Wild Again (Aleksi)

[Tebridiar]

Tebridiar felt glorious that Aleksi appreciated her wilder form. Well, she was a horse after all… the animal every Drykas lived for.

It was perfect, in a way.

She felt a comfortable weight settle on her back as Aleksi leapt on top of her. It felt relaxing, nice. She hadn’t been ridden much before. Only really by her Master, the younger children of the kind old farmer who she had lived with in her younger years and… well, that was it. No one else had ridden her… yet it felt like more. Tebridiar hadn’t seen what she looked like in her horse form, not for years. Not since she was a foal… except only briefly in reflections in water as she galloped by.

She became aware that she must have grown, she was able to take the weight of her future weight, and she must be heavier than her old, wizened Master. She then became painfully aware that it must be visible, on her back. She was sure any bumps or broken bones and things transferred to the Kelvics wild form. Hopefully Aleksi was sitting on top of it.

Tebridiar shook her head from side to side, making her mane flow and wave around prettily. She wanted to look as radiant as possible. She twitched her flanks and the muscles at her shoulders, waiting for some encouragement from Aleksi to tell her to start galloping on to Endrykas. She wanted to gallop around the city for a bit, she hadn’t done that in a long time.

[Aleksi]

Aleksi smiled warmly as Tebridiar twitched, but once her hand moved over the back of this beautiful horse, she felt something, something underneath the skin. She didn't say anything, nor did she react in any way. She just leaned over and whispered quietly "Let's go girl... I want the city to see the most beautiful horse of all"

She smiled proudly, like she used to when coming back from a hunt with three or more large animals. Her hands were holding onto Tebridiar's mane lightly, just so she wouldn't fall off, waiting for her lovely bond-mate-to-be to start galloping.

This was a unique experience, one every Drykas would dream of. To understand and be understood by their horse so well. To love it and be loved in a way Aleksi and Tebridiar did. She sighed happily, feeling butterflies in her stomach as she placed a soft kiss on the neck of the beautiful girl, well, horse at the time.

[Tebridiar]

Tebridiar shuddered, a sharp pain going from her back, all the way to her body. Like fire and ice mingling, burning her. Especially her back.

Damn, she had found it.

Maybe by accident, maybe she didn’t realise, but touching it was quite painful, even now. Her fingers probably just brushed over it.

But it seared. It was worse than normal... was she getting weaker? She panicked.

Tebridiar shuddered, reared up a little bit, giving a shrill neigh, her eyes widening. She could feel her heart beating madly, it made her a little scared. She tried to calm herself down, breathing more slowly. She could still feel it, a sharp, stabbing pain. She decided to ignore it, try to go on.

It didn’t seem to hurt if someone just sat on it. It had been there even when her Master had ridden on her. But she guessed he knew it was there, and he didn’t like to punish with pain. His punishments were more psychological, and more… ugh. She didn’t like to think about his little urges that would take him every so often. He had made her feel like dirt.

This put new life in her, enough to withstand the burning sensation that had started to take over her. She would have screamed loudly if she was human, but as a horse she just naturally felt a bit more tolerable, a bit more strong.

She pounded on towards Endrykas, like her hooves were touching hot iron, she leapt away. She was a very fast horse, but also able to cope with quite heavy loads. However she was a little delicate… she expected if she went over on a log of rock she could be badly bruised atleast. But this didn’t bother her as she was focusing intently on the ground and its layout, trying to blot out the searing pain that still lingered.

[Aleksi]

Aleksi sighed softly, feeling the muscles of the horse under her tighten as she touched the spot. Her body leaned over and her fingers brushed the girl's neck lightly, whispering as she was picking up pace "Slow down love.... we need to talk..."

Her voice didn't show any anger or surprise, it was just the caring one, one of a worried woman talking to her mate. She leaned back again and kept sighing. What was that hurt such a lovely creature so bad? What could have done this to such a beautiful girl? Who could be so heartless.

Aleksi felt anger inside of her. Not towards Tebridiar, no, Heavens no, but towards the whomever or whatever did this to her lovely Tebridiar. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she sighed once again, deeply as her mind kept repeating the same words Who could have hurt you this way my dear... Who could have been so heartless.... Aleksi's eyes filled with tears this time. She was sad, so sad that she wasn't there to protect the one she loves from everything she had to go through. Whatever hit her, Aleksi would have handled it just to keep Tebridiar safe.

[Tebridiar]

Slow down?

What?

But she was getting so fast… her hooves were on fire, she was a blur. She pretending not to hear, to ignore what Aleksi had noticed. But she couldn’t do that. Not to her. She was entitled to know. To know the truth.

She was touching gently, just skimming her strong neck carefully. She gradually slowed down to a halt. Just in the distance, Endrykas was vaguely visible. Tiny, minsicule, like an ant. But near enough. A few miles.

She was so close.

But she had to stop.

Needed to talk? Did she have to transform again? She waited to see whether Aleksi would gracefully jump off or whether she would comfort her with words and they would discuss more nearer. Yet somehow she knew that nearer Endrykas the time wouldn’t be right. The right time was now.

She had never told anyone. She was nervous.

[Aleksi]

Aleksi smiled again, softly, jumping down off of the Tebridiar's back and leaning against her neck. Her hand was moving over the soft hair before her caring voice was heard again "I don't want you to worry about what I may think love... I just want to talk about the accident that happened to you... and I know there was some.. you've felt pain", when Aleksi said that, her eyes filled with tears again and she turned around just to stop herself from crying.

She took a deep breath, slowly pulling the clothes from under her cloak and holding them lightly. The smile was still there, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was worried... worried about what might Tebridiar say... worried about how this may effect the young one's life.
"Please transform into a human.... I want to know what happened to you"

Her eyes were still locked on the lovely horse, lovely horse she hurt a few moments ago, not knowing that she could have done it. She sighed again, deeply, trying to shrug the though of hurting the one she loves out of her head
"And... I'm sorry for hurting you... I didn't know..."

[Tebridiar]

Tebridiar saw the tears, and they broke her heart. If a horse could cry, she’d by crying with her, for two reasons.

Well, she hated seeing this strong woman cry, out of sadness. She’d seen her cry before but in different circumstances. But now, it was different. She was sad. Sucha beautiful girl didn’t deserve to be sad. And it was all Tebridiars fault… she should have had something to cover up that hideous mark on her back. In human form, she had her hair… but she’d forgotten as a horse.

And the second reason… that mark, the memories, the reason she got it. What it had done to her… how it had happened… and what it might still be able to do.

She decided to transform. She lightly ruffled Aleksi’s hair with her nose, then she prepared to transform. It was going to tire her, she had just changed already and had been pounding the dirt with her hooves, she was bound to get extremely tired.

Then turned into a human.

She instantly collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily. She screamed, shutting her eyes and gritting her teeth. Letting out the pain. She curled up tightly, and she barely had the energy to stand right now.

“Okay… Im so sorry about this…” she groaned, rocking back and forth lightly. "I need to tell you everything..."

[Aleksi]

Aleksi dropped down to her knees, wrapping her arms around the girl lovingly. One hand pulled a cloak off her shoulders and dropped it on Tebridiar so the girl wouldn't freeze. Her eyes were locked on the girl's face, fingers lightly brushing hair away from it as she whispered "Calm down first love... we have time to talk"

She sighed deeply. Her eyes closed to hide the tears once again as she pulled Tebridiar in closer, making sure she wasn't hurting her. When the girl was finally on her lap, she smiled. That young one should be naked on the ground, not during winter. Leaning in, Aleksi gently kissed her forehead and whispered lovingly "Nothing to be sorry about love... just calm down and tell me... I want to know just so I can see if there is something to be done, to help you with this all"

She kept smiling, rubbing the girl's arms to warm her up a bit as the sadness within her grew. She had so many questions on which she will get an answer when Tebridiar catches her breath.

[Tebridiar]

She did feel a bit warmer with the cloak on, Aleksi was doing her best to ensure that she wasn’t going to go all hypothermic.

A little tear dribbled down her cheek. So many things rushed through her mind, intermingling with random, but now less frequent bursts of pain. It felt like a crazed stampede was parading through her mind, every so often digging some tooth or claw into her nerves and sending surges of protest rushing from her back.

She shook her head in horror and embarassment. She looked like a little girl again.

“First…” She croaked. “I can’t show you it, not yet… I just don’t feel like I can. But I will tell you about it.” Tebridiar took a deep breath, and began telling what she had bottled up for so long.

“It was about a little over a year ago. I was in Sunberth, my Master and me. My parents were both dead at this point, I felt like a lost cause really. We were wandering through the streets, they were horrible and dark and full of rats and grime. It was a horrible place. He met some of his friends, his old friends. And they seemed, well. Rather amused at the sight of me. Some skinny little sallow thing, looked like I wouldn’t put up much of a fight.” She gulped, pausing to take some air, pausing to allow the memories to come out. “They went into a tavern, started drinking. A lot. I didn’t like the smell, the way they acted. My Master could be cruel but he was just scaring me right then. Then they all went to one of his friends rooms above the Tavern…” She stopped, shaking her head. Her hands were clenched tightly, but under the cloak they couldn’t be seen. She had to take a break. Control herself before continuing on.

[Aleksi]

Aleksi growled quietly, tears now running down her cheeks. She couldn't stop them anymore, she didn't even want to as her hands held Tebridiar lovingly. The pain inside of her was tearing her up. Aleksi wanted to be there, in that tavern, to dig that dagger into the chest of the man who layed his hands on this lovely creature. She wanted to rip his heart out with her bare hands and she felt like it would be the right thing to do, even though she hated killing people. She would take his tooth and put it on her necklace like she did with the panther, because he was nothing but a dirty animal in Aleksi's eyes.

She sighed again, her palm lightly stroking Tebridiar's cheek as she woke up from the dream she just had, about the man she wanted to kill so bad "It's alright now love, I'm here... I won't let anyone, ever hurt you.. ever". And Aleksi was honest there. She would rather have someone torture her and kill her then even push Tebridiar lightly.