S.tanding Alon.e

[.Isis.]

The autumn sun beamed down through the cracks in the canopy of trees and splashed across the forest floor. Soft green moss lined the grounds and some fallen branches littered the surrounding area. A sunny patch of lake stood nearby, rippling 'neath the afternoon breeze as it called to the Great Land, lulling it into the excitement of Anlach. The dew drops on most of the foliage had already evaporated but in the shadier part of the area, they glistened like diamonds in the determined light. And in the shadows of the surrounding trees, a herla was walking.

Her steps were almost soundless as she walked nimbling through the forest area, neatly ducking under lowhanging branches as she neared the clearing here the small lake sank into the earth. Her rich brown eyes glittered in the dim light, finally relaxed and unguarded now that she was alone. Anlach had brought a flock of young and determined stags near her and she rejected them all. But all too determined they were and her only escape was into the trees. She sighed quietly, blinking gratefully at the quiet songs of the woodland birds and the occasional chatterings of some marten.

The hind appeared at the edge of the lake and in the disappearance of the canopy overhead, the sun suddenly shoned on her flame colored pelt, and she stood magnificent and radiant, alone and silhoutted against the edge of the water. Magnificent but alone. The hind frowned at her reflection as she dropped her head to lap at the cool water, stopping suddenly and taking a step forwards into the pool. The water was chilly in the early fall air and it tingled against her slender legs. The cinnamon hued doe gazed into the depths of the lake again, this time watching the ripples distort her appearance and again the familiar ache of longing filled her heart.

Once again, Isis stood alone. It wasn't that no stag wanted her but it was the fact that they all did. She was a desirable doe but she saw them all foolish, letting violence dominate their senses again, wanting to spread their bloodline. There was no love involved, she sighed as she shook her head, taking another step into the lake and feeling the cool mud snake around her hooves. It was all business as usual and there was no feeling in Anlach. She wanted a fawn and she wanted a mate but she did not want to be forgotten as soon as she gives birth and as soon as the seasons pass. Isis was different from the other hinds, she was since birth and that had not changed. She saw more and in turn, she desired more. Isis wanted love.

But as she pondered over these thoughts, she stood gazing into the pool that had gathered around her form like a blanket of crystal again, she did not hear the cawing of the raven, circling overhead. It was a rare sight, the raven was, and if it came, it was always in summer, never spring, nor autumn. But the doe did not notice this and it was the sound of a breaking twig that snapped her out of her daydream. Scenting the air nervously, the hind turned to gaze behind her shoulders. The water around her and the musky odor of the woodlands around blotted out the scent and the wind was not in her favor today. She simple braced herself and glared into the foliage, waiting for whatever it was to make itself clear.

[{Yiska}]

The almost barren branches of the forest surrounding the lake reached up into the sky, almost like antlers coated with majestically colored jewels. Some of these leaves had drifted to the forest floor, and they crunched carelessly under the hooves of a great deer. His sienna fur flickered in the sun's light, then darkened in the shadows of the trees. Two large antlers curved up from his head, every once in a while making a rustling as they brushed against red leaves.

Dark brown eyes blinked slowly, and the black muzzle brushed some ferns briefly, nostrils flaring as he took in the scent of a hind. Skett the stag had not won himself any does this Anlach, and for reasons unknown to him. 'Twas true, with autumn brought fawns, but there was no love. Skett himself only made good friends with the does he had claimed, every once in a while prizing one over the rest.

The Outrider began to slow as the trees grew more far apart, and suddenly pure grass was felt under his feet. He lowered his massive head to take a nibble, then lifted it again suddenly. Beyond the bush he lingered next to, he saw the black shape of the raven slowly drifting over the pool, and then circlilng back again. He rolled his eyes, for he had heard many tales from gossiping hinds and amazed calves about the black bird, most of them not good. It's a load of rubbish, the cynical buck thought to himself darkly, stepping forward again.

The snap of a twig sounded, and he started suddenly before realizing that his loud treading had caused it. Ever since the beginning of the rut not very many weeks before he had felt the stirring within his veins, and he had tossed his antlers at a few other, younger stags, as if it were a threat. He didn't care much if a fox or some other potential threat came, and he knew that he would be ready to fight if it happened, if his flight instincts hadn't won out already.

Skett spied a pretty doe by the water, staring into the brush almost angrily. He realized that he had startled her, as well, and he knew it best to apologize. Skett didn't talk much, only when he felt it absolutely necessary, and rarely listened or replied. After dear Captain Ronnak had taught him that lesson a long time ago, he had truly begun to listen. It just didn't appear that way, and that was the reason that he hadn't been promoted to Captain, either.

The lone Outrider began to move slowly toward the hind, before he recognized her cinnamon eyes and her fiery coat. It was the Lead Hind, a beautiful female by the calling of Isis. He hadn't talked much to her, as was the way with most stags, and he hadn't been one of those that had chased after her. He left Isis alone, but he knew who she was.

"Good day," he said simply, dipping his antlers in greeting. He ventured to stand on the bank with her, gulping down the cool liquid. He smiled quickly to himself, then frowned and backed away, staring into space. His ears were swiveled lightly toward the doe, in case she had anything to say. Right now he was staring at a pair of bucks ramming antlers. His head nodded very slowly, angled as if he were trying to lock horns with his own opponent. He was knocked out of his daydream a moment later and he swung around to face Isis.

[.Isis.]

As the familiar frame of a stag came into view, the hind relaxed but only a little. She was no particular fan of all stags but this was one she'd seen around the herd and even Isis could not find too much wrong with him. They had never properly spoken before except for the occasional "excuse me" but Isis knew his name to be Skett. She'd known Captain Rannok as a fawn and he was own that usually hung around with her own mentor and father. A little shameful, the pretty young doe remembered a time when she use to spy on the Outriders, watching in awe as they trained and locked antlers during Anlach.

The chocolate-eyed doe nodded slowly as the shadows were thrown off the brown stag. She watched him for a bit, caution in her eyes as he drank from the pool and gazed into no where in particular, apparently lost in a daydream. The hind felt an odd urge to laugh as she turned away to drink. The young Outrider had snapped back to reality and was facing her now. She raised her head, licked away a few stray droplets of crystaline water and nodded at him, calmly.

"Hello, Skett was it?" She said politely, her tone simple and unveiling. She smiled oddly at him, fighting the urge to laugh at his odd behavior. Stags...how foolish. Even the Outriders act like fawns. She inwardly shook her head and dipped her head to drink again, this time lingering in the crisp fluid, enjoying the liquid laping across her maw. She watched the herla out of the corner of her eye, discreetly wondering what he was doing. The stag did not seem to be making the same advances like the other ones, so she was fine with him being there. As long as he did not act arrogant and possessive as if he owned her, she would let him stay.

Isis sighed as she straightened her gracefully elongated neck, turning her sparkling eyes on the buck again, this time a little questioning. "You are not guarding your hinds...that is most unusual in a stag at Anlach," She said. It was not a question of why but the implication was there and now she waited, watching him casually. Isis blinked slowly, listening to the twittering songs of the birds around them, the raven had left.

[{Yiska}]

The male watched her lick water away from her soft lips, and his ears pulled back only slightly. She was a pretty one, but he had made himself a promise earlier that fall, a promise that he wouldn't treat hinds as simple objects inferior to the stags anymore ... not that he ever really did. His own does that he had won in past seasons were just friends to him now, as they had been before.

As she spoke to him and questioned if her name was Skett, he caught the cool note in her voice and frowned a bit. He nodded to confirm it, and then he turned his head away to nip at a tuft of fur on his shoulder. The black streak on the side of his neck flashed only briefly, and when he turned back to her he continued to look expressionless, his eyes distant but his ears alert.

"You are not guarding your hinds ... that is most unusual in a stag at Anlach." At the sound of her voice his large ears turned toward her, and he dropped his gaze from the sky to look into her sparkling eyes. He frowned again--it was constantly there for Skett--and replied cautiously. "I don't have any hinds at this time," he informed her. He hadn't taken place in any fights thus far, except for a small one with another buck, resulting in one of his brow tines to be slightly chipped.

His tongue felt odd, as if he was wanting to say more, but he looked away and stared into the water, at his reflection. Smiling a bit proudly, he angled his narrow face and admired his antlers--even though they weren't the most impressive in the herd by far--and then turned, sporting the scar on his right front haunch. He stared up at Isis a bit sheepishly and shook his head at himself. Skett was an odd one, for when he wasn't nodding blankly at a conversation or giving a rare answer, he was staring off into space. He had never believed in the legends or in Herne himself, at least not as much as the others, but it almost looked like he was trying to find an escape ... an escape into another world.

[.Isis.]

The hind nodded slightly and placed a hoove back into the water, swirling it around and watching her image distort. She sighed softly and threw back her head, gazing at the heavans, almost wistfully. It was most unusual of a proud femme like Isis to admit it, but she was lonely. Not lonely as in terms of needing a mate, but she missed the joys of being a fawn. So easily did she laugh and play back then, and now her world was filled with adulthood worries. Anlach was here but in short time, the fall would be over and winter would place its grasp among the Herla again.

The doe cocked her head and stared at her reflection come back into place, the last ripples smoothing over. The hind felt an odd emptiness inside her, an almost longing to see a calf by her side. She missed her own mother now, wishing that the old hind had not passed on yet. It was true that she was closer to her father but Isis knew that the bond with Espeone was unbreakable. Soon, the hind found herself lost in thought as well, clsoing her eyes as the light in the water was making her dizzy. Oh Espeone, how I miss you... she muttered inwardly.

She only came back as the stag shook his antlers and she opened her eyes to catch him gazing sheepishly at her. Involuntarily, she flushed, coughing a little. The lead hind was not one to be shy but Skett made her feel wierd. she didn't really like the feeling, it was unnerving. But Isis didn't really know as she'd never had that feeling around any other herla before, stag or doe. It was as if the stag standing beside her was more spirit than flesh, but the hind scolded herself gently for thinking such nonsense. Finally, it was she who broke the silence. "I've never asked anyone, but do you really enjoy anlach? What I mean to say is, the fighting...fighting for a hind that might not really feel anything for the stag who chooses her," she paused, a bit embarrassed at her free speaking. It was no wonder the others thought her a little curious. She thought too much, one elderly hind had told her.

[{Yiska}]

Isis was staring back into the pool, and he followed her gaze, watching the ripples knock against his own reflection and his antlers shook in the water. The red deer took in a deep breath, as if yawnining. One could at least tell it wasn't a sigh. The russet-pelted stag thought he saw a blush creep over the female's narrow face, but he dismissed it the next instant.

Her sudden query startled him, and to be respectful he dropped his head and pawed at the ground with one hoof. A small frown crossed his muzzle and he breathed, "Well ... ahem ... being a stag, our urges to pass on our bloodline may be strong. My past does I have at least made friends with ... though I do wonder if we should continue to fight at Anlach. I mean, the Lord of the Herd's position will always be open, but ..." Confused and caught off guard, he lifted his great head again and stared into the trees.

"If we felt love for all of our hinds, it would cause guilt and jealousy. But it would be a ... a wonderful thing." Skett thought a bit humbly of himself, even if he appeared so disrespectful at times. Speaking to the Lead Hind ended up with him feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his back. If he had spoken to one of the other bucks about such a subject, they would surely laugh at him.