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 Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:00 pm
 Quyen took a deep breath after leaving Diya with Tahmid and Tien-Thu. Their small family had been accepted, but first off, Quyen needed to find something to do in the herd. She'd heard the Queen of Queens, Scheherazade, needed a bodyguard...or so her mate, King of Kings Shah Ryar, said.
From what she'd heard, it was a good, steady job. Scheherazade did not yet have adult sons, leaving her care in the hooves of responsible mares. From the sound of it, Shah Ryar did not want this job to stay in female hooves. Too bad for him, since it sounded like Quyen was the first offer, she was an offer he couldn't afford to refuse, and there was no way Quyen was giving up a good job that reflected well on her little family just because the princes were of age to protect their mother.
Ruffling her wings, she walked firmly toward where the Queen of Queens was said to be on this fine day. No questions seemed to be leveled at the calm, proud Lyra mare as her black hooves picked their way across the lush oasis. A soft breeze rippled her black forelock and tail, playing with the ends of her red-and-white striped scarf. Her camouflaged hat, however, sat unearthly still in the soft, warm afternoon breeze, almost as if it was a reflection of Quyen's determination to help the Queen of Queens and to be her permanent female Royal Escort.
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:38 am
 The Queen of the new desert herd was basking under the shade of a large tree, her black silks billowing around her legs and neck in the wind. One could argue it would be better to remove the clothing in this warm weather, seeing as she was finding it much more comfortable in the shade than in the direct sunlight. But nobody looked upon the face or body of Scheherazade, fabled escort of Shah Ryar for years. No one save the King himself and even then seldom. With no solid walls around the area considered their personal living space, it was too risky for her to remove them.
Underneath them there was nothing worth seeing. For all her greatness and legendary story-telling, Scheherazade was just a regular bay mare under her beautiful silks. Her legs were pure black, with no spotting of any other color on them. There was no snip on her nose she was hiding from the world. No appaloosa spots on her rump. What her herd saw in her young sons was what they would see in their Queen if she walked amongst them naked.
But it added to her mystery. And she liked that. She had herd tell, and seen, those brightly colored Stars for herself a few times. Compared to them, without her silks, she would go unnoticed in a crowd.
No matter. The whole thing was not a bother to her at all. She loved her coat. It was simple and no different from a regular horse who had lived upon this world for centuries and centuries. She, or her children, could easily mingle in their masses if they so wished. There were advantages to being plain. And those came in the form of spying.
The Queen turned her towards the sound of hoof beats coming closer. Calm brown eyes watched the other mare. Scheherazade was not worried about where her mate could be, or her sons. Since this one wasn't a male, she posed no immediate threat to the King's paranoid mind. So whatever this one wanted, he shouldn't be interfering.
"Do you require something, child?" Though no smile touched her voice or eyes, the tone wasn't unwelcoming. It was friendly, portraying an aura of letting the other know there was no need to fear or feel intimidated when approaching the Queen alone. Arrogance was not one of Scheherazade's traits, but she was nonetheless fully aware of the reputation she had given herself from her work charming Shah Ryar.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:38 pm
Quyen was startled. The queen was at least as beautiful as legend portrayed her to be, with her dark, liquid eyes, her midnight silk mane and tail, and her beautiful green-silver-and-black silk robes. A little awed, Quyen tossed her head wildly, dislodging her cap and catching it as she sank into a bow of sorts before the legendary queen.
"My lady, my family and I are newly-come into this herd," she said, trying to remember the formality her mother had tried to teach her as a filly. "Having heard much about you, I am come to offer you my services as your Royal Escort. It's presumptuous of me to ask so soon, but may I serve your ladyship thus?" Her heart pounded a little. So much about this herd was so forbidding, Quyen had to be on her best behavior, and given her daring offer, she was aware that things might not necessarily go her way.
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Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 7:04 pm
A smile touched the heart of the Queen at the bow. Over her lifetime, though being the daughter of a Vizier, she hadn't had many people actually bow to her. When living in the balance, she was regarded as the little foal always under the hooves of the adults. When she wasn't huddled in a corner with a blanket and a scroll or book of some sort, learning up on her history. Scheherazade had always had a fondness for knowledge, from listening to her elders to scurrying about like a mouse in the public libraries.
When the threat of the Sultan became too great and she was whisked away by her father to travel around, she wasn't treated as anyone who had ever lived in a palace. So there was definitely no bowing there. To see it being done to her, now. Really made her realize the impact her legend had really had on the Stars outside her home. She knew it would be known. A humble nature kept her from allowing herself to see the obvious facts that it would be very well known. It wasn't something that happened often, after all.
"I thank you for the compliment to my Legend," Scheherazade replied with dignity, perfectly masking the surprise in her voice. It always made her feel shocked when a Star came to the herd because of her and not her husband. She had never spoken directly about it to Shah Ryar, but she was sure he was proud, in his own way.
Standing up, the bay mare tilted her head in greeting at the newcomer. Which was to say she lowered her head near a bow, but not quite. "Welcome to our oasis. I hope your family is settling in fine." It was always good to start with the pleasantries. "And I thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid you'll have to go through my husband about such a position."
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:48 am
...Of course. Of course the leader of this herd would make her go through him for this position. And if he was anything like her father could be, Scheherazade's lifemate would not let Quyen keep this job permanently. Well, that meant that she'd just have to prove herself and make it clear that, as her disliked father had said, the Void would burn like the sun before she let the famed Shah Ryar removed her from her duties.
Standing more tall and straight, mustering the grace her mother had taught her, and the fierce warrior's pride grudgingly gotten from her father, she said, "I thank you, my Queen, but before I go to your lifemate about this, I would have your consent as well. I will not be forced on either of you, and if I was, it would hinder me in the pursuit of my duties. Since your mate requires that I ask him, where may I find him, so that I may offer him my services?" Quyen worked hard to maintain both respect and pride in her response to the Queen's kind words.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:16 pm
The Queen's eyes crinkled at the kind smile that touched her lips underneath the robe. Scheherazade was not, given her intelligence level, oblivious to the fact what she said wouldn't sit well with the other mare. Regardless, it was something that had to be said. She had known what she was getting into when she allowed herself to be married to Shah Ryar. Barely let herself believe, if she succeeded, that she would stop his paranoia. Something that grew for years wasn't so easy to destroy. Perhaps one day it would go away. But for now, everyone would have to go mainly through him, even when the case didn't directly involve him.
Most would find such traits in a Star too much to handle. The bay mare agreed silently with them it would make a lot of things easier on her. It wasn't like she was completely defenseless. No, she didn't have the strength to vend off attacks. She did, however, have the cunning to get out of most situations. Her vanity about her abilities wasn't so great to think she could get out of all situations by just outsmarting her opponents.
"He shouldn't be far," the Queen answered first, straining her ears for any sounds familiar to her that told of his presence. Either he wasn't as close as she would have expected or he was keeping very silent. She guessed the first. The boys needed their training. The herd needed leading. There wasn't much time for him to keep quiet.
To the rest of what Quyen said, Scheherazade let out a gentle breath, making the robe over her mouth flutter just a bit. Just enough for it to barely be noticeable in the breeze that still swirled her body robes around her stomach and legs.
She decided to answer truthfully.
"My father taught me patience. If you have the skills required for the job, you will not be a hindrance to me. But I would need to test them first with time. So if he does not mind, you can have the job on a temp basis for now."
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:39 pm
Quyen flicked her hears around as subtly as she could to see if she could hear the herd leader without being openly disrespectful to her queen and prospective charge. To be honest, Quyen had a lot of reasons for wanting this job. Quyen had a family to lead and to raise, and she wanted to have a job in the herd that reflected well on her family and helped her care for her family. She wanted a job that would allow her to make the best usage of her own abilities, and, like it or not, Quyen's father had taught her well how to be a warrior. Quyen also wanted to, in some way, defy some of the frustration that had come about from her own home life, with a father who seemed so aggravating beyond belief, a wonderful mother who adored the worthless father to distraction and a fault, and two siblings who tended to not get involved in the family politics, while Quyen raged against those problems; helping improve someone else's quality of life would help with that. Then, there was, of course, a personal fascination with Scheherazade, though not for the common stories of love and storytelling that the queen possessed.
No. Quyen admired Scheherazade for her strength and courage, and wanted to be able to stand up for and with such a brave and kind Star. Shah Ryar's insistence that Scheherazade one day be guarded by his sons rankled in Quyen's heart and mind, so much so that Quyen was completely determined to get the job and do it so well that she'd impress Shah Ryar into letting her keep it. Maybe. That was the plan, anyway, insofar as it could be called such.
"My Lady Queen, I believe I have the skills, but I believe skills are not enough in such a task. I believe that having the will and the heart to do so are also critical to being a good guardian. I hope, however, that I may serve you in this capacity for as long as I live, and toward that end, I will seek out your mate for the position and when I have gotten it, I will do everything in my power to fulfill it," she added, wording her response as formally as she could.
The formality did take a bit out of her, and she had to add a little softly, "I'm afraid I have not been in the herd long, and your mate is known to not be the friendliest to mares. Could you direct me to him, or escort me to him so that I might request the post from him?" she asked, still unsure of where to find the imposing herd leader.
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