[PRP] Not who I expected (Freyja and Akkhana)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Frejya flitted through the air towards the Padmapani herd. She couldn't maintain flight for long. Instead what she did was a bound and glide. It was a very graceful sort of motion and made her look more like a magical deer fairy than a horse. She felt magical too, with her hooves barely touching the grass and the wind whistling softly through the tines on her small antlers.

There was someone she had come here to see, Kumarajiva. She had met him several times and enjoyed teasing him. He was a dour sort, compared to her, at least. He tended to take things seriously and that made him entertaining. She hoped she'd be able to find him, and was on her way to the pond where they often met. She certainly didn't feel any romantic or physical attraction to him. What she had instead was a sort of mischievous playfulness. She heard movement ahead of her and perked up. That had to be him!

"Helloooooo, Kuma!" she said, a moment before she realized she was looking at a pink mare instead.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akkhana walked heavily through the forest. Some had told her that she stomped before. She didn't try to stomp, she just was heavier built and without the same grace that possessed some soquili. It probably also had something to do with her expression. She almost never smiled and her face seemed permanently fixed into a look of cold indifference. This was due more to natural features than foul disposition. Her face at rest composed itself that way, and her intentions were often misread. She was much less cheery than most Padmapani members, but she was no more inclined to harmful actions.

She was a new Padmapani member anyways, maybe not even a full member yet. It was hard to tell, since she still felt much like an outsider. Would that ever really go away? She had felt like an outsider in her previous herd for most of her life, after all. It was gloomy to think that it might never change, even with a new group.

And that was when the flutter appeared, calling her the name of another Padmapani herd member and then looking confused at realizing she had found the wrong person.

"I'm not Kuma," she said, as if her appearance wasn't obvious enough.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"I see that," said Freyja brightly with just a hint of sarcasm. She eyed the mare warily. She clearly was of kalona heritage, with that tail and those horns. She even had the slit-pupiled eyes that some kalona wore. Now, Freyja was in no position to judge. Her father had been half-kalona from what she'd heard, and her siblings were all fine people. She herself had to be about a fourth kalona, though none of her features showed that part of her. Kalona hybrids could be perfectly decent people, but they could also be dangerous too.

"Are you a Padmapani member?" she asked. Padmapani was a friendly herd. They wouldn't keep someone dangerous around.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Yes... I think." As if reading her mind, the flutter had asked the very question that had been in her thoughts. Akkhana didn't like that. If the flutter hadn't mentioned Kumarajiva by name, she would have had some suspicions about the mare. Her old herd had been far more territorial than Padmapani was. Akkhana knew she should try to be less suspicious with strangers, but old habits were hard to beat.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"You think?" Freyja eyed Akkhana like she had grown a third ear. Usually, herd membership seemed like one of those things that someone ought to know about. She tried to imagine a circumstance where one could be confused about their status. If they had done some sort of criminal act? Or if they just followed around the herd sneakily and never officially asked their status? All were strange and unlikely thoughts.

"Do you know where Kuma is?" She somehow didn't want to ask this mare any more questions than she had to. She hoped that she'd be able to get an answer and then quickly move on to something a bit less awkward.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akkhana knew that look well. She had seen that sort of skeptical stare from so many soquili throughout the years that she could identify it easily. No, she wasn't the most social or best spoken soquili around. Always it came up. She told herself that she didn't much care, but that wasn't really the truth.

"I think..." She paused. She actually knew the answer to this question. "I think he is checking the raspberry patch." She paused, then realized she had to add a little more to make it make sense. "For new growth. And to make sure nothing has destroyed it yet." Apparently the herd really loved raspberries, but so did bears, wolves, and a number of other creatures. Deer even sometimes ate the brambles, the leaves off them, at least.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Raspberries," sighed Freyja. Why would he be out checking on raspberries when he should be here talking to her? "Well, take me over there. I want to see him." She phrased it as a demand rather than a question. She could feel a knot of stubbornness growing in her over this whole situation. If she had to deal with the most awkward (she hoped) member of his herd, she'd certainly make Kuma listen to her griping about it.

Besides, if she found out where their raspberries grew, she could come back in spring when they would start fruiting. That thought made her mouth water. They were so hard to harvest, but so delicious and worth the extra effort. Maybe she could even work out a deal with Kuma for him leaving her raspberries from time to time. Maybe she wouldn't even have to pick them herself!  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akkhana's ears flicked back. Freyja wasn't the only one who sometimes had a stubborn streak. She could feel her own starting to wake up and make itself known. Something about the mare just rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was the way she was petite and delicate where Akkhana felt ungainly. Or the way she carried herself like she thought the world of herself and would let no one convince her otherwise. Whatever the reason, Akkhana didn't like her and didn't want to bring her anywhere.

"No." Freyja had asked her without much preamble, so Akkhana answered her with even less. If the other mare wasn't going to bother with being polite, Akkhana certainly wasn't going to waste her breath over it.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"... No?" Freyja's head fell to one side. It was such a short and simple word, yet she barely ever heard it said so directly. She stared at Akkhana like she'd grown another head. "Is it really that big of a problem?" She started to bristle with irritation. She wanted to see Kuma and this dumb mare suddenly wanted to keep his location a secret?

"Or is it some sort of herd secret?" She found herself continuing talking past where she should have silenced herself. Her irritation grew and with it weakened her composure. "What do you think I'll do? Go tell every soquili and awakened animal within miles to come eat your berries? That... that's paranoid!" She accused Akkhana for being paranoid for committing an act that had not happened. Freyja recognized that she was overreacting, but that didn't mean she could stop herself.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"You heard me." Akkhana's voice fell into the rumble of a growl. Her kalona heritage grew more pronounced now, with her lips drawn back to show pointed teeth and her pupils narrowed to slits. She rarely had a reason to lose her temper, but Frejya had just given her one. She snorted air through her nostrils like an angry bull, and she could imagine why a bull might charge in this sort of mood.

"If you want to find Kuma, I have three words for you. Find. Him. Yourself." She stomped at the ground, angry and ominous. She was part of the herd, but that didn't make her anyone's little messenger mule. She would tear her own feathers out before letting herself be treated that way.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Freyja actually took a few steps back, she was so intimidated. She was suddenly aware of her situation, a stranger in another herd's territory. Not only that, but her flutter heritage made her small and delicate. The mare was much taller than she was, and clearly more strongly built as well. This was not a place she wanted to stay.

"Fine!" She backed away more deliberately, leaves crunching beneath her dainty hooves. "Fine! I'm leaving. I'll find him myself." She turned around and started to move away quickly, but couldn't help a few sarcastic parting words. "Thank you for all your 'help.' It's been a pleasure." With that, she bounded off.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Leave, and stay out." Part of Akkhana had wanted to bellow those words at the retreating mare, but she kept her voice quiet. She doubted Freyja even heard her at all. She glared after Freyja until even the sound of her hooves faded away. Only then did she turn and set herself back on the trail she had been following before she had been interrupted.

That hadn't gone well. Even as grumpy as she was over it, she was able to recognize that she hadn't acted her best. She had chased off a visitor to the herd. Even though she was new to Padmapani, she knew that was not the herd way. She frowned as she went. Would this continue to be a problem for her? Would she be able to calm her temper and fit in? Or had her journey to come here been for nothing?

To that, she didn't have an answer.

~ Fin.