For today's work she had chosen Luck as her mount. She had many kaiila, and each of them special to her for different reasons and talents. To say she had a connection with this particular beast would be an understatement. He quite probably would not be here were it not for her.
On her first trip north after gaining her place at the Ubars' fires, she had taken on the responsibility of watching over one of Tayco's mares that was heavy with foal. In fact, he had considered putting the mare down because she seemed to be having problems in carrying her first foal, but she had begged him to let her keep an eye on the poor thing. He had relented, but with certain rules involved. Rules that she did not exactly follow, but that is another story.
At this time, she barely knew her friend Fonce, but had found herself in the predicament of protecting Lyric and her unborn foal. She had stood between his lance and the mare, chin lifted and fully prepared to suffer or maybe even to die, to protect what she considered her responsibility. Perhaps that is when respect had began to grow between her and the man, but she is not sure.
In the end, the foal had been born after a long and arduous birthing, had survived along with his dame. Eventually, she had won that same foal from Tayco in a wager, and named him Luck. She had often teased him that the only reason he mated her was to get the little beast back.
The animal was smart, intuitive and had some of the quickest reflexes she has ever seen in a kaiila. From his frail beginnings, he has grown into a sturdy beast, perhaps not as big as some, but the perfect size for her and what she has trained him for. She had an intuition about him, and had started training him from the very beginning to be what he was now. Many ahn were spent working on those reflexes, honing his skill to almost read the minds of the bosk. As far as she was concerned, Luck was the best cutting kaiila in the entire herd.
Any kaiila can be taught to herd the bosk, in fact all of them were. But, it takes one of a special temperament, with light feet, quick reflexes and a sense of what the bosk is going to do before it even knows. The rider has to be pretty good too. If there is one thing, that she will show personal pride in, it is the fact that she is one of the best riders in the clan, but she had good teachers.
That morning she had carefully picked her way into the herd, and the dance began. Bosk are not the most congenial of creatures and each one of them is stubborn to a fault. To separate a heifer and her calf, is not an easy chore, but a necessary one in order to do the branding.
It becomes a small war between rider and kaiila and the bosk. They will run one way, turn quickly and run another, and this is where Luck's skills came into play. Once she had let him know which one they wanted, it was more or less his show, she was just along for the ride.
Many are amazed at how quickly the bosk can change directions, but more amazed at how the larger kaiila can stay with them. Luck could amazingly shift from one direction to the next, his clawed feet seeming to not even touch the chewed p ground before he switched to stay ahead of the bosk, to keep it from running back into the herd to be lost. And if they ran, he was right there, sometime barely ahead of them and stopping so quickly she had to grasp the pommel of the saddle to keep her seat.
It was a symphony of motion and movement. A fandango between rider and kaiila and the bosk. A thing of beauty if you stopped to watch it unfold.
At the end of the day, Tug had come to her and asked if she would teach him. Smiling she did not reach out to stroke his cheek as she wanted, instead she simply nodded to him as she would any other rider that asked the same question of her.
Now, she just has to find him his own......little bit of Luck.
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