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Avani turned her face up towards the sky with her eyes closed, soaking in the warmth from what sun was filtering through the trees, letting it warm her face in the cold autumn air. She had a free day off and so was taking a ride through the forest near her home, past the lake she owned, deeper into the woods.

She loved the woods as much as she loved the land her father owned, more than the land she visited when she went with the shepherdesses to watch the leklan, more than even the Ashen City that stirred her curiosity. Here she could become lost in her thoughts for hours, coming up with ideas for new projects with Shenra, or solving the problems of her heart. But she loved more than ever to watch nature and appreciate the hundreds of years that it must have taken to grow and shape the land.

She blamed all this on her Autumntree side of the family, not that it was a bad thing. They just tended to get lost in the silent reverence of nature and forget their chores… Which she was doing, she thought silently admonishing herself. Things needed to be done, but nature and her Autumntree blood was calling her to the woods today.

Avani lowered her face from the warmth of the sun and looked ahead smiling.

She froze, her smile slipping as she saw a wild hastar stallion standing in front of her, looking at her as if she was an interesting creature.

He was magnificently colored, a flowing forest green mane with a dark gold color for his scaled that covered his chest, belly, and crest on his forehead.. He turned from her and pawed the ground, turning to a bush to nibble at some late berries that had somehow been left behind from forging animals getting fat for winter. Avani’s nose twitched as she felt a small smile form on her lips. The brute knew that he was beautiful and was taunting her. The thing was that it actually worked.

Avani, thanking whatever God made her put a rope onto her saddle this morning, slowly moved her hand to the back of the hastar she was on, and slowly unleashed the coiled up rope. She brought it up to her lap and made the knot at the top so it could become a lasso. She slowly opened the loop to the right amount.

She knew that the hastar would not sit still as she was swinging it over her head, so she kicked her mount with her heals and went after it with the lasso swinging. As she predicted, the hastar wasn’t about to stick around.

It ran off into the forest, Avani maneuvered her mount by using her legs. Despite the old age of the mount, she was just as fast as the wild hastar. However, she was an old mount, and started to fall back eventually. Avani, not wanting the beauty to get away, threw the lasso over it’s head. Avani pulled back, but it was too strong! It pulled her off her saddle and without a thought, dragging her through the forest.

Knowing she was defeated, Avani let go of the rope. She tumbled to a stop, rolling over a few times on her side. She pushed herself up on the arms, looking after the retreating animal smiling.

She had failed to catch it, but she now had marked the animal she wanted. She went back to her mount, which was now grazing on some drying grass, and shook off her soreness of bruises and scratches. She would mark her way through the forest, back to her house so she could once again find the territory of the wonderful beast.

One day, that beast would be hers.

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Date Posted: November 26, 2014
Words: 634