A Safe Haven (Eumina and Ekala)

[Li<3]

As the sun finally disappeared, the moon brightened the night over Brindle Bull. Creatures moved into burrows of nests as the world rested. A lone hoot of an owl in the distance set the feeling of eerie calm that most nights in Australia held. Scrambling of rocks clattering down and the soft landing of a massive creature on grass filled the small clearing as Pallarang looked around.

His soft eyes looked over the lush green grass and protected area. A few random trees dotted the area, growing out of the tall rocks that surrounded the area. This would be the perfect place to stop and nurse wounds. His shoulder ached from the journey down the Ramsheads and the tear in his lip was still bleeding, though not as profusely as before. Pallarang smiled and looked back to the mares who he had guided down here.

A gentle nicker left his lips as he called to them, turning back to wait for them. He hoped that the young dun's leg had held up well down on their journey. It was a less serious injury that Pallarang's, but the mares fear could have made it worse. "Come along now," he said softly to the mares. "We can't travel any further, but this looks like a safe place to stop for the night. Replenish your energy and rest for a while," he said gently, making sure to look relaxed and kind.

Pallarang had stayed gentle and kind the entire way down. Keeping a respective distance from the mares, especially the filly, but helping them when they needed it. He smiled up at the red dun now, his warm eyes showing nothing but affection and care even though he heat was driving him insane, he held himself. The roan couldn't care her or she would never trust him. He hoped she would warm up to him.

[Tiggs]

Eumina was feeling blank and numb by the time they stopped. Her leg had stopped paining her after a while, the gash has ceased bleeding and there was probably only a tender bruise should she nose it. Eumina couldn’t think about her leg now though. Ekala had got the young mare moving, but she had walked only at the mare’s insistence, and the constant presence of a stallion had driven her beyond fear.

It seemed like seasons had passed before they stopped and the stallion spoke to them. His voice rolled over her like thunder and though she didn’t hear the words, she shivered at the tone. The stallion commanded that they stop, and Eumina slunk away from Ekala to stand alone by a dry rock face. Ekala – who Eumina had trusted to keep her away from stallions – had made her follow one all the way from the Ramshead! The young dun mare felt betrayed, and felt utterly hopeless.

She was trapped now with him, and to make matters worse, she was still in heat. She was acutely aware of every step he made, and felt his heavy gaze on her. She quivered, standing in as close to the rock wall as she could manage. The stone was cool against her flank, but infuriatingly it did nothing to douse the warmth inside her. Every time she saw or smelt or heard the stallion, her insides gave a jolt and her tail twitched traitorously. She tried to close her pale blue eyes, but she could only stare at the stallion, a huge beast in the darkness. It was only a matter of time before he came to her, and she knew Ekala would not save her this time.

[Li<3]

What had he done know? Pallarang had done nothing but protect and help this young mare and her protector, but he sure didn't have anything to show for it. The roan sighed and shook his head. That kind of thinking would never help him at all. He had to approach this softly, quietly, and with a gentleness not often found in most stallions.

With a gentle look to Ekala, the large stallion slowly approached the red dun. He held his head below hers with his ears lazily rolled forward in curiosity and kindness in his eyes. There was a slight limp in his walk as he moved from his injured shoulder, but he tried to ignore the pain.

He stopped a few feet beside her and blew air out of his nostrils gently and into her nose. He kept his gentle gaze on her eyes the entire time, trying to get her to understand he had no intent of hurting her. "How's your leg?" Pallarang asked softly. He dropped his head to her leg and gently muzzled the bruise, trying to mimic the gentle touches he had seen Ekala give her earlier. As he brought his head up again he smiled gently. "So, I suppose you won't tell me what your name is," he said and chuckled softly. He thought for a moment. "I guess I could call you Rose if you don't mind. Since you're just as red and just as pretty."

It took every ounce of his being to not lose himself to the intoxicating smell of her heat. Whenever she whisked her tail he nearly shuddered, but Pallarang had to hold his ground. He couldn't make any sudden movements or risk scaring the poor filly.

[E!]

Ekala followed Pallarang with ease, her knowledge of traveling through the Ramsheads and the High Country helping her when a younger, less experienced horse might have stumbled. The big stallion had been kind enough, but Ekala knew her daughter had been in a state of shock, even as she got moving. Her leg would no doubt stiffen up by tomorrow, and then the little red filly would be limping around worse than ever. As Pallarang stopped, Ekala turned to snuff the small figure next to her, only to find that Eumina had crept away to be alone. It tugged at Ekala's heartstrings, but she had never been one to press herself on someone who wanted to be alone, and she respected the red fillies need for space.

Pallarang, however, seemed intent on showing her that he meant no harm - something that would not show to Eumina. She gave him a warning look as he passed, but allowed him to approach her surrogate daughter, dropping her handsome head to graze, one eye on the pair of horses. If he went too far, she would step in and give him a firm warning - however, it was his place now, to treat her and Eumina how he wished. That did not mean she wouldn't leave if things got bad, but she was prepared to put up with his young antics until it was safe for her to slip away and be alone once more - leaving her daughter behind.

[Tiggs]

If there was one fundamental truth that Eumina was sure of, it was that Ekala was wrong. Any mare that told her that not all stallions were bad was telling a lie. She didn’t blame them for it – they must have been told the same lie before to believe it – but Eumina knew that every stallion was bad and every stallion sought only to hurt and scare mares and fillies. Or at least, she thought she had...

What reason did they have to be nice, really? They were bigger and stronger. They didn't have to be nice to get what they wanted. They would fight other stallions just for grazing on the same meadow, and they would kill them to take their mares. All Eumina could see was the brutality, the cruelty. She had been chased and hunted and cornered so often that it was impossible to see stallions any other way.

So why did her instincts tell her the opposite? Why did it feel so good and right to have Pallarang so close? Why did the shivers that came over her when he spoke warm her rather than chill her? Why was his very breath, his smell, his presence so comforting? Why couldn’t she look away, breathe without drinking in his scent? Why did one stallion make her question everything that she knew?

He touched her leg and she didn’t flinch. He spoke and she didn’t cower. He showed her compassion and she believed him. Every move he made fuelled that bushfire of an inferno inside of her. She too was intoxicated, and subconsciously she reacted to his need. All she could do was think about him, and that name. Rose. He had named her. Why? Only Ekala had cared to name her before. Stallions didn’t need a name to hurt her.

The compliment pushed her to a precarious edge. The cliff top was her home. Up here was the familiar vertigo of fear and desolation. Below her was the world she couldn’t see through the mist. But she saw in the mist a solid shape; Pallarang. The mountain. The very mountain was rising up to meet her. She wouldn’t have to jump, she wouldn’t have to hurt, Pallarang would catch her if she fell, and the little red filly wanted him to.

With a noiseless snort of air through her delicate pink nostrils, the filly picked up her head just a notch. Her stark blue eyes were still wide, still unsure, but she saw him now. Not as the enemy, not as her tormentor, but as a new unknown. She tilted her muzzle, just an inch, toward him. She wanted to reach out, but she didn’t know how. She had never asked for anything before. She didn’t know the motions, and she certainly didn’t know the words. Those helpless blue eyes looked at him, asking for something, almost anything. She couldn’t bear for him to go away, but she didn’t know how to ask him to stay.

[Li<3]

What was different? She hadn’t shuddered when he came up to her, hadn’t flinched when he gently touched her leg, she even didn’t quake when he spoke to her. What was she doing and why? Was she actually coming around? Was she really going to accept him?

For his entire life, Pallarang had striven for acceptance. His father was the gentler sort of stallion, like himself, and had only ever been able to keep his mother. As a colt, Pallarang didn’t appreciate that. He had started running off and fighting with the colts of herds near his own. He got big and strong, but he had none of the values his father had tried teaching him. He was ashamed of his father who had once been a tamed horse. He thought him weak and cowardly. It wasn’t until the great stallion had saved Pallarang when he realized what he hadn’t done right. His whole world was about being the biggest and the strongest, but his father had taught him where real bravery stood. It stood in the protection of those who could not protect themselves.

After that, the roan had left to start his own herd and try to live bravely. That was why he had fought to save the lovely little filly from the dark monster who tried to claim her. Pallarang knew that he would have to do his best to protect this mare, just like the blue roan mare had. Only there was something else.

Her lithe body, dainty head, deep blue eyes, they were all intriguing. Not to mention the intoxicating scent that was emanating from her. She was the first mare he had ever even had a chance to take into his own her, and he was obviously interested. He wouldn’t be putting so much effort into trying to get her to accept him if he wasn’t. Pallarang could just nip and herd her away from Ekala and claim her as his own, but it was more than that. She wasn’t just a stupid mare, she was Rose.

Her blue eyes gazed into his own with a look of curiosity, but also fear and caution. His brown eyes gave her a gentle, reassuring look and he began to stretch his neck in response to her extended muzzle. Pallarang knew that she had probably never done anything like this, and he was going to help her along as best he could. He was pretty confused about it all himself, but he wouldn’t give up. He softly rested his muzzle onto her small pink one and let out a breath, releasing his scent into her. He then took in a gentle breath, breathing in her scent. He did this a few more times before pulling back. His lip still ached, but it felt right to make this exchange with her.

The yips of dingoes out on a night hunt caused him to look up attentively in that direction. They were distant, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep that night. Pallarang turned back to Rose and looked at her warmly. “Get some sleep, I’ll keep watch,” he said gently and dropped his head to graze, but his ears kept a strict record of everything happening in and around their small hideaway.

[Tiggs]

OOC: E said she didn’t mind if these two stepped out of post order while they’re talking to just each other XD Excuse any assumptions I make for the later part of this post, just poke me if they don’t sound right!

Eumina was no stranger to a racing heart, the rush and tingle of nerves, the sudden blankness of her senses, but usually it was fear and it never felt good. When Pallarang’s dark nose rested against hers, she was sure her heart would explode and her fur would crawl off from the tingling but it felt good. Her eyes fluttered closed as she held her nose against his, breathing him in as if his scent was the only breathable air in the High Country.
Her tail twitched again, and she let it, forgetting everything but the overwhelming of this stallion clouding her senses. He was all she could comprehend. Like the gloomy shadow of the granite tors above them, Pallarang eclipsed everything in this small filly’s world, and she could not escape it. She shuddered as he pulled away, eyes opening franticly. Was he drawing away to lash out at her? Had she angered him?

His voice rumbled over her again, and told her to sleep. He moved away, and Eumina fought to keep her spindly legs from following after him of their own accord. His gaze coming off of her was like the sun dropping below the horizon. A sudden cold enveloped her, and she fought harder not to shiver the further he moved away.

How could she even think to sleep?! She felt so vulnerable, and the pale red filly pushed up the the cold rock face fr what comfort she could derive from its solid presence. She knew that Ekala was not far, but the mare was almost forgotten with the all-encompassing presense of the stallion. Eumina dropped her head, closing her eyes as if that might help shut out the frightening new thoughts.

Sleep snatched her away almost instantly. The filly had been exhausted. She woke sometime in the dead of night in a panic. All light had been leached from the sky, and there were only stars and a sliver of moon for light. Ekala slept not too far away, and as her eyes and ears adjusted, she saw that the stallion had moved to graze across the small clearing. True to his word, he was still keeping watch.

Sleep had served to calm the filly’s nerves over the stallion but just seeing him again brought that fire back to life, and this time there was no pushing it back. The white-faced filly had stepped half way across the clearing on dainty pale hooves before she realised. She jerked to a halt, gasping in a breath. What was she doing? Why couldn’t she resist? Was this a dream?

Tail and neck arched, the nervous filly stepped slowly up to the stallion, limping only slightly on her tender leg. She knew what damage those big hooves could do. One strike and she would be dead. His teeth could gasp and shake her as easily as a dingo with a rabbit. Simply barging into her would send her sprawling. The stallion held so much more power than her, and while her instincts rules, it was no longer a fearsome thing.

She stopped a horse-length away from him. Nostrils flaring, she reached for him, neck straining, feet planted. Despite her undeniable feelings, she could not close that last gap. She fixed him with that hopeless stare again, almost unperceivable in the darkness. She hoped for... something... everything. She hoped he would close that distance for her. She hoped he would come to her and push that fear away again with his touch.

[Li<3]

The roan watched the mares fall asleep and then looked around. The night was his only companion and as the moon rose, he began to graze. The sounds of the hunting dingo's moved farther away and only the occasional rustle of leaves or sound of a night bird made him bring up his head to look around.

Pallarang's ears picked up Rose's movement before she woke. He figured she would just go back to sleep, but he heard her coming toward him. When she jerked to a halt halfway across the small clearing he lifted his head slightly and looked at her. Was she... coming toward him? Was she not afraid anymore? He watched her come closer and stop a few feet from him, stretching her neck out awkwardly to greet him.

With a few slow steps, he pressed his muzzle against hers and exchanged breaths with her again. After a short while, Pallarang pulled away and looked into her eyes. Every ounce in his being was telling him to do something that he knew if he did with out her permission, she would never trust him. He gently brushed his muzzle between her eyes and smiled gently at her.

"You don't need to be afraid Rose," he whispered softly to her. Feeling like this was the only thing he could say. Feeling like he had to protect her from this fear that plagued her. And he felt like he could do it.

[Tiggs]

Just like before, his gentle touch chased away the monsters plaguing her. They always lurked in her peripheral vision, spooking the filly so that she really did fear her own shadow. But Pallarang just muted them all. Just like a switch, he turned them off. Eyes closing, the filly let out a long low sigh, tension draining out of her.

The silent night was for once serene. It was not the demon-invested hell that the filly feared every time the sun fell. There were no cruel stallions waiting to come and get her. There was just Pallarang, and she could not fear him, it was physically impossible. She felt something she couldn’t remember feeling since she was a foal – freedom. She was not the world’s prisoner. With Pallarang’s touch, she was her own. It was strange, and a surge of longing made her want to share herself with the big roan stallion.

Stepping forward, the filly kept her nose against him and tentatively rested her shoulder against his, her felt quivering as it met his. Her season flared, and in her dreamy state, she flicked her tail against his flank and pushed her pale red shoulder closer to his white-flecked body. She didn’t have to be afraid. She shivered, and it was good. She couldn’t be afraid. She had tried to conjure the fear over and over, every step closer she came to him she tried to bring the fear to the surface so she could get away. But she didn’t want to get away, and the fear just did not come.

Whether it was Pallarang or her first heat was uncertain, but Eumina did not care in that instant. Feeling his flank hot and solid against hers conjured ideas of other things, and she blinked up at him shyly. She was losing that precious hold on her control, and her tail tapped a nervous invitation against the stallion’s flank, giving him the freedom to act on the urges that her scent inspired. Pallarang would be her stallion, and that fact made her future suddenly bright and clear and hopefully, fearless.

[Li<3]

The feeling of her closeness, made the roan uncomfortable. He could hardly control himself, but Pallarang had to hold his ground. Then, Rose moved to his shoulder. The feeling of her touch against his skin made his muscles tense slightly. He felt the gentle quiver of her pelt made him realize. She couldn't know what she was asking for though. Or did she? Instincts were a powerful thing. He was feeling the effect of them right now.

As her tender touch moved down the length of his body, small bolts of excitement ran through his body. When she stopped he gently nuzzled her rump, taking in the scent coming from that area. Pallarang moved slowly and methodically, he couldn't scare her. He wouldn't scare her.

...

The roan snorted and breathed in deeply, walking up toward the mare's head. His gentle muzzle nuzzled her cheek and she blew air on her face softly. Pallarang's shoulder ached, but he couldn't feel the pain. He was in a happy little bubble that involved the breeze in his mane, the grass under his hooves, and the mare at his side. For this night, she was his world.

"Are you alright?" he whispered softly into her ear. He hoped she wouldn't be to terrified after what had just happened. From what Pallarang had gathered from Ekala and his own observations of the young mare, she seemed to be afraid of stallions. And who could blame her. Stallions could be horrifyingly dangerous creatures, and most of them are, but he was trying not to be one of those stallions. He wanted nothing more than for Rose to still be as comfortable with him as she had been before.