World Tree MUSH

  Where the rest of Hyrule has had ample time to enjoy the spring equinox, snow has lay on the mountain until only recently. The light of the sun in recent weeeks has brought with it enough warmth to melt the snow, driving back the mountain's cold shadows and bringing some relief to the meadows and highlands. Even the summits and the crags, like the low pass where the ruins have been rebuilt, are notably warmer.

  Down from the ruins are the remnants of an apple orchard, largely gone fallow, though most of its trees are well-established and healthy enough to survive a lifetime of neglect. It's a pleasant place to pass an afternoon, down and low from the mountain's craggy walls to enjoy some sunlihgt and just clear enough of debris to walk around in.

  It's here that the princess is, today, and has been found in days past as long as it's been warm enough. Except today, her travelling companion is not a wolf, although a wolf might be a little less savage -- instead, she leads her black stallion by the lead on its halter, slowly and patiently, as the horse stops to inspect curiously-shaped branches or other unfamiliar stimuli. She doesn't scold him for shying away from anything that looks suspicious; she only waits, letting him inspect at his own pace and soothing him when it seems he needs it.

  Zelda hadn't really summoned anyone to her side, today, but it's a nice day to be outside, and she's made no secret of spending her time outside in the orchard. There's not much else for her to do, at the moment. There are still contractors working on a few structural details.

  She's not wearing her heavy black cloak, finally, but she also isn't wearing her riding clothes, either -- she's wearing her ceremonial dress, so she either just came from prayer, or she intends to go back to prayer; it's hard to really say which. If she was at prayer, she wasn't standing in the water, as both the dress and her skin is dry. Her hair's been left loose and long, carefully combed, but otherwise unadorned and unbraided.

  After she's reached the middle of the orchard, she ties the horse's lead rope to a broken stump, reaching up to rub at the stallion's surprisingly dainty ears; smiling when the beast doesn't recoil or lay them back -- instead he leans into the touch, nosing at her as though expecting to find some kind of treat.

  ...She doesn't have any mystical power over animals. She just knows what they like, and sparing the occasional apple... well. The equine enjoyment of apples must be a universal constant.

    Feeding horses apples isn't something Terra had ever really done before Snowpeak. So in a way it's amusing! In another, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure as it might be seen as wasteful and unnecessary. Though it's a wonder the half-Esper hasn't shrunk, as little as she takes for herself with regard to food.

    So she's out and about the grounds as well, skulking as much as she might, looking incredibly guilty with a small bundle tucked against her front. She didn't find the horse put up where he normally is, so she's gotten the silly notion that she must steal about hunting for the beast.

    Of course, as she turns to cross the orchard she finds her quarry! The horse is out- And with Zelda! An instant of panic ripples through her nerves and she almost turns away, hoping to escape notice. Seeing the horse out in the open, though... Far too tempting and so, she draws near. That she's aware of she doesn't have any special affinity with animals; she's probably just a pretty reliable source of treats!

    "After all that snow, it feels so weird seeing all the greenery up here."

    Oh hey look, there's Yumi. She's still bundled up a little bit; warmer though it may be, they're still a ways up the mountain, where 'warmer' still gets pretty chilly. She's also dressed as if she was in school until her trip here, which isn't terribly surprising. "Can't say I've got any complaints, though." It's nice to be able to see the repaired Snowpeak in much less frosty conditions. It might even be worth setting up in a bedroom at this point.

    But with Terra and Zelda both near the horse, Yumi is wisely keeping her distance. No sense spooking the poor thing. Besides, that might get the two of them hurt.

  Unfortunately for Zelda, being nosed at by a horse that's quite nearly taller than she is at the shoulders is enough to stagger her, and she steadies herself with a palm against the big horse's withers; he noses at her again, ignoring both her lack of bracing and her equal lack of pockets with which to hide any goodies.

  "Easy." The princess laughs, but softly. "I haven't got anything more for you right now, but maybe later. It's nice to feel the sun, isn't it? I bet /your/ last spring was spent cooped up in a drafty stable. Poor thing."

  A twig snaps nearby. The princess is on alert immediately, turning and staring in the direction of the disturbance. At the same time, the horse's head snaps up, ears pricking forward with a low whicker. It might be a curious sound in a normal horse. In something this big, it almost sounds like a growl.

  "Easy," she soothes again, softly, but her tone is wary and her eyes don't leave the shadows of the trees.

  A snatch of green, too dark to be tender spring leaves and too high from the ground to be Rydia, lends her some relief. It must be Terra.

  Zelda steps sideways a little to see around the trunk in the distance. "You know," she calls, lifting her voice, "you needn't skulk like that. Come out into the light. Days like these were not meant for hiding from the sun. Do not fear; he will not hurt you. I have been working with him all winter."

  "Tachibana Yumi." She reserves a half-smile for the orange-haired girl. "Spring has improved the mountain a little. I miss Hyrule Field, but seeing the winter in retreat isn't so bad. Ah, you needn't stay away, either. Move slowly and you will be fine. If you aren't... well. I am a healer," she adds, serenely.

  Is she being serious or is she just messing with them? It could go either way...

    Still dressed in her bright outfit of reds, white and colorful jewelry - how does she keep it so clean!? - Terra steps out and offers a sheepish look. Revealed fully, she's carrying her cloak in her arms and there's several apple-sized lumps bundled within. "Sorry! I was just..." Sneaking out to spoil your horse.

    Noticing Yumi a beat later, she turns and leans to peek through the trees. "I-" Time to admit. "I'm not afraid!" Not of the horse, at least! Zelda does have more than enough presence to her that she certainly fears making her benefactor angry even if the woman has nothing but her respect. "I was..." Oh dear, should she admit her deeds of late?

    And Yumi being here makes her feel better. At least she's not being that weird, she hopes, in trying to quietly seek about the manor for companionship of some form or another!

    Yumi knows Zelda well enough by now to know that there /is/ some humor underneath that royal facade, and her response is to smile lightly and reply, "Well, then there's nothing to worry about. Let me get my bag of fireworks out..." She has no such thing, of course. And there's Terra as well, who gets a cheerful wave. "Hallo, Terra~. It's nice to be able to get out of the manor and enjoy the scenery around here, I bet. I don't think I've been up here once in the past few months, where I didn't just go straight in and then straight back out."

  "If you intend to skulk about like a common thief, I would at least advise against wearing bright colours," Zelda points out, not without some amusement. "I am not blind, Terra Branford; I could see you through the trees. Well enough to put an arrow in you if I had thought you were a threat, had I my bow with me. And I do not miss my marks."

  Although the horse doesn't lay its ears back, it does swivel one of them back in an expression of indecision, as though it were trying to determine whether the approaching girls were a threat or not. The horse is quite accustomed to their presence, though; their scent is present on a daily basis, as is the sound of their voices. They're known quantities.

  And his mistress isn't raising a fuss, so they must be alright. Placidly, one dainty ear flicks at Terra and Yumi, but the stallion doesn't make any aggressive moves.

  Yet.

  "'You were...?'" Zelda lifts a brow at Terra's stalled explanation, but she doesn't press further than that. If she wants to explain, she will; if not, the princess is a very patient woman.

  Yumi earns a glance. "I couldn't be happier to see the end of winter on this goddesses-forsaken mountain," she sighs, by way of agreement. "The summer is more mild, here, of course, but there /is/ a summer. Venture higher up in Snowpeak's range, and you'll be lucky if the snow melts for Summertide."

  "Ah, here." Zelda gestures with one delicate hand. Dressed this way, delicate and almost insubstantial-looking, it's hard to imagine her as a tough and determined survivor. She looks more like a priestess; in the bright afternoon sun, perhaps, like an artist's imagining of Hylia, maybe. "Offer him your hand. Flat, not a fist; he can take your scent and it will set him at ease. Slowly, mind. I've been working with him all winter, but he's still somewhat skittish. You two aren't new to him, though, so he should be more trusting around you."

  "And /you've/ been feeding him apples," she adds, so matter-of-factly and nonchalantly that Terra might miss the observation, "so he's bound to think a little more kindly of you. I must commend your courage. He's a large and imposing beast, and savage when it suits him. Even knowing that I /am/ a healer... he has been scarred too deeply to be kindly to those he does not know."

    "Yumi, hello!" Terra doesn't offer a tremendous level of volume; she's cautious for the sake of the horse and there's just not a whole lot of need to be loud, right? Yumi's not far off.

    Zelda's admonishment is taken with a little grace and Terra manages a smile. Even if it's just a touch nervous. Zelda, intimidating? When she wants to be? Hells yes.

    "I..." As she approaches she holds out her cloak. The bundle shifts in her grip a little and it's a struggle not to snatch at it to keep it stable. "I only wanted to feed him a little." She's holding more than a little bit! 

    "I'm just glad that the sun is out. It's so nice. I don't..." She shakes her head, banishing the temptation to dwell on her condition.

    Whatever the case, she approaches and edges closer, trying not to outpace Yumi by too much before offering her hand while she hugs the bundle of apples against her chest. It's not likely to hold up if she moves too much. "Ah, yes. I wasn't sure if it would be okay but he seemed to really like them."

    Terra's been sneaking him apples. Because of course she has. The biggest issue Yumi has with this is that she wishes she'd thought of it first. She's been determined to get on the horse's good side too, but outright fruit bribery is a technique she hadn't really considered. But at least, she can do as Zelda instructed - hold out her hand, palm open, nice and slow. And if nothing else, her patience for the beast is endless. "It's probably fine, right? I mean, he might need a little exercise from all the sweets, but feeding an animal's a good way to show good intention."

  "I suppose bribery is as good a technique as any," Zelda sighs. This monarch calls it like it is. She reaches up to rub between the horse's ears fondly. "Yes, you're rather smart, aren't you, my friend? Do nothing, and these folk will move mountains for you, hmmmm? All the apples you could stomach."

  She lowers her hand, standing slightly to one side as both girls offer their hand for the horse. The great big head lowers; each is rewarded by a blast of hot breath as their scent is taken in. Each one of them is also nosed at.

  Maybe the stallion can smell the residual apple on Terra's hand, or maybe he's smelling apples in the apron she carries. Whatever the case, Terra gets a little extra attention. She's liable to lose that whole load of apples if she doesn't surrender one; his poking and prodding is going to get more demanding, once he realise there are actually apples pinned in there...

  "Mm. I'd missed the sun. It's better in Hyrule Field, closer to home. There's a place I liked to ride on warm days. Salari Downs. It's a plain just southeast of Hyrule Castle, long and low, and it has a pond, too. I think you'd like it." Her lips thin. "No doubt it's seething in the Twilight by now."

  The big horse tosses his head. Zelda tenses for a moment, almost imperceptibly, as though she were ready to throw herself out of the way if things got dicey. Apparently the horse is only tossing his forelock out of his eyes, though, swinging his big head around to nose at Yumi curiously.

  "Exercise? Aye. I've been making sure to do that, too, to the best of my abilities in this goddesses-forsaken place. I plan on putting him through his paces, when he's ready for a saddle. But not just yet. Bareback, first, I think. He's had some unhappy experiences with saddles, to go by the condition he was in when he came to me. I'd not remind him of that too soon, or it will undo all I've done over the winter."

    A horse that big, not hemmed in by anything might be intimidating but for the most part Terra seems relatively alright with the arrangement. It just seems right for the big animal to have a big space to roam and be big! She tilts her head, though, at the way her ploy is being called. "Bribery? Oh- Ah!"

    Distracted by the horse nuzzling in for apples, she abandons the thought and instead fidgets awkwardly with the bundle. No sudden movements! It's tough to manage big horse, shifting apples and all while keeping her movements slow and deliberate. Demonstrating some dexterity when she doesn't drop anything or fall over, she eventually produces an apple to momentarily quash demand for yummy treats.

    "Ah, there! Sorry, ah... I'd love to see that place, sometime- Oh." Right, that's why we're here, not somewhere slightly more inviting for basically everyone here! Perhaps she can help fix things! It's the least she can do. Until then, she'll offer Yumi and Zelda both the option to help lighten her burden and perhaps curry favor with the horse. "Oh! Have you named him yet? I've been wondering since the other day." But she wasn't sure if she should ask. This seems like a much better time, at least!

    Yumi is, of course, very still, letting the horse take her scent at his liberty. She doesn't have anything on her that smells particularly tasty, alas; that will have to be remedied next time, for certain. For now, the schoolgirl is glad to just stand back and watch the horse assert his desire for treats from Terra for a moment. "Just be careful when you decide to ride him, even bareback. Make sure you've got people on hand, just in case." As much as he might seem to like Zelda by this point, he's still a wild beast, and a powerful one at that.

    He's also a beast that is quite willing to take bribes, and if Terra's offering... yoink. Now the horse gets one from Yumi, too.

  Terra's apple is snatched without further ado, and without much regard for Terra's hand, if it happens to be in the way. She'd better yank her hand back quickly! At least it seems like the horse is enjoying it, to go by the crunching. Even the crunching is kind of ominous. Like, one could imagine bones snapping just as easily as the juicy rind of an apple...

  Nah. Surely not. He's better trained than that, right?

  "We will, but I can't make any promises as to what it might look like." Zelda's expression is distant as she strokes the horse's shoulder, while the horse completely ignores everything else but the apple he's making short work of. Once he finishes, that big boxy head swings back towards Terra, but the stallion doesn't yet advance. He's looking, though. Pleading with those great big dark eyes and ears forward. "Heh. Don't be greedy," Zelda chides, gently.

  Has she named him yet? The princess returns to reality with that question, frowning a little. "No. Not yet. I haven't yet thought of anything appropriate... but if you have a suggestion, I'll at least listen to it."

  "I know." This is given in response to Yumi's caution, at about the same time that the horse snarfs the apple offered to him by the Perfectly Normal Girl. "I've worked with horses all my life. He is not wild, but may as well be. He has suffered in his time." The last is given with undisguised sorrow in her tone. "I cannot imagine what would motivate someone to mistreat such a creature."

    Rather fond of her fingers being undamaged, Terra wisely keeps her hand clear of the horse's teeth. The apple is gone and she's happy enough to do something nice for the creature. Hearing that it had a difficult time before being taken in by Zelda makes her realize it has much in common with everyone here, really. She offers a tentative stroke along his long nose before it's Yumi's turn to dispense apple goodness!

    While she'll have another apple ready soon, the half-Esper considers Zelda's words. She'll just have to help by doing what she can! "Why would anyone mistreat him?" Genuinely, innocently confused by that, she holds up another apple. "I'm glad he's well and more glad that he's here and safe, then. I really don't..." A thought crosses her mind, a hint of something fond that tickles her greyed-out memory. Whatever it is, it makes her smile though she's not certain what it is. Like trying to see a faint light in the dark, looking at it only makes it fade from view. "I'm not sure moogle names would suit him." Squeak. She may not have meant to say that!

    The pleading look is, alas, about to be rewarded. Yumi should probably not spoil the beast, but she can't help herself, especially when she's trying to get on his good side. He needs more kindness in his life! So she takes a step forward and holds the apple out, letting the horse come to her on his own terms. "What do moogle names sound like?" she asks Terra curiously, turning to glance at the esper. But only for a second, because taking eyes off the big skittish horse for long is a bad idea.

    "Hmm..." The subject of a name is a tricky one. "...maybe give him a name to live up to, rather than a name that suits him now." She's considering a suggestion or two herself, but starting with advice is best.

  "Why would anyone mistreat another?" Zelda shakes her head, reaching out to indicate the distant, tiny form of Hyrule Castle, beneath a seething black shroud of the Twilight. Smoke rises from the courtyard, though there's no apparent source from this far away, and a pall of it hangs over Hyrule Field. "There is no logic in it at all."

  The princess lets her arm fall, contenting herself with watching the others. There's something patient and frighteningly old and wise in the depths of those blue eyes. Unless she's doing something to actively call on that power, it's hard to remember that she is the physical reincarnation of a goddess -- until one gets a good look at those eyes. No one of her years should have so much experience, and exhaustion, in their gaze.

  When Terra cuts herself off with a squeak, Zelda only observes, waiting; knowing, perhaps, that questioning the half-Esper might cause Terra to clam up.

  Yumi looks away from the horse and that's her mistake. By the time Yumi looks back there is a giant horse muzzle nosing at her for more treats.

  Zelda sighs. "Oh, for the love of Hylia. You two are going to spoil him..." But there's no animosity in her tone. In fact, her half-smile is audible in her voice. "If you haven't done that already."

  "It isn't that I can't think of something," she clarifies. "It's more... the right name hasn't come along, yet, you know? I'll know it when I think of it, or when I hear it. There are all sorts of things I could ascribe to him... but they wouldn't be the /right/ one. I'm certain the Author of Law will lead me to something appropriate, in time." She ruffles the big horse's mane affectionately. "I look forward to the day I can ride him, though. I can only imagine what kind of power he has. Look at him. Even the royal stables had never produced so powerful an animal." She smiles fondly, but subdued. "What a thrill it will be to sit astride him and watch Hyrule's fields fly past, yes?"

    Terra has to admit it was perhaps a dumb question. She's still finding her footing with that sort of thinking, so recoiling from the counter seems almost natural even if she has to agree with the assessment. It's not logical, not at all. Whether the look into Zelda's eyes does anything more than make Terra look down at the ground is hard to say. It seems she's content to not look /too/ deep. Face value seems to be working for now!

    "Moogles are small, white fuzzy creatures with wings. They're cute." She declares that with more conviction than might be strictly necessary. "There are names like... Mosh, Molulu and- K-" She covers her mouth with one hand, as if containing an outburst. Her face reddens as if embarassed by her own amusement, "And Kupo." Oh dear. She's overwhelming herself by remembering something cute.

    Brought out of that by the reminder what they might be spoiling the poor horse, she opens up the bundle to show quite a few more apples. "I brought all these." A simple statement offered, as if some direction on what to do with them might be forthcoming.

    "Ah-!" It's a playful, laughing 'yelp' as Yumi finds herself searched for more treats. "I don't have any more, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Ahahaha...!" She steps back a pace or two, turns to Terra, and promptly loses herself in another giggle. "Jeez, they sound adorable." And right now Terra's reaction is kind of adorable in its own right. But the question of a name for the horse, though...

    "...you know what he kinda makes me think of?" Yumi muses. "There's a famous mythical hero back home, Siegfried. His horse, Grani, was stronger and braver than any other, and loyal to Siegfried besides. For Siegfried's sake, Grani was willing to brave just about anything. This guy's got the big and powerful thing down for sure, and with you being the first person to take such good care of him, I kind of feel like he might get there someday."

  "I think Tachibana Yumi is right. They do sound adorable." Zelda manages a laugh, but the sound is soft. "I look forward to meeting them, someday."

  The princess turns and eyes the southeast, where sunset stains the vast spread of Hyrule Field crimson. Standing at its heart is the castle with its pall of smoke, and the bright ribbons of water that mark its rivers and small lakes. Further south, near the limit of where one can see, the waters of Lake Hylia gleam like a mirror. This far removed from the crises that plague it, Hyrule is a land of abundant natural beauty.

  Something clenches in the princess' heart to look upon it, and to know the battles that lay ahead. It isn't until the horse turns to nudge at her that she comes back to herself, absently rubbing between his ears. "Saa," she murmurs, quietly. "Be at peace."

  "Perhaps," she offers, to Yumi's story. "Hm. 'Grani.' I will sleep on it, and see if that feels right. For the time being, though, I should take him back to the stable. The sun will be setting, soon, and it will not stay so pleasantly warm." Spring might have touched the mountain, but it sure feels like it's back to winter, by night. Zelda allows herself a flicker of a melancholy smile. "I have a few last chores before I can rest, and some thinking to do."

  The princess bobs forward in a half-bow to her friends. "May the goddess smile upon you."

  With that, provided neither of them stop her for anything, Zelda unties the horse's lead, picking her way back through the orchard and coaxing her very large equine friend along with her.

  He leaves only reluctantly. He /knows/ Terra still has apples.