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 Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:16 pm
The comment made the young mares ears perk up and her lips go from down to up. "Really?...I...don't know how much help I'll be..." Danica seemed to lull the thought around in her head before admitting, " I don't know very much..."
The thought of other unicorns intrigued her, yet sent an uncomfortable jolt of sorrow down her once more. " I've only ever known one other unicorn really. She was an old mare, in the neighboring pen. Being so old, she couldn't do much magic....but she had great stories all the time. I had fun listening to her, from when she was foal..." The old mare had always had a fire in her spirit, tried to make the most of things. She would tell great stories to Danica and her brother, knowing foals had , and needed, a great sense of imagination. " One day she disappeared. I never saw her again after that..."
The mare flicked her tail once more and seemed to go cross-eyed in an attempt to get a glimpse at her own curved horn. " I'm guessing my father was a unicorn or had it in his lineage. I'm not sure though, but like most foals I never met him." The thought never made Danica sad, because no foals in the camp knew their father. Some of them didn't even know their real mother. That was just the norm for the camp and it never crossed her mind that the 'norm' was both a mother and father.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 4:54 pm
The more he heard, the more mystified he was. Neighboring pen? What did that mean? Humans kept animals penned, even horses, but never soquili. He had never seen a soquili kept behind a fence by the natives for any reason other than to keep out wolves. He thought that he might be misinterpreting something, but couldn't imagine what she had been meaning to say. He internally debated with himself for a moment before decided just to ask her a question.
"Where did you come from?" It couldn't possibly be anywhere close, or he assumed he would have heard of the terrible place.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:43 am
That question. She knew it was going to come up some point, but Danica wasn't sure if she wanted to share. She had come from the depths of hell compared to what Scythe's own herd was. Such a difference, the mare thought inhaling deeping, if he was going to help then he might need to know.
Danica paused briefly to scan the sky, to think of her travel marker, though it wasn't visible during the day. She continued walking, not wanting to stop to long in fear she would collapse again and not get up. "...I'm not sure how long I've been walking for. I think..3 or 4 days. I came from west...my brother told me that when I got out to keep the North star on my left shoulder until i came to the deep water and then follow its edge. I don't think he had a specific place in mind, neither of us know what was beyond the camp. I think it was mostly hear-say and it was something to go on. Knowing that I would come across someone at some point...." Danica glanced at Scythe, giving a small thankful smile. " I had some trouble when I hit the mountains but..I think at that point I knew i was on my own...I found the pass, worked my way through. Then...well ended up in the forest where you found me..."
The mare looked back over her shoulder at the mountains. Some how they made her feel safer, knowing there was a towering wall of stone between her and the camp. Not that the humans couldn't easily overcome it, but they definitely wouldn't come this far. Not for her.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 9:13 am
Scythe nodded, being able to picture the terrain in his mind. He hadn't ever encountered whatever camp she had come from, but he had been out in that direction before. It was far enough away from the Padmapani that he felt they would be safe from whatever dangers might lurk there, at least.
"Our herd members don't spend a lot of time in that area," he mused aloud. The poor mare looked so tense, but there was one other question he felt that he should ask. "Were there humans?" He at least wanted to know who the potential enemies were. It took a different sort of defense for an attack by humans rather than soquili.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 4:00 pm
The mare inhaled deeply, ignoring the pain it caused beneath her ribs. She couldn't get over how fresh the air was here, the smell of spring beginning - not decay and dirt. A cool breeze caught up in her tangled mane and took strands of hair up with it.
The moment of relief was momentarily disrupted at Scythe's question. Not even the question, but the word he spoke. Humans. Instinct caused Danica to quickly double check over her shoulder, and scan the brush as they walked. She continued to tell herself it was only a question, an innocent one and that being free would mean answering them. It wasn't a bad thing, it sure beat keeping everything pent up inside to fester. Her brother had told her that - always let it out, even if it means delving up horrors.
Another deep breath, this one causing a wince of pain. "Yes, there are humans...many. The camp had many small homes for them all. Humans come through, as well. Sometimes they just come through for food and supply, but mostly when visitors come they would leave with one or more of our kind.. Sometimes they fight with other humans too. I don't understand why though." Danica shook her head. Travelers would come through and trade things for soquili - then take them away. Danica always figured at least they were free from the camp - not knowing though what usually really happened to to them.
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:39 am
Now that... was disturbing. Scythe imagined the humans that lived around the area and couldn't reconcile that vision with the ones she described. She didn't say it specifically, but he had to imagine that humans were the ones that had given her those injuries. Their local humans were kind, sometimes almost reverent to their soquili neighbors. They'd clean their hooves, brush their manes, even present them with small gifts and trinkets. Scythe had never met a human otherwise... but apparently they were out there. Could there be human equivalents of skinwalkers and kalona?
"We don't have many humans around and you probably won't see them, but they aren't like that," he said with a shake of his head.
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2014 8:23 pm
Humans that weren't walking horror stories. This she found hard to believe...but Danica felt that the stallion had no reason to lie. It would have to be a 'see it to believe it' moment.
The mare hadn't realized it but her pace seemed to have slowed. Her sore body and wounds had been mentally blocked out from the conversation with Scythe. The feeling she had gotten of hope and freedom had overridden everything else and it was as if she had almost forgotten her state. It hit her now though, a wave of tired and aches washed over Danica and her head hung just a bit. A small rock tripped her pace but she remained standing and continued walking. " I apologize..but are we almost there?"
The walk was short but her strength was dwindling. It felt quite long. Once she received help, Danica knew that her and Scythe could speak further. She inhaled gently. She also knew that the herd leaders would also have questions for her, perhaps abit more in depth then those Scythe had asked her.
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 6:57 pm
"We are almost there," said Scythe. He squinted ahead through a gap in the trees. He blinked, then his eyes widened with relief when he made out a few colorful forms moving beyond them. "In fact... we are here." He was glad that the herd hadn't wandered too far away over the course of the day. Sometimes they weren't where he expected, but today it was a little more important to be able to find them swiftly. Danica was stumbling and looked in bad need of food, healing, and rest. Now, she could hopefully get all three.
"Some of the herd members may be a little rough, but I promise you that all mean well," he said as he led the way towards the others. Soon they'd be spotted, and he knew several soquili would rush over to ask questions or express concern. "But don't worry," he said. "No one here will ever harm you..."
He would see personally to that.
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