[SRP] You Should Come Home Again (Kawah Ijen & Irazu)

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

((This is a private RP between Kawah Ijen and Irazu, both owned by ~Latonia de la Courtel~. Please do not post unless invited. Thank you.))



Teepee Here: ~Latonia de la Courtel~  

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

The Ahiri Island herd was small in number and great in heart, a band that clung to their beliefs and rarely received visitors to challenge them. Scattered over the small island chain that was their home, those that considered themselves Ahiri were the ones that walked on hoof and claw, and joyously flew in the air over their home. They had a sister herd that swam in the sea, and traded stories and supplies with their kindred of the ocean.

Things had been peaceful for a time, so long as the proper tribute was paid and traditions observed. But the loss of the Lady of Fire had sent the herd into turmoil. Without an avatar to pay tribute to, they feared the goddess who dwelt within the volcano would grow angry. So it was decided that Irazu would search for her, and bring her back home.

The journey was not one he was relishing, but the responsibility would bring him honor, if he managed to achieve his objective. As such, the stallion steeled himself and left the islands his herd called home. His progress from island to island was slow as he searched for evidence that Kawah had come to settle here. Frequently there was evidence that she had been and gone again, clearly determined to move northward as quickly as she was able.
“Of course… It isn’t like Fate to make such things simple.”

***

For all that he had been standing here for time undetermined, staring, Irazu could not believe what was before him. Far from home, further than he cared to consider really, blown off course in a storm, shaken up, and lost several times over, he had finally arrived on the mainland. Word from various herds had encouraged him onward, and now he was standing here in woods at the edge of a herd’s territory.

Kawah Ijen stood in the valley below, surrounded by foals that listened to her with clear eyes and a surprising amount of focus. He had no notion she was good with little ones, but Irazu could admit that she’d hardly had the opportunity. As the will of the volcano, she’d been sequestered in the temple and brought tribute. There were no foals for her to instruct there, only ladies to wait on her will and stallions for her amusement.

Evidently the same was not to be said in this land. In this land she was not worshipped or feared. Instead, she was trusted to offer guidance and instruction to the children… She was part of the herd. A teacher or a guardian? Were some of the foals hers? Narrowing his dark eyes, Irazu considered the foals scattered around her, and the dark coated mare waiting to the rear of the group. There were pelts of varying colors, the foals winged and not, but none of them had her tell-tale fiery mane. Not that that meant anything. They were clearly fond of her, gathered all around and asking questions in their soft voices.

“I cannot believe it.”

Wordcount: 505

 

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

Standing at the head of a small band of foals, mane and tail streaming around her and blue fire licking and crackling amongst the snow, Kawah Ijen smiled gently and answered the questions of a gruff-voiced colt and a sweet-faced filly.

‘She made it far away from her homeland, and looks no worse for wear. If anything, she looks happier than I’ve ever seen her. So then, was luck on her side to send her here, or is it on mine to now find her?’ The stallion wondered as he meandered through the rocks and trees, charcoal eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘Or perhaps luck is always changing, and neither of us are currently in her favor.’

A black and silver mare with fierce eyes stood off to the side, eyes narrowed as she gazed out into the woods. From time to time her gaze skittered over the band, her nostrils flaring at each rush of breeze. Seeing how on guard she was, Irazu made an effort to keep out of her eye line, sending she was particularly dangerous considering the foals she watched over. ‘A mother or an aunt, maybe? Or perhaps just a solider, the muscle…’

The little group moved once again, and Irazu waited until the silver-eyed mare turned her back before proceeding to the next rocky outcrop and peering over. Caution was key, in herd lands that were unknown and territory that was unfamiliar. Snow on the ground meant that trails were noticeable, though the group he was watching tended to stick to the lower reaches. Among the scattered rocks slightly uphill, Irazu fanned his tail-feathers over the snow to obscure his trail when he left one, but clung to rocky perches when he could manage it. The brisk bite of the air and scent of pine was a long way from home, but he’d had the luck to find the one he sought, and he wouldn’t leave just yet. Not until he’d had a chance to gather some more information, perhaps identify an opportunity to approach.

Seeing the fragile colts and fillies scattered around their mentors, Irazu deemed it unwise to press his good fortune by changing a further approach. Instead he remained hidden in the trees and behind rocks, though it was something of a struggle as the meandering band of foals and their guardians moved freely throughout the area.

‘So then, likely they do belong to this territory or it to them.’ The stallion pondered, craning his head out from behind his new hideaway, a copse of pines still heavy with snow. ‘Maybe she did join a herd, or get adopted by one? That would explain why they trust her enough with their children, and why the children seem so fond of her. She’s one of them now, as far as they’re concerned. Maybe the silver-eyed mare is to watch her as much as keep an eye out for danger? Best then, to ensure I am not spotted… Maybe she’ll be alone later, and I can speak to her then.’

Wordcount: 505

 

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

The lesson wrapped with a few last-minute questions, and though she had wanted to test the foals in some more tracking exercises, Keshani’s cool suggestion that they return to the herd was less recommendation and more carefully-worded command. For whatever reason, her spaded tail had not ceased lashing and she was on edge.

“Why don’t we all head back then, and we’ll do some hunt drills later this afternoon?” She recommended with a final questioning glance at her companion. “Everyone follow Keshani, then. Off you go, home to visit the herd and eat, then we’ll see what you’ve learned.”

Kawah smiled as Keshani hastened the foals away back toward the herd, the mare’s silver eyes narrowed against danger even as her wings relaxed and draped down to shelter the foals that pressed close to her sides. Kesha had grown, as an individual, upon joining the herd. She was particularly good with the foals, rarely showing them the coldness that some of the adults still earned from her. It still took quite a bit to make her speak up in a lesson, but if any the foals asked her a question she answered without frost or irritation. She would keep them safe.

“You may as well step out here, I know that you’re been watching us.” Kawah murmured, her voice a low-crackling burn as the fire at her mane and tail leapt angrily. “You are lucky you posed no threat to the children, and that Kesha is not familiar with you… If she’d pinpointed your presence rather than just vaguely sensed it, nothing on earth would have saved you. Trust me on that, Irazu.”

*

'Well...' Irazu sighed. 'So much for luck, I suppose.'


*

Narrowing her eyes as the stallion stepped out of the trees, Kawah sighed and pinned an ear. "What is it you want here, Irazu?"

 

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

The way she moved was coiled, dangerous and prowling like a cat in the jungle. Irazu narrowed his gaze and flattened his crest, watching as the black and silver mare gently shepherded the foals away. Now and again she would glance back, her eyes seeking, her tail lashing. But she remained gentle with the foals, her wings draping and wrapping around them fondly, comforting and an offer of warmth.

Warmer than the ice in Kawah’s tone when she spoke to him. So then, the silver-eyed one had sensed him, or sensed something. The way she herded away the foals, the low rasp of her suggestion that they return to the heart of the herd… Less a suggestion and more a demand, almost a command or an order. The way Kawah reacted to it all. The other mare was dangerous and used to obedience, but gentle with the foals as if they were her own. Something told him this herd was not to be trifled with, even if they had accepted Kawah Ijen.

Kawah, the living incarnation of the volcano. The will of the fire, the heart of their people and the guarantee for their survival. An avatar, a goddess, a fury. Something to worship and to pay tribute to but never to love, because she burned like the fire did. And where was she? What had she done? She was days upon days away from their herd or their homelands, and she had left without a word. Without a backwards glance, as far as Irazu could tell. She had left them without hesitation, knowing what it would do, what it meant.

Irazu sighed to himself and slowly stepped through the trees, a little less cautious about the snap of branches beneath his claws or hooves now that the other mare had gone. The foals were her priority, and now that they were away he could speak to Kawah alone. Could find out what she was doing here, perhaps, why she left even. Yet she stood there proudly, every inch the avatar she had always been, and more. Different in some ways, but grown rather than diminished, now that she had left the temple behind.

“I am here to find the lost avatar.” He retorted gently, his eyes flint-hard and tail feathers bristling in irritation. He flared his wings and crest and fanned his tailfeathers, posturing for size and as a warning. He had been her guard, once. Had been loyal to her happiness, once. “I am here to chase the heart of the volcano, to return the living flame to the temple. I am here because your absence means a return to the old ways, Kawah, and none of us want that. Surely you, as one of us, would understand? Surely you would not want that for us either? We are your herd, after all… Or we were.”

Wordcount: 478

 

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

Kawah Ijen watched the black stallion as he shifted amongst the snow shrouded trees. He continued to watch the departing party of foals and their guardian, which the black and blue flame mare could not quiet blame him for. Keshani moved like danger, every moment of the day. It made her a unique asset to the herd, a perfect guardian for the foals. The fact that she went something approaching sweet around them was just, a baffling sort of blessing.

“You need not worry about her.” Kawah scolded mildly. “She is departing, and will pay no mind to anyone so long as they do not threaten her charges. Besides, it is me you have come here seeking and here I am, found. So then, say what you wish to say.”

She tilted her head, the light glinting on her dark feathers and blue eyes right. “I would caution you, Irazu, to take heed of what you will speak. I am no longer the captive flame of Ahiri, I am no longer their avatar. I am free here, I have a life here. A family, a herd. They are happy to have me among them and I consider myself blessed to be so. No longer trapped in a temple, a fine gilded cage wrought of marble and filled with distractions. I am free here, to take flight or to fight or to stay. All is within my choosing, and we both know that my other life never offered me that.”

*
“I am here to find the lost avatar.” His charcoal eyes were like flint as he watched her. “I am here to chase the heart of the volcano, to return the living flame to the temple. I am here because your absence means a return to the old ways, Kawah, and none of us want that. Surely you, as one of us, would understand? Surely you would not want that for us either? We are your herd, after all… Or we were.”
*

Delicate black ears flattened against her feathered crest, feathers slicking down and then flaring in her own display of anger and warning. “The Heart of the Volcano has fled, consider it burnt out. Consider it stone cold, and return to the herd and advise them into warning. Tell them there is a better way than sacrificing their young to the mercies of the earth and fire. Tell them the sacrifice is not needed, that there is a life beyond it all. Why does one of you need to be caged, or countless others lost, in order to ensure safety? Why can you not pray and pay tribute in feathers and gold and whatever else need not be slaughtered to be gifted?”

Temper overtaking her Kawah broke from her stance, pacing a restless line back and forth. “I don’t know why you would chase me upon coming here. Surely you have seen there are things outside the herd? Don’t you want to know, Irazu? Don’t you want to live a life, a true life, a free life? It is better out here, beyond the limits of the caves and the borders of the island and the narrow perceptions of the herd. I do not wish to go back to that. ”

 

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

“You are braver now.” He remarked when she stood facing him, warning and pride in every line of her. “Different, from the filly I knew and the mare I guarded. Louder, than when you lived in the temple. I suppose many things have changed, though it has not been so long a time. I wonder, was it the journey then that did it? Or this new land?”

Irazu could sense the command in Kawah Ijen’s tone when she bade him to disregard the departing mare and the band of foals. Glancing after them again, he could see the final departing swish of branches that heralded the mare and foals moving beyond sight. Again he wondered if any of them were Kawah’s, or perhaps belonged to the silver eyed mare who shepherded them away. He didn’t see resemblance to the avatar, but some of them might have belonged to the other mare. Perhaps that is why she would protect them with such ferocity, perhaps merely because she was their guardian. Well, it was none of his concern, though foals would give Kawah a reason to remain here.

“Her charges, I wonder.” He murmured, tilting his head to consider the mare he had once protected before all else. “Are any of them yours, or hers? Is that why you wish to remain here, rather than returning home as you should? Because you have foals here, with someone? Is that why you stayed, when you could have tried to run? You know this land, now, or I assume you do. I certainly do not, you may very well be able to shake me if there was not something keeping you here. Perhaps it is wrong for me to assume that it is family, but it makes a certain kind of sense.”

Irazu clawed restlessly at the snow for a moment, watching the ice crystals crumble and scatter until rich black earth parted beneath his claws. “You speak as though you have no intention of ever returning to the Ahiri Island, to the herd that raised you. They were your family, and you left them all behind. For what, precisely? A group of strangers within a strange land? This is not your home, Kawah, why do you not wish to return to it?”

The stallion sighed as she spoke, shaking his head. “You cannot give decrees to the Elders from a distance, through a third party. The herd has never worked like that, Kawah. If you wish to change the way things are handled in the herd, you would need to go speak to them directly. You should have spoken to them instead of running, which appears you chose to do instead. So then, you will hide here in your new life, and try to commend the herd you left behind? Or will you go home with me, and change things?”

Wordcount: 477  

[~Latonia de la Courtel~]

Kawah considered him for a moment, then snorted softly. "Braver, well that I am not so sure of? There were not many causes in the temple for me to show precisely how brave I could be, after all. What need could there possibly be? I had guards and attendants, and was so sheltered there was no chance of threat, or anything else really."

Annoyed, she shook her head. "But different? Oh, different, most assuredly. I have lived an entire life since you last knew me, or so it seems. To begin with, I fled the only world I had ever known, leaving the makeshift family behind in the process. I flew until I thought my wings would break from weariness, and crash landed in a land that is utterly unfamiliar. To tell the honest truth, I don't even remember my arrival here. I was too exhausted, buffeted by storms and blown off any semblance of a course I may have had... I know that I was rescued by a very kind herd, and they worked tirelessly to return me to health."

She paused, thinking fondly of the herd and the sons she had borne there. They had stayed behind, happy with their father and extended family, but she visited now and again. Perhaps one of them inherited her restless hooves or wandering wings, and would one day visit nearby lands to see what had become of her too. They wouldn't join here, couldn't become what she was to this new family, but visiting nearby would be doable... enjoyable, even.

Irazu's attention to the foals, and to a lesser extent Keshani herself, made Kawah narrow her burning blue gaze at him in wordless warning. He need not know the parentage of any of the foals, should not even give them a thought since his task had brought him here for her, and she had half a mind to tell him so.

"What care you?" She challenged icily. "The children are of no concern to you, for they are certainly none of yours. Whether it matters or not, none in that band are mine. As for being rid of you, trust that if I cared to, I could certainly lead you on a merry chase and lose you without trouble. I could just as easily lead you to the Valkyries and let them dispatch you, if I wanted to ensure you'd be no difficulty. I believe you can remember that, if nothing else?"

*

Irazu considered that for a moment, then inclined his head. "Fair enough. I grant you that sheltered within the Shrine is not really a place to show precisely how brave one is... Or even to exhibit any specific skills within the environment, sheltered as it was."

He shifted slightly, casting a wary eye at his surroundings. "But here, here is certainly the kind of surroundings that brings out the best in someone. Here survival is likely hard-won, earned and not granted. But here you seem content, protective of your charges, confident in the abilities of your companion. If the foals are not yours, you still hold some accountability and affection for them. You protect them, as she does."

At the bite in the mare's tone he bowed his head, a mute acquiescence even as he took a gliding step back and to one side. Carefully turning well away from the departing group, he turned his attention fully back to the mare he had chased from their distant herd lands.

"Just making conversation, Burning One." He murmured in a soothing tone, spreading his wings downward and bowing his head slightly in an effort to placate her through his body language. "I wondered if there was something spectacular about them, to make you wish to stay here. After all, the herd is waiting, your entire life that you left behind... So what makes you want to stay here, with them, if they are none of yours? What is better about this place, in comparison with home?"

*

"I am not going to explain my home to you, nor shall I discuss my choices." Kawah snapped, flattening her ears in warning. "I made my choice, that is all you need know. I need no excuse of foals or family here, I have picked this as my home. I do not wish to return to the Ahiri Islands, I do not wish to be the Heart of the Volcano, the Avatar, the Burning One. I just want to be Kawah, and here I can be that. Here I have friends, I have family and a herd. I hunt and fight and laugh and dance with my sisters. I need heed no stallion, obey the edicts of an Elder that would see me trapped in a stone cage for their own interest."

She shook her head, sending her mane whipping around her in a hiss of black silk and melting snow. "What I left behind was not my family, just my Keepers. There is no love in my heart for that place, I am glad to be free of it and have no desire to return to it. The Ahiri may govern themselves as they see fit, so long as they leave me out of it. If another wishes to step forward and take my place, let her be welcome to it. Let her have the joy of it, and the attendants and their fake compliments. Let her enjoy every attendant and the words he pours in her ear, regardless of whether he actually means them. Let her revel in it all, and never question a moment of it. That may well be freedom for her, but it is a peace I could never touch. I was not happy there, I will not return."

Firmly stamping a hoof, she gave him a stern look. "So hear me now, and hear me well. Tell the Elders to do whatever they like, so long as they leave me out of it. I want no other tribute, guardians or attendants come to call. I want no further entreaty to return to the life I left behind. I am changing my own life, here and now."

"Fair enough, Burning One." Irazu murmured, splaying his wings lower in the face of her annoyance. "I just thought that there was some reason you wanted to stay here. Something substantial that drew you, something unique that had captured your attention. But if here is where you wish to be, regardless of the reason or the lack thereof, then here I am sure you shall stay. I cannot say I will be the last sent to find you, surely you know that much at least?"

The black stallion sleeked his feathers, folding his wings to his back once again. "You left friends behind, amongst the Keepers, even if you have little interest in remembering it as such. In spite of your words, I hope you remember that... I hope you believe that, as I say it with the most sincere intentions. I do consider you a friend, regardless of where you call home. I cannot say who may step up in your absence, or what the results will be. But you do have friends back there, friends that wish you well."

He took a few gliding steps back, out of her range and yet away from where the mare and foals had departed. "For what it is worth, if you do have family here I am glad that you have found someone to love... I am glad that you have made a new life, and are happy, well and away from the Shrine or no."

Irazu Wordcount: 499