04-30-2021, 04:43 PM
The light that meets the dark
Cheri hadn’t been gone from home long enough to miss the place, yet. Of course the goodbyes had been tearful, especially when her mother pulled her close and when she’d had to say farewell to her siblings. Reynard seemed especially broody for a young stallion, and Cheri promised him she’d come home soon to annoy him. Targaryen had known for a while that Cheri was planning on leaving, and so did her father Yan; the former had gone recluse and so she hadn’t been able to give him a proper goodbye or talk about the heavy thoughts concerning their relationship since the midsummer festival in Icicle Isle. Yanhua had walked her to the border of Loess, made the proper introductions and commitments, and then he’d urged Cheri to explore as much as she could before thinking about coming home for a first visit.
“These are your hours to shine, to find yourself and face new challenges.” His advice echoed in her thoughts, giving lift to her already buoyant flight that morning. “Taiga will always be a home for you. Adventure … she waits for no one.”
So adventure she did. Her first night in Loess had been a lonely one, accustomed as she was to sleeping in a tightly-packed herd or side-by-side with Yenny. The landscape could be as harsh as it was beautiful, and when the sun finally went down the cold had set in. She shivered half the night and slept fitfully the other half, happy to see dawn finally breaking over the horizon. After a light breakfast spent foraging over the rocky hills, she flared her wings and took to the sky - eager to begin the search for something unusual, or possibly something to mend. When she took a rest later, the day was already half-spent and she found herself at the southernmost edge of the Kingdom where the Pampas blended their rolling hillocks into the red canyons of Loessian territory.
“This is the farthest I’ve ever flown.” Cheri suddenly realized, lifting her nose to sample the late autumn winds. The scent was heavenly, a bit heady but mostly a mixture of sweet and sultry she’d never experienced until now. Faintly, Cheri could detect the aftertaste of salt in the air - the ocean must’ve been nearby. She thought it strange that no other scent of horse was mingling there as well. Her mentor had commented that the Pampas were a mostly-silent herdland, and Cheri’s curiosity over just how silent led her out past the edges of Loess at a trot. She took to the main road, overgrown from disuse, and gave her wings a much-needed rest while her legs carried her in a loping sort of canter for a few miles.
The terrain here was mostly hills and uneven valleys, and Cheri passed them until she came across one filled with the most incredible display of colors she’d ever had the pleasure of seeing. Wildflowers choked each other for sunlight, so thick and multitudinous that her hooves had trouble navigating through them. They were literally carpeting the earth, causing Cheri to think of Rosey - her aunt back home, Lilli’s girl - and how the silver black mare would’ve absolutely died from happiness.
The wind shifted gently, taking her scent with it and bringing another, hazily familiar one along. Cheri stopped dead amidst the blossoms and stood alert, listening to the sound of throaty laughter rising up from a distance where she couldn’t see, and from her spot amongst the flowers she whickered politely. Only then did she realize: she should’ve probably waited near the border, instead of just tromping right though at her leisure.
“These are your hours to shine, to find yourself and face new challenges.” His advice echoed in her thoughts, giving lift to her already buoyant flight that morning. “Taiga will always be a home for you. Adventure … she waits for no one.”
So adventure she did. Her first night in Loess had been a lonely one, accustomed as she was to sleeping in a tightly-packed herd or side-by-side with Yenny. The landscape could be as harsh as it was beautiful, and when the sun finally went down the cold had set in. She shivered half the night and slept fitfully the other half, happy to see dawn finally breaking over the horizon. After a light breakfast spent foraging over the rocky hills, she flared her wings and took to the sky - eager to begin the search for something unusual, or possibly something to mend. When she took a rest later, the day was already half-spent and she found herself at the southernmost edge of the Kingdom where the Pampas blended their rolling hillocks into the red canyons of Loessian territory.
“This is the farthest I’ve ever flown.” Cheri suddenly realized, lifting her nose to sample the late autumn winds. The scent was heavenly, a bit heady but mostly a mixture of sweet and sultry she’d never experienced until now. Faintly, Cheri could detect the aftertaste of salt in the air - the ocean must’ve been nearby. She thought it strange that no other scent of horse was mingling there as well. Her mentor had commented that the Pampas were a mostly-silent herdland, and Cheri’s curiosity over just how silent led her out past the edges of Loess at a trot. She took to the main road, overgrown from disuse, and gave her wings a much-needed rest while her legs carried her in a loping sort of canter for a few miles.
The terrain here was mostly hills and uneven valleys, and Cheri passed them until she came across one filled with the most incredible display of colors she’d ever had the pleasure of seeing. Wildflowers choked each other for sunlight, so thick and multitudinous that her hooves had trouble navigating through them. They were literally carpeting the earth, causing Cheri to think of Rosey - her aunt back home, Lilli’s girl - and how the silver black mare would’ve absolutely died from happiness.
The wind shifted gently, taking her scent with it and bringing another, hazily familiar one along. Cheri stopped dead amidst the blossoms and stood alert, listening to the sound of throaty laughter rising up from a distance where she couldn’t see, and from her spot amongst the flowers she whickered politely. Only then did she realize: she should’ve probably waited near the border, instead of just tromping right though at her leisure.
@[Obscene] this is so long because of the amount of exposition I just *had* to write about, lol.
TL;DR: Cheri barges into the Pampas thinking it's empty and eventually, she comes across a stoned-to-the-bone Obscene.