Midnight's Mirage
Tagged: Eliza, Signe, Primrose, Heidi
Mentioned: Titan
Though he didn't show it, Phantom was honestly quite impressed that none of them had gotten into a conflict thus far. Before all of this he had always assumed that the others were incapable of teamwork and having the large amounts of empathy over their instincts to see this through. After all, bachelor herds were common, but stallions teaming up was an event that rarely happened out of these lands and at most was done only by those with small herds. With the three of them having such sizable herds, Phantom would have not believed this to be an available concept, but here he was, discussing strategy and movements with what was until a few hours ago, competition.
He was learning much about himself as well.
As Titan spoke, Phantom nodded, mulling everything over in his mind.If Haukr was primarily seeking shelter, then simply sticking together and being available to guard the herd in itself would be a reasonable enough deterrent for the young earl. However, it would still be wise to keep one's guard up. There were more earls in this land than Haukr alone, and whilst Haukr was loud and possibly pretty abrasive, he was still young and not too much of a threat as of yet, compared to the other earls in the land. When Titan wished him well, Phantom nodded quietly. "Likewise."
As Titan quickly took his leave, Phantom turned to his herd, nudging them forward gently to herd them closer together as well as closer to Bjorn's herd. He nudged Eliza gently, letting out a soft whicker. "Move closer to Bjorn's herd, though not so close as to provoke an attack. I'll be bringing up the back." In this situation, she knew the most about the forest, so it would be wise to trust in her eyes and bring up the herd from the back. Though she wasn't the best at socialising, the two of them were both of little words, and trusted each other to get things done, so Phantom felt at ease entrusting the mare with the task, though relatively young.
Finding himself closer to Signe, the stallion aligned himself next to the mare, close enough to guard her yet not so close as to irritate her. He had known Signe for a long time, for almost a decade, and he knew enough to know that she wasn't exactly feeling very amiable towards him at the moment. He'd known of her since he was seven, and had even sired Inkeri with her a short time later before he'd even been able to take over, so to say that they knew each other's habits would be an understatement. This deep in her pregnancy as she was, she was bound to feel tired and laboured, which didn't exactly put the valkyrie in the best of moods. Phantom offered no conversation, simply walking beside her as she toiled on, offering his company, if she decided she needed it.
As they moved, however, she stumbled, and Phantom moved closer, nudging her upright with her shoulder so she wouldn't fall. Nosing her gently, he then looked at her questioningly. Was she about to foal? He made sure to stay just a step behind so she wouldn't feel hemmed in, allowing an open path to a little further away should she want to birth. This was a pretty terrible time for a birth, however, what with them being in a new territory and all, so even if she did want to get away to birth, Phantom would stay quite a bit closer than usual, even if it annoyed Signe. Still, he left the path open, unsure if she was starting yet or not.
At brisk footfalls, Phantom looked up, seeing Primrose's graceful form cut purposefully through the crowd to reach him. Knowing that Signe would not appreciate being hemmed in, Phantom lingered a little longer so she could go further in front, though his head stayed near her rump just in case she tripped again.
At the arabian's curt question, Phantom answered, fighting back a soft chuckle at how readily she revealed that she was eavesdropping. "Seeking shelter, but I'll keep an eye out nontheless." Haukr had tried for Primrose many times, but had only earned the valkyrie's disgust. Her heat scent was strong, and roused feelings of both protectiveness and caution-he didn't want to draw them too much attention, after all- but for now Phantom made himself focus. They were in unfamiliar territory.
Taking another look around to ensure that no one was drawing close, Phantom nudged her gently, before nipping at Primrose's forelock, getting out some of the clumps and laying it out of her eyes. Being in the place where she barely escaped was definitely not something that would comfort her. Knowing the prideful arabian, the state she was in must have been killing her, and Phantom knew that better than meaningless platitudes or shows of affection, what often set her at ease was working on her own appearance. "After this, we can drop by Franang's Falls and you can get the mud off." Though he was planning to go to the falls anyway to get a drink and hopefully gain some new maidens or valkyries, the reminder of the presence of somewhere where she could wash everything off would definitely cheer up the beautiful valkyrie.
As they moved, however, Phantom couldn't help but notice his position had somehow brought him closer to Titan's herd. Moving a step further out so they could move closer toward the herd without moving directly closer to him, he made eye contact with Thera, the shorter mare giving him a nod of appreciation before continuing on brusquely.
As Titan's herd grew close, the scents of unknown mares in heat made his senses perk, and with Primrose's scent as well, Phantom let out a soft snort to clear his head. This truce was hard enough to come by, and he wouldn't let coltish attitude from him-the oldest out of the three of them-sour it. All the same, as Heidi walked by, Phantom had a series of thoughts run through his mind.
Bjorn had insisted quite clearly that they were not to bring new valkyries and maidens with them into the forest. However, what about those that were already here? Running through what Bjorn said, Phantom quickly came to the conclusion that it was indeed a loophole, and so whickered softly to Heidi as she passed, hoping that Thera wouldn't try to lunge at him or something. He had his eyes on Heidi for a while, but he wasn't too sure how the maiden felt about him. Since they were all going to be waiting here whether they liked it or not, some probing wouldn't be too out of the question. "You seem down. Everything alright?"
Northern Quiver
Tagged: Inkeri, Titan
Mentions: Heidi, Rhaenys, Ellie, Haukr
Waiting for Ellie's reply, Thera noticed Inkeri slowly weaving her way toward her, though she pretended not to notice. The pretty painted mare looked out of sorts, stepping a little higher than usual and looking very unsure. Then again, everyone was. The moment they'd stepped into this territory, everyone got a little bit wound up, Thera herself feeling the strain.
When Titan had come back, however, Thera let the other mare fall to the back of her mind, instead looking toward her stallion with a welcoming whicker and a nuzzle. He spoke quickly, and she nodded, but disappeared before she had a chance to ask what the other stallion had said. Letting out a slightly miffed snort, she nudged Heidi to get her distractable daughter's attention, before moving forward once more. From what Titan said, he would most likely be patrolling along the outskirts, so it was best to just stick together and not make his job any harder.
Thera continued leading, nodding as she noticed Phantom stepping aside to let her pass unaccosted. It was odd, to have to see the other stallions and move toward them instead of avoiding them like she usually did. Still, even though they had this new familiarity, she resisted the urge to ask what they spoke about. Though they were familiar, they weren't quite that close and it was best not to get too used to this security.
When Inkeri started speaking, possibly searching for a distraction from how the trees closed in almost ominously, nothing like the palm fronds along the beach, Thera turned to the other mare curiously, always open to discussing things. "I'm not surprised as well. Given how he'd need to search for shelter and with all the mares he could dream of gathered in one place."
"However, given how all the stallions are still at their primes and he is young, it would be wiser of him to try and form a band of stragglers and maidens. He always was fixated more on fighting other stallions, though." The young earl had been kicked out only a year or so ago, but he'd already shown himself to be a thorn in all three stallions' sides, to Thera's surprise. She had expected him to go after the other two, but challenging Titan was something that the young earl did as well, and with a surprising frequency. Titan was seated securely, and even when he lost there would be no maidens to steal away, which made his actions confusing. If he did try to whisk away a maiden, it would be Heidi, given how often the two used to play, and if the earl tried anything with her daughter, Thera would be chasing him down personally.
At the thought of Heidi, Thera looked toward the younger mare briefly, finding her positioned somewhat close to Phantom. The other stallion seemed to be trying something, though he seemed relatively polite about it, so Thera didn't nip her daughter back for now. In this situation, Phantom would be suicidal to try something for one maiden when the fate of all his herd rested on the truce turning out okay, so she wasn't too fussed.
As she looked about though, Thera noticed Rhenrys, the oldest mare from Bjorn's herd, coming back with a young colt. THough the other mare belonged to another herd, Thera resisted the urge of congratulating her, noting how utterly exhausted the old mother looked. Birthing was a hard task at that age, and Thera was honestly impressed by the feat. If she managed to survive till that age, she saw herself turning away stallions, given the risk of carrying a foal even when one was healthy. Turning back to Inkeri, Thera continued. "On to brighter topics, would you prefer a filly or a colt? If you could choose, of course."
