Endlessly Searching [Rivre/Open]

[E!]

He was nervous, and frustrated. How many nights had it been since he had set eyes upon her? Too many. Infact, it had been almost a year! Bokara struggled with the concept of it - it had been before he had found Quinja, and fought off Yarakai..and won. She had not left his mind though, that mare - the mare of the starshine dance. He didnt even know her real name! Bokara picked his way up the slope, through the snowgums and mountain ash, long legs finding it easier than sturdier stallions.

It was a cool autumn night, but sweat pricked behind the sweet bays ears as he climbed the slow slope. His nostrils flared as he searched for the faint scent that he had registered to be hers - a faintly sweet smell, almost like that of a wildflower..but not quite so strong. He could hear the gentle sound of Quinja following, and slowed for a moment, standing still, beautiful head up, ears pricked. He had grown in the past year, his muscles had hardened and his chest and neck had become more muscles. And yet he was still as lean and tall as the very snowgums he walked beneath.

His thick lashes fluttered as he blinked, head turning to look back at his beloved grey mare, following faithfully - though he wondered at how long. It had been told to him by the kangaroos that Tingara wanted his stolen grey mare back. Bokara was still frightened of the big black, but was calmer about it - he would do what he must to keep his beloved..unless, what she wanted was to return to her king. The gentle bays heart broke at the thought, and in a smooth motion his head returned to face forward and he continued to pick his way through the trees.

[Rivre]

It had been a year, a year since any had seen her poised above her cliff - but now it was the time for leaves to fall again, for the sun to beat a little less intensely - it was time for her to dance. Nukara rode the breeze not unlike the dainty waxed snowgum petals, hooves making little or no sound as she wove between pale gums, a ghost horse. How fun to be out again!

Legs rose, and rear greeted them, as a playful buck escaped her tense form, prancing along, ears pinned forwards. Something moved in the wattle and scrub beside her, and she stopped to gaze in wonder at the family of wombats, slowly dipping her head before whisked away again by the faint gale. Maybe she truly was a thing to be wanted?

The night was young, younger than she cared to remember, the heavens tainted ever so slightly by the pink and rose dusk, an unusual time to be seeking something, especially for this mare. But again a shadow moved ahead of her, a great bay stallion. She suspected that it was the same one she had vowed to follow only a summer ago - then too young and wild to have been tamed by any stallion - but he had grown! Muscle filled the once-lean gaps, still as tall and perfectly handsome as before - her night mystery... With grey mare!

In front the bay had pulled around to look at the queerly coloured grey, affection lighting his gaze, almost as powerful as the intense desire she felt to gallop away, to be free, but not quite. Sliding to a halt, she tilted her head to get a better angle, snorting softly and distilling the quiet air, a faint huff of billowed clouds. She was pretty, she would give her that, and Nukara longed for company now, so many had tried to claim her before, but as of a year ago, she had never thought twice about them.

She had always imagined it being just her, a white cream mare, and her strong bay stallion to face them all - now the dream shattered before her very eyes. What if he had come to love this mare of shadow and moonlight? Was she as radiant as herself? Well maybe she would play with him a while, and judge for herself what he was seeking through the night.

She stepped silently out, just as he began on again, pacing him evenly and perhaps even quieter than before. When he turned, she would whisk herself away into the bush, and appear somewhere ahead - how fun! Tonight would indeed be a night to remember.

[E!]

OOC; sorry I took so long >.<

BIC;

The air grew chillier by the moment, and Bokara's mahogany eyes flickered from the ground below him to the rose coloured sky above. Though he kept moving, his eyes lay upon the setting sun as his long legs took him with his usual grace over the terrain. He could feel his new found strength surging through his body, and the coming of night seemed to prick at his muscles, making him feel more alive - more alert, and certainly refilled his want for the beauty he had seen over a year ago. Oh, how joyous she had looked balanced precariously on the edge of the cliff! She was not a ghost, he was sure of it.. no matter what other beasts had told him.

Bokara's neat hooves paused before stepping forward once more, his skin prickled with the feeling of being watched. It was this that made him turn his gaze to the mountain ash around him, and what he caught a glimpse of set his blood alight. She was there! The mare of the starshine dance! It was as if he had frozen, his lean muscles tensed and then loosened, his bright eyes stuck to her graceful figure, drinking in the sight as if she were a miracle. Perhaps she was. The beautiful bay had indeed, found what he was looking for - though he knew not what he seeked. Had it just been a mare, his satisfaction might have ended in finding her.. but Bokara still felt the need to touch this pale beauty, to know that she was real, and not a ghost. He could not possibly hope to own her, but to travel with her as part of his lovely herd... his heart quickened at the thought.

Unfreezing, Bokara took a quick step forward, head raised not with pride, but with certainty in himself. Finally, he had lost the uncertainty in his beauty, his strength. He was a beautiful beast, and even more so now with his newfound courage and solidarity. The cool evening breeze caressed his ebon mane, pulling it back from his fine boned face. Bokara's curved nostrils flared as he took in the faint scent of the mare he had been seeking. She was real, he could see the solid curve of her flesh upon her very real frame, smell her sweet fragrance as it lifted from her body...he could see the shine in her eyes.

Almost unwillingly, his throat released a soft sound - a welcoming whicker, filled with both his longing and his joy at having found her at last. His long ears flicked forward, hoping, praying for a response.

[Rivre]

Soft whispers caressed the night, and pale silver lobes flickered, orbs roving over the strengthening of muscle and gather of sinews, gaze settled as soft nicker brushed past bay lips. Auds pricked, but she gave no sign nor sound that she had in fact been anything but a mirage as she began to turn away and back into the bush. Silence made it's weary way towards the gathering of the three creatures, and Nukara stirred in her cover, tail swishing quietly as she waited to see his baited reaction. How fun this would be!

A small shaly track claimed the track on which many had traveled, swerving sidewards and into the denser surroundings - but she, mare of moonlit wonder, let stride swing forth, and stayed put on the well-traveled slope. A sweat had broken out behind ears and on cold neck, flighty trot claiming the mare as she sped up, up, up, towards the higher ground. Wattle brushed flank and single waxy leaf brushed hide as if fell form it's perch up above; she neared the top now, the top at which the ground flattened and then carried on a gentle incline - but to the horses below it would appear to be the top for now, for them. She swung right, out of her cover and under the glaring moon's rays, falling to pure white and grey torso, pale lips moving to let loud and carefree whinny claim the night, pulling herself up into a rear above of the pair.

It was all in fun and games, but game tired easily, and as she fell slowly back to the fleshy earth, she made the decision to stay this time, in the place above of them - until he came to greet her again and would truly realize she was indeed real. How could he not with such astounding evidence?

[E!]

She had responded with the smallest of movements, the flicking of her ears, her gaze settling on Bokara and making him move forward ever so slightly in anticipation. And then she faded backward, even as he watched, her hide dissapeared into the mountain ash. Bokara let loose another soft neigh, waiting on baited breath to see if she would appear. She did not. Bokara paused for a moment, looking back to Quinja and then pulling himself swiftly up the hillside, tall legs covering the distance quickly and smoothly.

His lovely head lowered, snuffing around for her scent, eyes flicking between the ground and the path ahead excitedly. The track presented itself well, and Bokara could follow it easily enough, his ears pricked for any sound and his nose following her scent as it grew stronger. Bokara stopped and lifted his head as a small sound caught his attention.

There she was! Bright in the new moons caress, lovely as the first night he had seen her. The whinny she released echoed through the night, and Bokara started moving once more - but slower, as if not the frighten her. His strides were long and fluid, taking him slowly upward toward her. Such a small distance between them! Bokara made no sound this time, just floated up toward her, nervous but confident in his beauty, in his strength.

Bokara stretched out his sooty velvet nose, dark eyes bright in the moonlight. She was a wraith in the night, and he, a shadow.

[Rivre]

Nukara watched carefully, watched the give and pull of muscle under hide, the roll of shoulder blades as they ached to twitch and move to accompany the sway of his walk. Energy chorused through her veins like the wild fire that claimed the bush in the hottest of summers, churning, chunring the stomach in anticipation, orbs resting in his own gaze now, quiet and knowing as quivering bay nose, not unlike a shadow, was extended to her her pure silvery white one. Stretching out towards him, she met the soft flesh with pride and certainty, excitment causing limbs to shake and pools to widen as lobes flickered.

"Greetings Bokara of shadow, I have searched for you - and ceased to find - you have searched for me a ceased to find - perhaps this is a dream?" she whispered, feminine tunes playing like chiming little bells under a stray heavens, two mares and their stallion. Gaze flickered to the grey who traversed the country with her bay beauty, skull tipped, "Greetings also to you, 'O pretty grey mare I am Nukara, mare of the starshine dance."

(OOC: Sorry it's so short - but material is hard to come by when you're out of muse x/)

[E!]

His nose quivered gently just before they touched, and ceased to when their flesh had met. Softly, softly their noses touched and Bokara felt ever hair as an electric shock upon his body. He had found her at last! And it seemed she belonged to nobody, here in the wilderness of the Australian Bush. Bokara could hardly believe it.

Then her voice, a sweet melody, chimed into the swiftly darkening night. "Even a dream could not be so lovely, Oh beautiful Nukara" his voice, contrasted with hers, was a deep lullaby. Filled with tones that made up the bay stallion - his beauty, his love of the wild bush.. his joy at being in this moment.

They were out in the open here, upon the hillside. The currawongs would certainly cry of their meeting, the stallion named for heat and his mare of the starshine dance. "Would you join me, O' lovely Nukara?" the moment had come to ask - and Bokara waited upon her reply with baited breath. For her he would risk fighting every stallion that saw her - for surely they would all want her.

[Rivre]

The dainty white felt the pulse of heat as noses touched, radiating from her being as if the very moonlight itself, another soft nicker of excitement escaping tightly closed lips, flanks quivering in her restrained pose; she listened also, to the soft tones of her wanderer, lost in the enthralling melody, in harmony with her own chords, as blacker gaze traveled to the mousy mare, quiet down the hillside, and wondered, what of her? Did she not want to greet her too? It was not that she was vain -she merely knew of her beauty- but she did think it odd not to have been welcomed.


"It seems you have done well for yourself Bokara," she whispered, grasping a few threads of his mane in her lips and tugging on them playfully, eyes flickering to his second captive every now and then. "Perhaps. If you look after me as well as you have done for the mare you have already gained, then yes... I will follow you." The words seemed to echo in the night, and a more visible shiver escaped her slightly shorter form, turning so that she stood beside her stallion, ready to descend the slope, flanks brushing ever so slightly, so that she would be reminded often that a shadow did in fact, consume her.

[E!]

The bay kept eye contact with Nukara, the deep blackness of the two shining orbs prominant in the night. Her words, accompanied with a playful tug on his black mane made Bokara look back in devotion to his sweet grey mare, eyes settled on her lovely face in pleasure. Yes, he had done well. He had not meant to gather more than one mare in this past year - he had thought to be content with Quinja, his grey roan sweetheart. But the sight of Nukara had stuck in his mind, and Bokara had sought her - and found her now.

He thought pleasantly of how his two mares were surely the two most lovely in the High Country. He gave a pleased snort and tossed his mane, turning back to Nukara as she spoke.. answering a question he had longed for the answer to since he had seen her that first night. Her answer filled the sweet bay with a sudden urgency, to run wild and free in the wild night. As if to make her acceptance of him symbolic, Nukara moved to stand beside him, her pale flank against his dark one. A whisper left his sooty lips "Nukara.. my own" and then he gave a loud, long neigh into the night.

His own neigh stirred his heart, and with a sudden jolt Bokara started off down the slope, "Tonight we shall celebrate our youth, come! Let us give the gang gangs something to speak of!" breaking into a canter, the long legged bay stallion picked up speed and galloped down the hillside, dodging between the mountain ash and pausing every so often to dance on his neat, hard hooves. He had acheived more than he had hoped tonight, and his mood was light.

[Rivre]

OOC; Should we leave it here or carry on? x)