[Kallis]

Morning arrived quicker than it should have over Hesia. At least, that's how it felt to Kallis, who was awoken from a deep slumber at sunrise by a sharp knock to her front door. The bang, bang reverberated noisily and echoed around her open, one-bedroom home, allowing her no escape or hope of pretending she hadn't heard. She rose her head wearily, checking her pocket watch which read five-thirty. She sighed, wanting to roll over and sleep at least another few hours. However, she needed her job and the pay that it provided a lot more.

"C'mon, get up outta there, these bloody beasts need tenderin'!” Came the yell from the stable-owner, before he moved on to the other ostler’s door, who was obviously also having difficulty starting the day. Kallis heard a loud thump on the door next to hers, before she threw off her quilt and began slipping on her work gear, which consisted of a dark tan shirt, loose slacks and knee-high boots, all with various sized splotches of mud here and there. It wasn’t worth washing out the stains until her days off, so she kept them like that during the work week. She combed her hair back hastily into a rough pony tail, fastening it with a tie before heading out the door. She would grab something to eat during her work break later in the morning.

The morning progressed quickly, once Kallis felt more awake. She undertook her usual routine, feeding the pegasi before mucking out their stalls. After all her usual chores were done, she headed back up to her room, hoping to find a letter there for her. There was one, her address scrawled hastily on the front. She ripped it open, taking a deep breath before unfolding the letter within.

No news, sorry.
Hope you are well.

The letters became less and less personal as time went by. Kallis frowned, cursing herself for expecting today to be any different. It was always the same, no news. But she told herself that no news was better than bad news. Scrunching the letter into her pants pocket, Kallis slipped off her mud-trodden work boots and left them at the front door, leaning against the wall, thoughts swirling in her head as she looked down at the courtyard below, where the last of the pegasi where being returned to their stables.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay had never found a reason to hate horses and their brothers -- until now that is.

Just a moment ago, in his search for Thomas Windsor who invited him to this brief journey in this strange town, a pair of pegasi had thought it right to play with an unknowing stray cat wandering (rather stupidly, he now admitted) about in the field and he'd had to burst out to a frantic run, turning to a blur of silver, the very moment one of the excitable hooves crashed onto the space beside him and when he looked back, his heart raising in its tiny cage, he could see the two of them being herded over to their fellows, their laughter ringing out in the distance. Slitting his gold gaze, Nicolay hissed at their direction and spat.

But now, he felt tired, sulky and bored and he wandered over to one of the houses overlooking the courtyard, watching the white horses and their shepherd as he padded silently through the floor. His tail swished playfully as he walked and he found himself pausing in his steps, one paw raised preemptively to walk on while he gazed on the field until the horses were gone. When there were only people walking about, he turned his head and moved on--

The stench of stained cotton smacked him at the nose and Nicolay snorted, wrinkling his face and frowning and hissing as he backed away, paws stumbling almost while he attempted to scratch his muzzle by patting it with his right paw. Ugh, it smelt like...like...like...!

[Kallis]

Kallis's mind was still preoccupied by the short letter from her mother, so that at first she didn't notice the feline in the courtyard, or the quick commotion in the field. She sighed, at a loss and not knowing who to turn to for information. Her remaining family in the Dusky Mountains had largely abandoned her and no longer kept in close contact. Her mother only wrote each fortnight to relay any news about her father, of which there was generally none. In the beginning, her mother also wrote about Kallis's cousins and of what was happening in the small town of Mali, where Kallis was born and had grown up. She still had fond feelings for the place, but mostly because of the time spent there with her father, who was now missing and had been for some time. Kallis believed that she was the only one really searching for him, but most of her leads had turned up useless and her sources of information were dwindling fast. She knew that, eventually, her mother would stop writing altogether.

She shook her head, almost as if to clear her thoughts, and to pull herself together. It was no good sulking over the impersonal letter, or her lack of information. It wouldn't help bring her father back. She made a silent promise to herself to never lose her determination, took in a deep breath and felt marginally better. It was then that she saw the feline wandering below in the courtyard. She watched it for a moment, wondering who it belonged to. She had never seen it in one of the adjoining houses or even around the stables before. She pushed herself off from the wall, sliding on her boots once more and making her way down the short staircase that lead to the courtyard, at the side of the stable directly below her home. She walked quietly on tip-toes, as if any sudden movements might frighten the animal away.

Kneeling down when she got closer, she reached out a hand. Kallis had often felt a closer connection to animals than humans, for a reason she wasn't quite sure of. She just felt they were easier to get along with. "Hey there, are you lost?" She cooed.

[Nicolay]

The stinky cotton was a sackful of dirty clothes, Nicolay realized too late, and it was probably the wonderful harmony of horse food, straw, soil and sweat that dropped the bomb in Nicolay's nose. He snorted and shook his head, nearly losing his balance when he neglected to remind himself that a cat's head was exponentially lighter than that of an adult human being's. His tail swished with a light air of irritation as he backed up further and moved to start again but the muffled steps of an incoming figure alarmed his senses and his first plan was to runaway if he hadn't scolded himself for being such a scaredy cat. So he stood his ground in spite of the wild movement of his neck and he found himself watching a skotados stop in front of him, his eyes round and curious.

And then there was a hand.

Oh God, it's a hand, Nicolay thought in his panic. He was almost tempted to look around for Thomas and ask him what he was supposed to do until he reminded himself that no, cats didn't do that. At the back of his mind, he never realized how hard it was to be a cat.

Act by your instincts, he said to himself.

Looking at the hand, Nicolay rested his right paw on it.

He waited, uncertain if what he'd done was...cat-like.

[Kallis]

Kallis remained in her position kneeling on the floor of the stable courtyard, waiting to see if the cat would ove closer or scamper away. The cat appeared to be bothered by something that Kallis couldn't see, as it was acting rather strangely. Kallis wondered if it could sense the pegasi nearby, or maybe it was unnacustomed to humans (not that Kallis was technically human). There was even the possibility that it was injured or sick, because Kallis was fairly certain that this little creature didn't have an owner.

"I won't hurt you," Kallis said in a soft voice. She always spoke to animals, even though they couldn't hear her. But even as she thought that, she had the strange feeling that this cat was different in some way, as it seemed to respond to her words with an unnatural instinct.

Kallis didn't move when the cat got closer, only marvelled as the cat reached it's paw forward to rest on her outstretched hand. She had never seen a cat, or any other animal, do that before.

"There's something different about you," she mused, before reaching forward with her other hand to pet behind its ear.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay regurgitated a meow.

Him having something different in him was a bad mark on his performance as a Therian and that was not a good thing. As though offended by what she'd said, as if her hand had suddenly turned to a roaster, he removed his paw although he had to stumble two steps back just to regain his balance. Standing on four feet was not a very easy task, he was learning now. He would have taken another step back and moved on with his search, seeing as talking to people only got him to trouble but she'd reached to keep him there and he winced inwardly and turned his head away because her hand was so huge, she could whack his head off in a swipe.

But her warm fingers had already stroked him behind his ear and pulled them backward as squeezed out a purr which sounded more genuine than his earlier one. He felt his chest swell nicely, the feeling was cozy and ticklish at the same time, and his eyes remained shut tight as he crumpled his face.

He did open them only when the laughter of a familiar voice rang out from a distance and he whipped his head instantly to see the hefty form of Thomas Windsor stepping out of a door, accompanied by his ranch hand friend. His heart skipped a beat as he cast his gaze to that direction but then the skotados was there and he knew he had to be paying attention to her...