Sudhir was quite pleased with himself, and if there had been any other kirinoids around, he would have made sure they knew. Of course, if there were any around, this spot wouldn't be nearly so nice as it was, and so he wouldn't be quite so pleased with himself either. After quite a bit of searching, the young stallion had finally found a place he thought he could make his own. It was a small area, with a meadow big enough for him to graze happily in, a lovely little stream that babbled merrily at him when he went to drink, and a large bed of the most wonderfully fragrant plant he'd ever had the pleasure of encountering - spearmint. The stallion had already discovered that when he stepped on those plants, crushing them beneath his hooves, the scent came even stronger - later, he was going to roll in it.But, for now, he was content enough to wander east, trying to figure out how big his 'territory' would be. It had to be small enough that he could defend it alone, but large enough that it would entice any wandering female. He hadn't had many encounters with the fairer sex, but he did know he was very interested in finding one - or more, if he was lucky - to take under his protection. He supposed that, eventually, that meant little foals to take care of as well, but he'd cross that stream when he got to it. No sense in thinking too far ahead. No... right now it was far more important to stake his claim to a piece of land and defend it against any interloping males - again, he had little experience, but his instincts told him that a larger, older, stronger male might be tempted by this nice area he'd found. He didn't want to lose it so soon after finding it. That would be terrible.
Luckily for him, there didn't seem to be any other kirinoid's about at all - he'd only ever really encountered a few during his travels anyway, and had largely run from them when he did. After all... he hadn't had anything to fight for, and little interest then in making friends. Now he had a territory, and he might be willing to share in his bounty if the right Kirin came along. Maybe a Kilen, though he wasn't sure how he felt about those smaller mammals - seemed a bit shifty, to his way of thinking. But for the past three days, he hadn't even caught the scent of another kirinoid - it seemed this area was rather deserted. Picking his way through the grass, on the lookout for anything that seemed especially tasty - berries would make this spot perfect - he sniffed the air, then paused as he registered an unusual scent - smoke. Instantly, he became nervous; was there a fire? Was he about to lose his new grazing grounds? But no - he could still here all the noises he should, no animals were fleeing, so it was contained. That, of course, meant humans.
Humans were a curious thing to Sudhir. He'd heard a bit about them when he was young, had even been near one of their settlements once - villages, they called them - but he'd always been hesitant to get too close. Though they were said to pose no threat, he was wary, and usually left any area frequented by the small, hoof-less creatures. But now... they were in his land. He didn't want to leave, or be chased away. He could just mark the end of his territory here, and go no further... but a bit of curiosity pulled at him. Perhaps he should go see just how many humans there were. If they were not too many, he could live with them on the borders of his territory; if they were numerous, he could make better plans with that knowledge. Again pleased with himself - his decisions were certainly making quite a bit of sense lately - he fluffed his tail a bit, then began to make his quiet, careful way toward the smell of smoke. He would investigate...
And then he would go back to the spearmint and roll in it for a while.
