Closed Something New

[Khara]

.
Khara was quite certain at some point she had burst into flame, that was the only excuse for the warmth that seemed to completely consume her and the tingling sensation that seemed to linger in just about every limb. It had been a struggle to pay attention to what he showed her with how he had initially responded to her request, his words trying to lose themselves in the pounding of her heart that felt quite determined to try and fly from her. Overall though she was simply happy, happier than she could remember being in a long while, which more than made up for the sudden wave of panic that had tried to creep in when she had felt his hand move into her hair. It bothered her that such emotions still tried to battle their way into her consciousness, but the concern was left behind quickly as Zhol took hold of her hand and let her feel the intricacies of the grasslands sign he was teaching.

Even with his hand lingering on hers she attempted to replicate what he had showed her, perhaps far slower than the sentiment would ever be shared, but still the sign of affection was offered to him. The smallest and quickest of laughs left in its wake and Khara quickly looked up from watching herself so that her gaze could meet his once more.

"Yes," she said breathlessly before suddenly realizing how it came out. A look of embarrassment was barely stifled before she continued. "That is entirely what I mean. I know my Common is not the best, especially if I am feeling nervous and I did not want to say anything and not have it sound right, to have it seem as if I do not fully mean all I want to tell you."

Khara paused, her front teeth once more finding their way to her lip as she looked away only slightly. "That is, I think, why I have not fully said what you already know now. I do not want it to sound wrong."

A sudden tug of inspiration sprang up in her thoughts again, the same surge of excitement that had caused her to ask to be shown the Drykas way of expressing her feelings flooded back and her fingers nervously trembled as she made the decision. "But now I can tell you, and you will understand even if you do not know what I say."

Already she feared she had forgotten something of the simple gesture, but she envisioned it within her mind as she took a deep breath to steel herself into voicing what it was she already knew with every waking moment. "I love you," even her Nari was marred by her nervousness and the grasslands sign was attempted as she spoke.

It was silly to be so hesitant to say such a thing, really. There wasn't any doubt behind it, after all. It was simply the free way her people seemed to toss about such a thing. Love was a word that came readily and easily as any actions that could convey the same thing. But it always seemed to be fleeting, never truly as narrowed as she found her own feelings. Maybe she was strange for being that way, but as far as Khara was concerned she could find herself in the company of only the horse boy for as long as she could think to comprehend and would be perfectly content.

"There," Khara stated as she made only the slightest nod of her head. "Now we both have learned something new again."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

[Zhol]

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"I know," Zhol replied, the words tumbling from his beaming mouth. He'd never understood that phrase until now, always thought it was some linguistic turn of phrase that didn't quite translate, but the way he felt now was as if Syna had taken the place of his heart in his chest, and that her radiance was bursting forth from behind her smile. "And I love you."

A contented sigh escaped from him as he let his fingers brush against her cheek again. "You are so beautiful," he added, still lost in her wind eagle eyes. It was such a simple thing, such a strange thing to find pleasure in; in all that he had imagined of the possibility of the two of them together, he'd never considered the softness of her cheek, or the way the curve of her jaw felt beneath his fingers as something he would find so intoxicating, and yet he could barely peel his fingers away.

"I like when you speak Common," he said wistfully, almost as if unaware that he was speaking at all. A flash of realisation crossed his mind, and his voice scampered to clarify his words. "I like it when you speak at all, and I would listen to you talk endlessly all day but -" He stopped himself, before the cascade of rambling nervousness took over and swept him away. "If you did not speak Common as well as you do, I would not know you. I know you worry that you say things the wrong way sometimes, but it doesn't sound wrong to me; it sounds like you. You find different ways to say things. You make simple things sound prettier."

His smile softened, not just pure happiness, but a smile of unadulterated affection. "How you say it doesn't matter to me; as long as it's you saying it, it is always worth hearing."

The thought lingered, his mind trying to repeat Khara's words over and over, trying to work out how to echo them in something that sounded close to correct. He could say the words in Common, in Pavi, and it wouldn't change what they meant, wouldn't change what Khara understood from them; but the way he said it seemed important, to him at least. Nari words paired with grassland sign? What better way for the lady Inarta and the boy from Endrykas to tell each other how they felt?

"I am love you," he tried, a tug of frown forming on his brow. "I loving am -"

He stopped, a layer of nervousness just managing to cover the faint hints of a mischievous smile. "It's no use," he said quietly, the timidness mostly faked. He let the smile flourish a little more, to make sure Khara understood the hint of teasing in his intent. "I think I need to hear you say it again a few times."

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Nari" | "Symenos"
Dad Thoughts | Dinah Thoughts | Khara Thoughts
...
This template was made by Khara. She has failed this city, and will soon be visited by a sexy man in a hood.

[Khara]

.
She had to put a stop to this. Not that the affection was unappreciated, or that she didn't want him to say such things, but at the rate they were going they would never make it out of his room that day. That in itself wasn't an unpleasant thought, and for a few ticks she was very, very, tempted to give up on their half-formed plans and simply remain exactly where and how they were. Truth was, Khara couldn't recall anywhere else in Wind Reach she had ever wanted to stay this badly.

The feeling of restlessness that had given her cause to make the suggestion in the first place persisted, however, and try as she might Khara couldn't quite snuff it out. Instead she felt her smile broaden at Zhol's attempts at repeating what she had said and his teasing comments that followed. She leaned forward and placed a single fingertip against his lips in a playful hush.

"You will," Khara promised before making herself quickly look away. If she held his gaze again, if she let her hand linger too long...

"W-we should get moving, though." Khara wasn't sure if she had ever spoken anything with less conviction. Even as she reluctantly pulled herself away and slipped off the bed she couldn't help but let her fingers linger as they gently brushed against his cheek.

It was easier to start moving once she wasn't touching him. The clothing she had been wearing the night before was picked up, bryda tugged on before she turned away from Zhol and began undoing the buttons of the shirt he had once again let her borrow. A bit of a pout formed on her lips as she realized she was going to be wearing fairly dirty clothing. Only having one real set wasn't normally an issue; you worked, you went to the baths, your clothing was cleaned, you finished and it was dry and you got on with life. Only now did she wish she had something that wasn't work clothing, something nicer. Maybe something with some red to match the scarf he had given her? It wasn't going to happen today, though. Today was for other things.

As Khara finished dressing a thought came to her that caused a small tug of a frown to form. "The Grove isn't so far, but it would take a while even if the road was clear. With the snows though..."

Her voice trailed off and Khara cast a glance over her shoulder, eyes searching out where Zhol may have moved to. She didn't want to seem worried or like she was second guessing her suggestion again, but it couldn't be helped. "We can still go, of course. It just may take a few bells and the walk will probably be tired making," Khara paused again and looked down at her scarf in her hands, fingertips running along the knit fabric. "Sorry, I did not think of these things when I said we should go there."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

[Zhol]

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The worst part of his injured arm wasn't the pain; it only hurt when he moved it, and even then it was getting better every day. The healers had told him he would need to stretch it periodically, and he did so, but it refused to stretch as much as it was supposed to, his elbow steadfastly refusing to straighten completely. Worse, it felt weak and feeble, unable to support his weight if he made the mistake of trying to crawl onto the bed, unable to lift it's own weight half the time, forcing him to manhandle it from position to position. The sling was more a matter of convenience than need: it supported the arm's weight, and more importantly reminded him to not try and use it, which prevented all kinds of mishaps when the lack of a dull ache momentarily let him forget the injury entirely. but even those weren't the worst part.

No: the worst part was clothes. Changing one set of trousers for another required a feat of acrobatics that Zhol didn't know he was capable of - a strange squatting, wriggling motion to one-handedy guide them from his waist to his ankles, a strange hop to step out of them, and then the reverse process to tug up the replacement pair. The added urgency to make the exchange quickly enough to avoid Khara from seeing anything - not that she'd mind; he just hadn't quite learned to overcome that particular discomfort quite yet - added a layer of peril. The shirt though? That was futility and frustration in fabric form. It didn't matter how you tried to do it - head first, injured arm first, good arm first, both arms together, or any other variation you could imagine - it was always an awkward fumble, and Zhol could imagine how absurd he must have looked if anyone saw.

Finally in some semblance of dressed, he turned in response to Khara's question, the sling held in his hand, ready to be hung back over his neck if needed. Tentatively he flexed his arm, testing it, seeing if it could manage to support itself without too much discomfort. There was a twinge, but he bore it; stuffed the sling into a pocket, and crossed the necessary paces to bring him closer to Khara. Carefully he lifted the scarf from her hands and hung it around her shoulders, before sliding his arms around her body to draw her into a gentle embrace.

"Have you forgotten who you're with?" he asked; his voice wanted to be teasing, but there was too much happy contentment in his voice for it to properly shine through. "They don't call me horse boy for nothing, you know. It'll barely take us any time at all."

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Nari" | "Symenos"
Dad Thoughts | Dinah Thoughts | Khara Thoughts
...
This template was made by Khara. She has failed this city, and will soon be visited by a sexy man in a hood.

[Khara]

.
Khara had felt like she had forgotten how to breathe the night before when Zhol had taken the scarf from her hands and wrapped it around her. Of course that may have had a great deal to do with how upset she had been only moments before, or maybe it was what he had said as he had done it, not to mention the fact that he had kissed her right after; but if those were the reasons then it didn't quite explain why she felt exactly the same now. As his arms settled around her she leaned gently into the hold and let a small sigh leave her, echoing the contentment that could be heard in his voice. This wasn't such a bad arrangement, her coming up with something to fret needlessly over and Zhol reassuring her. It did seem a bit reversed seeing as how he was the so-called outsider in a city still filled with unfamiliar things, though. Maybe that's the reason why his solutions to things meant all the more to her.

In this instance it made perfect sense, so much so that she was almost ashamed to have not considered it herself. Of course the horses could be used to traverse snow. They had legs, the same as any Inarta - okay so not the same, obviously - and their added height meant the deeper patches wouldn't be so troublesome. Traversing the snows was a dangerous affair, though. One wrong step could cause serious injury and that was only from the perspective of a small Inarta girl, she couldn't imagine what troubles a large animal such as a horse could get into. The only animals she could think of seeing around Wind Reach in such a season were the various types of goats, but they seemed built specifically to handle the icy cliffs. Elks occasionally passed through, but the snows made them slow and easier prey. None of those animals were anything like a horse, though. Not really. The thought of one of the ponies scampering up the side of the mountain was a pretty amusing visual though, and it did cause Khara to let out a small laugh.

She hadn't really thought about it before, though. When the Gates closed for Winter, only a small door was able to be opened to allow for hunters and other individuals access to the outside world. The road itself was also considered closed and more often than not the harsh Winter weather seemed more than happy to provide ample reason. But the stables did seem to be busier somehow, something she hadn't needed to take notice of before but couldn't help but do so with how frequently she visited over the last year. When Zulrav and Morwen permitted, there did seem to be sleds and horses that she couldn't recall seeing before. Khara had always assumed that it was the Wind Eagles alone who managed to bring anything in during the harsher Season, but maybe that wasn't entirely the truth. She doubted Zhol would hold her ignorance against her, it wasn't like Khara was the only Inarta who took such things for granted and she was one of the few who actually seemed aware there were even animals inside the stables. Leave it to the boy from Cyphrus to teach her things about Wind Reach.

"You certain Hansi won't mind?" Khara questioned. Horse boy or not, there was one thing that Khara knew for a fact - resources did not get used for anything but survival in the Winter. She couldn't exactly picture the stablemaster happily letting them make use of one of his charges for anything frivolous.

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

[Zhol]

.
Would Hansi mind? That was a reasonable enough question to ask, he supposed. That wasn't the important question though: Hansi was grumpy about everything, and no was his default response. Without question, if Zhol simply walked in and asked if it was okay for him to borrow a horse to take Khara on a romantic trip to the Cherry Grove, Hansi would have refused. But there were different approaches, different permutations of the question that could alter the outcome. Zhol borrowing Solo to ride to the Greco Hut didn't seem like a worth while use of resources, but horses needed to be exercised regularly, and ridden regularly to ensure they learned to follow commands and became comfortable with a rider in the saddle; Zhol exercising one of the horses on his day off, sparing one of the other members of the stable staff from having to do so, didn't seem quite so bad. It was an unspoken arrangement of sorts; Zhol didn't push the boundaries too far, and didn't borrow the horses for too long, and Hansi pretended that Zhol was doing him a favour, and that he was secretly managing to gain overtime from the horse boy without needing to pay a single extra coin. A different angle, and a flexible perspective on the truth.

"Smoke needs exercising," he answered, a simple enough explanation for Khara's sake, without delving too much into the underlying politics. "I can do that today, and have more time for other tasks tomorrow; or I do it tomorrow, and Hansi doesn't get the opportunity to work me quite as hard."

He lowered his head, a gentle kiss planted against Khara's copper hair. "Besides, there'll be sled caravans from Aventhal riding up the road before too long. The horse boy and his beautiful game scout friend generously volunteering to ride down the road a ways and make sure everything is safe for when the merchants arrive?" He smiled, his arms holding her a little tighter for a moment. "How could he possibly say no?"

* * *

Despite Zhol's assurances, he was glad when he reached the stables and found Hansi thankfully absent, and Kami out of sight as well; probably exercising horses in the riding cave, if the empty stalls were anything to go by. His relief at Kami's absence was less about borrowing a horse, and more about who he was borrowing it with; aside from Drusilla, who seemed to have stitched together the truth about his feelings for Khara from the few scraps he had inadvertently revealed, Kami was the only other soul in all of Wind Reach who knew for definite how he felt, and about whom. She would be pleased, elated probably, to see the two of them together; but today wasn't about other people. Today, he didn't want anyone else to know. Today, he just wanted to have Khara to himself, to keep it just them in their tiny little private bubble for as long as he possibly could.

His elbow howled in protest as he tried to hoist the saddle the way he normally did. A moment of consideration and he abandoned his efforts completely; the task of lifting it aside, such saddles were intended for a single rider, and weren't intended to provide comfort for a passenger. While Zhol could certainly have found a second horse, and a saddle the right size for Khara, between his arm and her nervousness around the creatures, that didn't seem like the wisest of tactics for her very first ride. Besides, the prospect of riding through the snow with Khara cuddled against him seemed about as close to perfect as he could possibly imagine.

He grabbed for extra saddle blankets instead, draping them over his shoulder instead of his arm as he gathered up the rest of the tack that they'd need. With an easy smile recruited to obscure his grimace of discomfort, he emerged from the tack room and returned to where he'd left Khara loitering awkwardly between the stalls. With more of a smile and a jerk of his head, he led her through the maze of horses to the obvious choice for their little expedition.

"This -" he explained, as he deposited the blankets and buckled straps over the edge of the stall. His smile grew a little more, a gesture of greeting in grassland sign thrown towards the mare. "- is Smoke. I think I've pointed her out before, but you've not properly met - this is Solo's mother."

He hesitated for a moment, before speaking again, his words this time directed towards the horse. "This is Khara, the girl I told you about. She is a little nervous about meeting you, but she means the world to me. Be gentle."

Zhol emphasised his point with a gentle scruff of the fur behind Smoke's ear. For a moment she turned her eyes towards the horse boy, a sputter of response and a gentle nod thrown his way before her gaze turned on Khara, her dark eyes studying the game scout briefly, before her head bowed low over the gate of her stall, Smoke's nose sniffing it's way cautiously towards Khara's hand.

"It's okay," Zhol assured, his voice as gently confident as he could make it. "She's just saying hello. You can stroke her nose if you'd like; I think she'd like that."

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Nari" | "Symenos"
Dad Thoughts | Dinah Thoughts | Khara Thoughts
...
This template was made by Khara. She has failed this city, and will soon be visited by a sexy man in a hood.

[Khara]

.
It didn't matter how many times Khara visited the Skyhigh Stables, or how often it was that Zhol tried to get her to interact with the horses, one thing always stood out to her. Just how big the animals were. Imposing too, though she had the distinct idea that may have had more to do with her unfamiliarity around them than how small she was in comparison - Wind Eagles were large a well, after all. Overall it did little to ease her usual nervous manner. She'd been told once or twice that animals could sense that sort of thing, hopefully they'd be as understanding as their caretaker.

She followed in Zhol's wake as they approached the horse he had chosen for the day. Introductions were made and Khara made her own attempt at the grassland greeting but felt foolish when she only got about halfway through the motion before realizing she had entirely forgotten how it ended. Her hand lingered in the air as Khara found suddenly feeling overwhelmed. She wasn't panicked, that would have been blowing things far out of proportion, but she felt as if she was frozen in one spot all the same.

The unfamiliar words that came from Zhol as he spoke to the mare were listened to intently, as if she might be able to pick up something familiar aside from her own name. The tone was caring, though, so even if she couldn't understand a word of what he was saying, it still managed to put her at ease as much as it probably was meant to do for Smoke. At least, that's what she guessed the general idea of what he was saying to her was.

The breath against her hand almost caused her to recoil back but she forced herself to remain still. A glance was cast at Zhol, eyes wide and barely containing her unease. A small laugh left her, a clear effect of the reluctance she felt. It was silly, the mare wasn't some wild animal that was going to hurt her, especially not with Zhol around to keep the Inarta girl from doing anything that would cause such an accident. It wasn't even the first time she had touched one of the horses! Still, Khara's hand trembled ever so slightly as she gingerly reached out and ran just the tips of her fingertips down Smoke's nose. She breathed in suddenly and sharply as the mare leaned in and gently forced more contact between them.

"H-hello, Smoke." Khara stumbled before she looked back to Zhol, keeping watch over her hand and the horse's nose out of the corner of her eye. "She seems nice."

It was the only thing she could think of saying as her eyes continually kept flickering back and forth between Zhol and Smoke. Her thoughts were strangely quiet, which let curiosity quickly tumble into the absence. "Wh-what sort of things does she do? Around here, I mean. For Wind Reach."

Khara could feel a bit of heat rising along her neck and slowly pulled her hand away from Smoke, more in reaction to the mental withdrawal from the admission that was trying to work it's way out of her than any actual desire to stop petting her."I don't really know what any of the horses do. Not really, anyways."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

[Zhol]

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Of all the questions Zhol had been confronted with while working at the stables, that was by far the least Inartan thing he had never been asked, and Zhol could not of been more proud to hear it escaping from Khara's lips. Not Wind Reach's dismissive attitude, who thought of horses as inferior and unnecessary, but what did they do? What was their important, viable, useful purpose? Zhol could have kissed her - admittedly not something that made the moment unique among any other point in the day - but instead he just beamed.

"Right now," Zhol explained, continuing to scritch behind Smoke's ear, a reward for her commendable behaviour towards Khara thus far. "Smoke's main job right now is growing a foal inside her. A baby horse," he clarified, for Khara's benefit. His hand ran it's way down the side of Smoke's neck, patting just before it reached her shoulders before he stepped away. "Horses are -" He winced, trying to think of the word; it was pregnant in Pavi. "- they carry the baby inside for longer, so it won't be born until next autumn. Like with people, it won't stop Smoke from being able to work for a long time yet, but it's important that we keep her as healthy and well-exercised as we can, especially in winter."

His hand went for the bucket of groom supplies, and pulled out the brush. It wasn't his job to look after the horses this way, not technically at least, but it was part of the ritual for him. You didn't get to ride on a horse until you'd taken care of it first; not until you'd earned the right to ask it to carry you. Inarta had to do that with wind eagles, right? Had to get their permission, their consent; had to take care of their needs themselves instead of delegating the task to someone else? That's how it was for horses; at least, that's what Zhol had been taught.

"Smoke here is a mix of two different kinds of horse," Zhol explained as he began to run the brush through Smoke's fur, teasing the moss and debris that had collected while Smoke had been laying, and encouraging the course fur into a soft sheen. It was far less of a factor if they planned to ride her without a saddle, but with all of the straps and leatherwork that Smoke would usually wear, any grit and grime that got caught underneath could rub and grind and become uncomfortable, even infected if you weren't careful enough. "I'm not sure what her dame was -" He caught himself using equestrian terminology, and corrected himself for Khara's benefit. "- her mother; but her sire - her father - was an Avanthalian Sleigh Horse, which, well, you can probably guess what those are used for."

He smiled, reaching a little further over the edge of the stall as he progressed his way down Smoke's flank. "Smoke is one of the bigger, stronger horses we have in the stables. She's pretty well suited for pulling heavy loads, and if we have a wagon that needs to head down to Thunder Bay during the year, she'll usually be the one that pulls it. She helps with the migration to the coast and back during the spring and the fall too, but most of the horses used for that stay down there for the summer." He gestured to a few specific stalls, across the far side of the stables from them. "That's why it's more crowded in here than it usually is: all the Thunder Bay horses are home for the winter."

He halted for a moment, content that one side of Smoke's coat was taken care of, but hesitated before moving to reach the other, realising that he'd be relying on his injured arm if he did. "Would you like to try?" he asked, offering the brush to Khara; he didn't usually notice just how much shorter than him she was, but seeing her stood next to the stall that he had so easily reached over drove it home. "You'll have to get in the stall with Smoke to reach, I think, but don't worry: I'll hold her steady and make sure nothing happens."

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Nari" | "Symenos"
Dad Thoughts | Dinah Thoughts | Khara Thoughts
...
This template was made by Khara. She has failed this city, and will soon be visited by a sexy man in a hood.

[Khara]

.
Khara could feel the bridge of her nose scrunch as she tried to make sense and commit all the terms Zhol explained to memory. She didn't exactly think she'd have any use for knowing what people called a horse's parents, but maybe one day she would find a reason and Zhol would be there and he'd know she had been listening; that seemed a good enough reason as any. A glance had been given back around as he mentioned the reason why the stables seemed more full - it was good to know it wasn't just her imagination!

She turned back to Zhol as he continued, a tug of concern passed over her features as she eyed his injured arm again. No, Sparrow. Now is not the time to ask. Would she like to try? Well, there didn't seem to be any harm with brushing a horse... Then her stomach dropped with Zhol's next words. Me? In there with her?? Khara had never been more grateful that her thoughts hadn't managed to find their way out of her mouth. She didn't want Zhol to know how intimidating that prospect was, even if she was sure it showed in other ways.

Khara was slow to take the brush from Zhol, not trusting her voice as she nodded her head. Try, that was all that was being asked of her. She could do that, right? Even Khara had to admit that she was using an over abundance of care and caution as she finally entered the stall. Zhol had said he would make sure nothing happened, but it was hard to fully put her trust in that when in such close proximity to Smoke, no matter how much she wanted to.

An annoyed huff left her as she raised her hand and watched the uncontrollable tremble work it's way through her. Stop it, she practically ordered herself. It was silly to be so nervous. Zhol worked around the horses all day and she had never once seen him badly injured from one. Sure, it could happen, but then again Mount Skyinarta could erupt tomorrow as well. It was a strange sort of realization that came upon her in that the danger she was in currently was no where near the amount or possibility as what she faced every day she left into The Unforgiving.

She started gently, the brush barely making contact with Smoke's coat. Khara chanced a glance towards Zhol, looking for some sign of approval or encouragement or advice. How much pressure was too much? How much was too little? She certainly didn't want to accidentally hurt Smoke!

"I-is this okay?" Her lower lip was tucked in, trapped between her teeth for a tick or two as she waited. This time the thought that occurred to her didn't manage to stay locked away, seemingly random as it was, her nerves got the best of her. "Why isn't Solo the same color as her?"

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

[Zhol]

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Zhol was almost ready to call it a mistake; a foolish, arrogant, error in judgement. There were some things that Khara had proven exceptionally skilled at hiding from his notice, but her nervousness was not one. The way she trembled, the way she overcompensated with slowness to try and seem as if she wasn't; only once had Zhol seen her so afraid, and the thought that he was the cause of any amount of discomfort even approaching that felt like someone had carved open his stomach and scattered his entrails across the floor.

But no, this was different. Khara was nervous, yes, but Zhol knew exactly why. He knew what to do. He knew how to help. This was fear, yes, but a small one, a conquerable one; and if Khara needed anything right now, it was to face a fear and win.

Gently, Zhol reached over and placed his hand atop of hers, easing the brush a little more into contact with Smoke's fur than the ghosting touch that Khara was currently attempting, guiding her hand down in long, slow, even sweeps. He helped her through a few repeats before drawing away, leaving Khara to continue echoing the motions on her own. A small sputter of approval escaped from Smoke as Khara's efforts gained in confidence, transforming from tentative into something far more pleasant for the old mare. Zhol's face split into a proud and encouraging grin, but he didn't say anything. After all, it wasn't his approval that Khara actually needed; Smoke's tail swishing in idle appreciation was all the answer Khara needed.

Khara's other question though, that did demand an answer; it was such a simple yet astute observation, one that was obvious when pointed out, but usually escaped people's notice. It was even more noteworthy in Wind Reach he supposed: with a few exceptions, if your parents were Inarta, your hair was red the same as theirs. If one of your parents wasn't Inarta, there was a chance of some different colour sneaking in. On the one hand it made sense, but on the other hand it didn't. How come hair colour, in people and in horses, didn't mix together the way that paints did? Why didn't the offspring of a black horse and a white horse end up grey?

"It's really complicated," Zhol answered, wary of the fact that his own understanding was quite limited. There were people back in Endrykas and elsewhere in the world who were smart enough to know what colours to mix together to produce the outcome they wanted, but Zhol barely even knew where to begin with such things. "And there are a lot of factors that make things different. It doesn't just matter about the parents, but about their parents' parents too, like how -" He winced, realising that given the absence of families in Wind Reach, the comparison probably wouldn't translate. "- people sometimes look more like their grandparents than their parents? There's not a lot of my father in how I look, but there is a lot of his father, or so everyone used to tell me."

He frowned, trying to work out how he could possibly phrase his sketchy understanding into simple enough concepts and simple enough words to translate across their cultural and language barriers. "For starters," he continued, picking something small to begin with, "Smoke looks like she's a white horse, but she's not. You can tell, if you look at the skin around her eyes, and the colour of her eyes too. See how dark it is? If she were a white horse, her skin underneath would be a lightish colour like yours or mine; but because it's dark, horse people call that grey instead of white, to show that there is a difference. If she were actually white, she'd be like the splodge on Solo's nose, but all over: those white markings are where a horse with dark skin has a little patch of white skin, a bit like a birth mark, and it changes the fur on top as well."

His furrowed brow deepened, his hand idly fussing over Smoke's nose as he tried to rationalise his thoughts. "The reason that Smoke looks white is because of how old she is. Horse hair can turn lighter and whiter with age the same way that human hair does. When she was younger, her fur would have been a much darker grey colour."

He shot Khara a look; one that sympathised with just how baffling all of this was.

"Solo though, he's seal brown. Or at least, he probably is. Seal brown is when you've got a horse that is quite dark to start with, but certain areas look a little faded, a bit like worn leather. There are a few different types of horse colour that look similar, but because Solo has more of a brownish brown than a reddish brown, that's a big clue. He's not that because of his parents though, but because of their parents, or something complicated like that. And it means that when Solo's little brother or sister is born next autumn, she might end up looking completely different."

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Nari" | "Symenos"
Dad Thoughts | Dinah Thoughts | Khara Thoughts
...
This template was made by Khara. She has failed this city, and will soon be visited by a sexy man in a hood.