Megaera

Tallsun had come to the Throat with an unexpected fury. All across the desert, the mighty sun beat down and by midday the heat was almost unbearable anywhere outside the shade of the oasis. Perhaps wiser creatures might have been content to remain home and hunker down to beat the heat but, Megaera still had some wising up to do. Just a sweep of the northern border was all she intended when she had risen in the early morning. Just a quick check and she’d return to the shade, she told herself, but the sun had reached its peak and Meg still flew lazily along the coast. Where the canyon once had been was now mostly a stretch of sandy shore, but there were placed the old red rocks rose high above the water, a jarring cliff between land and sea. It was at one of these craggy cliffs that Megaera found a life-changing pile of mud and twigs jammed onto a jutting rock, and on that wide nest (for a nest it had once been) was a scene of carnage.

Meg had been listlessly floating on thermals, enjoying the cooling breeze of the ocean when the nest had caught her attention. It was an awful sight, about forty meters in front of her. The structure of sticks was half torn away, hanging over the crashing waves below and there were feathers everywhere, some white, but others of black and a rich brown that matched her own wings almost exactly. Not carcass had been left, but there were smears on the rock of a darker red than earth. In the center, a pile of speckled white eggshells lay, crushed, their contents long sucked away by some nasty predator. It wasn’t a pleasant sight overall, and it had been a while, from the looks of things, since there was anything Meg could have done. Shaking her head in pity for the departed family there, the mare decided it was past time that she be headed back to the oasis. A shift of feathers and she altered course to head inland, passing directly over where the nest had sat.

If she hadn’t looked down again at the exact right moment, the warrior would have missed the smooth pale curve of the unbroken egg. It was a second before Meg realized exactly what she had seen and she finally came down into a skidding landing (though she was getting better at those) Already 50 feet from the edge of the cliff, she immediately about-faced and marched back. Using a good deal more caution than she normally did and not enough as she probably should have, Megaera stood at the precipice and craned her neck over the brink to look down again. It must have been nudged, rolled away and then forgotten about in the activity that had crushed its two fellows. The egg was not even as big as her hoof, and it lay tucked in a shady corner of the cliff face half-covered in feathers. Surely whatever life insie of it was gone by now, the mare thought with a twinge of sadness. It the trauma of the attack hadn’t dome it than surely this heat, it had been exposed to long. With a sigh, Meg made to turn away, already shuffling her wings in preparation to return to the sky.

She stopped.

Even in the years to come she would never be able to describe what had made her hesitate. The strange feeling that her conscious mind could hardly sense, that… tug upon her heart that mad her turn back. The darkly crowned head lifted and black eyes caught a swife glimpse of the wonferful and terrible sun that ruled this land as she considered. Reason told her to go on, to find some shade and some water…Meg rarely cared much for reason at this point in her life. With almost an exasperated sigh, she turned and peered over the edge again. The little white thing was only about three feet down, could she reach it? Well, no reason not to try now, she told herself. Slowly, carefully, the rough and tough fighter settled herself delicately on her knees above the cliff-face. Flakes of sand and small stones crumbled away as she leaned her neck down and over. Behind her, her massive wings stretched back for a counterweight.

This was a really stupid idea.

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Notes: Egg Finding!!
Tags: @[Hertz] because semper said she wanted to crash <3

faithful like a soldier

Megaera

Just a little farther… Meg thought as she leaned out over the rocky edge. It was a test in balance now, stretching her neck down to where she would be able to lift the egg from it’s hiding spot. For every inch her head moved beneath her, the solid placement of her body on the cliff side felt a little less secure. Pebbles crumbled away where she pressed against the ledge, falling to sprinkle the ruined nest of falling past it into the churning sea below. This was also a test of patience, and that was even more difficult for the impulsive warrior, but she could do it if she just moved very very slowly…

‘Don't worry! I'll save you!!’ She heard the shout, bold and excited, but in the precarious position she was in, the mare only had time to begin to pull her head back up and realign her center of gravity before she felt the weight of a spindly little body land upon her back. The impact punched the air out of her in a grunting “Oughf!” Before she could fully register what was on her back her wings were flaring out for balance if whatever this projectile was tried to push her over the edge, though they turned out to also make a makeshift net to protect the child from rolling over himself.

When she was sure she wasn’t going anywhere just then, Meg whipped her head around to see what was going on, ready to yell at some idiot. The sight that met her angry eyes though, was just the thing to soften them. The sight of the orange-banded colt perched proudly on her own back, unexpected as it was, and now as she was able to absorb the meaning his little shout was downright hysterical. A throaty laugh came out as her face broke into the indulgent grin that all the little Throatlings pulled out of her so easily. “My hero!” she exclaimed in exaggerated praise.

As he was still just a babe, his weight on her back was not all that uncomfortable after the initial impact, so she didn’t seek to push him off right away. She did glance to either side, ready to move if he looked like going over himself. Those little wings didn’t look big enough for flight just yet, and she’d be a poor soldier to let the children of her herd come to harm. “I am Meg, a Throat warrior, though you seem to have the makings of a fine warrior yourself! May I know the name of my gallant rescuer?”

- - -

Notes: sorry for being a slow turtle
Tags: @[Hertz]

faithful like a soldier

Megaera

"Didn't your ma tell you to not hang off cliffs?!" The answer to that was definitely ‘no’. In fact, Megaera’s mother hadn’t told her much of anything so far as she could remember. If she strained her memory, Meg could recall vague flashes of the skinny, flighty creature who had birthed her, but she could recall no words of wisdom. She’d been a glossy flash in the tundra summer and gone before Megaera’s first snow, and that was all.

I was a lucky thing that the rambunctious colt carried on with his cheerful introduction, it forestalled the surge of old angers from the mare and kept her focus on the present rather than her own history best forgotten. The little one perched on her back, as newly met as he was, meant so much more to the warrior than the her absentee mother; he was the here and now, part of the family she had chosen. One that had chosen her right back instead of tolerating her as an unwanted burden. “Actually…” she said slowly, thinking fast in response to his request. She glanced back over the edge (in spite of this distraction, she still had to get that egg) and back at him with a miscevious grin. She’d been so close when he’d ambushed her, but now he might be just the thing she needed.

It was perhaps a bit risky, but the warrior was confident in her abilities and, judged the weight on her back carefully. If he cooperated, it might be just the counterweight to secure her balance as she reached over and grabbed the egg out of the nest. “If you could stay a minute you could help me on a rescue mission.” She narrowed a serious eye at the colt, he clearly liked to play the hero. “If you can stay very, very still right where you are, you could keep me from going over while I pull up out treasure, eh?” She waited for the affirmative then turned her head back down towards the cliff.

She reached quickly, not thinking the excited boy would stay still too long, but still trying to move gently. Her head snaked over the edge and down, reaching to clasp the spotted egg in her teeth. With the boys small weight added to her other side, the motion was not nearly as treacherous as her first attempt had been and she was pulling her little prize up in a matter of seconds. “Ta-da!” she said, looking brightly up at the colt after setting the egg in the red sands at her side “One babe, safe and sound!” She considered how best the get the other down from her back and figured she would be glad to take the pinch. “Now Hertz, tuck your wings in tight to your sides in case you go rolling and go ahead and step down. Mind your footing and I’ll mind the rest.” No doubted she’d have a bruise or two along her spine or rump from his little hooves, but as long as the child didn’t break anything of his, they’d be alright.


Notes: destined to be a slow thread lol
Tags: @[Hertz]

faithful like a soldier