Need a Hero | Muiris & Fox (FINISHED)

"Almost home." 

She almost immediately chided herself for self-talk. That's weird, Fox. Don't do that. 

Old snow crunched under her hooves, now icy from days of melting & refreezing. She watched the snow churn with mud as her feet stepped into it. It smeared the ground with old twigs and dead leaves, greeting the sun for the first time in weeks. She shivered and pulled her grizzly pelt closer to her chest. Evening was breaking, the sun slowly disappearing and colder winds taking its place. The land seemed to slowly hush with the promise of nightfall. 

Descending down the mountainside's dense wood, her mind was occupied thinking of her scouting report to Hira's associates. Trails clear to the north. Bridge intact, but needs a new flag. She chuckled to herself, thinking about the poor scrap of fabric that waved in the breeze like a last surrender. We need a more durable fabric than cotton-

SNAP

She froze midstep, a hoof dangling above uncrunched snow. It took her a second to register what she heard. Her throat dropped to her knees. 

She opened her nostrils and slowly drew breath. That's no horse. It was behind her. She slowly turned her head over her shoulder, imagining all sorts of monsters and demons that could be standing there. Her eyes shot open.  

A full-grown grizzly stood on its hind legs a few meters behind her. It sniffed the air. Black, lifeless eyes bore into hers. Its massive paws hung at its belly. It lowered them to the ground with a grunt.

Shit. The pelt. It was new & recently tanned, no doubt still odiferous of the creature who inhabited its skin. And she was screwed. 

Time slowed down like she was moving through water. A million thoughts spun in her head.

First, she was War-Forged, born and raised, but she was no Raider and no Valkyrie. No formal training in combat.

Second, of course, she was alone, too far for anyone in Skeldr town to assist if needed.

Third, she could run. Her blessing might aid in locating the bear when he was out of sight, but it was new & weak, and besides it was a useless weapon in combat. And her gift- Gem Master. She scoffed at herself for pursuing something so useless now. No, her greatest defense in a fight would be her feet, but unshod hooves were discouragingly soft against an animal that weighed as much as her. And bears pursued. She'd heard the stories, of the giant grizzlies who roamed around Mount Skeldr, legends whispering they grew as big as houses sometimes. Horses had gone into the mountains and never returned. Bodies had been found later, torn open by something with claws as big as horse skulls.

So this is how I end. 

The beast ambled closer to her. She took a few cautious steps forward. Don't run. It stood up again, a few feet from her hind end. Don't run.

It drew a huge breath and roared loud enough to reach Valore. The sound was un-animal, something from hell itself. It paralyzed Fox's legs to useless sticks. Her whole body shook with it. Her brain was exploding. 

She couldn't hold it in anymore. She screamed.

"SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP!"

And suddenly Muiris was charging toward her, bumping her hard on the hip. "Just run!" he screamed, and her legs moved before her brain had processed his command. She was tearing along with him in the old snow. Their breaths heaved and ice crunched heavily under their hooves. A ping when Muiris' shoes hit pebbles and stones. She could hear the labored lope of the bear behind them, but Fox dared not look behind her. She could feel the animal enough through the thumping of its feet on the earth, shaking tree roots and bedded rocks beneath them. A dense creature, she thought. 

The stallion was fleeing, and she knew him. He would only run if the fight was too difficult. She glanced the fresh scars on his face when it flew into her view, reminders of their night with the Gytrash and Cultists. Her heart lurched for him. Poor Muiris couldn't catch a break. Here he was in the wilds proving his competency, where no one could see. He was always so stoic and quiet around everyone; did he doubt himself as much as others doubted him? 

She felt warm affection for the huge stallion run through her legs. She concluded he was her brother, not in blood but in spirit. She treasured him; whether anyone else felt the same wasn't relevant. Screw my father's opinions.

They ran hard, Fox's legs churning twice as much to keep up with Muiris' massive strides. Their flight carried way, way too much deja vu of the Night of Bloodletting. It was somehow both incredibly creepy and so, so jaded. They both knew it.

And Fox swore this would never happen again to her. She couldn't keep asking others to fight her battles.

They twisted through the trees until they careened down a steep hillside toward an icy creek roaring between the hills, like an angry serpent at the bottom of a burlap sack. Fox, without looking to see if Muiris followed, tried to leap over the water, stumbling on the slushy bank on the other side. She felt wet rocks scratch her legs, and a hind hoof cut her inside leg. She closed her eyes and panted. 

"Is it gone?"

As the bear sauntered away, Fox looked at Muiris for his next words or plan of action. A grin played on his lips, and in equal parts relief and amusement she let out a nervous giggle.

It was getting darker too quickly. Sunset always fell strangely, slowly at first and then all at once. She could almost watch their shadows growing on the brown grass underneath them, elongating the pair to caricatured skeletons of themselves.

The frogs of her feet grew cold as the earth did. She shook her mane, shaking off the lingering fear as her heart slowed to its regular rhythm.

"'Okay' is a relative term." She laughed, trying to make light of the situation. "Physically, fine. Mentally, exhausted. I can usually feel large animals when they're nearby, stepping on the ground they make the dirt shake." She bunched her shoulders. "But my blessing is still a newborn, clumsy and unreliable."

But another question rolled around in her stomach, twisting its way to her mouth. She cleared her throat.

"This can't.... this can't happen again, Muiris. I'm a Scout, I need to be traveling to keep my job afloat but I'm horribly unequipped for combat or conflict. My father never bothered to train me- I was spoiled, comforted, and pampered. I had no need for fighting skills." 

She looked Muiris in the eyes. As the light fled, his pupils seemed to meld with his irises until his eyes were solid dark. 

"You, my brother, Muiris, have now saved me from death twice in the past month. I can't express my gratitude, anything I say would be comically small for the size of your actions." She dipped her head, averting her gaze. "I can't keep asking others to fight for me. It's un-War-Forged, y'know? To constantly take and take and never give."

She sighed and met his gaze again. "My father would never approve of it, so it would have to be discreet. But Muiris, would you train me? Teach me? Not the breadth of Raider tactics, but just... enough for survival. Enough for me to stand on my own, a bit."

And then hurriedly, before he could respond, "I know you're busy, I would never want to impose or intrude but I admire you. You truly are like a brother to me. You have a lot you could teach me. Please?"

And she stood waiting, blushing, almost ready for him to look at her like she was a crazy little mare asking for more than she could chew.

She froze. Rife used to do that. He used to push her mane aside and nuzzle her on the face or neck. She stood wide-eyed for a second, wondering if Muiris had any idea how he just imitated her late brother's habit, like a ghost.

"I, uh..." For once in her life, she was speechless. Not now, Fox. She shook her head, shooing those thoughts away. 

"Yes, let's head back. That was enough adventure for one night."

- - -

"Kaia above, I need a lantern," she swore under her breath. 

Ice and frozen leaves crunched under her feet. It was so dark that she couldn't see the ground, could only feel it on the bottoms of her hooves. The moon was hidden behind clouds, naturally. She squinted, trying to make out trees and bushes and stones in her path. Was she even going in the right direction? Muiris had decided the location, and in daylight she'd be able to find it quicker than a fly to honey, but nighttime made her clumsy and unsure. Hopefully he had made a fire so they could see? She sniffed the air for smoke.

She had snuck out of her home after her parents were asleep. Her mother, for one, was a light sleeper, and Fox was terrified she'd wake up and demand to know why in the world her daughter was leaving the house so late. 

But it wasn't really her mother she was worried about- it was her father who she had to hide this from. 

Suddenly the trees parted like a curtain, and like magic Muiris was standing there, waiting. She grinned- this was so exciting, so against her father's rules, so thrilling. 

"Dark enough, eh?" she laughed. The quietness of the night was almost comical.

Fox let out a short laugh. "I'd be impressed as well, the old man sleeps like a bear in winter."

Good old Muiris, taking time away from sleep just to satisfy her crazy whims. She half-expected him to not show up, and she wouldn't have blamed him- what Raider has time to cater to a poor little mare's wishes? She felt very naive, and a little stupid, but her eagerness overshadowed her ineptitude.

She cleared her throat and stood tall, proudly. "First, I've been thinking, and it would be very rude of me to ask and take from your wealth of knowledge without payment. I don't have much money, but I'm a Gem Master, and if you'd like I can get you some new horseshoes with gemstones, or bracers with diamonds, or... something..." She realized, suddenly, how feminine her talent was. What did stallions use gems for? She looked at his horseshoes, glimmering in the moonlight with cat-eye gems, like eyes glaring back at her. Didn't he have a necklace, too? "Or a necklace. Whatever you want."

She coughed, feeling awkward. "You don't have to tell me right now, you can think about it. But I insist. It's the least I can do." 

You owe him so much more than goods, her conscience whispered. She flicked her tail, irritated that she had little to offer. 

"Anyway."  She moseyed over to the tree branch wrapped in pelts. She envisioned him getting here early and prepping this little makeshift foe, and the thought of him taking so much care for their first lesson made her want to pinch his cheeks.

But she wasn't about to let him know that.

"Pity we have this, I was hoping to give you a new scar or two," she teased. Yeah right. 

She lifted her chin comically high. "Ready when you are, boss."

She wanted to laugh. Suddenly Muiris changed from the warm, soft-spoken brother figure to a trained teacher. His tone and even his posture changed. No-nonsense, all tactic. The change struck Fox as humorous. Her tongue begged to make a quip about how now he's acting like a "real warrior." She drew a breath to make a joke- 

but thoughts of his poor reputation flooded her mind. Poor guy already had insecurities. No need to rub salt in a wound, even if that salt was intended as good fun. She bit her lip and refrained. 

He spoke coldly, but not cruelly. Objectively. About strength and speed and power in a strike. Made enough sense, right? 

Then he kicked the pelts with a BANG. The tree limb shook, and instinctively Fox pinned her ears at the noise. Certainly half of Onea would be awake now. 

But true to his word, like a flash his legs came back under him. For such a large stallion, he was strangely nimble. 

"My turn!" 

She puffed her chest and strutted to the pelts, still trembling from the blow they just received. Any life left in them was now snuffed out. 

She tensed, gathering her muscles under her, and kicked out-

And missed. 

She freaking missed. 

Her legs swung through the air to the side, gleefully hitting thin air. They landed with a thud, and she stumbled, not preparing for their sudden return to earth. Her face burned bright pink, showing through her thin white hair. 

"I...." she was at a loss for words. Completely embarrassed. "I don't usually do that. Let me try again." 

This time her hooves made contact with the pelts and the limb shook. Not as violently as when Muiris hit it, but enough to make a mark. She felt clumsy, and despite being much smaller than Muiris he was much quicker than her. 

"Looks like I have a lot to learn, eh?"

She was consistently surprised at how intuitive all this information was. Of course a predator would try to attack her throat- of course she should use her back end before her teeth & front hooves. It make a heck of a lot of sense.

“Got it,” she said after watching his lashing at the pelts with another ear-shattering bang. She tossed her forelock out of her face and trotted to the dummy, trying to match Mui’s stoic nature. He obviously took his job very seriously.

This time she made contact on the first try, and didn’t stumble in the aftermath. She couldn’t contain the grin that swept across her face as she looked to Mui, like a child would look to its parent for approval.

For another hour they trained, her kicks becoming better each time but never reaching the thunderous clanging of Muiris’s horseshoes on the dummy pelts. Their clangs rose up to the stars like mist or smoke, the trees and the sky their only audience.

“Kaia above I’ll be sore tomorrow,” she groaned as they packed up and started the walk back to Skeldr Town. Already her haunches were aching with every step. She had never used her feet so… athletically? Purposefully? Her muscles were accustomed to long treks and could handle endurance over miles, but this was different altogether. It made her heart pound and sweat drip on her neck, even in the late-winter cold.

“Oh, let’s discuss this payment for you. And if you try to dismiss it I’ll just make something and bring it next week anyway, so you may as well tell me what you’d like.” She smiled, flicking her tail this way and that. She listened with one ear cocked to his words.

- - -

And the following week she strode into the now-familiar campsite with the subsequent necklace dangling around her neck. The pendant glittered green and copper in the moonlight, the hearts of the gems dark in the shadows of the forest. It was a simple design, but she was extremely proud of it. She had to do some hard bartering for the copper plate as metals weren’t too common in these parts, but a sly smile and a wink later, the merchant had finally settled on a price.

It shone green and rich brown like Kaia’s gorgeous Onea, a perfect example of the kinship borne between the two, rooted in the earth itself. And since its final owner would be a mare called Ezmeralda- a mare who lived far away, but made Muiris’s eyes sparkle and his mouth soft when he spoke of her- she guessed there would be another affection blossoming in its midst.

She met Muiris’s eyes, smiling widely. “Here you go, I hope it’s pleasing enough to you.” She lowered her head and slipped it off. “It’s called Solemáre,” she said slowly, and held it in front of them, in between their noses. She watched his eyes and tried to catch a glimpse of his reaction- of like, or dislike, or disgust, or appreciation. She held her breath.

She grinned widely, dancing in place. "Hooray! I'm glad you like it. I hope your mare-friend does too." She winked and bumped him on the shoulder. "You'll have to let me meet her sometime." 

She trotted quietly to the center of the clearing, turning to face him. "I've been practicing," she said, feeling like a youngling with a proud accomplishment to show off. "Admittedly when no one's around, y'know, with perceptions and all. Watch." 

She picked a small pinecone off the ground and using a ribbon she had kept tucked in her hair for this moment, she tied it to a low-hanging branch as a target. She stepped a few feet away, then in a flash twisted and smashed her hind foot into the dangling pinecone. It exploded into fragments. 

And just as swiftly, she tucked her legs back under her, standing proud, finally- finally!- gaining the accuracy Muiris had. And she was no longer as winded as that first session. It had only been a week, but she could feel her hindquarters starting to build hard muscle under her generous backside.

"I mean, the pinecone could be the size of a skull? An eye? A hoof? Just think if that were an enemy or a Cultist or intruders." Thinking quickly, she added, "Granted, a pinecone is a light thing, hardly the weight of flesh and bone but imagine, just imagine what I could do eventually!" 

It was exhilarating. Not the promise of spilling blood, but the potential, the equipment she could hold in her own body. 

"I feel like a Valkyrie," she said, still grinning. "I wanted to be one so badly when I was younger, but blessed Hira didn't deem me fit enough for the role. And rightly so." 

In truth, Fox knew deep down she didn't harbor the endurance to be a full-fledged warrior. Hira had seen that when Fox appealed to her as a wet-behind-the-ears 20-year old and graciously declined her appeal to be a Valkyrie. 

But that was okay with Fox. At first she was hurt, her ego bruised and bleeding, but after some time she decided the day-in-day-out rough-and-tumble ways of the fighting mares wasn't her style. 

This training, though- this training was wedged somewhere between hobby and job. More than a way to pass the time, but less than an intense responsibility. 

It was pure joy.

Fox's grin never faded. She stood straight and puffed her chest out like a peacock. She suspected Muiris was being generous with his compliments- after all, it was a pinecone, not a Bloody Flank or anything- but she'd take it. There was a pause in the air as Muiris's words lingered.

"You know, I never saw myself being a Scout..." she started, drawing her words out slowly. "My parents don't even approve of that, really. Always wanted me to find a mate and give them grandchildren, and live the life of a quiet Onean mare." 

She huffed, stomping her hoof. "But I can't stand that. To be a glorified broodmare? No thank you."

The day she received her ranking as a Scout, she was incredulous of her durability to handle the wilds. She'd hardly had even a cracked hoof since she was a youngling, always kept herself away from the brunt of Onean toughness. 

But now she'd seen landscapes she could have never dreamed of, she'd traveled from the dense western lowlands to the farmhills sweeping across the east. Up to Mount Skeldr, down to the Narrows. It kept her mind and feet busy.

Muiris teased her and nuzzled her forehead. She beamed and closed her eyes. No, she had many more things to do while she was young and fit. 

"Thank you, brother. For all this." She met his eyes and giggled. "Maybe next I'll fight a Bloody Flank or Ursa Major. Who knows." She winked and bumped him on the shoulder. 

"But I have one more advantage than you, and that's speed." She leapt a few paces away. "Come catch me!" And she took off into the woods, tail flying behind her like a banner.

//