Welcome to Gaia! ::

Although the winter’s breath was finally lessening over the lands, it was still rather cold out. In fact… As Talyn lowered her head to the clipped grass, she lipped a few frozen blades, amused at how stiff they were. Lifting up her head high, she looked around, ears constantly twitching and listening for movement. Wandering away from the herd was a little dangerous, true, but at this distance---still well within the ranges of the Outriders--- she didn’t feel like she was in any danger. It was simply a relief to get away from the relentless chatter of some of the other hinds, the brainless bickering of who was whom within someone else’s harem. It got to Talyn’s ambitious mind quickly, making her wonder if she was born with a faulty mind or if every other hind was insane.

Oh, sure, she liked male attention alright; it was flattering if a stag took it into his mind to try and impress her. She simply didn’t feel like she had a place in a proper harem. The Outriders had earned her respect, just a slightly different form of respect than they received from most hinds. From Talyn, those bold stags received respect and envy.

Things were so much different when she was a fawn… well, sort of. She had been vaguely aware that all the stags ran off and did stagly things, and that the hinds stayed back closer to the Home Oak and did hindly things, but it hadn’t really affected her personally. No, back then her only interests had been playing around and just learning about the world around her. What sorts of things did Outriders see in their travels, she wondered.

Since it wasn’t her way to wallow in pity, she shook herself slightly and focused on finding tender mallow shoots by the brook, enjoying their sweet taste. The simple pleasures in life… ha! Outriders didn’t get to enjoy those! They had all that… business… stuff… stagly things to do.

At that moment, Talyn was wondering if there was some sort of correlation between the cold weather and the mindless chatter of idle gossip. It seemed possible… with less time to run around with their young, it seemed that hinds took it in their minds to fill the hours with talk. And, in the winter when everything was being snowed in, there was only so much to talk about. It really was only a matter of time before the topic turned to either dangerous things such as lera which could scare the babies, or chatter of who was trying to court whom.

Hearing light steps on the frozen grass, Talyn lifted her head and looked over towards the unfamiliar hind who approached her. She was fairly sure she had seen the reddish herla before, but she couldn’t quite remember where. Not in one of the gossip circles though, which was enough to encourage Talyn to talk a bit to the stranger.

“A desperate bid to save my mind from the incessant babble is what brings me out here. I could only hear about the Lord’s harem so much before something breaks, you know?” she trotted a little bit closer before introducing herself. “I’m Talyn. I don’t remember seeing you before either… I normally venture towards the other side, but today seemed like a good day to explore a bit.” At least it was less cold.

Talyn grinned as she realized she had judged the other hind correctly; she was generally good at reading other’s expressions and body language. It was just a little talent she had picked up along her life. Maybe it wasn’t all that special or anything, but it served her well, since it would tell her when to avoid someone and when to approach them.

“I’m fairly sure that running out of things to gossip about is one of the signs of the end of the world. You know how it goes, first Starbuck is alive again, then the dead rise from the grave, and everyone suddenly runs out of things to gossip about. I almost wish that would happen already. It would give the ears a rest without having to actually walk away.” Ok, so maybe there wasn’t actually a tale like that. Talyn just liked thinking that there was. Maybe, one of these days, she would become a Story teller. It appealed to her more than a little, especially since she loved hearing about adventure.

But, alas, it didn’t seem likely.

“It wouldn’t be so bad listening to them if they would talk about interesting things,” she continued after a moment of thought. “Oh, believe me, I like hearing about handsome stags as much as the next hind, but after a time it gets… repetitive. You can only hear about the Mysterious Stag from the Foothills so many times before you know the entire thing by heart. I’d rather hear more about that mysterious herd that’s been spotted. Or, rather, the clues that have been spotted. But nooo. Such things might upset the younglings.”

There was no doubt about it in Talyn’s mind. Stags gossiped as well, but stag gossip was much more interesting than hind gossip.

Talyn barked a laugh at the story of the ‘man-herla’. Oh, yes, she had heard that yarn before. Some said it was Starbuck or even Herne himself! Very dramatic, and a tale for younglings barely off milk. No one else would believe such a tale… well, except for winter-mad hinds. No wonder everyone else thought they needed protection… because so many of them actually did!

“Ha! Yeah, if such a herd ever comes around, you can bet that every single hind and youngling and doe will be accounted for and penned in nearby the Home Oak. Although…” her eyes glinted mischiviously and she sidled closer to her new-found friend. “We didn’t know each other, now did we? Like before this? We had seen each other once or twice, but didn’t actually know… so, I don’t think that anyone else would immediately recognize us either. Let’s say, hypothetically, that there was a mysterious herd running around somewhere. And let’s say, again, hypothetically, that all the ‘defenseless’ does, hinds, and younglings were herded to the Home Oak. Do you think that anyone would notice if we were missing?”

Now there was a good question. And a very interesting one at that. Talyn had often wondered what was outside the herd; it was practically the first thing that had formed in her mind as soon as she was capable of forming such things. But, alas, while she was a brave and confident hind, she was also very social. She didn’t want to leave alone. That would just be boring. But, if she had someone else with her, someone who thought in a similar way, it just might work! Not to mention, if they went together then they could watch out for each other. A wolf wouldn’t hesitate to attack a lone deer, but two deer? That would give that lera something to think about! The real trick would be getting by the Outriders, unfortunately. They would be harder to fool.

They could always bring one with them, but to Talyn that seemed like giving up. The point of this venture would be to go out in the world as unguarded hinds. Bringing along a chaperone kind of ruined that.

“Oh, yes, purely hypothetically speaking.” The chances of this completely figurative situation happening was rather low, which was distressing to Talyn; she had been looking forward to meeting someone who thought like she did and could explore the outside world a bit. It seemed like a huge adventure to the young hind, who had, as Aithne knew, never been too far beyond the Home Oak in her life. A grand adventure of breaking the hearts of Outriders, braving the beyond, and facing down dangers. It was the stuff that legends were made of! Most of all, it would break the monotony that normally dominated a hind’s life.

Still… she looked down at her dainty black hooves, wondering just how effective they would be against a wolf. Less effective than a stag’s proud head of antlers, she was certain, but they could do something. If she had been trained to do so, that is. No one would bother training a hind; they would laugh her and Aithne away if either of them dared ask and then they would both be put under surveillance, just to make sure they didn’t have silly thoughts in their heads. Looking up from her hooves, Talyn looked towards the beckoning beyond. There was, she knew, a stag not too far away on a nearby hill. There always was one there. There had to be at least one unguarded spot though. And that was all that was needed.

“Maybe we ought to train a bit first though. Like with each other. You know how bucks are always practicing fighting and such? We ought to try that too. We’re faster than they are, you know, and more agile. If there were more of us…” she trailed off a little, hesitating. She vaguely remembered hearing a story from Rannoch’s time about a herd that was dominated by hinds. That had been bad, she remembered from the legend. The last time she had thought about it, she had been a wide-eyed gangly little fawn, all legs and neck, listening with a horrified fascination. But, it wasn’t like she and Aithne were trying to buck off centuries of tradition or anything! They just wanted something that had been denied them their entire lives, something that was handed on a platter to everyone else. They wanted adventure, if only for a short while. They were both lovely hinds, after all; it wouldn’t be long before they caught some stag’s eye.

Excitement in her voice and movements, Talyn practically did a little jig as she moved to one side. “What we have to do is take note of all the different shifts then. But, we can’t let them know that we’re watching. If they notice us watching, they’ll notice us right back. And we must keep this a secret, especially from other hinds.” This entire discussion had started off as a conversation about gossip, now hadn’t it?