She had made dinner for her two oldest sons and Ba'atar. The boys had eaten, but Ba'atar had still been with the herd when she got a message from Aamon that he needed her to look at one of his kaiila. Leaving orders for kasra to make sure Ba'atar had his dinner, and fresh water she had walked to he pens to see what was wrong with Aamon's beast.
There were several gashes on the animal's neck and a rather severe one on its' chest. As she began to clean the wounds Aamon told her that the beast had gotten into a fight with a younger stallion, which was not all that unusual. She noted the affection the man had for the big roan animal. He stood at its' head, calming it as she worked. She could see that the kaiila was getting on in time, and asked Aamon if he had another beast to ride for a few days. He said he did, but not one as good as this one. She asked if he had owned the animal for a long time, and he told her yes, since before Ba'atar was born.
This confirmed what she was seeing, but she did not think this was the time to speak to him of having it put down. She could tell that in his day, the animal had been a magnificent beast, but that day had passed. Cleaning and stitching the wounds, she had taken extra care. When she finished, she stood and told Aamon that she had a few kaiila that he could look at, and if he saw something to his liking, he could use it while his healed.
They spent some time looking over the herd that belonged to basically Ba'atar now, and she pointed out animals, and could recite their bloodlines from memory. He seemed a bit puzzled by this, and she explained to him that she was very careful when she bred kaiila, that she did not breed ones that came from the same family blood, and as a result, they had some of the best kaiila in the tribe.
She whistled low, and a young dun colored stallion lifted its' head and turned to look at them. Crawling through the bars of the fence, she moved to him, placed her fingers in his mane and walked him to the fence. Stopping at the fence, the animal tossed his head, gave an almost regal glance to the warrior stand there. She explained to Aamon that the animal was called simply.......Dust, and that he came from good bloodlines, was three turnings of the season old, and she thought they might make a good match.
Aamon crawled over the fence and came to stand in front of the animal, and basically, there was a stare down between the two, as if there was some sort of silent communication going on. Stepping back, she watched as they did the basic male thing, of who was going to master who. She always found this amusing. In the end, Aamon reached out, grasped the beast by that long silky mane and nodded, and told her that he would borrow this one until his beast was better. She could not help but smile, for they seemed suited to one another. She would try to "delay" his own beast being completely healed until he had time to grow attached to this one, then she would breech the subject of what needed to be down to the elder beast.
Aamon led the animal off to his own holding of kaiila, and she watched as they walked away. There was just such a quiet strength in the elder warrior that she found compelling. His back was so straight, his head held high, with a strength and pride that you only see in a man that truly knows who he is. It suddenly dawned on her that in a way, she was looking at her future. That someday, that the arrogance that the man she adored so would give over to that same pride of self-knowledge and she smiled.
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