There was always some risk in choosing to take the Drem xume'l roll within the Baxt vai' datha herd. Trailblazers often travelled ahead of the herd, often alone, to set up caches,mark safe places, handy landmarks like lakes, ponds, rivers, lush valleys, safe, secluded clearings wherein the herd might make camp, rest areas. Part of the job was also to mark were dangers could lurk. Now, with all that entailed, Talora didn't mind the work load, nor did she shy from the potential risk. She regularly felt a lot of fulfillment to help make the paths safe for the nomadic herd behind her, to help ensure that her folk had ample access to water, protected places to sleep, access to stored supplies and food.
Now, being an usdia, sometimes dealing with especially rough terrain or dangerous individuals or animals was a tall order, but Talora was highly experienced, practical, and, in her opinion, had a fair dose of common sense in her head. She was fleet footed, potentially very so, a gift of her Nymph heritage, but also not above squaring up against much larger foes who may be hassling her or others, even if it was just in an attempt to try to lure them away from the main area where they're menacing.
Talora was making her way through some canyonland, the striated stone archways and narrow slot canyons ablaze in ruddy tones, warm golds, creamy tans were starting to blush pink in the slow sinking of the sun. It truly was beautiful, but not especially safe for camping, in case of flash floods of heavy rainfall or snow melt from higher elevations. With how quickly such an event could happen, it didn't even really make for a decent place for the core of the herd to pass through. The closer quarters meant that if it did start flooding, the results could be... tragic. So she'd make note to keep pressing on. What the quili'nymph mare was hoping for was to clear out of the canyons by nightfall proper, or to find a place where she could get higher up if she needed to, even if it meant camping out on a ledge.
The portion of canyon she was working her way though was especially winding with plenty of blind curves and walls that varied between nigh close enough to brush her sides to widening out to have almost little rooms or alcoves to pass through. Talora rounded a corner and paused, standing stock still as her eyes fell upon a bunny looking stallion, festooned with flowers and vines, with a lop-eared, bonneted rabbit companion. She could feel her pulse pick up at the dreadful memory of being doggedly chased, hunted by what she had thought had originally been an injured bunny. No. That damned rabbit had been covered in the blood of its victims, and had attempted to add her to the unknown number. It had been a very close call and she had been lucky to get out physically unscathed as she had... Mentally, she'd been rattled, jumpy and paranoid for several weeks after, which made her seek solace and council from her herd.
The bonneted bun noticed her and Talora saw that the familiar informed the flower dappled bay stallion of her presence, his head swiveling her way, head high, brows arched curiously... maybe hopefully? Her ears pinned back as both pairs of eyes settled on her, making her tail swish agitatedly behind her. The pair stood between her and the way out...
"Ah, hello there! My friend and I seem to have become woefully lost and had been debating on what to do... Are you, by chance familiar with the area?" The stallion chimed, his tone friendly, tinged with what could be argued to be light self deprecating laughter. When she didn't immediately respond, the bay stallion blinked and exchanged a glance with the harlequin dutch rabbit beside him. The pair seemed to process her tense stance and her agitated shifting. "Oh...eh... is everything alright?"
A grumpy rumble rose in her throat. "Depends... What are you doing here? What brought you to the area? And stay right where you are..."
Flabbergasted, the pair ahead of blinked at her then exchanged another confused look. Had something happened around here that was setting the usdia mare off so? "We... got lost? We've never come this way before and either we took a wrong turn or we made a big mistake coming into the canyon... Is this your territory or something? If so, we are so sorry if we are trespassing! Truly, we have no earthly idea where we are. None of this terrain or area are familiar to us... You're the first soul we've seen in days, truthfully."
A tense silence drew out between the trio for several long moments, Talora's vivid blue eyes narrowed as she processed the tones of his words, checking his body language. The pair looked as though they were fresh from a flower festival or something... When he spoke, she didn't see any sharp looking teeth. She gave a long thoughtful hum. They seemed genuinely contrite at the thought they may be trespassing... Giving a slow, deep inhale as she ordered her thoughts, Talora help her head up, jaw still set, tail still swishing behind her. "Well... As far as I know, this canyon isn't anyone's territory, certainly not mine. Continuing down this canyon is a mistake, potentially dangerous. I've got hours and hours of canyonland behind me. You'd be better off turning around and heading back out, especially with nightfall on the way. Now, look, I'm heading out this way too and have come too far to turn around just because..." She paused her thought, seeming to literally chew on the words before speaking them. Talora shook her head.
"It's a long, long, terribly harrowing story that I don't really want to get into. You both are welcome to walk ahead of me. If you're as lost as you say, I'm a pathfinder by trade and can potentially give you, if not actual directions, then at least ideas of what's in the area once we're clear of the canyon. Sound fair?"
After a beat or two of whispered conference between the rabbits, the stallion dipped low to allow his lapin friend to hop up onto his back, settling on a stable spot on his back when he stood again. "Sounds fair," The stallion answered with a nod. "Would you be alright if we talk or-or would you prefer silence?" He asked as he turned to face down the path, looking back towards Talora.
Talora frowned. It would feel an awful lot like she was marching them out of the canyon like a territory enforcer if she didn't allow them to talk... "That's fine. You can talk..." With permission granted, the pair began down the path, slowly at first to keep an ear for the usdia behind them, glancing back occasionally to confirm she was there. After a time, a fact that surprised her, they had been softly conversing together but then they started trying to talk with her. She'd been hesitant to answer at first but by the time they reached the mouth of the narrow slot canyon, introductions had been made and they'd all been conversing pretty genially amongst themselves. With night having fully taken hold, landmarks were harder to point out, but she indicated a unassuming copse of trees that was surprisingly dense, making for good cover to sleep and a fair wind break in case of weather. She offered some tips for them to help get their bearings once the sun rose, then the trio said their goodbyes before heading off in their separate directions, two in one, on in the other, all feeling pretty good at the end of the day.
[WC: 1304]
