So we Meet Again.

[Ginchoeri]

Third of Fall 512 AV

Gin had gone into a life of monotony. Same thing everyday. Same playing of the harp here, a little bit of singing there, maybe a bit of drawing in the ground with a stick. She did not really have anything to do other than walk about the camp with her cloak over her head to hide her hair and keep her warm. She sighed, wishing she could meet someone she knew.

She had decided to go to the stables. She found confort in the horses there, always a new friend or a familiar face there. Horse or otherwise. Gin jogged her way towards the familiar smell of the stables. She smiled as she walked up to a horse and patted their muzzle as they huffed in greeting, and roan mare, gorgeous mane and well cared for.

"Well how are you today, you seem to be doing okay." Gin chuckles as she mare pushed its nose into her. Gin held the young horses muzzle carefully, sending calming signals through her body. She kissed just above the roans nose, "calm down a bit girl, I know what I smell like, but I can not help you. Nor do I have any treats for you." She could tell this one was newer, she still had that wild look in her eyes. Before Gin had walked up to her, she had been kick up a storm in her stall. The people who had been trying to calm her down were staring at her in amazement.

"Go ahead and take care of the other horses, I'll stay with this one for a bit." Gin looked at them expectantly, their jaws dropping further, questions starting to leave their lips. Before they could even get the first letter out of their mouth Gin raise her hand to stop them, "Go before I leave you to calm her down once again." There was a sternness in her voice as she said this. She was trying to help them, and they were being rude. When they finally left she sighed and turned her attention back to the roan mare, "There, is it so hard for them to accept a little help?" She patted the roan and smiled weakly. "You miss your friends huh? I miss mine too."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el was always on the look out for exceptional horseflesh, and now he had a pavilion, it would be important to have an impressive herd. They had Striders and Seme, but there was also Horse, his loyal Windrunner stallion. The boy had many years left in him, but Sama'el wanted to breed him at some point, the better to keep all his good traits alive in the bloodlines, and because a part of his friend would abide after he had gone. What he needed was a good mare to be the mother of all the non-Drykas breeds he might keep. Just at the moment, he was looking at Windrunner mare, of purer stock than Horse by the look of things. He had a bit of the Frostmarch in him, which had been helpful when traveling through Taldera and other wintry climes. But when he looked away for a moment, he saw a familiar face from seasons ago, and walked over to watch her with a young roan. "Ho, stranger," he said, a smile in his voice and on his face.

[Ginchoeri]

"Ho, stranger"

The sound of a familiar voice came to her ears, just as his scent pronounced its self. Gin's eyes widened and she turned quickly, almost startling the roan mare into another frenzy. "Oh my!" she laughed at herself, the roan huffed at her and this new arrival. Gin abscent mindedly stroked the roan up between its eyes. "Sama'el! It has been a while my friend! I was just saying to this roan here how I was wishing to meet someone I knew! And here you are!" she smiled at him. This is great, exactly what she needed, a body to talk to.

"Well seeing as it has been so long, I wonder how you have been. I mean I have heard the stories. But man, I would rather hear them from the horses mouth so to speak." she started laughing really hard, "Sorry, sorry, really bad joke!" She seemed overly giddy, for the bags under her eyes, which she thought she had hidden with her cloak hood. She did not act tired in the least. But the truth could be seen, she had been having nightmares lately, her memories haunting her dream world as well as her reality. Making it difficult for her to get any rest.

The roan nudged into Gin again, wanting her attention, maybe getting jealous of the man who had taken away Gin's blue eyes from her. Gin smiled and turned back towards the roan, hushing her and looking into her eyes, "Now now, no need to be that way. I am right here." With this roan mare, Gin looked right at home, like she had found a family again. But, that would never be true. Nothing could replace the family she had had. The roan gave a small whinie as Gin looked back up to Sam.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Had it been over a year since last they met? It had, and that seemed strange. But Sama'el had traveled far and back on a quest for a lonely ghost, and come back with scars and stories to tell. And there were some stories he would keep to himself, but still haunted his dreaming. He grinned and though he noticed the signs of strain upon her, he did not know her well enough to overcome his Drykas sense of propriety where another's privacy was concerned. If she wanted him to know why she looked so tired, she would tell him. If she did not, he would not make her uncomfortable by asking. When one lived in a city of thin tent walls, one learned how to respect boundaries. "Who is your friend here?" he asked. "Or is it a relative?" He laughed, but it was kindhearted humor. If anything, he was respectful of Ginchoeri, a Kelvic horse. Such a creature must be blessed by the gods, to embody a human and a horse form. She had the form of a Windrunner, much like the horse he rode before he was chosen by Dohaina. But he didn't know much about Kelvic ways. Would she have a human's distaste if he introduce her to Horse as a potential mate, or did she fully embrace her equine form. He imagined she and Horse would throw beautiful offspring. In fact, he remembered her horse form with greater accuracy than her human form, but that was how he thought. He would not ask her.

[Ginchoeri]

Gin smiled even more as Sama'el's joke ran through her ears. Her chuckles shook her body lightly as she continued to pet the roan. "This one? The handlers were having a little trouble, she is a wild one she is. Kicking up a storm, strong for sure." she patted the roan lightly. She seemed to glow as she spoke, she loved horses with a passion, and it was something she shared with the Drykas people, something that made her feel like she fit in.

"I do not think they have given her a name, I wonder if they would take a suggestion though. She needs a good strong name, just like her. Her power is unmistakable. I just wonder how long they have kept her caged up in here. I can tell she wants to go for a run. I feel bad for her, separated from her family." At this point she had turned back to the roan, laying her forhead on the roans.

She did not miss that Sam had avoided her question, but she decided not to push it. She trusted that in time he would tell her, if not now, when they met once again. So she decided to keep the topic on horses. "Are you here to look for a horse? What kind, I could probably point you in the right direction for the right kind of traits you want. I good at reading a horse, if you know what I mean." she smiled at him, hoping he would not refuse her company for a while.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He hadn't actually meant to avoid her question, but in the flurry of words that occasioned their reunion, he hadn't quite had the chance. The roan mare must have been a handful if they were penning her; the Drykas didn't like to enclose their horses, nor tie them up nor tie them down. Freedom was the way of things for Drykas, human or equine, even if there was a terrible price to pay for it. "My Windrunner needs a girlfriend," he admitted, "and I always have an eye out for Striders and Seme. I've got an honest-to-gods pavilion again, so soon we will need strong ones to carry our pavilion, and swift ones for hunting and patrolling. And what about you? Are you still galloping solo or have you found a herd of your own?" It had seemed strange to him, the horse-girl running around on her own when both horses and people were herd animals.

[Ginchoeri]

"Horse needs a girlfriend?" Gin giggled at the thought, "I would think he would have no trouble, unless you have something specific in mind, like another windrunner? I congradulate you on pulling your pavillion back together. But I also must say, if you have patcience, any horse would be good Striders or Seme. It is just some traits are liked more than others it seems and temperments scare others away, but I feel that you Drykas are so picky sometime that you miss what is right in front of you. Oh, I am not saying you specifically Sam, it.. is just a generalization I have made, by observing what I have seen."

She paused a moment, how should she answer his question to her? She did not want to come off as to lonely, but telling lies was never her forte. She took a deep breath, "To be honest, I do not go out as much as I used to, to many close calls on my own. So I have not been out there long enough to find a herd. Also.. I would hate to be caught by your people, all the problems it would cause, and the uproar of having to let me go hahaha." her laugh was weak. She knew what she said was true, she would not allow herself to be sold and bought, she just would not let it happen, even if that ment that she had to change forms to get what she needed.

"Though, I have become accustomed to being alone... Okay.. I guess that is not exactly the right way to say it.. I have become accustomed to feeling alone." she put emphasis on the word feeling. Because in a city where the walls were only as thick as the fabric of a tent, there was no truely being alone. She sighed, "It has been a wild ride for both of us it seems, though yours may be a little bit more wild at the moment. I am just glad to see you alive and well."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The way she rattled her words out, he got the impression she had needed someone to talk to for some time, and not just the lovely roan mare whose comprehension would be animal and could not respond with logic, only animal affection. He smiled and slung his thumbs in his belt, tugging it a bit lower with the weight of his arms gone suddenly slack. "It's dangerous out there with the wild herds," he agreed. Most horses hadn't quite adapted to the predators of the Valterrian, let alone the new horrors from the djed storm. "Perhaps one of these days you'll want to come on circuit with me? I wouldn't mind slowing down for you, especially if I'm not riding to the far side of Cyphrus. It would give you a chance to really run, and you'd have a safe camp at night. "I've apprentices," he added. "One my blood-brother, who joined my pavilion. Another a young woman from Diamond Clan. They've Striders so... Well, think about it." He wondered if he oughtn't introduce her to the feral man who lived in his crater with the falcon guardian. Perhaps he might assuage her loneliness and she help act as a bridge back to Endrykas for him. He would think on it. "But it's good to see you too. None of us live very long on the Sea of Grass, but we're both still here. That's a blessing. And if... Hm. Pardon me if I speak indelicately, but I'm a plain man and used to helping horses. If you go into heat and need someone to keep the stallions off you, or keep you in your right mind if you're not ready for foals, you just let me know. That is, unless you want to come meet Horse when that time comes." He grinned. Had she been but a horse, he would have bought her to secure a strong Windrunner bloodline with Horse. She was lovely in her human form, too. He just didn't know what she wanted out of life and didn't feel right asking. But he could offer help. Horses had a shorter lifespan than humans, and from what he understood, Kelvics aged at the rate of their animal form. She might decide she wanted foals at any time, whether true foals, human children, or the possibility of another Kelvic.

[Ginchoeri]

"I would love to go on a circuit, but would I not have to learn a little bit of fighting and self defense? I would not want to be, a problem so to speak." She smiled weakly, he was so inclined to have her be a horse it felt. It was just, odd for her, because she would much rather be able to talk to humans at some times. Though, all she had had to really talk to really for the longest time were the horses. So maybe she just wanted some change.

She smiled as he talked, listening to the words behind the words. He loved his people, and who could blame him. Most Drykas would be the nicest people you had ever met. Most.

When he brought up the uncomfortable subject of going into heat. She blushed furiously, anger and embarassment shooting through her like a wild fire. But right before she was going to yell at him. The roan nudged her a bit, just a bit, and that little bit brought her back to her senses. She took a deep breath and glared at him, still allowing herself to be angry, but at a quieter voice so as not to cause strange rumors around the camp for either of them.

"And I must appoligize for you seem to think I want to be paired with a horse." Her voice came in an aggrivated whisper, "Without pausing to think of the implications of what that would mean for me. I want to live a life with humans, have human ways, live the human life. That is why I have not been changing my form to often. For you to.. to even suggest what you have just suggested.." she shook and looked away from him, anger and sadness written all over her face, "and if you must know, I have been doing just fine taking care of myself when those times come."

She knew her anger would be something different for him, but she could not help it. She was not one to hold in emotion, and she really was angry. She knew it was also unfair of her to go off on him, knowing that he only met her once before, and that was a year ago almost. But she stood her ground so to speak.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He nodded at her reservations about the circuit. Were he being blunt, he would say that she would be a burden, but one of the duties of the Watch was to guard travelers who were Drykas or friends of the Drykas while upon the Sea of Grass. But she would be faster in her equine form than in her human form, and he was just trying to figure out the most efficient way to make her wishes possible. At first her blushing almost made him laugh, as most Drykas were rather earthy where breeding came into play, but thankfully he didn't as she quickly proved that her color came from anger. He couldn't quite understand it except that she wasn't, in fact, Drykas by birth no matter she had lived among them for a while. "I apologize if my words offended you," he said carefully. "Among my people, horses are as honored as people. The one time I met you, you were courting danger on the Sea as a horse. The Kelvics I have met in the past have been as in touch with their animal self as their human self. If you wish to live your life as a human, I can respect that."