"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Anahi had gone only as fast as she felt the paint mare could handle. She didn't look to be severely injured, but enough so that it probably did hurt to move the areas of her body where she'd been kicked and bitten. So the pace of the trek to the Falls was kept between walking and trotting, when the mare seemed like she was up to it.
When the duo finally arrived at the Falls, Anahi, against her better judgment, did not immediately call out for the horses of the kingdom to come and greet the new arrival. Instead, she led the way to a place down by the Creek, not very far from where Anahi herself lived with her herd stallion, Archam, and the rest of his mares.
She plodded along the flowing water before finding a nice shaded spot beside it; the trees would offer plenty of cover from the sun, as well as enough of a break against the wind when it blew a certain way at different times of the day.
Anahi looked back at the mare, "Will this suit you while you take some time to rest and heal?" she questioned, her eyes gentle and calm as she awaited a reply.
Archam looked around the quiet cobblestone, he finished his boarder patrol for the Falls and was looking for the mares of his herd. By chance he heard noises just outside the cobblestone. He made his way over, nearing he spotted teo equines. Quickly recognkzing Anahi, the other he has never seen before.
The mare appeared to be injured, dirty the least. He cautiously approached "how are you? I'm Archam" he introduced himself to the white mare. He turned his gaze to Anahi shooting a smile and a gentle nudge to her shoulder.
archam
OOC: since you restarted your post, are we saying Archam and Nikita never met?
Nitika had remained silent throughout the time the two mares traveled to the Falls together. The champagne one, who had eventually introduced herself as Anahi, had tried to make small talk, but Nitika tuned her out, clearly not wanting to say anything at all. She was tired, in pain, and just wanted a quiet place to rest and lick her wounds until she was back to normal.
For a moment, she was interrupted from her thoughts when her hooves touched different terrain than the grass and dirt they'd been walking on to get here. Now, she was walking on a small bed of stone beside a river; that must've been what she'd heard for the past couple of minutes. She'd just figured it was a bug or something similar buzzing past her ear. She'd been too lost in her thoughts to really pay it much attention.
Anahi came to a stop by a batch of trees and asked Nitika if this place would be suitable for her to rest. The medicine hat mare simply nodded before going to lay in the shade, curling her legs under her body and allowing it to drop to the ground.
Finally getting all that weight off her hooves, the mare sighed in relief. She stretched her neck out, inhaling several big breaths to help calm herself down. She was okay... she was safe here, for now... she could rest...
Apparently not for long though. A voice cut through the existing silence and right to her pretty white ears, startling her from that moment of peace. Nitika lifted her head, looking toward where the voice had come from. A bay roan stallion was now standing by Anahi, gently nudging her shoulder before he introduced himself and asking Nitika how she was faring.
The mare laid her head back down, "I'm covered in bite marks and there are hoof imprints on my hindquarters and ribs. How do you think I feel?" she asked. The tone was not hostile, nor sarcastic, but a bit edgy, showing that she was unnerved by the sudden arrival of this horse, even if he had probably been careful coming up to the mare since she was new to this land.
Anahi looked down at Nitika as she spoke, resisting the urge to chuckle. She could tell that the medicine paint mare didn't mean to be sarcastic, but it sure sounded that way.
The champagne mare lowered her head so that she was at eye level with the wounded mare, "I know that you still need time to recover from your injuries, but, eventually, the king will discover you are here and question you about it, or I could ask for him to come here now so that you can meet him and get it over with, which would give you more time to rest. Which would you prefer?"
Anahi knew that Kreios was a nice stallion, but, like her around certain others, he may end up getting a bad vibe concerning this mare. Anahi only hoped that it wouldn't be so bad it would influence Kreios to kick the mare out of the kingdom before she had a chance to recover from her ordeal.
"In all honesty, I do not really care. I know I'll have to meet these... rulers or whatever, sooner or later, so let's just get it over with. I'd rather not have a meeting like that hanging over my head like an angry beehive," the medicine hat mare chimed.
For a brief moment, Nitika glanced over at the stallion, a thought crossing her mind. She hadn't been in the Fields that long, but a coat like that, she would definitely recognize.
"You... you go to the Field a lot... don't you? I recognize your coat pattern."
The stag looked at the medicine hat, he wanted to give her a glare for her witty comment but refrained. Of course she was in pain, her wounds show that. He was trying to be polite, but apparently the mare thought it was rude of him to ask. He turned to Anahi who was laughing at the situation, and he relaxed his tense muscles allowing a smile to grow.
He listened as the champagne mare asked the medicine hat if she wanted to meet the king and queen. He agreed not to bombard the pinto, but she said she wanted to meet them. "Ygritte and Kreios will be able to bring you to the waterfall, it can heal wounds like yours" he said, so long as she wanted to be healed of course.
He looked at the mare sideways when she asked if he went to the field often, she had seen him before? How could he forget? It wasn't everyday you see a medicine hat, that and her sarcastic comment it clicked. They met before in the field, he tried to recruit the pinto who was not fond of Archam, and choose to join the Chambers, why was she in the Falls? The mare didn't smell of the Chambers "Yes I go to the field often, I met you with one of the Chambers members" he said awaiting the mare to shoot a glare as soon as she remembered the conversation.
Anahi nodded in understanding, "I'll make sure to let them know not to overwhelm you. I have a feeling you enjoy your personal space." The champagne mare, who understood that too well, smirked at the medicine hat mare before she turned and walked off a few paces by herself.
When she was a fair distance from the mare and Archam, atop a small ridge, Anahi lifted her head back and whinnied, calling out to the king and queen of the kingdom. Once she had finished whinnying, she remained where she was, overlooking the vast expanse of the Falls, intent on spotting the king and queen and informing them of the mare's condition before they tried to approach.
Nitika was a bit taken aback by the fact that, supposedly, the waterfall here could heal wounds. She vaguely remembered hearing that from Anahi while the two had talked on occasion while traveling here. However, since she had been focused on getting out of the Fields to begin with, she didn't really listen to the champagne mare.
Besides, even if the waterfall bit was true, Nitika wasn't sure she could trust that.
When the stallion spoke up about how they had met before in the Field, Nitika, instead of glaring or snorting, simply rolled her eyes, "Things just didn't work out, so I returned to the Fields for a while. Some stallion who was there, recruiting mares, thought it'd be fun to show me how strong he was because I didn't want to join his harem. I'm just hoping that the kick marks won't leave anything behind to remind me of his narcissistic ass."
