Paper Snowflakes [Tiggs/Open]

[E!]

B O K A R A;;

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[stormsnow]

Another horse was in Yarraman's Valley that day. Loorea had made her way down to the fabled valley, where the King of Brumbies lived- some of the time. Her conpanion, Daku the dingo, trotted along at her side in silence, for if other horses were around, he did not want to draw attention to the brumby who trotted along at his side.

Loorea would be a prize for any stallion or man. She was a pure, blinding white, the only true white horse in Australia. Her breed of horse was rare, so rare that any horses of her breed was in England, exept her parents, who had both recently died. Her nosetip was pink, and she had charming light blue eyes, which normally radiated courage and friendliness.

Suddenly, the dingo saw two horses- a bay stallion and a mare- making their way down into the valley, in front of he and Loorea. His nose, normally able to pick up the scent of horse a mile away, was causing him a lot of pain. Because of the snow constantly falling on it, plus the fact that snow was all there was by the way of water, had given Daku a cold which racked his whole body with sneezes at least once a minute.

He and Loorea had passed a sleepless night, due to laying down in the open. It had snowed the whole night, chilling the two friends to the bone and keeping them awake, and therefore, their eyes were half shut with weariness. However, the dingo gave his companion a kick, and her eyes opened fully. "Do you think we should go back?" She whispered, lowing her head to Daku's level.

"No, let's keep go- ACHOOO!" He gave vent to a sudden, deafening sneeze, and tumbled down the hill, with Loorea pounding after him. The dingo skidded to a halt just in front of the stallion, and the white mare stopped beside him, nudging him upright. As she did so, she noticed that it was more sheltered in the valley, which was just what she and Daku had hoped it would be like. Exept the fact that they were not alone. . .

OOC: Sorry if I'm butting in. . .

[Tiggs]

Since joining Bokara, Quinja had not had much time to miss her family and friends. Bokara kept her entertained, and she had seen more of the High Country than she ever had in the last few months. She followed him now across increasingly familiar terrain. The King’s valley! Quinja wondered if the herd would be here, but she doubted it. They would have gone south for the winter, to the better grazing. She and Bokara had the High Country all to themselves!

They reached a steep slope, and Quinja paused near the top of it to look down on the valley below. The pristine snow showed very few tracks, and Quinja knew they would have fun here making their own tracks. Bokara was making his way down ahead of her, and she watched and laughed joyously as he sped into a canter for the rest of the hill.

She tossed her head when he looked up at her, her black mane catching in the snow-flurried wind. She returned his call with one as joyous and carefree as his. She teased him with half-steps as the snow began to come down in earnest, and when she could barely see him, she whinnied and started down the slope in a mad run.

She came skidding to a halt beside him, tossing her head in excitement and half-rearing and bucking playfully. The grey roan squealed and pranced, calming enough to nose her stallion with sweet little nudges. Oh how she loved to touch Bokara. He was so warm and kind! She rested her nose on his for a long moment, sighing happily. She and her stallion were perfect, and she felt ever more self-confident with every day that she spent with him. She could believe his words now when he called her beautiful.

Now with winter all around them, they could explore and fall in love. Quinja wondered if she was all the way there yet, or if she had even further to fall. They could be alone together all winter, and she hoped when spring came – no, she knew when spring came – that she would be old enough to bare foals. She had dreams of them, little bay colts! Guiltily she sometimes dreamed of black colts, and it was Tingara that looked over them, not Bokara. Her heart still held onto that great black King, and while the rest of it filled with Bokara, he could not seem to replace the black stallion.

Their solitude was suddenly broken with a loud sound, and out of the snow came a dingo. Quinja squealed in fright, and stomped her feet as near as she dared to the dingo before she backed away, pushing Bokara to do the same. She did not notice the white mare for a moment, but her eyes went wide with shock when she did. The mare was made out of snow, and the dingo was right next to her!

“Look out! It’s a dingo!” She warned the other mare shrilly. To her horror, the mare nosed the dingo, and Quinja squealed and looked to Bokara. “She’s helping the dingo!” Was the mare mad?! Was Quinja imagining the snow mare? Quinja pressed close to her bay stallion, and stared as the mare helped the dingo to his feet. Mad! Definitely mad.

[E!]

[/b] his smooth, lyrical voice went out to both the dingo and the beautiful mare. Polite, quiet and insanely curious. His ears flicked forward, and he felt Quinja's hot flank against his rump. Bokara gave a soft sound, meant for Quinja only, to reassure her.[/ul]

[stormsnow]

Daku dodged away from the grey roan’s hooves, but did not try to strike back. He knew that most dingoes fended for themselves, and their mate, and saw horses as meat, or danger, or both. But Loorea owed her freedom to him; in turn, he owed his friendliness and fearlessness to her. He surveyed the scene before him: the grey mare, staring in horror at Loorea, as if she thought the white mare mad, and the bay stallion, shielding his mare from any possible harm. He studied the stallion as he came forward a little. He was a sight to tempt most mares to desert their herds and follow him, and Daku could not help but wonder if the stallion wanted Loorea to join him. He certainly wouldn’t want a dingo tagging along, that was one thing Daku knew.

Loorea was somewhat surprised by the mare’s actions. The grey roan moved as if she expected Daku to attack her, and stared, aghast, at the white mare when she helped her friend to his paws. Then the young mare understood: if she was a normal horse, and Daku was a normal dingo, she would not have helped him up. She would want to get as far away as possible.
She was jolted back into the present by the sound of hooves crunching in snow, as saw that the stallion was coming towards herself and Daku. There was a moment’s silence, and then the stallion spoke. As he did, the mare saw curiosity in his eyes. She heard him reassure his mare; then the white mare spoke.

“Greetings,” Loorea replied, in a light, pleasant tone. “This is Daku, named for the sand,” she whickered, indicating her friend with her muzzle, “and I am Loorea, named for the moon. May I be so bold as to ask you your names?” As she spoke, she directed her friendly blue gaze at the stallion and his mare. The bay stallion was certainly handsome, and he seemed friendly enough. But she did not wish to steal his heart away and win the enmity of his mare. She was curious, however, about whence the two had come, and what their personalities were like.

Daku saw the stallion step forward and heard him address himself and Loorea, then make a comforting sound to his mare. He dipped his head politely when his friend introduced him. Don’t get too friendly all of a sudden, he thought to his friend. Wait until you know a bit more about him and his mare. Looking at both, the stallion and Loorea, he saw curiosity in both their gazes as they stared at each other, and then he sneezed violently. "ACHOOO!"

[Tiggs]

Quinja pressed up to Bokara, peering around his rump to the odd couple. Bokara was calm, and so Quinja’s anxiety began to ease. She returned his comforting nicker with a soft whinny, and nosed his flank. The stallion was a wonderful one. Even faced with a dingo and a mysterious mare, he could keep her calm.

The grey roan listened to the exchange between her stallion and the snow mare, keeping her eyes on the dingo. A single dog was not enough to take down a full-grown brumby, but Quinja has been so started when the dingo rolled in that she could imagine a pack lurking just out of sight.

Quinja was convinced by now that the snow mare had some kind of power over the dingo, which was why he followed her everywhere. It had not escaped her attention that the mare was so strikingly coloured, and like Daku, she wondered if Bokara would ask her to join them. Quinja felt a guilty pang of jealousy. She was not nearly as pretty or interesting as the white mare. She knew that Bokara would collect more mares eventually, but she had hoped it would not be so soon.

She was jerked from her mournful thoughts by the loud noise from the dingo. She jumped and let out a short squeal. “He sneezed!” She exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the dingo. She hadn’t realised dingoes could sneeze, and it somehow made the dingo less frightening. The roan mare moved out a little from behind Bokara so she could get a better look at the dingo. How strange!

[E!]

[/i] was life with a dingo as a herd member? His ears flicked toward the yellow dog in interest, a bemused smile on his lips.

As the mare spoke, his thin ears twitched her way, fine boned face facing her head on. The two newcomers names were introduced and their names were asked in return. Daku and Loorea, the sand and the moon. A chilly breeze caught Bokara's mane as his smooth tones were spoken to reply to Loorea. "How pleasant to find company on such a cold winters day, I am Bokara, heat, and this..." he paused, turning his head to look at Quinja, his eyes only for her, warm and sweet. Bokara turned back to face Loorea and Daku "This is Quinja". The smile returned on his sooty lips, intelligent gaze turning to Daku as he sneezed.

The exclamation from Quinja behind him made him tense breifly, startled. His gaze switched again to the grey roan filly, eyes sparkling in amusement, before moving back to the lovely blue eyes of Loorea. "We had thought we were alone in Yarramans Valley - most of the herds have moved to lower ground. Luckily there is enough grazing for just the two of us". The dark bay stallions gaze switched to the sky, as the last of snow flakes fell and melted.

"I fear it may be a harsh winter. Its best not to stay in one spot too long, Quinja and I have been traveling through the High Country - our blood on fire for adventure and excitement" the sweet smile returned, "And you two? What brings you to this valley of kings?" again, that cold wind blew and chilled Bokara. He moved slightly closer to Quinja, pressing close to her to share his warmth - though his slender frame couldnt have provided as much as the black kings.

Oh, Bokara knew how his dear Quinja's heart was split. He could see it in her gaze some mornings when she awoke, her head still in a dream. She did not see him, the beautiful sweet bay, but a strong, proud black king. And it killed him, it did. But he kept that pain hidden, prefering to spend what time he could with his grey roan filly, before her longing for the King drew her back to him - when Bokara would fight for her love, to try and see that longing directed at him, to perhaps have her look at him the way she did at Tingara.[/ul]

[stormsnow]

The mare smiled at Quinja's exclamation, nodding at Bokara's words. "Daku and I came here for adventure, like yourselves, and also because we thought that there may be a little shelter somewhere in this valley, and food. I fear we may have been disillusioned." She was suddenly distracted by the dingo, who, being smaller than the horses and freezing cold, had crawled under her belly and was scraping the snow away. When he was done, he lay down, and, somewhat sheltered, went promptly to sleep.

Loorea wondered where the filly had come from before being with the bay stallion. She was clearly a little distracted. Could she have been one of the King's herd? Other horses had said that most of his mares and fillies had a high opinion of him and were completely smitten. Maybe she was thinking about her former herd leader? But no. Surely Bokara would bear wounds from a fight? The white mare twitched her ears, dismissing the thought.

[Tiggs]

As the dingo had stopped doing interesting things, Quinja hesitantly looked away from it. She shuffled back a little, noticing she had crept forward while she had stared. She pressed herself tightly to Bokara again, comforted by the warmth of his side on hers. She longed to run with him, away from the frightening dingo and the strange mare.

Looking at the mare now, Quinja wondered if she were a Nightrunner. The roan had heard tales of such a breed. Their stallions would steal mares away in the night, and then they would never be seen again. A Nightrunner mare was unheard of – if they did exist they were too well hidden – but Quinja was fairly sure that was what stood before her. Shocking pale coat, pink lips. Her eyes were blue, not red, but perhaps that was the way of their mares.

Quinja came to a startling idea. If the Nightrunner stallions stole mares, did Nightrunner mares steal stallions? She pressed closer still to Bokara. Well, Quinja for one would not let Loorea take Bokara. She might only be a filly, but on the cusp of marehood, she refused to lose Bokara. Sweet Bokara, who had shown her love and adventure.

The grey stepped up a little, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her stallion. Eyeing Loorea critically, Quinja guessed that she was a mature mare, at four or five years old. Quinja was not even three, and if Loorea and her herd decided to take Bokara, Quinja could not even hope to be of help. If they ran now, perhaps they could escape whatever trap Loorea was springing.

Quinja pressed her nose to Bokara’s, trying to tell him with her eyes that she was worried, and wanted to find somewhere safer to be. She felt rude to treat Loorea like this, but then she reminded herself that Loorea was going to steal Bokara, and she might never see him again! The filly blew out a sigh of nervous air. That thought frightened her.

[E!]

[/b] Bokara stopped, watching in interest as Daku scraped himself a clear patch of grass underneath Loorea to sleep upon.

His eyes could see interest and questioning in Loorea's own as she looked toward Quinja, and his neat hooves shifted slightly in the shallow snow as he wondered what she could have been thinking. Quinja pressed against him and Bokara could feel how tense she was, her muscles tight against his body. He briefly pondered what she could possibly be afraid of - after all, it had been proven that the dingo was in no way planning to attack them.

The grey roan filly pressed even closer, and Bokara could feel his bay hairs intertwining with her own pale ones. He looked curiously to her as she moved up to his shoulder, but he turned back to Loorea with a gentlemanly smile when she did not return his gaze. His lips opened as he was about to speak, but Quinja's nervous touch made him pause.

His big eyes flickered to hers, warm, soft. Her worries were plain in more than her eyes, the lines of her body seemed tense with it - the very muscles responding to her fears. He blew hot air softly onto her pale nose, wondering what could have gotten her so worked up. Bokara's beautiful head tilted a little, knowing that Quinja wanted to leave - but not knowing why. A low neigh escaped his throat as he comforted her, unsure of why he had to.

He turned back to Loorea, eyes set on hers - the colours so different. Indeed, Bokara was in the prescence of two mares that looked very different to himself. He, a common bay with a dark, dark pelt, stood with a pale grey roan filly and a snow-white mare! Only he and Quinja's eyes were that lovely warm colour of chocolate. "We are going to rest here until nightfall, and then travel onward to the south, you're welcome to graze with us" Bokara said this nervously - not because it seemed like he was asking for Loorea's company, but because he was uncertain as to what had unnerved his fillies heart so thoroughly.

His handsome head dropped, and he made to pick at the grass delicately. His delicate shoulder pushed against Quinja, moving her slowly through the valley, to get her alone; which provided a chance to ask her why she had become tense and nervous. His lips released soft sounds for her ears, worried for her, and letting her know that whatever it was - he would be there protecting her to the end.[/ul]