Closed Little Surprises in the Evening Light

[Naiya]

Spring Day 4, 515 AV
Early Evening

Things were very different. Naiya was different, even just from the past few days. She had the mark behind her left ear to prove that. There was more beyond that, three days ago she was a completely different person, and if someone asked her to go back now, she wasn't sure she could manage the change. Her goals, her dreams, her name, had all been different, and all of them had changed.

Or perhaps that wasn't true. One thing had remained the same, and that was where she saw herself in the years to come. It was here, with Shahar, Khida, and Wildfire. Seasons and names might change, but that would not.

Yet, as sure as she was in her new situation, her new name, and her new home, the transition was happening so quickly, and now they were leaving, tomorrow. It was slightly overwhelming. The whirlwind of fun and fancy was fading to the reality that everything was changing all at once. Not that she was upset, or unsure that it was something she wanted, but she did want a break, something quiet, and perhaps a little more normal.

So as the sun began to fall in the sky in the hours after the archery competition Naiya found her way out to the horses, and from there to Wildfire. He was milling among the others, not quite a part of the herd yet, but not entirely separate. There were still things to be sorted between him and the others, though the Striders were less likely to fight each other off. Until then he was settling in in the same way that Naiya was, and being together would only help the both of them.

She mostly got passing glances from the horses, though she offered her hands to any how took interest, she was still new to them, and she wasn't going to rush the relationships. It wouldn't make them like her any more.

Wildfire did take notice of her arrival, calling softly to her as she approached. She signed him a greeting, and offered her hand for him to lip at. He obliged, bobbing his head and then pressing the soft warmth of his nose against her chest. "It is good to see you, boy." She murmured.

[Naiya]

Today wasn't about riding so much as it was about finding peace, seeking out what was normal in a time that was so chaotic for her.

It began with grooming, she walked a slow circle around Wildfire, her hand trailing across his body to trace her path so that he could know her position. She checked him over, lending extra attention to his legs and hooves. Seeking out grass seeds and burs that might have found a home in his hair, or cuts that may have torn at the skin as he traipsed through briars and brush alike.

He seemed fairly clear of wounds, his joints not overly warm or swollen. That was good, she would have to seek help on dealing with injuries like that. A scratch she could clean and wrap, but swelling was outside her realm of dealing with. He was perpetually covered in dirt, and had found plenty of grass seeds to make their way up his legs and across his belly. In one of his hooves she found a rather large rock, she plucked it away, digging it loose with her fingers.

When she came full circle, she offered a hand to the stallion, allowing him to smell her before fussing with the accumulation of debris in his forelock. She pulled loose a long stalk of grass, and what appeared to be a number of mint leaves, apparent by the small square ends branching off the leaves, which gave her momentary pause.

"Were you rolling in mint, boy?" She asked him, leaning in to sniff at his hair. He snorted, stepping away from the weight she leaned on him, but not before she caught the delicate fresh scent of the mint. "Can't you tell me where you where you found it, Wildfire? I'd love to have mint dried and stored among our things." He didn't answer her, not that she expected him to, but she continued along her thoughts anyway. "Mint is wonderful as tea, soothing an upset stomach, or chasing away a headache." She informed him, as though further information might convince him to share his secrets. "Dried, it can be added to preserve meat and help keep the flies away. Still not sharing?" He turned to gaze at her with a large amber eye, perhaps questioning her sanity.

"Come on then, let's get some brushes and a hoof pick. We'll see you clean before the evening is over." She informed him, follow the accompanying sign to her words.

She followed the path of gently flattened grass that marked her own quite recent journey away from the tents that made up the pavilion, noticing the way her steps on the base of a spring of grass were harder to spot than the ones in dirt or over the middles of grass that showed more flattening. She tried to follow the more flattened grass, hoping to lead Wildfire on a path less likely to cover him in even more grass seeds.

Her approach to the camp did not go unnoticed, although she slid her feet gently through the grass to prevent her steps from thundering through the ground. Walking quietly did wonders for remaining mostly unnoticed about the day, and was a habit she hoped to form so that she would not ruin a hunt by trampling about and startling all the prey.

[Naiya]

Greetings were shared upon her return, casual notice more than intent to begin a conversation. Naiya procured some grooming tools from the travois, and in the dimming light of the evening and growing light from the fire, began to groom Wildfire. She plucked seeds from the tender spots where legs met torso by hand, saving him accidental pokes or scrapes form the brush pressing the seeds into the tender skin.

The easier to reach spots were removed by the curry comb, gently pulling the seeds loose and helping to remove loose dirt and caked mud from his hair. She continued to groom, speaking softly to him all the while.

"I imagine that feels better, Wildfire." She cooed, after having brushed and smoothed his hair until is was clean and shining once more. Task completed, she circled him again, checking for any burrs or seeds snared in his hair that she had missed.

Aside from his untouched mane and tail, he appeared clean and cared for. A wide toothed wooden comb made specifically for the long untamed manes of the horses was her next pick as she began detangling his cream and white mane.

She had to begin with the tangles low down in his mane, they were worst, where the tips of the hair caught one another in wild masses. Working from bottom to top, she cleared the first section of mane first of tangles, and then of leaves, catching once more the sweet scent of mint from the spike-edged leaves.

"Perhaps," She began speaking again, "We should add another use to the list benefits of mint leaves. They keep you smelling fresh." She tone was teasing, and Wildfire seemed hear it because he shifted his weight to bump into Naiya. She chuckled, offering the small handful of leaves to the Strider.

He whuffed a breath over the leaves, then snatched the snack up stirring the mint smell into the air again. "I wonder if it keeps the flies off you the same way it keeps them off food?" She mused, considering the plausibility of such an idea. It would explain why the horse had rolled in the plant in the first place.

When she had removed the tangles from his mane and tail, she stepped back again, looking him over. His mane had grown quite long, and she had abandoned the adornments of her old pavilion when she left, so he was unmarked, unclaimed by all appearance. She would fix that today, while there was still light above the horizon.

She turned to search the grass, seeking the direction they had come from, to find the other mounts. She found the trail eventually, perhaps only because it has been trod across more than once. She wanted to avoid the herd of animals, they had likely scared off any animals, and if the birds were not there, they would not preen, and there would be no feathers to find.

She began her walk alone, Wildfire content to stay near camp and try to scavenge more mint leaves from the ground around him. To her surprise, as she left the camp, one of the cats stopped their play to notice her, looking suspiciously as though they were misbehaving.

A closer glance found that they cats were tangling with a large lizard, the reptile looking haggard and scared, its neck flared wide and mouth opened wide in attempt to bite his captors. It would seem the cats were hunters in their own right, if only they had captured a rabbit or a bird, perhaps then they would be considered more useful hunters.

She shook her head, they were playing, it wasn't expected for them to seek out food to provide for the pavilion, it was merely wistful thinking. She moved out in a direction away from the herd, trusting that the noise of camp and the animals was enough to keep predators out of the way for the most part. Turning her eyes to the ground in search of feathers or flowers for Wildfire. She would keep an eye open for edible plants too, she was aware of a couple that grew in the region that made great additions to a meal, or even just a snack.

Ground birds had feet like any other bird, the shape narrow with four distinct 'toes' three forward and one back. She couldn't distinguish between the tracks, what was a trillent bird, or a sharptoooth, or one of the many local pigeons she had no way of knowing. All the same, when she spotted the tell-tale tracks, she followed them with excitement.

She kept her eyes to the ground to avoid loosing the tracks, hoping that they would be close to the nest rather than a resting point from flight. When it occurred to her that they wouldn't walk far when they could fly, she shifted from following tracks to seeking the nests in the grass.

She didn't actually find the nest, the grass had grown tall around it, but when she kicked a large rock and stumbled loudly, she startled a bird into flight. It wasn't her plan, but it served well enough.

She sought the space, finding the nest with a little bit of digging in the tall grass. She sought the feathers that were plentiful in and around the nest, most of them black, but some closer to brown and even a few that gleamed blue or green. It was the nest of a Navira Pigeon.

[Naiya]

She recognized the color and shapes of the feathers from one of a very few successful hunts in her past. She had spent nearly a bell plucking similar feathers from the bird's corpse. Just the memory was tiring, she was far happier to collect the feathers scattered around the nest than she had been to pluck them from the body.

Familiar now with the bird she had found, the angry cry of the bird startled from its home was grating, and Naiya regretted not having brought her bow. She had no chance of capturing the bird with only her hands and her dagger. Not unless it decided to walk into her hands.

The feathers she lifted were only the glossy brown and black ones, not wanting the colors to associate with a clan she did not belong to. She was no longer tied to a clan, simply to a pavilion, consisting of her husband, wife, and to a lesser extent a few others, traveling companions more so than family. At least they were so in Naiya's eyes.

Knowing now the bird, she sought once more to find the tracks, hoping to be able to associate them in the future with the prey they led to. She kept the feathers loosely in hand while she searched, starting first with the signs of her own passage. Her prints were interesting, the heel of her boot not much deeper than the toe, perhaps a sign she did not stamp her heels in to the ground. The depth of the tread, she noticed, was deeper as she had begun moving faster, digging into the ground, where her slow searching steps were even and far more shallow.

There, she found a track in the mud hidden beneath a curl of grass. The three toes tipped with claws that had lead her to the bird. The track of the Navira Pigeon. She attempted to find distinguishing features, the spread of the toes, the angle of the back facing toe. Who knew if it would help later, but she was hopeful for the moment.

She continued walking, branching out from her original path in a new direction, the sinking sun a beacon marking the direction of the camp behind her, and now falling to her left as well. If she remembered correctly the setting sun fell in the west, which made her current path one along a northern line. She had forgotten her interest in the plants, her venture one of seeking decoration, so when the soft smell of mint first reached her nose she hardly noticed.

She sighed, the scent pleasant and refreshing, reminding her of sitting around at home in the winter.

"Mint," She remembered, was on her list of things to look out for, to help preserve the game both Shahar and Khida often returned home with. She turned her attention to the ground at her feet, the weed like mint spreading in clusters across the ground, ensnaring other plants that got in its way.

She had come out with none of her usual belongings, her impromptu search meant to be far more simple, so she had no way to carry all of her findings. It didn't take long to come up with a solution. She was, after all, going to braid the feathers into her strider's hair. She combed loose a small section of her own hair, sectioning it into three parts. She began to weave the pieces together, plucking a feather from her collection at the crossings of the sections. She entwined the feathers in her hair as surely as she entwined the strands, happily making the braid a decoration with a fair bit of use.

Feathers safe for the moment, she began picking the mint, seeking lively, green sections with broad stems. It was the stem that announced the type of plant as much as the smell, the tell-tale square stems always a sign of mint. The type of mint was less easily spotted, varying greatly in leaf shape, texture, and size. Those that were confused could simply smell the leaves to find the answer they sought.

The plant spread from a number of bases, although she found that it took root each time the stem touched the ground. She pulled the healthiest stems from each plant base, gathering a bundle too wide to wrap her hand around. She took a long pliable length of the mint, using it to secure the bundle together. She crossed each end of her tie, tucking one under the other and cinching the bundle by pulling carefully the ends away from each other. She even knotted the tie, the procedure the same as the first, but this time cinching on the first cross rather than on the bundle. It broke the stems, cracking the smooth square, but they were green and not at all woody, so they held. She repeated the process with a second stem, tying it 'round the bundle once more. She took the trailing ends of both improvised ties and once more knotted them together, forming a loop that would serve nicely as a handle.

The relatively secure herbs were now far more easily handled, carried by the knot between the two stems used for tying. She moved on again, seeking other items for collection, growing ever more willing to search as her bounty grew.