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Haven was walking east, heading back to Cour des Miracles after his trip to Blackmoor Castle. It had been a longer visit than he had intended, but that had turned out to be a very good thing. He had met Cwmfen nic Graine who had agreed to help him with his fighting and they had sparred with their swords. His long muscles arms were sore, but it was a good sore. A content sore. As he walked by one of the trees in the Shiloh Hills he noticed an apple had fallen from it and he leaned to pick it up. He'd never eaten any fruit, but it was round and would be fun to play with, even if he didn't eat any of it. He tossed the apple into the air and caught it.
He'd always loved the Shiloh Hills, much of Crimson Dreams was situated in its lands. He breathed in deeply, catching the scent of his old home. He would go back and visit soon, but not today. Suddenly he felt a rumbling in the earth and heard something. It was a noise he hadn't heard before. Curious he walked after it, his nose sniffing the air. There were animals close, a large group of them, but he had never smelled them before. They weren't deer or elk. As he was getting closer to them he slowed his pace, making his best effort to go unnoticed. The luperci's head poked out from behind a tree and his jade eyes grew wide at the sight he was greeted with. Horses. It was a whole herd of them.
Haven stood there silently, taken in by their majestic beauty. They were so wild and free. So beautiful. He wanted so badly to get closer, but he knew they would probably run. So absorbed by the sight of the mustangs he didn't even hear something plodding up behind him. That was until a mouth was worrying at the apple in his hand. Haven turned his head and his heart stopped in his chest. A breathtaking dark horse was trying to take the apple from his hand. Slowly the youth turned around, making sure the mustang didn't lose sight of the apple. As it nibbled at the fruit his hand slowly reached out, gently petting its face.
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There were many horses in this herd, ones of all different sizes and colors. She had been following them for a few weeks now, coming back every day or so to make sure that they were still in the same general area and tracking their progress through the lands on a piece of scratch paper that she kept in the back of her den. It was important that she not let them get too far away before she caught a few more of them; it seemed that they were passing through Crimson Dreams' territory relatively slowly, which was good. Ember didn't feel bad for walking through the stretch of land that the Crimson Dreams pack had that led down toward the sea, because if she did get seen she would tell whoever had caught her the truth. That she was welcomed there, and was a member of the family.
She watched the herd today with particular interest, her eyes on a butterscotch-colored mare. It was the mother to the young male that she'd taken a week prior, and she was interested in getting a rope around her, too. They'd probably get along better in the barn if they were related. Many of the horses had seen wolves before, but it was apparent that no wolves had ever tried to hunt from this herd; they had almost no fear of wolves at all.
Ember stepped out toward them with her rope in one hand and the bag of oats in another, letting a few of the horses put their heads in the bag to get a taste before she reached the butterscotch mother. She had secured the rope around the horse, her head still inside the bag, when she saw something beyond the mare in the distance. It was another wolf and another horse. It seemed that she hadn't been the only one scoping out this large herd. She led the mother horse, head still in the bag, toward the other two quietly, one hand raised in greeting.
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This was unbelievable. This was unbelievable. He hadn't even been sure there were any horses in the lands and not only had he stumbled upon a herd, but one had come up to him right away. The stallion that was nibbling at his apple was an amazing animal. His coat was black and dark brown that seemed to shift with every little change of light. He was large and strong, that was for certain, though he may have been on the younger side. That was a guess at best though. Haven knew little to nothing of horses, so aging them by size or appearance was a stab in the dark. He wondered what would happen when the apple had been consumed. Would he just walk away in search for more snacks? Or would he be comfortable enough to stick around for a while?
Off in his periphery he saw another luperci with some of the other horses standing around her. It seemed that she was prepared for such a venture though as she apparently had a bag with food and a rope with her. Haven watched her curiously as the stallion continued to eat the apple in his hand. She let the horses eat and then slipped the rope around one of their necks. Then she spotted him as well and lead the newly capture horse in his direction. Slowly he moved his hand from the mustang to wave back at her in greeting. Instinctively he knew to be quiet and slow, so as not to spook the horses. As she got close enough he spoke in hushed tones. "It seems like you know what you're doing, which is more than I can say for myself," he said with a grin.
He had to fight the urge to shift around. He was unaccustomed still to the weight of the sword that was strapped across his back. This would be a good lesson in controlling his body and patience he supposed though.
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"I've been watching this herd for a while, now. It's easy to pick out the gentler ones--this one looks like he's pretty friendly too." She pointed to the horse in front of Haven, the one eating the apple. He was a pretty fellow, his short hair the same color as Ember's coat. Brown-black. The dark female offered a smile, shrugging. "They went through Crimson Dreams...but I figured it was okay. I'm not from here, I'm from Aniwaya...but my sister lives here. And her four kids, too. I think that's an alright reason" She had been to see Naniko's pups when they were born, and shortly afterward, but hadn't really been in touch beyond that.
"Haven't seen Naniko in a while, though. Haven't needed a healer. I guess that's a good thing, though" She nodded. "I see ya got one too. Where'd you find yours?" She pointed to the tip that stuck out over his shoulder, the hilt of the sword, and held the rope in the same hand as the bag so she could move her cloak aside so that he might see hers. She wondered how long he had been following this herd, if he had, and if he was from around here...but figured that she'd already spoken enough for now.
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Haven smiled at the wolfess. "Yeah?" he asked, looking back to the stallion in front of him. "Maybe you're right. Or maybe he just wanted my apple," he said with a slight chuckle. But in all sincerity he hoped that she was right. Ever since he had been knighted he wanted a horse. It would make fulfilling his duties to the pack a lot easier. Though he didn't know what all went into taming and caring for one. Perhaps she would have the answers for him. "I'd like to tame one, but I don't know the first thing about it. About gaining their trust and then taking care of them. Do you?" The herd had gone through Crimson Dreams? It was obvious they were close to his old home, but he had never heard of horses moving through there. The comment about her sister and her four kids made his ears perk. To his knowledge there had never been another litter of four except his own.
The mention of his pale mother's name confirmed his suspicions. "Well, it looks like we're related then. I'm Nani's son Haven." He certainly hadn't expected to run into a relative, but he was glad that he had. The hybrid boy wondered if they were related by blood or just strong bonds. Either way made little difference to him. Family was family. The Aatte knight looked back to his sword as she mentioned it. Ah, so she had one too. How great! "I just found it at the castle. You?"
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She usually tried to assess someone relatively quickly, to get a feel of what they were like based on her first few words with them. From this conversation it seemed that the young man in front of her was friendly enough, rather outgoing and easy to talk to. She found herself relaxing into the give-and-take that a natural conversation had rather easily, though she did feel a bit awkward when he said that they were related. Another relative? She hadn't gone to see them in a while, yeah...but she hadn't realized that so much time had passed. He was at least as big as she was now.
"Sorry I wasn't around too much" She said, the need to apologize coming down upon her. "I'd kind of messed up my own life at that point. But now things are lookin' up. How are your other siblings? I did see another one, a brown girl. I fished with her in winter time. But I don't remember her name" That pup had been the one pup that Ember had felt all right around, the first one that she had managed to form some kind of a bond with. She wasn't good with pups, not at all, normally.
But maybe there was something that she could do to make it up to him, and start things over again. She hadn't been there before, but now she was. Maybe the gods had put her here so that she could make some kind of amends. "Horses? That's one thing that I know a lot about. Breeding them, feeding them, taming them down and breaking them for riding. I learned it from a book that I got from the library about horses. I can tell you some now, and then next time I come through the area I'll bring you the book"
So he had found his sword in the castle too? How interesting. "I think that there are all kinds of weapons in there. I'll have to go again and have a better look. I'm satisfied with what I have right now, this longsword, but I could use practice using other weapons. In Aniwaya, I am a warrior of the tribe."
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Haven honestly didn't know how many relatives he had scattered about the lands. What their names were, where they lived, anything. The only aunt or uncle that he knew that didn't live in Crimson Dreams was DaVinci. So the fact that he hadn't met Ember until now didn't bother him. He had never been hurt by her absence or that of any other relative he had yet to meet. So when she began to apologize he just shook his head smiling. "You don't need to be sorry. I haven't met most of my family outside Crimson Dreams. I've had a good life so far and that's what matters." Well, a good life up until he found out about his father, but he decided that was best left unsaid. He didn't want to sour the mood of this conversation. "My siblings? Alright, least as far as I know. I haven't seen some of them for a while..." He wondered how Salem and Brooklyn were and if Mati was doing alright. She had been so upset because of him. "That would have been Mati. I'm the closest to her out of my siblings."
It excited him to know that Ember knew a lot about horses. It was just what he was looking for! "Really? That's great! I'd be so grateful. So maybe start with the basics? Taming and getting them ready to ride? And feeding them of course..." Was there any place in Cour des Miracles where he could keep a horse? He would have to look into it and maybe if there wasn't Leroy could build a stables or something. "Though, I actually don't live in Crimson Dreams anymore. I live to the east on the coast in a pack that just formed." It still felt a little weird, not being a part of his birth pack anymore.
"Yeah there are! I found the armory and it was just full of all sorts of different things. Swords, axes, maces, daggers. Pretty much anything you could want." Ah, so she was the protector in her pack like he was. "Oh yeah? That's very neat. I'm the knight in my pack." Haven couldn't help but beam a little as he said it. It felt so good.
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"Cool, so we're kind of the same thing" She said brightly. Her duty was to protect the pack and all of its members, and so was Haven's. Both of them could ride horses, too! Once he got his back home, anyway. Now what was it that he wanted to know? How to tame them down? "What I did was I spent a lot of time with Bayard. And I gave him lots of treats that he liked. You kind of train them using the treats...whenever you want him to do something, you can give him a treat if he does it. Then he will start to like doing whatever it is that you want."
Did he have a saddle for his horse? She hadn't found anything like that for Bayard, so she had just been using a blanket. "With my horse i don't use a saddle, a seat on the horse...i just use a blanket and hold onto his mane. Do you have a saddle?" She asked.
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Haven grinned widely and nodded his head. They were the same thing! He felt that they were the same in more than that way though. He knew there had to be people out there who would only want their kind of rank because it meant they were allowed to fight and spill blood. The Aatte youth on the other hand only wanted to be able to protect those he cared about. He didn't want to fight unless it were necessary and he felt the same way about spilling blood. The male had a feeling that his aunt was the same way. Bi-colored ears strained forward to catch all of Ember's words. Well that made sense. It would take patience, but it wouldn't be too hard. "Okay, that all makes sense. Looks like I'll need to be stocking up on apples then." It was plainly obvious that the fruit was a favorite of this stallion.
"Nah, I don't have any kind of horse gear. Even though I've thought of wanting one I haven't looked for any supplies. The packlands aren't far from the city though, so I'll have to look for stuff. Though using a blanket like you said sounds like it would work just fine." Now there was just the small issue of getting the mustang to come the rest of the way home with him. "Do you have anymore rope or anything? I don't know if I'll be able to get him to follow me the rest of the way back without one." Cour des Miracles wasn't too far away, but he imagine once the horse realized how far it was from its herd it would want to go back.
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