(Untitled)

[davor_dandalrei]

Dave was a survivor, that before all other things. Before, in Fionavar, he’d lived through the war. He was there on Maidaladan, when Kevin went away. He was on the banks of the Aiden when his babies were killed. For so much, he was there, and for so much of it he had been fighting. It was a part of him, undeniable. All things leave their mark

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[flowers_on_skin]

She was walking barefoot in the grass, with a baby grizzling on her hip. Flo had a bad night, and hasn't stopped crying all day. Eventually, she was going to wear herself out. Eventually. Eostre stopped and watched the man with the horse, with idle appreciation, as she smoothed Flo's fine hair and rocked on the balls of her feet.

It was idle admiration, and there wasn't any harm in it.

[davor_dandalrei]

He had become engrossed in picking tangles and thrushes from the black's unruly mane, and the horse tolerated him, nipping every so often at the sleeve of his shirt. Dave hushed him and went on speaking in a low, comforting tone, remembering that first night on the Plain when Ivor's daughter had danced, and danced.

As it is, its a few moments before he notices her, the woman with the long blond hair. When he turned, he froze completly. Memory goes a long way back, even through so much. He remembers letting blood in Gwen Ystrat, the way the ground had felt, the way that he had felt, there with the priestesses on Maidaladan. And...oh, he remembered Cienwein, and the things she'd done for him.

"Dana," he said, and his voice sounded like it was near to cracking. His was unsure, torn between reverence and justified anger, his fingers still knotted in the black's mane.

"They told me you don't exist here," he said finally, almost an accusation, "They said that you weren't a thing that was real."

[flowers_on_skin]

"Dana," said Eostre, her voice far away, a crease between her straight, dark brows. "Now that's an old name. A powerful sort of name. Not mine, though, child. My name is Eostre. And I don't know you."

She shifted the weight of her second born daughter on her hip.

"And I promise you that I exist. I am a real thing."

[davor_dandalrei]

"You were in Pendaran," he protested, feeling small, humble. He remembers around Cienwen there had been a lot of light. This woman...was a woman, only, but he couldn't deny the history he felt. Maybe once she had been more.

"You gathered the dead, by the Aiden," he went on, his voice pleading. "You stopped the Hunt. Lady, you must remember this. Aren't you here now to take me back?"

[thefairone]

It was Findabair that went first, a streak of greyish white that moved in a wild blur only to stop at the paddock fence, shaking her head and stamping her foot upset to bet kept in for a change. March had not been a good month, but wild beasts like wild horses as well, and Isolde laughed at the actions of the horse.

"Yer not going to get far iffin ye keep at it like that," she said, coming to lean against the fence, resting Jamie on top of it as well. She turned at looked at the man who wasn't that far from the pair of them and rolled her eyes. "They never do listen."

[davor_dandalrei]

Dave managed a smile, arching an eyebrow at the woman and child. With a grunt, he swung up astride the black, fingers laced in the black's messy mane.

"Willful," he agreed, quietly. "This one...he doesn't like the fences. He's never seen them before." In honesty, he couldn't blame him. Dave would have responded in much the same way. He nodded at the white mare. "Is that one yours?"

[thefairone]

"Stubborn," Isolde added, giving her horse a pointed look, before looking at the black one in question.

"Then he shouldn't be kept behind them. She's only in them because of the beasts of before--tisna kind to keep horses." It was like catching wishes that were never yours to take. "Aye, as much as she can be."

[davor_dandalrei]

On the Plain, there hadn't been anything to fear but men, and later, the forces of Rathok. Dave settled atop his mount, giving the woman a questioning look.

"I haven't been here long," he explained gruffly, "So I don't know...but what beasts are you talking about? What do horses have to fear here?"

[canaan_divided]

Mamet approaches Dave, guitar slung over his back and his dogs, like ever-present bodyguards, accompanying him as usual. "Hi," he says brightly, all tension gone now that the man wasn't covered in blood. "How's your leg?"

[davor_dandalrei]

There was something about Mamet's irreverent energy that made it easy for Dave to offer up a slight grin.

"Better," Dave said, smoothing his hand over the black's neck. "Not green, which they told me was a good thing." He winced a little, looking at Mamet apologetically over the horse's bare back. "It didn't occur to me before, but. I'm, uh. Sorry." He waved his hand vaguely, looking ashamed of himself. "About the ax. And throwing it at you."

It was a stumbling apology, but it was more than Dave was accustomed to giving.

[canaan_divided]

Mamet's brow furrows just slightly, then he smiles and gives a shrug. "It's okay, I still have my head," he says, cupping a hand around his neck a moment before resting it on the top rung of the fence.

"You look a lot better," he points out, and climbs, a little unsteadily, to sit on the fence. He looks at the horse, but doesn't try to touch him. "How've you been?"

[davor_dandalrei]

Dave arched an eyebrow at Mamet's four-legged entourage, but didn't comment further. The black had been pampered before it had gone to war, and so it nosed unapologetically at his pockets, looking for fruit. Dave gently chided the horse, which had been one of the largest in the Dalrei's herd.

"I've been...bored," Dave admitted impatiently, rubbing some caked mud out of the horse's thigh. His mouth twisted into a frown, mind wandering. "Which is very new." He glanced up at Mamet over the horse, sighing softly. "And not welcome, truly. But, people here have been nothing but...kind."

Another strangeness that had once been normal. War takes away a lot of things away.

[yoursarahjane]

Sarah Jane had caught sight of the brilliant animal at first and had almost missed the man alltogether. She didn't make that mistake for very long as she wandered forward, with nearly a skip in her step, staring at the beautiful creature. "Is he all right?" Sarah couldn't help asking, noting the clumped blood.

[davor_dandalrei]

Dave was toying with the idea of dragging out a soapy bucket and washing the beast down when he heard the girl's voice behind him. He looked around, his hands still moving soothingly over the horse.

"It's not his," he said simply, rubbing at one of the clumps. "He's a little lame, I think, but that's mostly exhaustion." He looked up from the animal, a small, un-self-conscious smile on his lips. "He has had time to recooperate, at last."

[yoursarahjane]

Sarah wandered closer yet and was quite pleased to see the man smiling at his animal. "Well, perhaps what he needs is a good cool drink?" she suggested, tilting her head to one side. "Or a salt lick!"

[davor_dandalrei]

Dave was a little taken aback by the girl's enthusiasm, but there was no harm in it, and he let it wash over him, unruffled.

"A drink I think would suit him," Dave agreed, looking into the horse's inky eye. "Haven't seen a salt lick around. On the Plain, the horses used to kick up the soil to eat when they needed it," he said, in a rare show of offered up unasked for trivia, "But I think the ground is different here.."

[apinkrose]

Cecily had been exploring the island, which was something she had not done in some time. She loved every inch of the place, but did not even realized that she hadn't even seen parts of it.

So she was quite surprised when she saw the paddocks, and the rather attractive young man with a horse. "My! What a beautiful creature."

[davor_dandalrei]

Dave arches his eyebrows at her over the black's dusty back. To him, the horse was dirty and a little scabbed up, but, he supposed, looking at the black's huge eyes, he was beautiful, too.

"He's seen better days," he offered after a moment, looking up at the girl. "Gettin' better, though, all the time."

[apinkrose]

As she took a few steps closer she could see what the man meant. Cecily pouted and placed her hand out in front of the horse to let him recognise her presence and then looked back at the man. "Whatever could have happened to it?"

[davor_dandalrei]

"There was a war," Dave said, after another deliberate pause. Women like this always made him feel uncomfortable - pretty, easy to talk to, floating through their social circles. It was a world Dave hadn't ever seen.

"He took me through it," he went on, "All the way to here."