20th Sending [Commentlog]

[thequeensown]

[Keeping busy is of great import when your life mate has been missing for weeks on end. The only thing keeping Talia from tearing off in some attempt to find Kevas or any of the others is that her bond to him remains; stretched thin and worrisome, but there.

So she's in the barn with the horses. It's unsettling to see the empty moose pen and she keeps a cautious eye peeled, but there has been little sign of the creature since its release. A few of the horses whicker at her arrival, whuffling and tossing their heads for attention that she will happily grant them.

Once she's visited, she locates the grooming equipment and begins their proper care. She has one mare's hoof braced properly and is picking it clean. Bother a Herald?]

Comments

[lucky_breath]

[And look who is rolling in. Aht leans forward to peer inside and see who is in there.]

Talia?

[thequeensown]

[Talia looks up from where she is hunched over the horse hoof, smiling at the voice before she even sees the girl.]

Heyla, kitling...

[She releases the hoof and slaps the animal companionably on the shoulder before mopping sweat from her brow with the back of her arm. She'd already finished with two of the animals and this would be her third once she got the hind hooves out of the way.]

How are you feeling today?

[Tendrils of red hair stick to her forehead, but she doesn't bother with them just now. It does, however, put the notion of a much needed haircut into the back of her mind.]

[lucky_breath]

I'm fine.

[She rolls her chair closer to where Talia is working and watches her for a moment. She's gotten used to this whole living her life in a wheelchair thing. It wasn't an easy adjustment. But she's managing.

She smiles a little.]

What are you doing?

[thequeensown]

[Talia smiles, glad to see how well their adopted child is adjusting to her wheeled chair. She knew it hadn’t been an easy change for her, but she’d taken to it with gusto.
 
Talia wipes off her hands on her work breeches, glad she’d made a point of getting some new clothes from the tower. Her Whites were beginning to wear thin and the thought of wearing them clear through wasn’t acceptable to the Herald.]
 
Grooming the horses, kitling... You have to scrape out the underside of their hooves to make certain there aren’t pebbles or anything similar. If there is, they can bruise the inside of the hoof when the walk and go lame.
 
And… I just like being around them. [She pats the horses’ rump fondly.]

[lucky_breath]

They must really like you.

[I mean they must love her. Aht doesn't like people anywhere near her hooves. Especially after that whole fiasco with that dog.]

[thequeensown]

[Talia gives a soft smile, looking once more to Aht.]
 
I like to think that I’ve an affinity to them… I’ve lived around horses all my life and Ro-… [She trails off, looking sad and closed off for a moment, before she continues what she was going to say.] And Rolan is my Companion back home. I’ve not seen him for… far too long, but I wouldn’t like to slip on care he’d expect the best of.

[lucky_breath]

What was Rolan like?

[She wheels herself closer so she can pet the horse on the nose.]

[thequeensown]

[It would be hard to describe Talia’s expression in that moment, but there are certainly elements of sadness and happiness within it.]

Rolan wa-… is my Companion. [She refused to accept him gone forever… it hurt too much to consider him gone forever.] Every Herald is Chosen by a Companion when it is their time to serve the kingdom. I am a Herald, or in a sense, a knight of the realm for lack of a better description. We serve the Queen, but more importantly, we serve the people. We handle disagreements between landowners and neighbors, as well as protect them in times of need or war.

To be Chosen… ah, to be Chosen is to find a part of yourself that you never knew was missing. A Companion is a horse-like creature in appearance, but with the sentience and mind of a human; intelligent and ethereal… pure white in color with the loveliest sapphire eyes. For every Herald there is a Companion, and the pair is bonded to one another until death should separate them. Soul meets soul when eyes meet eyes. To meet those eyes… [She exhales softly, opening her own eyes and having no recollection of closing them while she spoke. She smiles down at Aht, smoothing a hand over the girls hair.] Havens, it was like falling into a hole I could never hope to climb out of, nor would I ever wish to. He completes me and I complete him… to be without him here is like having a hole in my soul.

[And it hurt as much as it sounded like it did, but she does a remarkable job of keeping this from Aht.]

[lucky_breath]

That sounds so pretty.

[Aht is too awestruck by the description to even consider that it might be painful for Talia to talk about.]

[thequeensown]

[Talia looks over at the girl, taking in her expression as much as the words and her smile softens. She reaches over and gently strokes Aht's fall of hair, nodding.]

Never has there been a more lovely thing in my life, save for Kevas.

[It's not said to upset the girl in any manner, but simply to give Aht some level with which to measure the level of import Rolan is to her.]

[lucky_breath]

[Aht smiles. Kevas and Talia are her parents. She's accepted that. Besides it's Stocke she loves.]

Maybe you'll see him again.