Solo Freedom On the Back of a Horse

[Mihiya Darkmane]

Timestamp: 1st day of Summer, AV 513

Guide:
Pavi Speak
Common Speak
Thoughts

Dark hair twined into a long braid streamed out behind the dark colored teen Drykas as she rode her dun colored Strider at a canter along the outskirts of Endrykas. She was frustrated, no, more than frustrated. She had been minding her own business when her adoptive mother had insisted she learn a craft, something boring that involved sitting. Komali must have sensed her discontent, because she had loosened a loud whicker the moment Mihiya took her seat. Claiming that Komali needed attention, immediately, the copper-skinned half breed had fled her mother's tent and had jumped onto the back of Komali, forgetting the yvas. Riding bareback was as easy to the girl as riding with help. She twined her fingers in the thick black mane of her strider and had flown from the tent.

That had been an hour ago. No doubt Briseni was looking for her "brothers" Korso and Binlin to find her. Binlin was a poor tracker and Korso even more so, giving Mihiya confidence that they would not locate her. She stroked Komali's neck as the mare slowed to a trot, then to a walk.

"This is far enough," she signaled and spoke to her horse as she slid from the back of the mare to the ground. Komali bent her neck to graze as the girl pulled her sling from the pocket of her pants and a few of her bullets from the pouch at her hip. She wasn't much of a tracker yet, far better at riding than at anything else, but she was capable of stalking a rabbit in the vast sea of grass. The creature had left a few pawprints in the dirt and had bent a few blades of grass.

"Don't leave," she signaled to Komali. The horse whickered lightly in response as Mihiya began to track the rabbit. As with all animals, the creature would no doubt stop to feed at some point. Her dark eyes scanned the grasslands for the creature as she stepped lightly. It would feel her or hear her if she walked without care for how she did so.

She spotted it nearly twenty minutes later, after following a trail of half eaten food and droppings. She could kill it, if her sling was accurate (as it wasn't apt to be) from that distance. Perhaps it would be better to get closer. She slunk closer when suddenly the rabbit's ears flicked up. It had heard her. Moving clumsily (it had been years since she had used a sling) she loaded the sling with a bullet and whipped it at the rabbit, missing soundly. The rabbit darted off.

"Damn," she cursed in Pavi. It would have been a peace offering to Briseni if she had managed to kill the creature. That way her adoptive mother wouldn't have been as angry as she was apt to be.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

Komali regarded her mistress with what could only be described as amusement. The girl's dark eyes met her Strider's angrily.

"Think this is funny, Komali?" the dark colored Drykas half breed demanded, her body signalling the disgust and frustration she felt. Mihiya was not capable of keeping her emotions out of her Pavi. She stroked the long nose of her Strider, "I wish I had killed the rabbit," she murmured to herself, "Briseni would have been placated in the very least with a rabbit to give her for soup tonight. Perhaps we won't go back to the Pavillion tonight, eh?" The ease with which the girl spoke to her mare was undeniable. She set down her backpack, which she had not neglected to bring with her, and pulled from it a brush for her horse. She began to brush down her Strider, cooing gently to the dun mare as she worked.

"Do you want to leave?" she asked Komali as she worked, "They say Eyktol is no place for a Drykas...or a Strider. Briseni warns that a great many people and horses have perished in the deserts, but I'm part Chaktawe, surely I could make it." Her brow furrowed for a moment. Do I want to leave? Drykas were no different from ordinary humans, except for their Striders. Anyone who could bind with a Strider was a Drykas in the Sea of Grass, but would the Chaktawe be so accepting? She knew nothing of the humanoid creatures from which she was descended. She did not speak their language, though it seemed likely some Chaktawe spoke Common as well. Not that she spoke Common with any great amount of fluency.

"Briseni say desert people much different from horse people," she tried in Common. Pavi was so much easier. Just how did those who spoke Common fluently communicate with any amount of emotion. These were the thoughts that buzzed in Mihiya's head as she groomed. Komali was dusty from the ride, and Mihiya knew she had neglected Komali in the days before.

"Do you dream of babies?" the dark horse woman asked her mare, "Briseni says that you are of age. She says that you would be more willing to be some stallion's wife than I am to be wed. She also says that she would prefer you as a child. Do you wish to be with a stallion?" Komali had been a yearling when she had bound with three year old Mihiya. She was reaching fourteen years now, old enough to breed certainly. The horseclans needed more Striders, just as they needed more children. She was fertile and heathly, Briseni wished to wed her this summer. Would she be willing to be wed and bed? The thought frightened her. With a sigh she placed her hand on her sun warmed stomach, a child growing within her would be quite the responsibility.

"The world is wide," Mihiya whispered, more to herself than to her Strider, "Do I travel the world? Or do I stay here and learn a craft, stay here and be wed to some stranger? I know no men. I have never known love." She sighed. She had a Strider, she possessed two weapons, weapons she could hardly use. She removed the sling from her pocket again and stared at it. She put the brush on the ground and put a bullet in the sling. Whirling the sling, she flung the stone toward a tree within twenty paces of herself. It fell pathetically short.

"Pathetic," she hissed, disgusted in herself again.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

The girl turned back to her faithful mount.

"Perhaps the rabbits could be hunted elsewhere?" suggested Mihiya. She twined her fingers in the mane of her horse and swung onto the back of her mount. She had been riding Mihiya since the mare was old enough to ride, and it was a familiar thing to sit astride the beautiful mare. She nudged her with her knees and Komali set off, her long legs eating up the ground.

It was growing later in the day, the time mattered little, but she knew that if she wasn't returning to the Pavillion today, she ought to be considering where she would stay during the day. She knew that she could probably sleep out under the stars, but someone would report back to Briseni and that would be the end of that. She felt a growling in her stomach. She couldn't cook, she reminded herself of that...Briseni had not thought it a valuable lesson to teach the young Drykas. Raw meat was not her favorite to consume, but she could eat it if she needed to. She had forgotten to pack any rations for her hunting trip and was disgusted with herself.

"Let's hunt then," she sighed, nudging her mount with her knees again to encourage a faster pace. She laced her fingers through the dark mane and leaned over her Strider's neck. Komali picked up the pace and soon they were flying. She felt her braid whip out behind her and she laughed despite herself. Keen eyes scanned the ground before her and she slowed her mare rapidly, and then slid off when Komali reached a stop. She had spied a nest of younglings. As much as she loathed to kill the babies, perhaps she could lie in wait until the mother arrived and could take her instead. The babies appeared about half grown, certainly old enough to be weaned from their mothers.

Minutes passed, and soon she caught the sound of the crunch of grass. A cautious creature hopped toward her nest. Mihiya's breath caught in her throat. She fitted a second stone in her sling. The rabbit was very close. She whirled the sling and flung the stone. It was no killing blow, however it did strike the rabbit, she could tell from the pitiful sound it made as the stone hit it's rear haunch. When she approached, the creature could only make the smallest of movements away from her. She bent over and caught the creature. It's eyes were widen and frightened.

Forgive me, little one. She thought as she wrung the thing's neck. She placed the dead rabbit in her pack and returned to Komali.

"Home," she said to Komali as she mounted the Strider and set off for the Darkmane Pavillion.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

She hated being home, Mihiya thought as she slipped in the door past an unobservant Briseni. Still, there was a fire there, and she could attempt to cook her prize. She had clumsily skinned the rabbit and cleaned it as best as she could. As for how to cook it, she hadn't the faintest clue, but it would be better than disturbing Briseni. She finally put the rabbit on some sort of stick and placed it over the flame. She turned the rabbit on occasion, noting how part of it was turning brown and others were still a pink color. When the entirety of the rabbit was either brown or black, she pulled the stick from the fire and removed the rabbit.

"Ouch," pain, burning she muttered as she pulled the rabbit from the stick. She put it on the counter and began to eat, burning her fingers and her tongue in the process. The rabbit was ill-prepared, she noted as she consumed it. Some of the flesh was overdone, some was underdone. Nevertheless, it soothed the growling in her stomach. Once finished, she disposed of the remains (among the hunting dogs of her Pavillion) and snuck up the steps to get her tent from her belongings. Today, she would leave her Pavillion. It was time to get away from Briseni's watchful eye. It was summer, the Drykas were weakened from the illness that had struck, but she saw no reason to fear.

Once outside, she whistled to her Strider. The dun mare appeared out of the black and nudged her. She put the Yvas on Komali and then attacked the saddle bags. Her tent, she placed on Komali's withers before mounting. The dark Drykas nudged her mare forward, onward to the inner parts of Endrykas where she would find some place to set up her tent. She was of age, 16 years she could claim, and a Windmarked of the Drykas. She would learn how to hunt better, would become a hunter.

In that way, she decided, she would support herself.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

It was not so easy, the Drykas realized as she set up her tent, to do things on her own. She did not know how to cook. Her hunting skills were subpar at best. She was an okay rider (as she should be, having spent so many years in the saddle), but she certainly wasn't the best. As for combat skills, well those were sadly lacking. She wanted to learn how to fight as well, especially since she had no idea how hostile the Eyktol area would be. She sighed to herself as she finished setting up her tent.

"Some Drykas I am," she complained to her Pavi, frustrated, useless. The dun mare nuzzled her lightly and helped her to relax. She stroked the velvety nose of her mare and then began to untack the mare, removing the Yvas and the saddle bags, packing them into her tent. She found the brush and combs she needed for her horse and began to groom the mare, soothing herself with the familar motions.

I'm not even full Drykas, she thought to herself bitterly as she groomed. She was part Chaktawe, she remembered. The Drykas accepted anyone who could earn their Windmarks, as she had, but she knew in her heart that until she had met her father's people, she would never be complete. Drykas were an accepting race, but they were human. Chaktawe were not, she remembered. She knew very little about the desert dwelling creatures, but she knew that they were humanoid. Did that make her less than human as well? She closed her second eyelids and sighed. It did indeed.

Once done grooming her mare, she began to untwist the simple braid she kept her hair in. It had never been cut, save for when she was very young and had gotten it stuck in something, and was very thick and heavy as it fell around her shoulders. She found her own comb and brush and began to brush out the dark locks, knotted and snarled though they were from her excursions.

"Tomorrow will be better," she informed her horse, "Tomorrow I will kill the rabbit right away, I won't just hurt it, and I won't burn myself. Maybe I'll even find someone to teach me how to fight!"

[Jackalope]

Mihi

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Tracking	+1	Being Unsure of What to Do
Weapon: Sling	+2	Cooking: This is not how you cook rabbit
Observation	+1	Deciding to Leave is a Hard Decision
Cooking	+1
Stealth	+1

Witty Remark Here

Quick little hunting thread I'd like to see a lot more detail in the actual hunt. Rather than actually hunting, you just kind of happened upon what you needed to find, if that makes sense? I didn't award any hunting because of that. Careful overplaying your weapon skill. I know you missed a few times, but using a sling with no training would be extremely difficult. I enjoyed the burned rabbit quite a bit, though. Keep at it, mind your skills, and remember, detail detail detail! If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.