[PRP] Deep in the Mountains (Snow Spirits )

[AislingJuno]

Kaneq was feeling mixed emotions and could not state clearly how he thought or felt. His heart was beating wildly and his breath quickened. Part of him was overjoyed that he would be able to freely explore while the other part of him felt some hesitation. He was not looking forward to being alone with Kukiko. He had aired out his grievances but he still did not feel like totally forgiving her. She seemed upset but he had noticed a hard glint in her eye. He hoped she wasn't acting apologetic but was trully repentant for her actions. Time would tell and to be honest he really didn't feel like her knew her enough to guess what emotions she held behind the fierce facial facade she generally wore. It often seems like her face was devoid of any emotion besides a haughty veneer that she generally wore when she looked at him. He had seen her face show great warmth when she was looking as her sisters but those looks were quite rare and she only seemed to wear them when she thought no one was looking at her. She seemed to like to wear a face that seemed expressionless. However when she smiled it transformed her face and she in those moments was a picture of beauty. Kaneq was not afraid to admit that he found her beautiful at times but her cold manner and prideful behavior made being in her presence unbearable. Being around her was irritating like a itch that got worse as time went on. While Kaneq didn't like the way Kukiko had been avoiding him , he still not not like being around her for any length of time. His emotions were so conflicting and his thoughts confused. He just didn't know how behave around Kukiko. Perhaps because he was still trying to keep control of the anger that was circulating around his heart. Her weak apology and manipulative eyes caused his heart to clench as more feelings of anger rushed rushed through his body. He did feel sorry for her but he wouldn't let his feeling of sympathy control his actions. If he had to go into the mountains he would use this opportunity to unburden his long held back words of anger. He would tell her all the ways she had hurt him but taking away his freedom. While her decision to take him to the Eastern Mountains had vastly improved his physically being. The feelings of helplessness still resided in his soul. When she had forcefully brought him to the Eastern Mountains he had been physically weaker. During his time in the eastern mountains he had grown stronger but Kukiko. was still much bigger in stature and had some warriors training which he had never been lucky enough to learn. She might be stronger them him but during this trip he would force her to take responsibility for her actions.
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[AislingJuno]

Xue Fang felt like he was a parent sending his offspring away for the first time. He hoped Kaneq and his eldest cousin would repair their relationship. He was starting to grow tired of the disharmony within the herd. It would also be more peaceful with both Kaneq and Kukiko away. The issue between the two of them had rattled the herds foundations and had stirred up plenty of past grievances within the herd. Some felt that Kukiko was justified in her actions because she acted the way the old legendary Yukki Onna behaved in the old stories. Most within the herd felt that Kukiko had acted in an undignified manner. However no actions were taken against Kukiko since she was the eldest sister. She had supported and protected her sisters during their dark days. Kukiko seemed much more fragile now that the group was experiencing a time of peace. It was if her responsibilities towards her sisters was all that was keeping her physically and emotionally surviving. Now she acted especially prideful and arrogant as she tried to hide her deep depression.

Xue Fang sighed and hung his head low, he sincerely hoped that his cousin would mend her heart. He wanted both his cousins and his life to become more peaceful. He felt a bit of pity for his herd and for himself. In the Old herd he was known as a great Warrior and after the attack by the fire tribe he was known as the Ghost a being that bathed in the blood of fire tribe members. However it was still a bit confusing how he ended up basically being the herds babysitter. He had never planned on being herd leader and he had not received any training that would have prepared him for being leader of a herd. However fate and circumstances were not always so kind and the life path Xue Fang had expected to follow was no longer available. His days as a simple warrior for the yuki onna herd were over. What he would give to have back his old comrades. He missed them dearly and he hoped the vengeance he took against the fire herd would allow the spirits of his companions to rest easily. Xue Fang hoped that in his next life he would meet his brother and fellow warriors. Since this life had so many painful experiences he wanted their next life to be a peaceful one. Far away from herd battles and predators that a first smiled at you with friendly faces before their claws sunk into you. A peaceful life together, where they could grow to be old with creaky bones. Xue fang stared at the sky as he thought on his past memories and his dreams for the future.


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[AislingJuno]

It seemed Miyuki plan was slowly coming coming into place. Hopefully the journey would help Kukiko and Kaneq mend their wounds and allow Kaneq to vent his grievances. Kukiko had spent a lot of time journeying out on her own in pursuit of game and small prey. Miyuki knew it would not take her sister long to prepare for the trip, though she might drag her hooves and delay the process as an attempt to divert the trip.

Miyuki walked away from the group her head still processing the current events. She didn't want her sister to delay the trip and later come up with a means of escaping. Miyuki didn't quite trust the current Kukiko, her sister was not in a healthy mental state. Currently Kukiko was most likely livid at her and probably felt betrayed. Miyuki knew that her sister would not want to interact with her any time soon. Still Miyuki needed to have a pair of eyes on Kukiko. A objective viewer that Kukiko would not feel burdened by it's presence.


Miyuki placed her lips together and blew an almost birdlike sound from her crystalline clear voice.

A yapping sound could be heard in the distance. The sound became louder as the creature approached her. Soon Miyuki's eyes could make out the teal fur of her fam Meriweather.




 

[AislingJuno]

Kukiko paid little attention to the sounds that could be heard off in the distance. Her head was currently spinning, and she was starting to get a severe headache. Kukiko seldom got headaches, so she was a little bit of a wimp when she happened to have one. Her head was spinning a bit and her stomach was turning. Luckily she hadn't eaten much during the day or else her stomach might decide to let her breakfast revisit her. Her headache was mostly due to the fact that she had been under a high level of metal strain her emotions and thought were now playing havoc on her body. Luckily the choice of eating a light meal in the morning served her well since if her habits had been different her stomach contents would be gracing the ground in a unladylike manner. For a few seconds Kukiko seriously thought about complaining to her younger sister about her headache and stomach aliment. However Miyuki would most likely just weight her travel bags down with medicinal herbs and poultices. As well as lecture her on the proper way to take they medicine and caution her on paying attention to her health. Miyuki would also probably give her a list and pictures of plants she wanted Kukiko to collect if she saw the plant on her travels. At least that's what Miyuki typically asked Kukiko to do before she left on her travels. However she knew her sister had questions for her that she didn't want to answer. It would be best just to avoid Miyuki before she and Kaneq left for the training excursion.

Kukiko walked into one of the small caves that could be found throughout the Eastern Mountains. The cave was her personal space that no soq would enter without her permission. In the future if she ever had a mate or offspring they would live in her own cave unless at the time she deemed the cave to small and she needed to move to a bigger cave for space. However Kukiko did not believe she would ever choose to have a mate. The wounds were still to raw and she did not think she could give her heart to another. Still someday in the future she would want offspring. Most likely she would feel the drive after one of her sister surrounded her with their foals. All of her sisters were more ladylike and were much more likely to find mates. Kukiko on the other hand was rather fierce and and no longer ladylike like or mild in manner. The horrific past events had drastically changed her personality. She was stronger in many ways, but she felt like she was rather like a shell of who she had been. Kukiko slumped against the cave wall nearest to the cave entrance. Her eyes closed as she tried calm her sorrow and ease the pain of her headache. She wanted to rest her eyes for a few minutes.
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[AislingJuno]

Xue Fang turned away from the looking at the sky and he looked deeply into Kaneq's eyes. He could see fear and hesitation in Kaneq blue eyes. He knew that Kaneq was mostly likely feeling uneasy about the upcoming trip. He wanted to make sure that Kaneq was ok with journeying out with Kukiko. Now that Kaneq was a herd member Kukiko would never physically harm him , but it was probably going to be an emotionally charged trip. Xue Fang turned to Kaneq," are you going to be ok,"he asked in a concerned manner. "I can still cancel the trip if you are uneasy."  

[AislingJuno]

Kaneq eyes widened in surprise at hearing Xue Fangs words. It was nice to hear that his herd leader felt some concern for his feelings. Xue Fang being the herd leader didn't need to concern himself with Kaneq feelings, but since he was a good leader he cared about all his herd members. It was nice know that others cared about his opinion. It was even nicer that MiYuki cared deeply about his physical and emotional well being. Kaneq heart was deeply touched by both soq consideration towards him. It was so nice to know that the two of them cared for his opinions and well being. Kaneq had been so lonely, but until know he didn't realize how lonely he had been. He was a survivalist and was used to pushing his emotions aside as he tried to survive day by day. However Kaneq was starting to think that he was metamorphosing into a stronger version of himself. He was getting older and being mature had greatly effected his self image of himself. He cared less about what others thought of him and he was not as afraid to voice his opinions. Being in the Eastern Mountains had brought back his physical strength and he was confident that his body was the strongest it had ever been. He was no longer a weakling .
Kaneq turned to Xue Fang and replied," I can be honest and admit I have some hesitation about the upcoming trip. I don't think being around Kukiko in an isolated environment is going to solve the problem between us. However both Kukiko and I need to start are discussion sometime. Perhaps a trip together will help us air out some grievances and for her to wholeheartedly admit her mistakes. I won't hold my birth expecting much from her, but she might surprise me . "

Xue Fnag chuckled upon hearing Kaneq words, "Well you have certainly changed. I look forward to hearing about your trip when you come back and seeing what kind of soq you become when you come back from your adventure," Xue Fang remarked his voice full of mirth.

"If we both make it back alive," Kaneq replied trying to keep his voice light sounding. In reality if Kukiko wanted to physically harm him she probably could. He could now do some damage to her in self defense, but she could easily injure him as he was quite a bit sorter in height and smaller in body structure. However if he needed to he could hoover and try to get away from her from the sky. Since he was not a full blood flutter he could not fly any great distance but he could hoover and fly in short spurts though to do so could easily damage his wings and back muscles.
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[AislingJuno]

Soon Meriweather approached MiYuki, but in her haste she stumbled a bit in the snow. Looking a bit stunned Meriweather's eyes widened. However in less then a minute she was running around and yapping at at MiYuki. MiYuki brightly smiled at Meriwether's playful antics. She thought the way Meriwether's pink tongue kept hanging out of her mouth was really adorable. Her heart was filled with love for her adorable and funny familiar . Meriwether often played cute tricks to try to gain MiYuki attention and she had a natural goofy nature that made being around her always a lively experiance.  

[AislingJuno]

Kukiko only expected to close her eyes for a few minutes, but her emotions most have taken a toll on her body. When she opened her eyes the sun was already making it past the mountain peaks. When the heard hand meet and the confrontation occurred it had taken place in the middle of the mourning hours. Kukiko had slept many hours leaning against the rock wall of her cave. Now most soq would be sore if they had spent so many hours asleep while leaning against rocks. However Kukiko had spent many uncomfortable nights sleeping on hard surfaces while hunting to feed her herd. The snow spirits had bodies that were considered quite huge for soq and their systems required a lot of protein to sustain them. They were however not overindulgent and they only killed what they needed. Some of the snow spirits took a bit more pleasure in the hunt, but non of the group had any skinwalker blood and non of them were enthralled with killing.

Soon their would be no sunlight left in the sky and the stars and moon would reign as supreme beings over their domain. It was not wise to journey at night. Kukiko was not sure she was happy that the trip would be delayed until the next day. Xue Fang had never specified that they were leaving that day . Since she didn't want to take the trip, she thought it best to set out soon a get it over with. A part of her did think about delaying the journey with the motive of the trip being called off after a length of time. However she knew that her relationship with Miyuki would not be repaired until she had settled old grievances with Kaneq. Xue Fang could be very forgiving and sometimes she could change his mind. However since he had become herd leader he was becoming more stubborn and once he put his hooves down and passed judgement he wasn't going to change like a humongous boulder that was impossible to move. You might hit the boulder and try to break it, but in the end the boulder wouldn't move. You either had to go around the boulder or give up. Since Xue Fang was their herd leader going around one of his decisions was difficult to near impossible. Kukiko knew her cousin wasn't going to change his mind and she would receive no assistance from any of her sisters. Kukiko was stuck between a rock and a hard place, if she stayed in the herd lands her days were going to be miserable driven by guilt and her sister nagging . If she left with kaneq she would be unhappy and guilty. It was easier to just give up and take the journey with Kaneq. At least then she would be only dealing with one unhappy soq, rather then a herd of emotionally charged herd mates.
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[AislingJuno]

Miyuki had originally signaled Meriweather to keep watch over Kukiko, but Meriweather was just so adorable that her presence distracted Miyuki. Miyuki was just so happy in love with her fam. Being in Meriweather's presence was like a balm for Miyuki's soul. Miyuki hadn't yet realized how heavy her burdens had weighed down on her. After playing in the snow with Meriweather, Miyuki felt refreshed and incandescently happy. After some time she looked up at the sky and realized that she had been playing hide and seek with Meriweather for several hours. Miyuki knew that Meriweather had thoroughly distracted her, but she had so much fun playing the last few hours that she didn't care. She should probably go to check on her eldest sister, but frankly Miyuki felt it would be best for both of them to have some space away from each other. Kukiko needed to plan and prepare for the upcoming trip and Miyuki needed to just enjoy the rest of the day. It was a beautiful day and she felt like her soul needed to stay refreshed and free from the emotional burdens of her sisters for a few hours. She was the herds healer and frankly their were times when she became weary of the job. Most of the time tt was much easier to heal physical aliments then emotional pain. Since all of the herd had gone through traumatic experiences, they carried their sorrow with them contently. Miyuki had her own pain, but she wanted to try her best to help her sister slowly heal and grow through their emotional hurts. Some injuries would never heal, but Miyuki wished for her sister to have more happy memories then sad. Since Miyuki had yet to find a mate and she had not yet mothered foals, her happiness lay in pampering her feisty fox fam Meriweather. Of course if Miyuki ever made that special connection with another female she would still pamper and spoil Meriweather it's just she would be blessed to have multiple special entities to look after.
Miyuki had never been in a romantic relationship because she always put her duty as a healer first. However Miyuki was gradually coming to an age that she desired both foals and having a special connection to a mate. Miyuki admitted to herself that she was lonely and she wanted a companion. Even her fam Meriweather had more luck then she had in romance . Miyuki wouldn't begrudge her fam and wished her and her partner the best of luck. Since neither of her sisters or her cousin had any offspring her longing for companionship and for foals was abated somewhat. All the herd members were still mourning because of past events and they lacked the energy to go look for mates. Though Miyuki had heard several of her family members plot to have quick romances with the goal of having offspring. They were raised in a herd that valued foals and all the foals were communally raised. It was not uncommon for herd members to bring in mates, but must soq tended to have flings with outsiders to have foals.

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[AislingJuno]

Kaneq was realizing his thoughts were heading in a morbid direction. It was so easy for his thoughts to go in a dark and dismal direction. For so long he had lived his life under a dark shadow and it was easy for him to become wrapped back up in the shadows tentacles. Depression was just a never ending battle for him, but at least now he was able to realize and recognize that it was his depression causing him to have such dark thoughts. Of course another part of his brain was telling him, "Fool it's not your depression acting up it's your survival instincts! Kukiko's not to be trusted didn't you learn last time when she trussed you up like a chicken. She could have eaten you then and you would have had no chance. It's survival of the fittest, and you my boy need to be smarter. Protect your precious wings from that she demon."

Kaneq hung his head low and tried to sort through his racing thoughts. He also didn't want Xue Fang to read his troubles through his eyes. Kaneq greatly admired his herd leader and he didn't want Xue Fang to think less of him. Xue Fang was so strong that Kaneq doubted the male would think much of weakness. However Miyuki had told Kaneq that Xue Fang had become like a wild beast after the attack on the herd. It was said for a month he stalked the fire herd and bathed the mountain of their birth in blood. The fire herd called him the, "Ghost." Miyuki told be that will Xue Fang looked strong he had person demons that he fought with. He seldom showed his emotions because he had been trained as a soldier, but inside sadness and anger still kept a tight hold on his heart. Xue Fang seldom spoke to Miyuki or the other herd members about the past, but then few of the herd members that experienced the attack talked about their losses. They had all lost family members, teachers, comrades, friends and a few of them lovers.The sisters and their cousin were there for each other but seldom did they pry into each other past for fear of disturbing old wounds. Miyuki as herd healer did try her best to help her family heal their emotional wounds , but she also had her own painful memories. Some of those memories she had shared with Kaneq because he had not been a part of their herd during the attack and she could talk about the past with him. When she talked of the past he would have no memories or connections to those herd members that died. Kaneq felt that he was contributing to the herd by listening to Miyuki. She shouldered so much responsibility that he was glad that he was able to comfort her .
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[AislingJuno]

Xue Fang chuckled as he could watch the thoughts flutter through Kaneq head. The male had a transparent face and his thoughts were viable as Kaneq face rapidly changed facial expression very few seconds. " Well it seems like the clouds are not the only thing speedily moving. You seem to be burdened with many thoughts. If you need someone to talk to, I will lend you my ear.  

[AislingJuno]

As he heard Xue Fangs words Kaneq felt his eyes widen in surprise. Xue Fang's unexpected words had touched his heart. However he did not want his inner thoughts with Xue Fang. He had briefly considered it earlier in the day, but Xue Fang was his herd leader. He wanted the other male to respect him. Since Xue Fang had asked him in a direct fashion he felt like he couldn't evade the other males words. "Someday I will share my thoughts with you. As of now my thoughts are a jumbled mess and I need to sort out the tangle of emotions residing within my heart. If I step back and cultivate I might be able to make a break through and pass through one of my mental blocks. I will become strong both physically and mentally. You don't need to worry about me. When I need to, I talk to Miyuki, she has been giving me council. Talking with her has been a great help." Kaneq shrugged his shoulders in a carefree manner. "I'm not afraid to admit that I needed to talk with someone. "  

[AislingJuno]

"Very well, I do not wish to pry. I am glad you are speaking with Miyuki, she has a calming manner. Her healing instinct is strong and she has a good heart. She is a good friend to have. Someday though I would like to hear your thoughts.When that day comes is up to you. I am here whenever you need me. "  

[AislingJuno]

Kaneq gave a slight bow of the head to Xue Fang. "Thank you for understanding. I find it hard to voice my thoughts, but Miyuki makes me comfortable and without realizing it I seem to be able to speak my words freely. However sometimes I regret how comfortable she makes me feel when I accidentally let my secrets slip. " Kaneq chuckled a bit. " I doubt I would have the courage to cross MiYuki . She could easily blackmail me with all the secrets I've ever told her. "