Dynamic Relations

by **Khida** on June 21st, 2016, 2:25 am

Summer 6, 516 AV
early morning

oocBit of a long setup here... this scene kinda ran away with me!

It felt strange, being back in Endrykas, back among people after being alone for uncounted time. Most of all, it was strange to be here without him -- without the man with whom she had first arrived, for whom she had first stayed, with whose life her every prior day in the city had been entwined. Now, when she slept in their tent, it was with only their wife. She had found she could almost pretend, in the haze of half-sleep, that what she felt was the warmth of her bondmate lying beside her. Pretense offered only small solace, for her heart ever knew it for a lie.

Awake, the Kelvic had not even that; not with part of her soul stretched out into the far beyond, past horizons whose crest she had never broached. Not when she stepped from the tent into the wan predawn with the hunter neither before nor behind her. She stood now with the tent flap fallen closed in her wake, gazing out towards that western bound of her vision. Did he, too, prepare himself to hunt this morn? Surely so; even when they spent their days apart, hunting had always been a common thread through their respective agendas, most of all in the mornings.

In that, perhaps they would still act together, for all that they remained divided... for divided, she had accepted they would have to be, until his path at last brought him back home. Khida lowered her gaze from the unknowable distance to her definite present. Home, echoed the memory of his need, still resonating in her soul; home, safe, protect. At last, Khida had found an understanding of his parting charge: she would keep the family he had gathered safe and well during his absence.

Which meant also feeding them, the only way she knew how -- and so, Khida set out this morning to hunt.

That was the plan, anyway. Unfortunately for the plan, it met prompt and determined opposition before it even really got started.

No sooner had the Kelvic started away from the camp than she found her path blocked by the considerably larger bulk of a horse. She signed affectionate welcome to Sephra, while also studying the horse's posture; even Khida could recognize that the Strider's intent was not only to say hello. The mare's equivalent of good morning came with a certain softness in her demeanor and a relaxed whuff at Khida's hair, or perhaps her face; here and now she stood strong, definite, determined. It was a good-natured determination, from the angles of Sephra's ears... but Khida was quickly developing a definite sinking feeling.

She was in for something today.

Khida space Common | Pavi
other space Common | Pavi

by **Khida** on June 21st, 2016, 2:32 am

Khida signed query to the Strider, for all that the horse could not sign back to her, or otherwise communicate concepts to her in any clear and straightforward way. After learning of the Drykas regard for Striders -- and following her bondmate's example -- she always did the horses the same courtesy she would any Drykas. I go, hunt, she continued. Though surely the mare could deduce that without being told; in that, Khida was a creature of habit. Hunt, we eat.

The Strider flipped her ears in some signal Khida couldn't interpret, and moved small steps forward, crowding herself into Khida's space.

Baffled, Khida yielded the space, backed up, and struck out to one side. I go, she repeated towards the mare, I hunt.

Sephra interposed herself and crowded the woman back again, gentle but inexorable in her insistence.

Stalled, Khida regarded the horse with frustrated confusion. Even the falcon could recognize negation in that behavior... and that she would not win this contest short of flying away -- an act which would defeat her own purpose as well. Not hunt, she conceded reluctantly, accompanying the gesture with a disgruntled huff. Follow, query?

The mare bobbed her head in what Khida darkly suspected was a horse's laughter, and whuffed hot breath into the Kelvic's face.

After all that, having herself escorted right back to their tent came as not so much of a surprise. Khida regarded both horse and tent with thin-lipped discontent for a long moment before finally following through on the concession she had already made -- she ducked into the tent and retrieved the gear that was Sephra's.

Apparently Khida was not to spend this dawn hunting; she was to spend it riding.

Sephra put herself a short distance from the tent, where no one emerging from it might collide with the pair. She stood there, solid as a rock, while Khida shook out the yvas straps and set them in order. The yvas pad, knit with flowing patterns in azure and amber on a brown backdrop, the Kelvic hefted up first, tossing it over the mare's back. She took time to ensure it hung evenly straight, met with an encouraging whuff from the Strider as she passed before the horse's nose along the way.

The yvas came second, girth and collar settled into place, fingers on each strap to ensure they hadn't gotten twisted out of true along the way. Khida tightened down those which needed to be snug, and loosened a few others which seemed a breath too tight; it had likely been seasons since the Strider last wore her tack, and bodies did change over time. When at last she thought everything in order, the woman stepped back for a last consideration -- and to sign another query at the horse. Is good?

She had learned very early that Sephra would have the final word on her own gear, or else. Quite different from mild-mannered Dainellas, the only other horse Khida had ever girded for riding.

The mare made no indication Khida could interpret as disfavor, so she moved in to mount -- or make her best try at it, anyway --

-- only for the horse to sidle away, stopping comfortably out of reach with the most blatant projection of follow-me that anyone might ask for.

While Khida was happy enough to indulge the horse when she had at least some grasp of the mare's intentions, her mood was quickly passing from frustration into annoyance. She scowled at the Strider, ticked her tongue against her teeth, fingers shaping a disgruntled trouble, you.

Sephra sidled away yet farther, and curved her neck back around to face her rider, ears angled in manifest good cheer.

Obedient, Khida sighed again and followed.

The Strider led her away from the Dawnwhisper camp -- not out through the grasses as the Kelvic had originally intended, but somewhat further inward into the city. When she finally stopped, it was with one flank facing a low boulder -- one that would give Khida just a bit of assistance in mounting the comparatively rather tall Strider.

Trouble, you, Khida tossed at her again, followed by a wiggle of fingers which made it more affectionate than accusatory. Even with the boost from the stone, she wasn't anything like graceful in vaulting up to the horse's back... but not having to worry as much about boosting her human body up high enough gave her a little more assurance in getting all the rider's parts moving to the right places. All in all, Khida felt like this time involved a little less scrambling than she'd employed before.

Maybe she'd get the hang of all this yet.

ledgeryvas - 2 gm
yvas pad - 1 gm
yvas bags, small - 4 gm
total: -7 gm

Khida space Common | Pavi
other space Common | Pavi

by **Seirei Dawnwhisper** on June 26th, 2016, 6:13 pm

Seirei was an early riser. Partly out of long habit. As a child, she had always gotten up early because the caravan she lived with liked to make an early start when they traveled. Being a mother honed those ingrained habits even further. Lukar and Lira were early risers, and despite not sleeping through the night yet like their older siblings did, Raiden and Teirue were following in their footsteps. And when the children were awake, Seirei had to be as well.

As was becoming her habit, once the children were fed, and changed, Seirei went for a morning ride. It was never far from her thoughts that she wanted to become a better rider; one worthy of her strider. Thunder would be a year old come the end of the season. In two more years, he would be ready to carry a rider. By then, Seirei wanted to be the perfect partner for him. He had freed her the day he bonded to her. In a very real way, he had saved her. At the very least, he had made her life worth living again. Seirei owed him more than she could ever repay for that. And she wanted to prove to both him, and herself that he had made the right choice in choosing to bond with her.

Seirei looked for Drelah, the gelding she had been using most often when she wanted to ride. He was grazing over by the supply tent. Seirei started to walk over to him, only to be stopped cold when Kairi positioned herself between Seirei and the seme gelding. The mare's ears flattened against her head briefly, and she snorted sharply. Drelah seemed to get the message, and made himself scarce. Seirei frowned at the mare.

"Look what you've done. I wanted to ride him." she protested.

Kairi snorted again, and sidled closer to Seirei. It was a clear challenge. Seirei's eyes widened.

"You...want me to ride you?!" she questioned incredulously.

The mare tossed her head, as if nodding impatiently. Seirei just stared at her uncertainly for several ticks.

"Well...okay...I guess."

It was a test. It had to be. Kairi knew that Seirei had been making a real effort to learn how to ride, and she had decided to test her progress. All of a sudden, the pleasant ride Seirei had been anticipating seemed as if it would be anything but. She just hoped that Kairi wouldn't take it into her head to bolt with her, or throw her off somewhere, and leave her to find her own way home. Either was the type of thing Kairi was likely to do if the was in the mood to be difficult, or if Seirei annoyed her somehow.

Seirei approached the mare cautiously. When Kairi merely watched her, she carefully checked her over for ticks, and minor injuries. There were no injuries, but Seirei did find a tick that had attached itself to the mare's right shoulder. She warned Kairi to hold still. Then she grasped the tick where the two segments of its body met, and pulled. It came apart with a spurt of blood. Unfortunately, the head remained attached to Kairi. Remembering what Naiya had said about making sure to get the head, Seirei tried again. It took some effort, but she finally got the head of the tick dislodged.

She had planned to give the mare a quick grooming, but after that, she decided to give her a full grooming as a reward for putting up with her fumbling as she removed the tick. So she went and got the three brushes she'd need. Starting with the brush that had small cones for bristles, she used small circular motions as she ran the brush along Kairi's body. Once that was done, she moved on to the stiff bristled brush, which she used on Kairi's legs. She then switched to the soft bristled brush, and carefully brushed Kairi's face before running the brush along her body to smooth the hair back down after the careful grooming. Finally, Seirei brushed the mare's mane and tail out with a comb.

Throughout the process, Kairi held still. Her pleasure at being groomed was obvious. Had she been a cat, she would have purred. Not once did Kairi act up, or show impatience at her slow pace. Seirei didn't know whether to be suspicious or relieved. She left briefly to go put the brushes back, and returned with the pick she had forgotten earlier. She checked the mare's hooves, but there really wasn't much work to be done there. Kairi hadn't picked up any stones that needed to be pried loose, and there wasn't much dirt built up.

When she was finished, she returned the pick, and put a yvas on Kairi. Then she hesitated. Kairi was being good. Too good, maybe? Seirei didn't trust the mare's good behavior. But Kairi gave her no reason to refuse to ride her. And since she had the feeling the mare would insist she ride her rather than another horse, she decided against looking for Drelah again. Instead, she tentatively grabbed a handful of Kairi's mane, and placed the other hand near the mare's withers. Then she gave a good hop to give herself the momentum she needed to swing herself up onto Kairi's back. Kairi waited a few ticks so Seirei could get herself settled without Seirei even having to prompt her to do so.

Seirie's first thought was to ride out into the Sea of Grass so she could practice without getting into anyone's way. But Kairi had other ideas. She ignored Seirei's signals completely, and moved into the city. Before long, Seirei saw Khida, and Sephra.

Warm greetings, query.

"It looks as though you had the same idea I did. Do you mind company on your ride?"

Seirei hoped that Khida would accept. It would be nice to spend some time with her friend. And that way, if Kairi did suddenly decide to throw her, and leave her somewhere, she wouldn't be alone when she had to make her way back on foot.

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by **Khida** on July 8th, 2016, 3:12 am

Mounted on her Strider, Khida waited. The Kelvic held herself stiffly atop the horse, knees firm, hands resting on the yvas, ready to tighten the very tick her balance wavered. But the horse didn't move; she kept one ear canted in her rider's direction -- Khida half suspected it of a merry tilt -- and just stood there. She didn't even occupy herself with cropping the grass.

For what Sephra was waiting, Khida had no idea.

Perhaps it was the other horse heading towards them. Khida knew Kairi from a distance, of course, though it was a surprise to find their sister astride the other mare. To her recollection, that horse wasn't ridden as much --though the subtleties of Kairi's relationship with Seirei eluded her. They did get along, at least. Welcome, the Kelvic signed back in return, followed by not mine.

Sephra whuffed at the other mare as she drew near, exchanging an amiable sniff. She still didn't move her hooves.

Khida regarded the horse somewhat dubiously, then resumed her reply to Seirei. Morning, hunt do, she signed by way of elaboration. Despite their mutual fluency in Common, she stuck to her paltry Pavi vocabulary. The Kelvic couldn't even say why, when it often made communication more difficult than it needed to be -- but it was her habit and preference, and truth be told, not one she was given to examining . Horse not. Horse want. Confusion is, she finished, along with a shrug that added a gloss of resignation to the message. Horse decide come you.

Between her own nature and her bondmate's, Khida didn't even find that statement odd, nor consider that few people would give themselves up so completely to an animal's will.

All the while, Sephra kept that one ear angled askew as if listening to their conversation. As Khida devoted her attention to Serei, to picking her way through signs that conveyed her intent… the rider thought less about where she was and what she was doing. Her grip loosened; her body relaxed.

Sephra started walking. Nothing hasty, just the most casual amble anyone might desire, a horse going out for the idlest of strolls.

"Neht!"*Not a word; onomatopoeia. Khida lurched in her seat, rather more than the horse's amble really called for, the Kelvic caught entirely by surprise. She grabbed at the yvas, in the process doing far more to disrupt her own balance than the horse's motion ever had, her legs clinging determinedly to Sephra's sides.

The Strider stopped, swiveled both ears in the direction of her rider, and flicked her tail -- not that Khida was paying any attention whatsoever to that end of the horse.

The Kelvic was nearly inclined to write the moment off as a practical joke of some sort, a small tease at the inexpert rider's expense. But Sephra was not, in her experience, much given to jokes -- and there was the way she just stood there, waiting.

Sephra wanted... something. What had changed? She had been talking to their sister... but the horse had been stopped before Seirei joined them, and was still stopped though Seirei remained here. The only thing different... was that she herself had nearly fallen? But she wasn't going to fall now, either.

Whatever the Strider meant to communicate, Khida wasn't getting it. She remained decidedly bewildered by the horse's actions, or lack thereof.

Khida space Common | Pavi
other space Common | Pavi

by **Seirei Dawnwhisper** on July 14th, 2016, 5:44 pm

At first, Seirei was confused by Khida's response of "not mine." But it didn't take her long to realize that her sister's strider was the one who must have instigated this ride, rather than Khida herself.

"Our circumstances are similar, then. I wanted to practice riding, but I was planning to ride Drelah."

Safer. More predictable.

"Kairi here had other ideas. I think she's testing me."

Kairi tossed her head, and snorted sharply, as if in agreement with Seirei's words. Having her suspicions confirmed didn't reassure Seirei any, and she sat tensely in the yvas. She managed to refrain from gripping Kairi's sides with her legs in her anxiety, but it was a near thing. Instead, she took a deep breath, counted to ten, and tried to force herself to relax. It didn't work as well as she hoped it would, but she did feel somewhat calmer.

When Sephra started walking suddenly, only to stop just as suddenly when Khida started to lose her balance, it startled Seirei. But it didn't take her long to guess what had happened. When Khida didn't seem to realize it herself, Seirei told her.

"You asked Sephra to start walking." Seirei said softly.

"Sort of, anyway. When you relaxed, you leaned forward. That tells a strider or horse that you want to move forward. If you do it again, or if you lean further forward than you did, you're asking for your mount to go faster." she tried to explain.

Her tone, and posture was hesitant. She was just learning these things herself, with Naiya's help. She didn't feel confident enough in her own abilities to try and teach anyone else.

"Naiya taught me that." she added after a tick.

"I'm sure she'd be willing to teach you too, if you want."

Seirei noticed that Sephra's ears were swiveled back towards Khida. Naiya had taught her that that meant a strider was looking for cues from their rider. But judging from Khida's confusion, she realized that her sister didn't know what Sephra wanted from her.

"She's waiting for you to tell her what you want her to do."

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by **Khida** on July 17th, 2016, 1:57 am

oocI'm presuming Seirei is speaking Pavi throughout. If not, let me know!

Most of Seirei's words sped right past Khida, between her preoccupation with the horse and her yet-limited Pavi vocabulary. The cadence was simply familiar background, like the susurrus of wind through grass, peppered with the occasional word whose significance popped right out into comprehension -- want, Drelah, Kairi. Their sound was conversational, and Khida inferred she didn't really need to circle back and find out the details.

Seirei's discourse moved on readily enough, besides; her tone became quieter but carried more urgency, a cue for the Kelvic to actually pay attention and parse the words. Sephra came clear, and some variant of to ask, and do it again. Squinting at her accompanying gestures and body language didn't really help bring comprehension, either; that just underscored to Khida that their sister wasn't really sure of what she was trying to say.

Not surprising, really. They were both still learning to ride.

Naiya's name came up next, a codicil to their sister's diffidence. That diffidence sat poorly with Khida, the way Seirei held back, offered what she offered only with uncertainty. Elusive as the significances of the words were to her ears, the Kelvic was left with the half-thought that Seirei might mean to get their sister, perhaps to address whatever issues Sephra had. But so far as she could tell, the mare seemed content, she merely waited; and it was not at all Khida's intent for their sister to leave with that cloud of uncertainty hanging over her head.

We ride, Khida signed, careful of her balance on the horse but doing her best to make the motions emphatic, assertive. We together. That seemed to be what the horses wanted, at least, and it was reasonable enough for them to desire. Reasonable enough for their riders to fulfill.

...Even if Serei's interpretation of the horse's manner, at last spoken in simple enough concepts for Khida to follow, just brought more puzzlement to the Kelvic. I not, she signed, negation yet again. Whyever would the horse summon her rider, only to then wait for the rider to give direction? Surely she had her own purpose.

But the word Seirei had used -- tell -- caught in Khida' s thoughts. She say, her hands shaped slowly, musing their way through the idea. Except horses did not say, not even Striders. They communicated by sniff and ear-flick, by head-toss and stamp, by posture and attitude and action. Sephra had clearly communicated with her actions that Khida was to ride; the way she had loomed had been impossible to ignore. Now she waited... not unlike how their sister waited for a response, after she spoke. Not with the same uncertainty, not quite... but how she, or indeed anyone, might wait to see if Khida understood.

If that's what Sephra was doing -- only a tentative conclusion on Khida's part -- then it behooved Khida to listen harder. I listen, she signed to Seirei, and perhaps to her own Strider as well. Then Khida rested her hands on the yvas, closed her eyes, and focused on listening. On being, on receiving.

Eyes closed, she heard the morning breeze rustling the tall summer grass, the canvas and leather and twine of Endrykas tents. She heard the soft rasp of her own breath in the dawn quiet, made slow and deliberate and steady, felt the curve of the horse's sides flex in a separate yet similar rhythm, subtle changes in pressure against the rider's legs. She felt when the Strider began to move again, and it came as less of a surprise this time because she sensed the shifting muscles 'speak' to one another, transmitting motion from leg through barrel to rider.

Khida still tightened her grip on the yvas, reflexive action impossible to forestall, and still not something she honestly wanted to forego. It was harder to be off the ground yet near it than it was to stand high atop a wall, knowing she could shift long before crashing. But with her eyes closed, she 'heard' the horse stop their motion again... albeit less clearly now, blunted by her own tension and posture gone stiff. Not that Khida quite grasped the particulars, so much as merely recognized a difference in the degree of what she felt.

The Kelvic blinked her eyes open, giving the dark-tipped equine ears ahead of her a pensive frown. There was something to this idea, to this listening not with ears but with her whole being. Whether it was actually what Sephra wanted of her... I listen, Khida repeated to Seirei, slow, the concept percolating through her mind. You listen, query?

Khida space Common | Pavi
other space Common | Pavi

by **Seirei Dawnwhisper** on August 18th, 2016, 9:44 pm

Khida's pavi wasn't very strong, so Seirei wasn't certain how much the other woman had understood. Seirei would have offered to speak in Common when she was talking to Khida, but Khida didn't seem to want that. So instead, she watched to see if Khida wanted her to explain anything.

After a while, Khida told her that she listened. Seirei nodded, but she wasn't quite certain she understood what the other woman meant. Khida repeated it again, this time asking if she listened, too. Again, Seirei nodded. But...listened to what? That was the real question. Listening for signs of danger was one possible answer, but it didn't seem to fit.

As Seirei considered Khida's words, she heard a bird chirping in the distance. It conveyed a feeling of safety since the birds would be silent if danger lurked near by. The grass rustled softly as the wind blew through it. Drelah shifted his weight, and flicked an ear towards the sound of the bird song. But he wasn't nervous. The seme horse was relaxed beneath her. He was content.

That thought startled Seirei. How could she know that? Drelah wasn't making any sound that might suggest contentment. The only "sound" he made was the sound of his breathing, and the sound made as he shifted his weight. And the latter was more felt than heard. It took Seirei several ticks to understand. Drelah was relaxed beneath her. His muscles weren't tense with fear or distress. He was content. And she "heard" that with her seat, not her ears. It was a different way of listening, and communicating. One that seemed ideal for communicating with animals, since they couldn't speak. Or rather, they "spoke" through expression, body language, and movement.

Seirei thought about that, and realized that that was how Drelah took his cues from her when she wanted him to do something. Non verbal cues. And it worked both ways. Just as she gave directions to her mount by using non verbal cues, she could learn how to understand her mount better, and read their mood through the cues that they gave her. Naiya had taught her how to ride, but until now, Seirei hadn't truly understood what it meant to ride. It was a partnership between rider and mount, with each taking cues from the other by "listening" to the non verbal language that existed between them.

Seirei smiled warmly.

"Thank you, Khida." she said in Common, wanting to make sure the other woman understood what she said.

"Yes, I will listen. And thanks to you, I think I truly understand what that means now." she continued in Common, her tone filled with wonder, and gratitude.

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by **Rufio** on February 8th, 2017, 8:11 pm

k h i d a

▹ :

s e i r e i

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If you feel I missed anything shoot me a PM.
Don't forget to edit your grade request here -

Open Dynamic Relations