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 Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:46 pm
If she fancied, she could ask which it had been and no matter what the royal mare said, she would know the truth of the matter. Knowing that she could know removed the need to, which was good. She needed to tell the Queen about her powers and still have her in a good mood once the telling was done; the royal mare was no slouch and would realize that her brain had been picked on the subject.
No, no prying other than to prove her power. If she was to get what she wanted, she needed to Queen in a good mood. Savit would be a fool to refuse her, but people were often fools when they were angry. Best for the herd, and for her own advancement in the world, if she didn’t touch any nerves. Anything she picked up by mistake, she would not mention. Still smiling, the blue and white mare settled herself down beside a cool clear pool of water to wait for her majesty to arrive.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:04 pm
Pushing the previous conversation out of her mind, she focused on the meeting at hand. Undine, who'd been missing - sick, she'd heard from Xla and Dahak, although she really very much questioned the circumstances surrounding her sudden absence - for many, many suns, had returned and wanted to seek counsel with her. Perhaps to apologize, give some definite reason for her leaving; she'd been very concerned when their top tactician had up and disappeared without notice. She pushed those thoughts away for the time being, and offered the paint mare a smile. "Greetings, tactician Undine, and welcome back to our beloved herd. I'm very relieved to see you home safe, and looking quite well. We all were concerned for your well-being, especially those closest to you," she said earnestly with a smile. Yes, they were all worried, especially Dahak. It was so easy to see how worried he had been about his dam.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:16 pm
Smiling, Undine got to her hooves and greeted the other mare with a respectful dip of her head. For Savit, it was genuine. The same could not be said for many of the other royals. “Greetings my queen; I am sorry to have caused everyone so much worry,” the paint Jala said with another slight smile, “I wish it could all have been avoided but at least it’s over now.” She still had to decide who else she was going to tell. It would have to be few, very few, if her secret was to stay secret. So; Xla, the queen, probably Dahak, perhaps Xerris, but then Xerris was already too enamored of magic. Knowing that another of her relatives had developed it would do the girl no good at all.
“I thank you for meeting with me so swiftly,” Undine went on, “I am aware that abandoning my duties is near inexcusable... but I do believe I have an excuse,” she smiled again; one intelligent mare to another, “or rather an explanation. It is about that that I wished, needed, to speak to you so urgently.”
The seeress came to a halt then, wondering how she ought to go on. She had planned this meeting, but not precisely what to say in it. Rehearsing a speech under such circumstances had always seemed like a poor idea to her; doing that left no scope to react if your listener said something unexpected and left you more unbalanced, less mental agile than if you only had a rough idea of what you would say. It also, however, meant you had to pause for a while to work out how to begin.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:45 pm
"Yes," she agreed with a bob of her slender head. "Abandoning one's duties, I need not remind you, can come with harsh penalties." That was certainly one thing Mavasu was gung-ho for. He'd doubtless been extremely irritated by the blue paint's disappearance, and wanted the strictest punishment for her. Typical. "Unless, of course," she paused with a smile, tilting her head, "you have a good excuse. Explanation, in your case." Yes, well and good. Undine was one of, if not the best tacticians in the herd. It wasn't like her to up and disappear from her duties without a good reason for doing so. It simply didn't fit the other mare's nature, as far as Savit knew.
"Of course, of course; I'm glad you sought to speak with me so swiftly after your return, and indeed it counts towards you." If she'd waited a while before wishing to speak with the Queen, it would probably mean she had no excuse, no good reason, or was ashamed of why she'd left, but since she'd come so quickly, it showed her concern and desire to make things right, so to speak. Basically, it counted for her, not against her. "So, what was so urgent that it called you away from us for so long?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 7:56 am
Undine settled her wings more comfortably by her sides and frowned thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose I had best begin at the beginning. I left, essentially, because I thought I had gone mad.” Complete honesty was the best policy, even if it did mean admitting she’d doubted her own mind. “It started with a strange headache, more of a buzzing in my ears really, and so I went to see Dahak. He couldn’t find anything wrong with me, however, so we put it down to stress. It got worse quickly though; the buzzing got louder and then I started to hear voices inside my head.” The tall Jala gave a wry smile to her companion. “You can see why I was worried, I think. I was afraid that if I remained here I would disgrace myself, my family and indeed the herd itself with my weakness. I ran away, and I didn’t plan to come back.”
Undine paused a moment, recalling her desperation with an internal shudder. She had considered suicide. She could have killed herself over these powers, never knowing about them, could have died thinking herself unstable, worthless. Still, it was past now.
“On the very edge of the herdlands,” the blue and white mare went on, “I encounter a young Jala mare, not of our herd but seeking to come and explore. Perhaps she has already approached you, seeking to join up; her name is Sekhmet... In any case, she is important because when I challenged her I started to feel that I knew what she would say before she said it. It wasn’t very clear, I’ll admit, but by the time we parted I had become certain that I was hearing her thoughts, and that the whispers in my head I had taken for the onset of insanity were in fact the onset of magic.” There, may as well leave it there for a moment. She needed a reaction from the other mare before she went any further.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:14 am
"Oh dear," she murmured, furrowing her brows. She could understand now why the other mare left without notice. A tactician's greatest tool was their mind; for the best of the best to quite possibly be losing hers, well, she can't imagine that Undine had taken the thought quite lightly. However, to the mention of the other jala, Savit shook her slender head. "I have yet to meet this mare, although I have been hearing of a new young Jala that might join; perhaps that's her." She paused to listen, taking in the last few words rather slowly. Magic? Another magic user? First a Shaman, now his mother is a... what were they called? Seer, yes. Thoughts of the golden dappled Jala with an Ichsa horn flashed across her mind. She was a Seer, could read other's thoughts, could enter other's minds. Could Undine do the same? If she was telling the truth, of course. It wasn't that she doubted the capable mare, but, as with Dahak, she needed a test of some sort to demonstrate.
"A Seer, then?" She questioned, tilting her head. Well, before she got too ahead of herself, she'd let Undine explain more. It was a very intriguing story, after all. "Go on."
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:28 am
The blue and white mare nodded slightly. “Yes, so it would seem... It took me a little while to fully come to terms with the idea,” what with Xla’s opinion of magic and everything, “but I accepted it before long. It was much better than the alternative, of course, but it was a strange idea and working out how to use the magic wasn’t easy.”
All those damn low bloods she’d had to put up with out in the wider world, and none of them with any idea of their place while she grappled with the problem.
“I have come to grasp the basics of it, I think,” Undine went on with a frown, “it’s hard to say as I don’t really know what a seer ought to be able to do... Still, at the moment I can more or less shut out the minds of others when I don’t want to hear them, and focus on the thoughts of one individual in a crowd.”
She had heard that seers could control the minds of others, but she wasn’t sure she believed that. Perhaps that was just because she showed no sign of developing such a talent as yet and didn’t want to believe anyone could. Well, convenient though an ability like that would be, just being able to pick up on what others were thinking was still exceptional.
It would be better if she could actively dig through a mind for what she wanted to know rather than having to cue people into thinking about it, but maybe such a thing would come in time. Maybe she would speak to the Illusionist; he had lived a long time, perhaps he had some forgotten knowledge of people with gifts such as hers. It was worth asking, she supposed; it would mean making him one of those who knew about her, but that seemed fitting given he was a magic user as well.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:47 am
"Of course," she agreed, nodding her head again, still listening carefully. She could hardly believe it - for ages, the only magic user they've had was Mordre, and now they had two new ones in so short a time. Was Undine's lineage blessed, that she and her son gained powers? ...no, she'd heard that magic picked its nequus at random, it had nothing to do with lineage. Still, it would be interesting to study, had she the time for it.
What a Seer ought to do. "Hmm.." She pondered on this for a moment or two, her brows furrowed. "Well, a time ago we had a Jala outlander visit our lands, and she was a Seer. She demonstrated her powers to me, and it was quite fascinating. She could be clear across the herdlands, and she could project anything she wanted to say into my head, and all I had to do was think a response, and she would hear it. I'm not sure if you are able to do that, but I think you could with time. It's a very useful skill." It was, indeed. It certainly kept out those who could be eavesdropping. "Now, the best thing to do would be to see another Seer, but as you are our first, the next best thing would be to speak with Illusionist Mordre. I understand that he aided Dahak for some time while he was developing his powers, before and after he demonstrated them to me." Oh yes, a demonstration.
"Would you mind terribly," she began with a smile, "to give me a small demonstration?" Of course she believed Undine, but, well... Things got so incredibly boring sometimes, and Dahak's Shaman demonstration had certainly kept her excited for days. She had little doubt that anything Undine did would have the same effect.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:58 am
Undine perked her ears forward and couldn’t help an unrestrained grin. “That would be useful my queen!” To fly high above a battlefield and update the soldiers on what they ought to do moment by moment. To slip inside a foe’s mind, and make them think themselves as mad as she had believed herself. And, of course, she would be able to tell the queen instantly if she ever picked up a threatening thought. Such possibilities!
“Ah, yes,” Undine came back to the here and now with a smile and a nod, “a demonstration... Well I suppose it would be simplest if you thought about something and I told you what it was you were thinking. It needn’t be a secret or anything vaguely important; just something odd perhaps, something I wouldn’t be able to guess at in a thousand suns. After that, if you like, I can pass on some things I’ve picked up since my return... though they might well already be known to you, of course.” And once she had proved herself, she could bring up her idea. She hoped Savit would think it was as good a plan as she herself did; being refused the role she had imagined for herself would be bitterly disappointing.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:16 am
The brindled claybank couldn't help but smile and chuckle at the paint mare's excitement. "Yes, it would. I assume that's a more difficult skill, and maybe you will gain such a skill with practice and diligence." She certainly hoped so.
"Yes," she nodded once more, "that was what I had in mind for a demonstration. Give me a moment to think of something, and afterward I would love to hear whatever you've learned." She furrowed her brows a bit. Something that Undine wouldn't guess in a thousand suns.. Obviously nothing secret or too important, no; but what would be good enough? It had to be something unrelated, or something extremely difficult. Hmmm... "Ah, yes! Got it," she said with a smile. "What am I thinking?" You have elppa in your teeth flashed clearly through her thoughts. There, she'd never guess that. She also didn't have elppa in her teeth, but that made it all the more hard to guess.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:26 am
Undine blinked and ran her tongue over her teeth uncertainly. “You were thinking that I had elppa in my teeth... but I haven’t eaten one today, so I shall assume that I don’t really,” she concluded with a slight smile at herself for being so quick to make sure that she was elppa-free. “Now... well, I suppose there’s not too much to pass on really,” the tall mare swished her tail at an annoying fly as she tried to sort out the interesting tidbits she’d picked up before the meeting.
“Well,” she said eventually, “heiress Yi intends to stay with that outlander of hers, and is planning to slither back into your good graces, and back into the good opinion of the herd in general. She thinks the outlander will make a fine king one day.” Stupid little b***h that she was. It was hard to believe that the little airhead was really the queen’s child. “Other than that... there’s some civilian mare who fancies herself a seducer trying to charm Ka, but I’ve not seen him so I’ve no idea if he’s falling for her or not.” She had to hope he wasn’t; Ka might be vicious but he would make a better ruler than his first sister, which was saying something given he was a stallion.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:36 am
She smiled and shook her head. "Yes, I was thinking that, and no, you don't have any in your teeth. But at least that's something you would never have guessed, so either way it worked." Nothing much meant nothing too important, and for that she was grateful. She had too much on her plate already to deal with anything else that was really pressing.
At the mention of her first daughter, however, she gave a sigh. "Just thinking about it gives me a headache, I don't know what I'm going to do with her. I'd hoped she'd give up her pretty little outsider of hers, as well as actually put in some effort to be the next Queen, but it seems like neither of those things will happen." She'd been thinking about it for some time, but she might have to demote Yi to princess and make Ka the heir. Her daughter would not be pleased. "And I doubt Ka would fall for a mare like that, but I shall have a word with him in either case. Do you happen to know her name?" She'd have to speak with Yi as well, eventually, but not yet. She'd need to consult Mavasu, Mordre, Xla, and one or two others before making any definite decision in the matter.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:50 am
The blue and white mare nodded, trying not to show how pleased she was with the idea of Yi being pulled down from her position. She was simply unsuited to ruling; too focused on her own selfish desires to do the herd any good.
One of the queen’s other daughters would be best, in an ideal world, but she doubted Ka would take being supplanted a second time lying down. Ka would do fine in all likelihood; unorthodox to put him as supreme ruler, but not necessarily bad. The public would probably take a Shrila on as their supreme ruler in preference to Yi; her older brother would be adored in comparison to the dull-headed young mare.
“The mare’s name is Hera,” Undine supplied, “she’s a dapple grey; Dahak knows her as they bred their slaves a while ago, so he can point her out to you if you wish.” She wished they’d known of the sly hussy’s ambitions before the family had become attached to her even in the slightest, but there was no help for that now and besides, their family was one that was difficulty to sully with political disgrace.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:40 am
The claybank Jala had the same opinion as Undine did, although she didn't like to think her daughter was so unsuited to ruling. Where did she go wrong? She'd taught her just as much as Ka, if not more, and yet she'd gone downhill. Perhaps it was just her attitude or personality or something. Either way, she'd probably have to choose someone else to rule the herd. And she'd have to be the one to tell her daughter that. Wonderful.
Hera, hmm? She'd have to remember that, and speak with Ka about this mare perhaps. She needed to meet with him anyway, she hadn't had a decent conversation with him in ages. "Thank you for that, Undine. I'll be sure to speak with Ka about her, and make sure he has no intention of falling for her when the only thing she wants is to boost her rank in the herd, especially if he takes the throne instead of his sister." The idea of such a thing still bothered her, but there wasn't much else she could do. She'd have to talk to the other royals about this.
"But, back to current matters." Seer powers, yes. "Would you like me to announce to the herd your new powers?" Obviously, Dahak wanted such a thing, had been overjoyed when she mentioned it, but that was something that had to be told. If one had the gift of healing, then it would be cruel not to tell others, especially if they were in need of aid. But with powers of the mind, like Undine had, there was no harm in not telling others, really. In fact, it might be better not to, and thus, her question, even though she already had a feeling what Undine would say.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:53 am
Undine smiled and shook her head. “I was rather hoping that you wouldn’t feel it necessary, my queen... While I was away, I considered how I might best use my powers for the good of the herd, and in the end I decided that keeping them a secret would be wisest.” My as well leap in with her suggestion now, while they were on the subject. “I was thinking that I could be... an intelligence officer. A spy, if you will. I would be able to pick out anyone who might be planning to do harm to the herd, whether directly to you or one of your family or by betraying us to our enemies.”
The tall mare paused for a moment then, considering how to word her next suggestion. “If you think this is a good idea, it might be best for you to name a faked post for me; one that would allow me to confer with you often. Perhaps it would make most sense for it to relate to my tactician duties, which I feel I would be capable of continuing with along with keeping my mind open for whispers of treachery, or just what the mood of the herd at large is.”
There, she had stated her ideas eloquently, and so far as she could tell they were logical. All the same... “If of course you wish other uses of my powers, or different arrangements of their use, I shall be happy to obey.” Savit might even have thought of some clever addition or twist that hadn’t occurred to her; she respected the queen for a reason after all.
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