- Anouk
- Yes
- There's but one word that immediately comes to mind upon first setting eyes upon the simple doe, and that would have to be placid, and the word is perfectly fitted to sum her up completely. There's not a lot that will startle the doe, as she's been through her own fair share of things and assists with any thing that means that people may end up hurt, which isn't always a peaceful surrounding. There's a consistent air of calm that surrounds her, rubbing off on everyone else, which is sometimes essential in what she does.
Anouk is also kind and generous. She's kind hearted through and through, and not a lot can hold her back when she's intent on something. Not even a lame hind leg has ever caused her too much trouble, as she'll simply find another way to do things if she can't do it the way she originally intended.
- "I won't mama! I won't!" cried a little boy, all arms and legs as he clung to the post of a fence. "Please don't make me!"
"Please try it, dear," the elderly woman coaxed, patting the nose of a smallish looking elkrin who walked forward with a heavy limp, ailed by a lame hind leg.
"I won't! You can't make me!"
"I have no intentions to, don't fright child," the woman said with a gentle smile. "But you know good ol' Anouk would do nothing to harm you. She's as gentle as a butterfly and you know she can't get going too fast. Please do tell me what you're so frightened of?"
All the little wide-eyed boy gave in return was a quick shake of his head.
~~~
"Gram, I'm going out!" called a boy standing in the doorway of a small but cozy cottage, shrugging on a thin coat.
"Where to?"
"Out to tend the animals!"
"Good boy, thank you. Be back before supper!"
"Yes ma'am! Wouldn't miss it!" the boy called before darting out. His bare feet didn't falter on the gravel as he headed to the pasture beside the house, more than use to it by now. He paused a moment to peer up the small lane that led to the house, grinning to see Mary, a friend of his grandmothers, coming up the lane with a basket of fresh strawberries in her arm. "Morning Miss Mary!" He called, mouth practically watering at the sight of the fresh fruit. "Gram is in the back room, just go right in!"
"Nice to see you too, Augustus! Thank you," she called back before the teen gave a nod and kept going, vaulting over the fence that kept the animals in. Three chickens clucked in greeting, a small cow only looking up before going back to its grazing. They didn't have much- never had- but it was fresh eggs every morning and fresh cheese, and that was enough. They didn't need much more to be happy. They had a small garden to tend to behind the house, but most nuts or fruit came from the people that his grandmother worked with. After all, she was the town's healer. There weren't many in town that were real well off, most not having the money to afford what an average healer would charge. However, she didn't make them pay her back in that way. She told them that they could pay her back in any way they wished, and so, most chose to bring in things that they needed instead. Food, wood for winter, cloth, among other things. It all worked well that way, and like everyone else, they were happy with what they had. People helped each other out here, and Augustus couldn't imagine living anywhere better.
It took but a few minutes to toss the chicken feed out on the ground and refill the water trough, and then he was free until supper time. A lone apple tree stood in the pasture, a beautiful elkrin doe grazing beneath. Anouk, the doe, only looked up to him as he came past, jumping up to grab a hold of a low hanging branch to pull himself up into the tree. Even Augustus had to admit that she was a beautiful elkrin, one of the most simple and pretty ones that he had ever seen, but he could not bring himself to even go near her most days. He did pull off an apple from a branch and tossed it down to her, watching her limp to it and reach down to bite into it. Her lame leg never had held the elkrin back, but still he had been unable to bring himself to mount her as his grandmother had so often asked him to do just once to prove his fears wrong. No one really know how she'd come to be injured, or even if it was an injury. His grandmother had found the fawn near the house, just as she was, and taken her in out of good will. She had proven her worth many times over in the years, but even if she had not, his grandmother would have taken care of her.
The fears weren't rational, he knew; he had never even reached out to pet one, not even the few gentle ones that called this small village their home, and definitely not some of the scarier, larger looking ones that passed through. There were so many 'what ifs' when it came to it- what if he got hurt? What if he did something wrong? What if he disappointed himself, above all? he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
Distracted as he was, he wasn't paying too much attention as he pulled himself farther up into the tree, and suddenly there was no tree under him. There was hardly time for a cry to slip through his lips as the ground came rushing up, offering no sort of cushioning under his arm that he had thrown out to try and stop himself, hearing an awful snapping sound as his arm gave way beneath him, landing painfully on his shoulder.
Anouk seemed to have been startled at his fall, staring at him with a curious gaze from a few steps away. She had no rider, not that it mattered with her. He had done his reading, and had found out enough to know that she would, even with a rider, allow others to ride upon her back willingly. Seeing a human in pain was something the elkrin was use to though, and she came forward, reaching out her nose for him, intending to help like every other time. "No," Augustus groaned, even in this state scared enough to not want to touch her. However, Anouk had other ideas, pressing her nose against his palm purposefully, then moving to push him in the ribs, trying to get him up, back to the house he assumed.
Pain forgotten, Augustus jerked his hand back, but not before he felt it. Something warm trailed over his face, fading quickly again once she took her head away, coming back once more as she pushed her head against his ribs. It wasn't just a physical sensation but a feeling too, a feeling of... reassurance. She would not be disappointed in him, it would not matter if he was too frightened to ride her. It was all okay. One thing was for sure, he was hers now. She had claimed him, and he felt it.
The faint burning sensation over the skin on his arms and face and stomach faded quickly, and he realized upon looking down, his skin was faintly marked with the same sort of faded and broken lines that made up the intricate designs on her coat. Augustus was struggling to sit up as his grandmother came running over. "Augustus, dear, are you alright?" she questioned quickly, and Augustus nodded, dazed. "I never wanted to be a rider, you know..." he mumbled, reaching out to press his hand against Anouk, and she turned to him, nuzzling up against him. "I know dear," his grandmother said with a gentle smile. "However, I haven't think you've got much choice with her."
Augustus laughed, shaking his head, speaking ever so softly. "I know... And I wouldn't choose differently. I'm... I'm not frightened anymore."
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