Defying Gravity (Kalari/Open)

[Ehetere]

OOC: This is so that Kalari can find Jirrand, but anyone else is welcome to join in too.


Jirrand snorted, glaring down at the men’s hut he could see below - with its strange lights glowing at a time when darkness was upon the land. He was comforted by the fact that night was fast approaching - making it impossible for the men to see properly, and would hide his bright pelt from their eyes.

He glanced at the filly by his side - Karween - whose coat blended in so well with the shadows that it was difficult for even he to pick her out. They had travelled northwards steadily, Jirrand still growing used to the company of other horses again after being convinced he was destined to live a lonely solitary life. He enjoyed the bubbly filly’s company, but could not help lament on the loss of his first mare Tallerk. Perhaps they would have had a small foal by now, a child of his own. Fortunately, Karween helped to fill the void that this loss left behind, and Jirrand was beginning to heal.

Presently, the silver nightrunner was heading for the Ramshead and beyond - intending to explore that rugged country before the cold bite of winter could be felt in the air again. It would enable him to keep out of trouble from older stallions mostly, as he did not wish to lose lovely Karween to some older brute. His paranoia was such that he insisted on travelling when most other horses were sleeping - his heightened night vision gave him the advantage over any horse in the poor light, and he could spot danger before it could spot him.

The men’s presence was a further reason for his caution - while Karween’s coat may not be flashy, she was still a pretty filly, and his own pelt stood out like a sore thumb on any hillside, and he could not bear the though of being held captive, or for Karween herself to be captured because of him.

“Would you like to rest tonight?” he asked the black filly, concern written all over his features. He was well aware that although he could pick out any hidden obstacles in the dark, Karween could not, and as tonight there was no moon, he did not want to risk harming her in an accident; especially on a steep hillside such as this. Far better to rest anyway, as Jirrand suspected that all this night travelling may be tiring the filly.

[Corowa]

The filly clung close. She had noticed the stallion was much more confident in the blackness of night. Her own legs were badly bruised from fallen timber and unseen branches, which whipped her head and haunches until she was covered in lather and shook all over. When a snowgum branch stung her flanks, she flung herself sharply sideways and snorted, nostrils wide with effort.

The two horses climbed steadily up the steep line of slope, and Karween turned her head, ears so alertly pricked she heard the sound of the hut door, the whinnying of the horses in the yard. Something moved within her at the sound, and a quivering went through her whole body. The stockmen and hut interested her, and facing the hut, the same trembling went through her, so she plunged up the hill in her confusion.

Just then, the stallion stopped, and Karween pulled up behind him. There was something in the movement of his head and the tenseness in his body that told her he was slightly nervous. The filly’s nostrils flared and instinctively, she looked in the direction of the hut. There was no sound of stockmen though, and presently, the filly realised it was her he was worried about. She was his mare now, his responsibility alone.

The filly reached her head over the stallion’s withers and nibbled softly on his mane. This was not the life of a regular bush brumby. She had learned to sleep in the day, flat out on her side in the shelter of the snowgums. But she was only a yearling, and had travelled more than twenty miles north. The filly had started to show signs of strain; her black coat had lost its glossiness, become rough, and ribs showed beneath it.

Her world went no further than this. “If you watch over me, I will catch my breath and get some rest,” she said, and she longed to be stronger so she could follow him, match him stride for stride. The filly pulled on his mane, and then with her nose, loosened the stiffness of travel from his shoulder. The two horses stood shoulder to shoulder, and Karween dropped her head and started to crop at the snowgrass.

She grazed her way slowly towards a clump of snowgums, and then her knees buckled, and she dropped down into the snowgrass. The young filly rolled onto her side, and comforted by the thought of the stallion watching over her, was soon asleep.

[yaruka]

Along the edge of the human property crept a palomino and white mare, skin crawling in fear and coat darkened to unnatural hues from sweat. The young horse held her breath as she walked, wondering how on earth she had come to end up here of all places. Her eyes rolled as she listened to the men's voices in the hut but still she walked on, desperate to leave this place far behind.
As she passed the corral she flattened herself to the side of the hill, praying that none of the horses would give her away.
At the sudden slamming of a screen door Kalari lost her head. Panicked, she bolted forwards, running without thinking, her only purpose to leave this dreadful place far behind. Muscles strained under her damp and ragged coat, propelling her up the hill towards what she knew not. Hooves churned the wet ground, flinging clumps of sod up until she reached the crest, shying sharply as a massive white shape loomed out of the darkness.

OOC: It's pathetic, you can go ahead and say it sorry guys :/

[Ehetere]

Jirrand looked gently over Karween’s thin frame - their travelling having taken its toll on her. He was ashamed to not have noticed it before. I his mind he thought of her as a strong mare already, when in reality she was barely more than a foal. He should be taking better care of her.

“I will watch over you always,” promised Jirrand - making himself a promise at that moment that from now on Karween and her welfare would be his number one priority. He would start travelling in the early morning and resting through the brightest part of the day before moving off again in the late afternoon. No more night travelling, despite how he loved it. It would mean they were likely to run into other horses more often, but Jirrand was confident he could fend off any stallions his age. From now on, Karween would be treated as she deserved to be - like royalty.

Jirrand watched as Karween slumped to the ground, and protectively went to stand beside her dark form stretched out on the snowgrass. He rested on a hind leg, dropping his head slightly as he half dozed off himself. The night was warm, and the stars in the sky peaceful. He would not allow himself to sleep, however he was relaxing quite considerably more than he had in days. Now that he had made his decision, he felt better for it. However, the steadily approaching drumming of hooves had him suddenly wide awake and alert.

Jirrand threw up his head wildly - scenting the air. The wind was blowing his mane and tail in every which direction, and made it impossible to pick up on what might be coming. He wondered whether the men really had spotted him even from down in their little huts, and were coming to get him. His gaze flickered to the dark sleeping shape or Karween, but he did not wake her. She would be invisible to a man’s eyes, and was safer where she was.

A pale shape loomed out of the darkness, and Jirrand prepared to bolt down the other side of the ridge to lead whatever threat was coming away from Karween. However, the horse that had come rushing up the hill had no man upon its back. What was more, Jirrand recognised her.

“Kalari?” he asked uncertainly, having no doubt her eyes would have had great difficulty picker her out in the pitch blackness. He sniffed the air again, still unable to separate any real scents from below. He threw a concerned look at the creamy patterned mare - why had she been running so hard? Was she being pursued?

“Why do you come thundering up a ridge such as that on a night such as this?” asked Jirrand, his tone of voice urgent, “Are you being chased by man? Did they see you? Is something else coming?”

[yaruka]

Kalari threw her head up wildly at the unprecedented sound of her name, blue eyes rolling as she strove to pick out the features of the white horse in the gloom. His scent finally met her nostrils, along with his voice identifying him and Kalari gasped half from shock and and partially from lack of air. Skittering to the side so that her back was not to the men she answered, "I do not know if I am being pursued. I know only that I heard a loud, strange noise, and so I ran from it," she replied, still too panicked to be able to think straight. Suddenly beginning to shake she peered down the hill, though her eyes were unable to pick out any disturbance down below other than the anxious pacing of a few of the tame horses.

She was reassured to have met Jirrand, the white stallion's bulk a welcome prescense in both her nervous state and also because she had been rather lonely since she'd last run into the stallion. Had fate not intervened back then she would have surely remained with the stallion, a part of his herd. Timidly she turned to nudge him gently, apologizing for having caused him distress for apparently no reason, though she still kept a wary eye on the hut down below.

[Ehetere]

Jirrand nickered reassuringly, feeling guilty for adding to her already obvious stress. Jirrand snorted nervously when she answered his own frantic questions and peered over the edge of the ridge to the men’s huts below. He would pick out no movement in the gloom, and all the horses in the corral were still there, if shifting restlessly.

“I don’t think the men saw or heard you,” replied Jirrand after he was fairly sure for himself. “Their senses are not as good as ours.” He turned his gaze back to the patchy golden mare before him and saw that she was still trembling.

“Where have you travelled since our last meeting Kalari?” he asked, concern showing on his features, “Have you not yet found another mob to call your family?” He glanced over his shoulder once more at the apparently undisturbed Karween.

When he had first met Kalari, Tallerk had still been his. It was a difficult thing for him to face, but he had found no trace of her in many a month, and was beginning to think she was gone for good. If he ever met the lousy blood bay who may or may not have caused her downfall, Jirrand was going to see to it that he was beaten black and blue for being so careless.

Perhaps it was fate also that Kalari had not joined him in his herd that night. For here she was now, safe as any brumby could be so near to the men’s huts.

“You can stay here, if you’d like. I have slept for a lot of the day and will keep watch for the men if you wish to rest,” offered Jirrand, sincerely hoping that Karween would not hate him for doing such a thing. She may have been young, but she was sensitive, and may take offence at another mare diverting his attention.

[yaruka]

Kalari calmed slightly at Jirrand's soothing nicker and gentle words. She knew his night senses were sharper than her own, and breathed out a sigh of relief as he pronounced the situation safe.

“Where have you travelled since our last meeting Kalari? Have you not yet found another mob to call your family?” asked the stallion, glancing once over his shoulder.

It was only then that the honey and white coloured mare noticed the skinny filly lying flat out behind the stallion. Curiously she peered at her through the darkness of the night, watching the gentle rise and fall of the filly's clearly apparent ribs. Kalari's eyes brightened with concern for the younger horse, but it was clear that the filly was content, for her sleep had gone untroubled even from Kalari's panicked gallop up the hill and the position of her body clearly demonstrated her trust in the stallion.

“You can stay here, if you’d like. I have slept for a lot of the day and will keep watch for the men if you wish to rest,” added the stallion and Kalari turned back to him with a sigh.

"Thank you, Jirrand, for your kind offer. I will gladly accept it; it has been months since I’ve slept untroubled by loneliness. As for where I've travelled, even I do not know. For it seemed that wherever I turned in the High Country I was met by man, or dog or brutish stallion and so I kept to the very thick of the brush at all times, leaving my cover only when I was most certain it was safe, and only then to graze or drink. It may sound strange, but I often found it better to subside off the plants of the deep brush than risk going out to graze alone.”

The young mare finished at that, unused to speaking so much at once. Even so, her light blue were finally beginning to calm, some of the panic replaced by relief at finally having met some one she trusted.

[Corowa]

The yearling had been lying flat out on her side, completely worn out, while the two horses stood a little distance off. It was only when something made a sound close by, did the filly slowly begin to stir. The sound came again, but it was louder this time, and it was enough to fully bother her.

In an instant, the young horse stood, by now wide awake. Just for a moment, the filly thought it was the stockmen, and she tensed, ready for flight. But the stockmen never left their huts to chase the brumbies at night, and she had not heard the whistle of their ropes. The snowgums had made the night much darker, and at first, the yearling could hardly see anything through the blackness.

The sound had stopped and so the yearling stood motionless a few minutes. It was a comparatively quiet night, but she could hear nothing moving about. Then quite nearby, a horse suddenly whinnied. Karween snorted in alarm, and stood waiting to see what direction the sound had come from.

The yearling looked about, suddenly confused by the fact she couldn’t find her stallion. Then finally, through the snowgums, only several yards away, she saw him. It did not take long for curiosity to get the better of her, and she moved carefully forwards.

Karween could hardly see, and almost didn’t notice the other horse at first. So it was, the yearling stopped short, shoulder to shoulder with the stallion, surprised to see brumbies this near to the stockmen and their huts. There were not many brumbies that would take such a chance.

But by the smell of it, the horse was indeed only a brumby, and not tame as she might have otherwise thought. Karween regarded the young mare with mild interest. There was nothing to be worried about, and it did not take the yearling long to be convinced of that.

Obviously, any stallion would want to add to his mob, particularly a stallion with a mob so small as this. It was only natural for Jirrand to have more than one or two mares, and while little more than a yearling, Karween knew better than to interfere.

[Ehetere]

Jirrand was glad to see Kalari’s tense form soften at his reassurances - he hated others, especially other mares, in distress. Jirrand himself did tense slightly when Kalari spotted Karween’s sleeping shape, momentarily fearing that the palomino mare would wish harm to the kind little filly. But Jirrand immediately reconsidered - from what he remembered of the patterned mare and from what she had demonstrated tonight she was kind and caring, not the type inclined to violence.

His heart warmed at her acceptance of protection - the thought of a nice mare like her was truly a sad thing. In his opinion no such mare should have to live in fear of capture from man or cruel stallion - both should be taught a lesson for it.

Karween’s sudden awakening made Jirrand jerk his head in her direction with a questioning nicker. Was something wrong? Whickering encouragingly when she came to stand beside him, he lipped at her mane, still unhappy about her skinniness.

“Kalari, this is Karween,” he said softly, introducing the littlest and only member of his little mob. The small filly had truly earned a place in his heart, and he hoped that if Kalari did decide to come with them after tomorrow morning that the two would get along. He couldn’t stand the thought of them arguing and fighting. “Karween, meet Kalari.”

[yaruka]

Kalari nodded to the filly as Jirrand introduced her, reaching out gently with her pink nose in an offered greeting. Her eyes still followed the harsh lines of the little filly's ribs, clearly visible even in the darkness of the night. The sweet mare was horrifed by the thought of such ill health, not realising that she herself looked only slightly better. Her normally sleek coat had not shed out properly in the spring, likely caused by her forced abnormal diet, and the strain and worry of living by herself had brought a temporary gauntness to her already slight frame. Kalari had always been ribby, but now her hip bones protuded more than ever and her sides were hollowed.
"Nice to meet you," she said quietly to the filly, too shy to think of much else to say.