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Post by Tiggs on Jul 5, 2008 11:41:06 GMT
As the herd reached the mouth of the valley, Nevada told Brael and Baramay to stay hidden in the trees. They were here so that Dilali could speak to Tingara, not to showcase to the King the beautiful mares he was missing out on. He told this to Brael, adding that up close, Tingara was an ugly mule and she wouldn't want to be queen of his herd. Of course he didn't let Dilali hear this as she might decide to stay with her brother's herd.
Hoping Brael's vanity would keep her from sneaking a peek from her hiding place, he left the liver chestnut to guard the moon filly and the chestnut colt as he directed Dilali further into the valley. The morning had been a dismal one, with pelting rain that stung the pelt and made visibility poor. However the sun was burning away the clouds now half way through the day and as Nevada stepped from the trees, he could see the King's herd grazing far out in the valley's basin.
Trotting to the top of a rise, the young stallion surveyed the herd. Tingara seemed to be absent, though it appeared there were more mares than last time. Gritting his teeth, Nevada fought not to call out to them. He'd come here to give Dilali a chance to be consoled by her brother, not to steal away the King's mares. He turned to Dilali. "We'll wait for Tingara to return, but if he tries to chase me off, I'll lead him away from Baramay and Brael and I need you to take them back out the valley the way we came in and I'll meet you at the Brindle." He nuzzled the beautifully coloured mare, and nudged her to go and join her old herd mates. "I'll call for you when we must leave."
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Post by tingara on Jul 5, 2008 13:31:38 GMT
Dilali nodded to Nevada in thanks and then trotted down the valley towards her old herd. She kept her head down as a sign that something was wrong. She walked straight to Crayola and stood silently beside her waiting for Tingara to re-appear.
Tingara galloped down the far side of the valley, counting the mares and foals as he went. What? There were two new mares. One was Dilali and the other... Nevada! Tingara stopped, reared and let trumpet a warning to the rival stallion. Quickly he got between his mares and the white stallion, pawing the ground. The men and the discovery of his niece’s capture had made him edgy enough; Tingara didn’t need this as well.
“What do you want here?” if Nevada was here to challenge him, Tingara was more than ready to protect his mares from the other stallion.
“Tingara no! He’s here because of me,” Dilali stepped into Tingara’s line of sight and began to rattle off the story of the previous day to him, losing face as the story went.
“I’ve seen Birubi, I went to the hut this morning. She’s ok but the human’s are getting to her,” Tingara comforted his sister before telling her what he saw through the rain.
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Post by Tiggs on Jul 5, 2008 13:43:50 GMT
Typical, straight the the defensive. Nevada was going to taunt the black brumby into a chase, but Dilali intervened. Simply squealing, the younger stallion backed off, trotting along the rise so he could watch Dilali and Tingara and get a good eyeful of Tingara's mares.
Crayola greeted Dilali with a soft whinny and trailed after her as Tingara met with her. Slowly grazing in their direction, she caught Nevada's attention. There was so much temptation just to steal away with any of the mares that grazed in the valley. The spotted mare was particularly interesting, but he couldn't very well lure her away with Tingara watching like a hawk. Grumbling, the younger white stallion lifted his head and stood proudly, content to look impressive to the mares at least. Standing here with Tingara so close was making him itch to run or make a good go of it and fight. Common sense however stopped him from doing either, so he waited while Dilali and her brother talked.
Three other mares caught his eye, three roans. Two blue, and one strawberry. The strawberry one was definitely new, and Nevada just wished he could get closer. Frustrated, Nevada pawed at the ground and tossed his head. He'd only been there few minutes, but already he was getting irrational with hormones.
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Post by yaruka on Jul 6, 2008 1:22:06 GMT
Kala noticed another stallion and mare approach the herd and was immediately intrigued, what was another stallion doing so close to Tingara's herd and what was the other mare's relationship with the black king? She was determined to find out, but the pale stallion stayed too far away for her to get a good look at him- let alone speak to him. Sighing slightly in frusteration, Kala concluded that it would be unwise for her to satisfy her curiousity and go over to meet him, thereby risking Tingara's fury, and so she stayed put, swishing her tail back and forth impatiently. She couldn't resist, however, arching her neck slightly and showing off her good looks- after all it wasn't often she was around two handsome stallions!
Jannali too had seen the newcomers and was instantly riveted by the silverly coloured stallion. Could it be? The young stallion the birds had spoken of? Nevada! Jannali was so focused on watching the stallion that she didn't even noticed Kala preening just next to her. Quivering, she watched the stallion intently, determined that she should not lose track of him, and wondering how she could convince Kala that they must somehow join his herd. She could not bring herself to outright go over to him and ask to join his herd, first of all she was too proud for that, and Tingara had been too hospitable to them for her to feel ok about insulting him by blatantly chosing another stallion over him, especially infront of his other mares. She thus decided that she and Kala would have to sneak away at night, after Nevada had left, for she was certain he would not stay for long, and follow his tracks until they came upon his herd.
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Post by yaruka on Jul 6, 2008 1:25:23 GMT
Baree tried to act grown-up and stand and listen to the older horses talk. He was sure it would be an important part in his development into a fine stallion. He desperately wanted to play though, and,he stood with his young mind torn between the two and his spindly legs quivering with longing to run and cavort with the others. Finally, he grew bored of the adult's formalities and ran off to join in the other colts' play. If it what they were talking about was important for him to know, he was sure he would hear about it later.
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Post by Illu on Jul 6, 2008 5:28:56 GMT
Binda had been quite irritable after the arrival of the blue roan. Attention thief! Now she wasn’t the only one anymore! After a few days, she had gotten over it, but she still hadn’t bothered speaking to the other roan duo until now.
Imperiously she trotted up and gave Jannali a forceful bite, ears back. ”Don’t even think about it, Tingara has been kinder to you than any other stallions has dared!” she growled. She didn’t know the only reason the two had come was for the flashing white wisp, but there was no mistaking the looks of admiration they were throwing him. ”One day he will overtake Tingara as King and then you may fawn over him to your heart’s content, but do not turn a good heart sour for your own selfish desires!”
Her Tingara! No icky mares hurt his feelings!
--
Brael had been successfully mollified by Nevada’s description of Tingara and she was quite happy to have nothing to do with him. However, surely enough Nevada’s squeals starting filtering over to her, and he sounded excited and annoyed, apparently whatever was down there was very interesting, and if she knew Nevada, it was probably some funny-coloured fillies.
Pfft, now, there was going to be none of that!
He already had herself, Taworri, Baramay and Dilali, and four mares was already a big herd for a stallion that needed to stay on the lowdown. And what is that stupid creamy came back? Couldn’t the fool be content with five? To be honest, the size of his herd wasn’t what was worrying her, it was that it was already getting quite hard to stand out as the prettiest with Taworri there, and she didn’t need Nevada making her job any harder by collecting something with spots or whatnot.
Annoyedly, she squealed shrilly for Nevada to launch ass back to the mares he already had.
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Post by tingara on Jul 6, 2008 11:15:17 GMT
Tingara eyed Nevada suspiciously and almost lost it when he began to eye off Crayola, no one touches Crayola, or any his mares for that matter. He soon settled down though when Dilali pulled him aside and they began to talk of the men. By now Tingara was pretty sure that the Valley was well out of reach of the men.
“I don’t know what I can do for Birubi, the fences are too high to jump or wriggle underneath. One of the only chances I see of rescue is if they hitch her up or take her outside the pen. Even then there’s still a big chance of capture or even being shot.” Tingara shook his head sadly; thanks to the escapades of Thowra the men had greatly improved their capturing and securing abilities.
“Tell Nevada if he ever needs shelter he’s more than welcome here as long as he does not betray my hospitality,” As much as Tingara’s instincts screamed at him he would let his rival shelter her, it was what a good King did and even if he wasn’t king, it was the right thing to do. He farewelled his sister who thanked him and left feeling no better than when she came in. Tingara turned to see Binda sticking up for him and he couldn’t help letting a huge smile come across his face.
“Thank you so much Binda,” he nuzzled her warmly; there was a lot more to her than had first met his eye. He turned to Jannali and Kala,
“If you two want to leave, I won’t stop you,” as much as it hurt, Tingara knew his colour was dull and boring compared to Nevada but it wasn’t his fault. He rolled his eyes, these days he thought there was nothing special about silvers, most of them were superficial and thought their colouring entitled them to any mares they wanted and unfortunately mares seemed to swoon over the silver stallions. Yeah thanks Thowra for making it hard for the normal stallions to get mares if a silver was around.
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Post by Tiggs on Jul 6, 2008 11:22:48 GMT
Two of the roans began to watch him, and Nevada paced in tight circles to hold himself back. Maybe if Tingara was distracted, he could entice them over, draw them away. He glanced to the King, but he always had an eye on him. There was no chance of daylight robbery today. Brael's impatient call sounded, and Nevada whinnied a childing reply. Staying hidden meant no calling out! But he hadn't specified that, so he should be glad she hadn't stormed out and paraded herself for Tingara to see.
Nervous, Nevada was practically skipping on the spot with all the tension. He called to Dilali, hoping she'd had enough time. He had to go, before he did something stupid.
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Post by yaruka on Jul 6, 2008 23:35:48 GMT
Jannali was still watching Nevada when she felt a painful bite on her rear. Squealing in surprise she kicked out in warning and turned to see the other blue roan mare of the herd, who had yet to introduce herself, standing there with her ears pinned back. Don’t even think about it, Tingara has been kinder to you than any other stallions has dared! growled the other mare and Jannali snorted, half in anger at being bit and half in shame at having been caught drooling after another stallion. She lowered her head shamefully and was just about to apologize and make an attempt at explaining herself when the blue mare spoke again ”One day he will overtake Tingara as King and then you may fawn over him to your heart’s content, but do not turn a good heart sour for your own selfish desires! said the other mare. Now that was going to far for Jannali. She hadn't intended to hurt Tingara's feelings or tease him (infact she never would have come over to him if it hadn't been for Kala's impatience)and what was this hypocrite saying? Who cared about kingships and what not? It sounded as though this mare was way out of line. But Jannali didn't say anything, instead she threw an anguished look at Tingara who was watching her and Binda. "Thank you so much Binda, said the black stallion, and Jannali felt her insides squirm with shame. She wasn't shallow or unkind, but the excitement of running with Nevada had sounded so grand when the birds had sung of him! That is why she had came this way after all. If you two want to leave, I won’t stop you added Tingara, with a nod at herself and Kala. Jannali looked back at Nevada, the stallion was pacing nervously, but he had looked at her! He had noticed her, even though she wasn't exoctically coloured like the rest of his mares were rumoured to be. Finally she turned back to Tingara with a sigh. She couldn't bring herself to leave, not yet at least. She nodded sadly to Tingara, mumbled an apology then walked off to nudge Kala, hoping that her sister would stop flirting with the other stallion now that she had heard what Tingara and Binda had said.
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Kala turned around in surprise when she heard the other blue roan mare start scolding her halfsister. Turning to Binda she snorted indignantly "Hey, mind your own business! Nevada's the only reason Jannali came this far south and if she wants to swoon over him ithen thats up to her. She didn't want to come cause trouble with your herd, it's because of me that we're over here anyways." She glanced apologetically at Jannali "You were right I guess," she mumbled "sorry, we shouldn't of come over here" She listened to what Tingara had to say and looked at him steadily. "I won't answer for Jannali this time, but if it's ok with you, I'd like to stay here. I'm sorry if I offended you." she managed to stay serious for about a couple more seconds, before she couldn't resist adding "Besides, you're not bad looking yourself" she added cheekily, nudging him with her nose gently to let him know that she meant well. She heard Jannali sigh next to her, and couldn't help but be amused. She knew her half-sister thought she was a flirt, but whatever. She couldn't help it.
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Post by Illu on Jul 7, 2008 9:03:58 GMT
Binda snorted defiantly at the two of them as they turned tail and left then pressed closer to Tingara. The effect kind of lessened any threatening aspect she might have, a little pony sized mare at the side of a good sized black stallion didn’t really look quite as disconcerting.
--
Brael snorted in annoyance. What? He was off flirting with fillies he couldn’t even have and she was meant to sit down and shut up. Oh heeeell no! In the flash, she walked out of hiding and stormed over to Nevada, head down and ears back. Yarran looked around worriedly, and then hovered unsurely around Taworri. Nevada said stay. Shouldn’t they stay?
After marching up to Nevada, she nipped his wither angrily, motioning for him to come back. Apparently the fact she was meant to be staying out of sight had completely escaped her. ”How’s Dilali meant to get to recon with Tingara if you’re here disrupting everything? Come back later!”
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