't mind her curtness and found it somewhat refreshing to the others he'd spoken with that were eager or very friendly. The conversations he might have with this mare would be worth looking forward to if she was one to speak her mind as he felt she might be.
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 10:59 am
Alaina walked beside him. She was grateful that the kalona seemed able to keep his silence as well as she was. The brief stints of time she had traveled with more chatty soquili had grated at her nerves very quickly. She didn't much see the purpose in idle chatter without direction.
She thought as she walked, thinking of this kalona seeking new lands. A question occurred to her and upon consideration she gave voice to it. "Illidan, why did you leave your lands?" she wondered if he had been driven out, or if he was simply seeking new sights.
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 7:19 pm
It was a question the stallion was becoming used to. He plodded alongside the mare silently awhile before finally answering, "I was driven out of the lands I was born in by my herd. They felt I betrayed them, even though my change was to save them. After that I lived in an unforgiving and barren valley, but I was driven from there as well by a rival kalona that wanted my territory. A long journey brought me here, to what you call the Kawani lands. I'm hoping I will not be driven from here as well. It reminds me of a home I almost can't remember now."
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Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 10:40 am
That wasn't the answer she had expected. She didn't entirely understand what he had done to be driven out from his original homeland but it seemed that he felt it was unwarranted. It was a surprise and a pity that he had had such unfortunate luck in his next attempt to settle down too.
It was a pity? Do kalonas really deserve any sort of pity? She realized that she was getting dangerously close to feeling sympathetic for her kalona companion. Deliberately she tried to harden herself back into uncaring. It wouldn't be a good survival tactic to start thinking too kindly of someone that could tear her to pieces.
"Well..." She mentally scrambled to think of something to fill the silence left by his statements. "Well I'll find you somewhere that won't be a problem for you to stay." She considered for a moment then added pragmatically, "You can't possibly be driven away from everywhere you go."
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