As he was talking to the horse, Io made a strange noise that had the red wolf’s ears twitching back. He swallowed the impulse to say “bless you” and was glad that he had; she explained quickly that it was a Spanish word meant to calm the dappled stallion. He nodded nervously and repeated calmate to the horse, although he was sure that his Cherokee accented butchered the word. Luckily, at about the time his self-consciousness became too much, the Adeloquasdi Nata called him out of the pen to fetch the sand bags.
Unatsi nodded quickly. “Kilaquu iyusdi dvtsilutsi,” he said, slipping back out of the pen (and checking quickly three times that the gate really was shut) and running toward the barn. He hesitated once he stepped inside, his green eyes adjusting to the dim light. He scanned the walls anxiously before reasoning that the sand bags wouldn’t be tied up somewhere high, and so he rooted around near the floor until he could grab two. He tied the rope ends together, hoisting them around his neck so that one bag dangled on either side. Even this weight was trying to the scrawny red wolf, but he persisted, gritting his teeth and heading back outside.
“If I were that horse, I would be none too pleased,” he grumbled before getting back in and approaching the stallion, murmuring his newly-learned Spanish word to him in a happier, but not too high-energy, tone of voice. He hesitated, though, not sure about doing more. He didn’t know if the horse was warmed up to him or the saddle enough to accept more weight on his back, and so Unatsi gave Io a slightly helpless look, desiring encouragement.
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