Rhadra follows the girl as she describes the rules of her game, moving more sedately and disturbing the moving water only a little while her pale, exuberant companion splashes into the creek. The vibrant red pulse of the sun has mellowed into true dusk, leaving only the echo of sunlight still cast over the land, and the shadows have grown quite long beside the creek. It’s hard to pick out the shape of anything beyond the dark, round stones that make up the creek bed, but Rhadra looks diligently past the surface of the water as excitement stirs in her. Maybe, despite the gathering dark, one of them will see a fish. It has never before occurred to her to attempt to catch any of the beings that call water their home, but she’s delighted by her companion’s imagination. She lifts her gaze, smiling, at the same time the girl’s excited tumble of words ceases abruptly.
Rhadra’s ears swivel, checking her sightline automatically for the presence of a threat. There isn’t anything beyond the burbling creek, and then all is lost as the girl scrambles out of the water with a frightened hiss and darts out of sight. Almost, Rhadra caves to the temptation to drop her nose to the water and pretend to be interrupted from a drink, but she’s deeply curious about this “Mamapapa” and has no interest in being coy.
So when the stallion emerges into her selected haven for the night, Rhadra returns his stare eye for eye. They’re of a height, though he’s a little leaner, and he’s limping. Rhadra has never considered herself a fighter but she’s also never had to test her own mettle. For the pale girl, she thinks she would. As the stallion crosses the small space, she turns and walks out of the creek to resume her place beneath the tree without breaking eye contact, and as he passes her Rhadra leans over to blow in his ear.
It’s annoying, beyond irritating as her sister so often told her, but always before she has been rewarded with the full attention of whoever she’s bothering, and that’s what Rhadra’s counting on now as she holds the stare of this stallion and informs him with crisp enunciation, “I see you.”
Part of this is for the girl’s benefit, who is no doubt hyper-focused on her “Mamapapa” and the potentially combustible interaction that might take place between Rhadra and him. Mostly, though, she does it to gauge the stallion’s reaction, to put a personality on this wild card that is based on observation rather than assumption. To see what’s what, if you will, and gather whatever information she can in this first impression. |