Moonlit Moor & Firah

Moonlit turned her coal-black muzzle to the north as a gentle breeze rustled down the hillside and swept past her. A few tattered brown leaves, remnants of last autumn, skittered along down the slope and swirled briefly around the mare's legs before tumbling onward. Moonlit blew out a quiet breath from flared nostrils and closed her eyes as she simply enjoyed the moment. This was her second spring as a free horse, and she was enjoying every moment of it.

"Momma!" Firah's whinny came sharp and unexpected, eliciting a slight jump from the older horse as her daughter came bounding up the meadow towards her dam. Her moment of peace and quiet had ended abruptly, but she turned her dark dial around to greet the yearling with a warm smile of her eyes.

"Can we go out past the mountains today?" With a bald face and chestnut-brown body, the youngster looked more like her half-brother Brennik than she did her mother, complete with faint white striping on her lower legs that marked her as Onok's offspring.

Onok, Callaquoia, & Brennik

A leisurely pace, stalled here and there by an irresistible clump of clover or freshly sprouted spring grass, eventually brought Callaquioa up the hill where Moonlight and her daughter were grazing. The roan mare was just close enough to catch the words from the eager Firah, and despite herself, Calla felt a twinge of excitement at the prospect of traveling beyond the mountains. A few freshly clipped sprigs of green fell from her whiskered muzzle as she raised it from the ground, speckled ears pressed forward, "I wouldn't mind taking a small journey." A few steps brought her a bit closer to the pair, where she offered a friendly greeting sniff to the yearling, before extending the same touch of whiskers to Moonlit.

Towards the top of the hill, and far enough off that he didn't hear the conversation, Brennik was was switching his time between foraging and keeping a lookout for danger. Every now and then, the bald-faced young stallion would cast a look in his mother's direction, where he'd since noticed just how bulky his dam had become. She was eating well, for sure, and not just for herself; in the next month or two, Brennik would have a new sibling, and the thought of that raised excitement and dread in the horse.

Further up and on the opposite end of the ridge from Brennik, Onok was lingering at the edge of the timberline. Like his son, he was splitting his time between feeding and keeping sentry. After losing three yearlings and two adults from his band, the stallion was more vigilant than ever, and didn't so much as let a passing dove or chittering squirrel go by without catching his attention.

Moonlit Moor & Firah

Moonlight returned the greeting sniff as Callaquioa joined them, with a gentle smile for the younger mare. "As good as the grazing is here, trying some inner-valley grasses not salted by the ocean would be a nice treat." With a chuckle at her own comment, Moor turned her dark orbs to the rolling land around them, trying to discern where the rest of the herd was. She didn't immediately see Xenarona or Loki, but Brennik and Onok were in view as usual, and she could only imagine the stags were lurking in the nearby trees. "Alright-" Her mind made up, Moor lowered her gaze from Calla to her daughter, "-we can take a short day journey."

Firah snorted and tossed her head in excitement, "Really? I'll go tell brother!" Poor Calla had only gotten a half-hearted return greeting from the eager filly before she was racing off up the hillside, galloping towards Brennik. "Brother, brother! Mama said we're leaving the mountains for the day to see the inner Valley!"

Midnight Moor watched her daughter gallop away, and let her gaze trail after her child for a few moments as she basked in the joy of the kind of freedom she'd been denied at that age. While part of her was anxious about leading the herd out of the safety of the mountains, keeping Firah tucked away beyond the peaks wasn't fair to the filly either. And with Brennik now a strong and capable adolescent to aid is father in defending them, she felt a little safer in this decision. She gave Onok a short whinny, letting the stallion know she was moving out, and then started towards one of the lower passes between the towering mountains that made up so much of their home.

Onok, Callaquoia, & Brennik

"Tasty as our grazing here is, something a little sweeter would be nice." Callaquioa agreed. She then joined Moonlit in watching Firah race off to speak to Brennik, knowing already that her son would be following the herd closely on this outing. Ever since the two-legger across the mountains had taken so much from their herd, Brennik had become intensely vigilant.

The whinny from Moonlit Moor signaled it was time to move. Calla briefly turned a look to Onok, favoring the stallion with a smile before she cantered after her friend.

Just as Calla had known, Brennik was not quite as receptive to the adventure his little sister was sharing with him. He even glanced to his father, and was a little dismayed to see Onok readily moving down from his sentry position on the hill to begin trialing the herd. "There's plenty of good forage around here." He suggested, not that it was going to stop Firah or anyone else from going. "...just.. don't travel far from the adults, okay? And stay close to me. There's a lot of big cats out there, and roving wolf packs." Cautiously, Brennik followed after the herd, staying particularly close to Firah as they traveled.