Ciegue

The events of her life had a way of entwining around one another to form a rope that was endless. Happy events, sad events, and some that were just simply things that happened. Going about her work, her duties, there were times when her thoughts got the better of her. She found herself thinking quite a bit on her nephew and his disappearance, and this even shadowed her mood, so she had been keeping to herself for the most part. Well, that and the weather. It becomes difficult to work the kaiila when the snow is blowing. They are moody, you are moody, and it just becomes such a war of wills, that sometime the best decision is to allow them to just be until the snow goes away.



Have you ever watched them in the pens. When the snow flies, these beasts that usually spend the bulk of their time nipping at each other in some sort of battle of supremacy that is known only to them, suddenly become great friends. They will find a corner of the pen that is the most protected, or as protected as any spot can be on the plains, and there they stand, flank to flank, side to side, their heads towards the protection. Mares, who do not even deign to feed their foals, will herd them to the corner, then form a protective wall of bodies around them. Then will come the larger males, nudging their bodies closer to add more protection to that knot of animal bodies, trying to keep the heat in, to protect the weaker of their herd.



Are they really so different from humans? Don't mothers protect their babies and children, knowing that their mates and the other men of the tribe will provide them with warmth and protection also? Do not call the kaiila dumb beasts, for they are far from it. Watching them always amazed her. Some saw nothing more than a mount, a convenience that allowed them the mobility that they wish, but to her, each of them had a personality that was unique. Maybe this is why she worked will with them, she understood them, she talked with them and listened to what they told her. Insane, you call her? Perhaps.



Maybe it was this quality in her that always had her on the look out for new animals. She bred many, and was very careful on what sire she put with what mare. Careful of blood lines, always trying to breed strength, and trying not to breed too closely. Occasionally wild beast could still be found, and she always kept her eyes open, seeking ones to bring into their fold. This ability had served her well in the past, and hopefully would do so in the future. And it was this sharp eye, that had allowed her to find him.



True to her promise to herself, she had been spending more time with Gabriel, allowing him to help her more around the wagons, taking rides with him, and simply talking to him, getting to know the young man he was growing into. One common joy that they had found was riding. He had told her that he rode often by himself out onto the plains to a spot where he could look back over the herds and wagons, to think upon his life, what it had in store for him. It was a great honor for her when he took her to this spot that had become sacred to him in away. There was no need for words to pass between them. They were simply there........together.



It was returning from one of these rides that she had first caught sight of the black kaiila standing on a small rise on the other side of the stream. She had stood in her stirrups to look around, seeing no wild herd that he might belong to. It struck her as odd that someone had not tried to capture him, for he looked to be a fine, black beast, but young. She would guess that he was in his second turning, but not much more than that. On that first spying, he seemed to sense she was watching, reared slightly then was gone. Quite a few times over the next hand she had thought of him, and looked for him, to no good. Maybe he had been captured by someone, and was being trained.



She had been to take Loch a meal. They were so busy, that each stolen ahn that they got together, they worked for and treasured. It was a frigid day, the snow had fell all morning, blanketing the plains in that beautiful, but icy mantle that she found she loved. Wager had veered off towards the stream to drink. Slipping from the saddle, she walked along the bank, contemplating how the water eddied around the small mounds of ice in snow in the stream. There was no sound other than that, and the wind. The silence was almost eerie in its quality. She sensed, more than heard him. Looking up, she saw the black kaiila standing on the other side of the stream. She marveled a bit that he did not bolt, but staring at him, she began to kin why. He was turned in profile, and the eye on the side of his head was milky white. She had seen this before, in an old woman that was of the spex clan, but both of her eyes held that milky aspect, and she was totally blind. Seeing only what was within her mind.



For a long time she simply stood and watched the animal, marveling at him. This is why there was no herd, no protectors. Often, animals would shun one they thought imperfect. It was instinct in them, the saw the flaw as weakness, and why waste life on one that was weak. But for some reason, she saw it differently. She was not even away of her first steps that took her closer to Wager, or of her hand lifting to take the lariat off of the saddle. Rope in hand, she stepped into the icy water, it was then that she became more aware of her surrounding, and the fingers of cold water that were soon seeping into the leather of her boots, but this did not stop her.



Very slowly she crossed the stream, never taking her eyes from the beast. He could not see her, but surely he could hear her, she found it impossible to keep her teeth from chattering, and behind her she could hear Wager snorting, wondering if she had finally taken leave of her senses. Stepping from the water, she stumbled and fell to her knees, saying words under her breath that she was glad no one was here to hear. It was then that the black colt reacted. Graceful as a dancing slave, he stepped back, snorted and turned that blind eye in her direction.



Finding her footing again, she crawled from the stream and began to speak softly to him. It was almost a mixture of words, unintelligible soft grunts and sounds. He took a step back, she took two steps forward. Again he placed one clawed foot behind him and stepped back, she placed one booted foot in front of the other and advanced. It was almost like a dance, him leading, her following. Slowly she unfurled the rope, allowing the loop to swing slowly by her side as she advanced. Her movements were graceful as she began to move it around her head, taking aim on the black head.



One more loop, one more swing.........then she let it slip forward to slip over the head, to loop down the long, silky neck. At that moment, the beast reared, and she grasped the rope, sitting her heels into the snowy ground, hoping that she kept her balance. She found herself in a crouch, still holding onto the rope as if her very life depended upon her grasp. He reared, claws flailing at the air, then coming down to almost embrace her form that was before him. His chest was right before her, she could almost see her reflection in the glossy coat. She could smell him, that wet fur, animalistic , musky scent that he threw off. For the briefest of moments, she wondered what she smelled like to him. She hoped it was not dinner. Suddenly,she was aware of another presence. Wager had followed her across the waters and was standing there at her back, nipping at he strange beast. A series of grunts, growls, whinnies passed between the two animals and the black seemed to calm.



She was able to lift to her feet, still holding the rope and tentatively reached a gloved hand out closer to the head. Nostrils flared as he took in her scent. Maybe he did not scent her fear, maybe he understood that this small two-legged creature before him meant no harm. For whatever reason, he suddenly stilled. She crept closer, to his off side talking softly, laying her hand on his nose to stroke gently. This was when she noticed something even stranger than the milky blind eye. His other eye was blue, which in her knowledge, did not happen among kaiila. In all of the beasts she had seen, brow was the eye color that prevailed. But this other eye was dark blue, the blue of the midnight skies, and there was sight in it, and intelligence.



The black head dipped closer to her, and her hand smoothed beneath the neck to the other side and she lay her cheek on the silky mane and began to speak softly. "Are you not amazing? What a beautiful creature you are." The head dipped gently, almost as if the beast understood and agreed. With slow, but sure steps she moved to the other side to ponder the blind eye once more, with much curiosity. Moving down the side of the beast, she ran a practiced hand over withers, side and down flanks. There were no injuries, no imperfections other than the milky eye. Feeling movement behind her, then a warning snort, she turned to see the black head nudging the bags of her saddle that was on Wager. She had to laugh softly. "Hungry" She moved to the bags, nudging the head away with her shoulder, to dig in them pulling out the jerky strips. He took them daintily, which caused her to chuckle softly, the sound ringing through the cold air. It seemed she had made a friend.



Holding fast to the rope, she pulled up into the saddle and gave it a small tug. At first, the black resisted, pulling in the other direction, but she persisted. And this would be how it would go, all the way back to camp, and to the pens. He would follow for a time, then balk, pulling back at the rope. It was almost as if he thought she would drop it, and he would be free. Maybe he was simply testing her, who knew. Had he truly have had the ability of logical thought, he would have realized that she had wound her end of the rope tightly around the pommel of the saddle and tied it off. The hand that continued to lay on it, tugging him along, was in no danger of loosing him unless he were to break the rope, which was not going to happen.



She barely got notice as she passed people on the way to the pens, except for those that took a second longer look. The ones on the off-side, frowned seeing the milky,white, blind eye. Some made the hand sign to ward off evil spirits, and not all of them were women. Those on the other side, often took a step closer to make sure they had truly seen a blue-eyed kaiila.



At the pens, she put him into segregation until she decided what to do with him. In fact, she put him in the pen where Holo had been kept. When she slipped the rope off of his neck, he reared once more and trotted off to the far side of the pen. Crawling over the rails of the fence, she watched him for a time, pondering what she would do with him. Gabriel came to stand by her, then frowned, asking if that beast was blind. She allowed softly, that it was only half blind. He then questioned why she had not killed it, that it was of no use, only to be met by a shake of her head. "Everything has a use." Watching the beast, she spoke softly. "Right now, I will call him Ciegue"