The Nexus

The pair of brothers were trotting lightly through the Vedlt, along the long overgrown grass. Knute kept putting on speed to over take his brother, the younger creature spurred on by excitement while worry made Knute's brow heavy. "Slow down, Dohrt. You shouldn't be so eager to find... Others."

Dohrt snorted, he turned his body so he was walking backwards and waved a hand at his brother's concern. "We're supposed to be finding other, Knu! Get over it already." The buckskin did a little hop akin to clicking his heels and took off in a gallop to circle his older brother. "Faeren finally trusts us with something as important as this and you're still thinking we can't handle it!"

Knute snorted right back in derision, "He does not trust us you foal. We are all he could spare to find out what is causing all this strangeness in the land. The herd needs protection and we're superfluous." Perhaps that fact was causing his distemper and he kicked at his brother. Dohrt dodged it and stuck his tongue out at the bay. "Bring yourself in, Dohrt. We are close to the outskirts of our lands. There could be... Anyone around here..." He looked around suspiciously though not too much could sneak up on the fast in the flat plains.

Sven felt as if he was at wit's end. On top of the normal raids of dumb lower tier dragons, all sorts of beasties kept attacking the town. It was all he could do to keep up with them. He sat pensively in a pile of mud, a small dragon perched on his head, twittering gleefully before flying off. He sighed. Nope, that was it. He had enough. He got up, as dignified as one could in his situation, and squelched off.

It was long past time to see what the heck was scaring everyone this far east. He went to the inn to wash up and gather his things.

"Where you goin' Sven?" Asked the inn keeper. "You haven't finished trapping the--"

Sven ignored him and went to the stable to saddle up. He would set off to the west and cross the Vedlt to see if their closest neighboring kingdom was equally plagued.

Just on the edge of town, Owaja lay with her face in a book; one whee leg crossed over the other, bouncing lazily. "Hmm, you sure about that, Sunflower? I'm not seeing anything about those spells you were talking aboit in here." The young gnome sat up from the hay pile she was resting on as a little white ferret scurried onto her head, chittering as if he were trying to prove a point.

Owaja regarded him while chewing on a hay straw. "Hmm I see, but that doesn't really prove WHY all the beasties are
Migrating..."

The sound of hoof beats caused the two to perk up. As far as they were concerned, there was no one out here for miles! The book she was reading was poofed out of existence and she hopped behind the hay bail to hide herself. Owaja bid her ferret friend to be quiet with a classic shushing gesture, though Sunflower didn't seem scared. The little creature stood up on his back legs to get a better look and scampered off towards the noise before Owaja could protest!

The little ferret would find himself right before some giant looking hooves!

Knute had fallen into silence. His brother took that as a cue to entertain himself, singing a herdling song rather loudly and slightly off key. A bard, he was not. Ears flat and mood dropping, Knute trudged on until a human--he assumed all dwellings were human--city not far in the distance. "Dohrt! Stop your caterwauling for five minutes and look ahead!"

The buckskin had ceased his song long enough to make a mocking face while Knute spoke, only stopping when he heard the last bit. His ears raised and his head snapped toward the domiciles in the distance. "A TOWN! WE FOUND A TOWN!" And that was that, Dohrt was off in a canter, leaving his brother in his dust!

"Wait you--" There was no point in slinging insults, Dohrt couldn't hear. With a snort and a stomp, Knute was off after him. The closer they got, the better they could see a stable ahead. The structure was open faced with a large stock pile of hay not too far from the compartments where the horses were houses and the whole idea of it made Knute uncomfortable. Although... That hay looked like a mighty nice snack... Rumbling stomach aside, Dohrt was going to arrive first, he was thinner built and faster. He could see someone taking a horse from a stall, looking like he was ready to tack the thing and move out. The centaur yipped and put on more speed. Hopefully no one would take his ever quickening approach as a sign of aggression!

Sven was just about to mount when he saw a ferret underfoot. "Remmy! How did you get out?" He stopped to pick up the ferret. "Hang on you're not Remm--ah!!" He started when he heard a giant centaur running full speed at him.

Sunflower noodled about when Sven picked him up, just staring wide with his button eyes. The thing gave a little scream of his own with Sven started and he wiggled out of his hands to scurry back towards the hay bail. Owaja was peaking her noise out from below and cought of glimpse of Sven herself before Sunflower dove into her hair.

"A hunter?" She questioned, and then her attention was on the approaching centaurs. "Centaurs!!!" The gnome's eyes nearly sparked with wonder and before she knew it she was climbing atop the bail to get a closer look. "Sunflower!! Look!! LOOK-LOOK!! AHH! This could be our lucky day!!"

Dohrt came to a halt, digging his hooves in and causing a slight spray of loose dirt. "Hallo human peoples!" The centaur waved a hand at them, smiling in a strained way that showed his teeth. That was how humans smiled, right? He stood there before a tall human and a very small human--maybe a child?--and waited for one of them to respond to his very obviously normal greeting!

Knute galloped up some moments later, circling around his brother as he slowed his speed and carefully putting himself between Dohrt and the humans. He tossed his mane and snorted, looking back at his idiot brother, "What do you think you're doing, you foal? These are strangers!" His hand was on the short wrapped over his equine shoulders and his head snapped back towards Sven, "My brother means you no harm!" The way he said it implied he thought all two legged folk were out to harm them.

Sven blinked stupidly up at the centaur, clutching at his chest. Flecks of dirt nestled into the folds of his clothing. Oreon, his horse, neighed and snorted, his ears flat against his head and stepped back. "H-h-hello..." Sven stuttered. His eyes slid slowly to the side at the Dwarf maiden grinning excitedly up at them.

He jumped back when Knute galloped towards him. "N-none taken" he waved his hands defensively and laughed nervously. He had no idea where they all came from or how they had taken him completely by surprise like that. He suddenly felt embarrassed and the red in his cheeks showed it.

Owaja was clearly too excited for her own good! The centaurs had her attention and she took a step closer to them, still atop her hay bail; the added height was a nice touch!

"Oh! My! Stars! You beaitious centaurs must have traveled pretty far!! Are you on an adventure??? Traveling across the lands of many world's to aquire a great treasure??" Owaja's eyes were wide with wonder as she spoke. Clearly she had read one too many fantasy books in her life time. If it were possible for Sunflower to make an expression of exasperation, that's what he was doing.

Dohrt's eyes widened with his smile, impossibly excited to be speaking to a human and for said human to talk back. No matter how much poor Sven stammered. Knute was between them in moments though and the buckskin had to back peddle or get trampled by his own brother. The older centaur was fixing Sven with a mighty concerned and perhaps angry look--it was honestly hard to tell-- and his back legs danced in place. "What do you call yourselves? I am--" Knute had put on his best diplomatic voice, which was much more like uncertain angry shouting, but was cut off when Dohrt actually got his hands on his brothers withers and physically pushed him out of the way.

The bay looked affronted but Dohrt's attention was only for Owaja. "YES! We were sent on an adventure! For answers! To this place! Wherever this place is!" He was excitedly ignorant and flicked his tail out, inspecting Owaja.

Sven put a hand on Oreon's shoulder to ease his horse's nerves. He felt a bit better now that his brain had had time to catch up to the rest of him. He had traveled all over this kingdom, and had always wanted to stray into centaur territory but had always been very strongly advised against it. He was amazed to see two drop into his lap (so to speak)so suddenly. "I'm Sven Evans" he began. "This here is Oreon, my horse." The white faced destrier snorted and pawed at the ground. He wasn't quite sure how to react.

Sven looked over at the dwarf maiden perched precariously on the bale of hay. It wasn't unknown for dwarves to reside in this particular village, though he had never had the chance to speak with one before.

Owaja was bursting at the seams with excitement, and Dohrt's enthusiasm only spurred her on. "Oh-my-stars!! OH-MY-STARS!!" she nearly fell off the hay bale with all her bouncing. "What sort if adventure are you on?? Can I join??"
Owaja was cut off by a squeaky protest from Sunflower.

"Oh!! Where are my manners? My name is Owaja." The gnome did a dramatic curtsey at her introduction. "And this here is my friend Sunflower! We're travelers too--we'll be famous one day! Won't we, Sunflower?"

The ferret only huffed.

"What are your names?"

Owaja turned on her heel to regard Sven. She had not seen too many humans up close so this was a double win of firsts! "Is that a Mr. Sven? Or a Sir Sven? Are you a mighty warrior?? I heard warriors ride horses!"

Knute watched the horse with curiosity which softened his harsh expression only a moment. Domestic horses were foreign to him and in some strange way cousins... he tilted his head, one ear falling back before he snapped to and that dark look shadowed his features once more, remembering he was here for official business. "I am Knute," he started again. He pronounced the name with no K at all and motioned to his embarrassment of a brother, "This is Dohrt." That name was given with emphasis on the R and a very slight acknowledgement of the T at the end. He lifted his chin, "We are here as official envoys."

Dohrt's ears swiveled this way and that as Owaja spoke, showing all his excited emotions at once. He wanted to answer, kept sucking in breaths to do so but the gnome either cut him off or Knute did. His brother spoke his name and Dohrt waved a hand to him distractedly, "Yes, that, Dorht---Knute can she come??" The buckskin's attention moved to Knute only briefly.

"What--?" The bay barely got the word out before Dorht's eyes were a light with interest aimed at the destrier. He pushed past Kunte again to get closer to Oreon, ducking his human body down enough to inspect the creature with wide eyed wonder.

Sven looked down at Owaja, the beginnings of a smile playing on his face. "OH um...just Sven.." he bent down to shake her small hand. "I don't know anything about being a great warrior. Mediocre at best. I trap dragons. They've been becoming a bigger nuisance than ever lately...you travel as well?"

Sven's eyes widened when they mentioned they were envoys. He bowed deeply. "Welcome to Terek. I'm sorry, but if its the King you wish to see he's much farther to the eas--" He noticed their interest in his horse. "This here is Oreon, he's my horse..."

Oreon was a gray destrier* - a bit on the chubby side - with a white face and pink nose. He leaned in to sniff the centaurs, snorting heavily. This was probably as confusing for him as it was for them. Sven cleared his throat nervously. What do centaurs think of humans riding horses? "In any case...I could take you to him, if you wish. The King I mean. Though truth be told I was just on my way North to see to some business. If you had come earlier this year you could have seen our little kingdom in much better shape than it is now" he seemed embarrassed.

((*Oreon))

If Owaja's eyes could get any bigger they would have popped out of her head. "YOU TRAP DRAGONS?!" possibly a little too loud. "OH MY STARS! I once knew someone who trapped dragons!" she said matter of factly, "He was murdered and set on fire on his birthday." She regarded Sven with all seriousness.

"Yes! Me and Sunflower do a lot of traveling! We've been hearing so much about the weird goings on in this part of the world. We were hoping to fix it all! Isn't that right, Sunflower1" She gave a smug grin and posed triumphantly, chest out and head high as if she were three times her size. Sunflower only huffed.

"I WOULD LOVE TO COME!!" Owaja had already started to climb onto Dhort's back, not even asking if it was appropriate. Though she hardly weighed anything in comparison to the Centaur and she settled herself comfortably in the middle of his back. "Sunflower!" she whispered all too loudly to her furry friend. "We're just like knights!"

Knute's head snapped from hip brother to Sven, his nostrils flared. "Further east?" It seemed the centaur had a very different idea of where the humans were and the thought of going further... Knute snorted and looked to his brother like he might get some guided opinions on this. Dohrt was going to be no help, he was entirely too focused on the horse.

Dohrt snorted back at Oreon, smiling without showing teeth. He reached out to try and touch the horse, any spot he could because he was just so curious! Then of course Owaja was climbing his back end and Dohrt was distracted all over, turning in a circle to try and face her while he spoke. "We're going too, right Knute? Faeren said!!"

Knute clenched his jaw, looking like he was deep in serious thought. "Fine. Yes. We shall go too, Human Sven. If you will take us."

Sven was about to nod - but when she mentioned the murdering and the on fire setting his face fell "wait..what?" He watched her scamper up the centaur's back, concerned about this piece of news.

He looked up at Knute. "Y-yes of course. Might I ask what business you have with the King?" He had hoped this was something he could settle in the King's place. He wanted to avoid a trip into the castle. It was not a place he was welcome.

"WEEEE!!" Owaja giggled with joy as Dohrt spun around, thought Sunflower was less than amused and hung into his friend's hair to not fly off. Once the spinning was over, she listened intently to what Mr. Sven had to say, her mouth growing wider and wider with each word he spoke.

"I WANNA MEET THE KING!" She exclamed, jumping to her feet atop Dohrt's rump. "See! If we ALL go he'll see I've already got a barrage of travelers! And! And! And he'll be sure to appoint me-ehh I mean US as official royal investigators!"

If it were possible for ferrets to face palm, Sunflower was doing it right now.

Knute's ears did a funny dance, falling flat, one lifting forward, then back and then both trained on Sven. He flared his nostrils, dancing in place some and lifting his chin. He was trying to figure out what this human's right to know his business was and ultimately decided to tell. "I must speak with your king if he is your human herd's elder and leader. We have come to discuss the uprising of beasts in these parts." He kept himself sounding very official though under the layer of duty he was clearly unsure and put out in this place.

Dhort had refocused once more to stare at Knute and then at Sven and back. He felt Owaja jump up on his rump and shied his weight to the side, unsure what the gnome was doing. He turned to look at her and grinned, hopping on his hooves, "Meet the king! Yes! We are adventurers!!"

Sven saw the tension in Knute's pose and expression. "Oh, um...here this should should help. O-one moment" he went to rummage around deep in one of his pack's. Oreon flicked his tail impatiently as Sven put extra weight on his flank. He pulled out a ring with the King's seal, and a letter giving him status as an envoy. He paused before handing the ring over, looking it over. Hopefully this held some sort of meaning or status for Centaurs and would put them at ease.

He brought it to Knute. "That's my mission as well. I was going to travel north to the neighboring kingdom to see if they were having similar troubles and to speak with them. I'm sorry to hear your lands are also under siege. Something is driving all the creatures south...and I was actually just about to leave to investigate. I don't want to dictate your duties to you - but I think if you were to accompany me you would find more answers than a wasted trip to the King...I can still take you if you wish, though." He added, hastily. He wasn't sure what to make of Knute. His brother seemed far more amiable. It had been a while since he had to perform any sort of diplomatic duties --a very long while--and he was suddenly regretting skipping out on all those lessons in his youth.