His heart rammed against his chest, dark eyes set on the path before him. Sweat coated every ounce of him, his coal colored tendrils pasted flat against his neck. The stallion was growing tired, his lungs burning with each thundering step he took. His muscles contracted, begging him to take a break. At least for a moment.
It felt as though Krigare had been running for weeks, though truth was it had only been a few hours. (Even if those hours had been constant. Rough) When his legs began to betray him, and his lungs threatened to collapse , the bay found himself at a river. Its rushing waters calling to him. Though he made no move to quench the burn in his throat.
Krigare stayed within the trees until his heart finally calmed, the steady thrum of it filling his ears. He smelled others, though the scent was awash with the water before him. Snorting he stepped forward , his ears pinned flat against his head.
His tail flicked roughly at his sides, ridding him of the flies that rested upon his rump. With hooded eyes, and slow thoughts he made his way to the water. Grey eyes glancing around before he lowered his large head to the blue he stood by.
The drink was quick, the dry of his throat no where near gone, but subsided for now. When he felt better, the aches slowly fading , he raised his head legs pushing him away from the ground and into the river itself. The rush pulled at him , trying to drag him as it went. Though he stood strong. Rock like.
He snorted at this. 'Rock like'. Two days ago he was in Tephra , contempt. But he yearned to run. To do something that worked him to the brink, and for him running for hours was the answer. He felt no urge to go home for now. At the moment he just wished to stay in the water, with no care of what happened after that.
![[Image: krigare_by_voltum-dbctewi.png]](http://orig01.deviantart.net/7a05/f/2017/166/6/b/krigare_by_voltum-dbctewi.png)
06-15-2017, 03:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-15-2017, 03:15 PM by Jah-Lilah.)
Not a word was spoke between us, there was little risk involved. Everything up to that point had been left unresolved.
Jah-Lilah loved the water. So many good memories made by the water's edge so many days and nights before this. Sometimes she saw pictures in the water, the product of too much over-indulging and an over-active imagination. She enjoyed them though, my red-rosy mare has no regrets. She loved the rivers and waterfalls especially because they were unmanageable, untamable. The water could not be held, could not be captured, the water was a migrant, like her. Kindred spirits, they were, Jah-Lilah and the aqua.
It was Jah-Lilah's love of the water that brought her to the stream today, plunged her belly-deep damn near in the middle of the river. She reveled in the coolness surrounding her body, felt it tickle her sides as it pushed roughly past her. She stuck her nose in and blew bubbles like a child, entertained by her own made-up game. It wasn't until a dark colored man with wild black hair trailing behind him like smoke came blundering through did she break her concentration. Jah-Lilah was not started, but more taken aback at how boisterous he came to this peaceful entity. The nerve. She snorted the water from her nostrils, and called out to him a greeting. His sides were heaving, his eyes wild. His muscles trembled beneath his skin she noticed, looking at him curiously.
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm. "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
someday, we will foresee obstacles
He watched the mare, aware that she was merely yards away from him. He had no intent to speak to her, so he merely scooted further up the water. His eyes narrowed as her head lowered, bubbles following soon after.
"Child.."
He muttered quietly before turning his entire body away from her.
He relaxed once more , his muscles slowly yet surely unknotting themselves as the water lapped at his sides, the bay color fading to black as he became soaked. His ears began to perk, relaxed by the sound of his surroundings. The birds that called quietly in the trees, the wind that whisked them into the skies as they took flight, and the mare that called to him-
His ears snapped back once more, his frame going rigid. His head turned to her, his nostrils flaring as he took her in. The nerve of her to disturb him! He merely snorted at her in turn, his head going back to the water.
As a sign of his annoyance with her his tail flicked wildly behind him, his head lowering to just above the water. After a moment he began to think about what it was he was going to do. His mind brought him to the possibility that if he returned to Tephra he would never leave again.
His heart contracted at this. His head told him he needed a break from the life he had chosen. The wanderer forcing himself into desperation. But his heart yearned to continue this path. Though he knew that one day his body would truly give out. It would no longer trust him to take breaks, and he feared this.
He was young, too young to be here now. Regretting the few choices he had made.
Shaking his head to quell the thoughts, he drank once more. Not pulling his head up until he was truly satisfied , the burn now gone rather than faded.
I was burnt out from exhaustion, buried in the hail, poisoned in the bushes, and blown out on the trail.
He tensed up visually as her hello reached his seal-toned ears, and this confused Jah-Lilah. She was a singer! A spinner of tales by the fire! Surely it wasn't her voice, was he...grumpy?! Jah-Lilah's face changed from contemplating to realization. As if his body language wasn't enough, he returned her delightful whinny with a snort! She was a bit surprised. There must be more feelings and history to this land than she had initially thought. She watched his tail twitch and dance, either he had a gang of flies on dat ass, or he was real-life irritated.
She shrugged his gestures off dismissively, continuing to edge closer to him and play. She sniffed and snortled at the water, chasing the figures of fish and tadpoles beneath the surface. Her games brought her dangerously close to the stud, standing still as a stone. In his deep thoughts, moving so deliberately, he was a sight to see. Even wore out and stressed out, he was an imposing figure. Jah-Lilah squealed in delight at the river, half-rearing and coming down with a massive splash. The feathers in her hair danced and played right along with her, she was so engrossed with her moment she didn't even realize she nearly (or maybe definitly) splashed the big male.
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn, "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
someday, we will foresee obstacles
He took deep breaths, choosing to ignore the approaching mare. She must have thought she was something, getting on his nerves like that! His breath shook as his annoyance grew, the water no longer calming but- ALL OVER HIM!
He made a deep noise, something between a curse and a growl. Fighting the water he turned quickly to face her, eyes wide with rage.
"DO YOU MIND?"
He grumbled, mane plastered to his face in a funny abstract way.
"I have been overly nice with your games Miss. But if you want to splash about PLEASE take it away from me."
He snapped, backing away from her. Though it didnt work like it was supposed to,
Big stallion + rushing water + ANGRY big stallion = Krigare falling over himself and into the water below him. The force of him falling had most likely soaked the mare, but he could only hope as he recovered himself. Spitting a stream of water out of his mouth. His legs were played to keep him up right as he shook himself, dark coat dripping as he hauled himself out of the river , grumbling lowly the whole time.
With a huff he dropped onto the bank, eyes narrowing on the mare.
Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there, silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair...
The mare had dunked her whole head in the water, and came up just in time to hear whatever the hell that noise was that came out of big boy over there. She lowered her head, tail to him. Her tail was raised joyously still, like the fancy Arabian horses from the far East. She peered around her backside, rump well-muscled and shapely from all her years as a vagabond. She could go miles and miles before tiring, my wild Indian mare. She look genuinely shocked at his anger, big jade eyes peering at him between long dark lashes. Her lips were pursed, she was stifling a laugh and could juuuuuuust barely hide a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. He was quite a sight with that forelock slapped all over his face. Then it happened.
He began a tirade that he never got to finish. Jah-Lilah's dear friend, the rushing river, had other plans for the both of them. She heard his words tossed at her aggressively, but they were soon drowned out by a tremendous crash, followed by Jah-Lilah getting an impromptu shower. She pinned her ears, but only to keep the water out. My star-child is good-humored and knows the universe requires balance. A splash for a splash, I suppose.
She is much smaller in stature than the maroon stally, but she makes up for it in enthusiasm. She had to lunge to make it out of the water, but was coughing and laughing all the while. She didn't know if she had ever seen anything so endearing as this big bulky beast in front of her, legs all straddled wide like a baby giraffe learning to drink. She pulls herself onto the bank, then trots a few paces, bursting with giggles and grinning wide. She halts near him, shaking herself. She turns and smiles at him, mane sticking out everywhere, the feathers swinging wildly. "Well then, Standing Stone! I don't think that went the way either of us intended, now did it?" With that, she dropped to her knees and proceeded to roll, thoroughly enjoying every moment of it.
...She walked up to me so gracefully, and took my crown of thorns. "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
someday, we will foresee obstacles
Krigare was furious now. 99.9% of the stallion was pure rage. The other 1% just annoyance with the mare. When she began to laugh at him he had enough. He stood, surprisingly fast for his stature. His head was lowered to her height.
"Myy name is Krigare, and you annoy me."
He stated lowly , quite done with the names she had picked for him.
"If you would like to make names up, heres one for you Goose. You are loud and ...and ..and prying! Aha! Thats what it is! You dont know what personal space is."
He turned away from her, now READY to return to Tephra. The mare whos name he didnt care to know had thoroughly upset his 'peaceful' getaway to think had turned into a soak fest with a mare intent on laughing her heart out and rolling in the dirt.
"Good day madam."
He snorted, walking a ways down the river, his sopping tail dragging after him, the dirt taking haste to cling it. Turning the beautiful black into a dusty brown.
Now there's a wall between, something that's been lost. I took too much for granted, I got my signals crossed.
She rolled onto her belly, legs folded beneath her as he peers down at her. His breath is warm in her nose, and emerald eyes meet emerald eyes. His irritation is screaming. If Jah-Lilah were blind she'd know he was Pissed. Capital P. She didn't care. Emotions were fleeting, just as our time on this earth. Even immortals eventually die, their bodies young and strong while their souls rot within. "It doesn't matter what you call me, as long as you know me. The Earth-Mother calls me Jah-Lilah, but others have called me worse. Goose isn't so bad." An ornery grin is on her face as he turns on his heel to leave.
She snorts the debris from her nostrils and gets up with a satisfied groan. She shakes the dirt from her coat and picks up a brisk walk shortly behind him, head tilted as she calls after him. "Why are you leaving in such a rush, Standing Stone? Because of a little water at a river? Life is too short for all that mess, lighten up, it's not so bad."
...To think it all began on an uneventful morn. "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
someday, we will foresee obstacles
"Earth Mother? Thats rich."
He grumbled under his breath, his pace steady as he looked for the path that would take him back home. He almost cried out in question when he realized she was following him. But his pace only increased to a soft trot down the bank.
"Good day miss."
He emphasized, his peripherals catching her momentarily. At her words though, he stopped. Almost fast enough to be run into by the mare.
"For your information I have come here to THINK, and with you running about splashing me as though I am here to play with you has irked my last nerve!"
There was no word to describe how defeated he felt, she really wasnt going to leave him alone was she?
He turned to her. Ears sideways as if willing to listen to her.
"What do you want Goose?"
The deputy walks on hard nails, the preacher rides a mount, but nothing really matters much, it's doom alone that counts...
Jah-Lilah paid his aggressive words no mind, jauntily following his path. She couldn't help it, she liked people and loved everything. She wanted to figure him out, hear his story, and know what made him how he is. It's the soothsayer in her. Stories are meant to be told, drugs are meant to be shared. She has to screech to a sudden halt when he brake-checks her, narrowly missing his haunches by a whisker. She ducked to the side quickly, ears forward as his harsh body language finally relents.
"You're missing the point, Stands-Like-A-Stone. I don't WANT anything. It's what YOU want. The peace you are looking for, it won't come from a river, or an equid, or even the Earth-Mother herself. It has to come from you." She cocks a lazy hind leg, shifting her weight casually. "I just want to know you, like I want to know everyone here. I collect stories, then move on about my business."
...The one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn. "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
someday, we will foresee obstacles
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