Sins of the Mother

Kira dusted her self off as she got up after falling on her face from the cloud. She could not help but mumble something that none of the other could hear, she did not like it when Sky laughed at her but kept it for her self. The clime back down to the camp site would take sometime for gryphoness as she could not fly like Sky but soon enough she joined the others.

"Morning." Was all she said a she joined the rest. She was still to tired for any really social now so instead she did only keep quiet.

Sky went over to Kira and took the second muffin to her, while Sky nibbled on her muffin. "Here you go kira, your breakfast." Sky smiled, it wasnt much at all but it was something. But this place seemed to be different, it had that sense of family and being part of something.

Kestrel nodded a greeting to Sky and Kira as they joined in the big black griffon wondering for a moment whether to wait, or to move on out and get a start on his plans.

For now he decided to wait.

Zestari smiled as Kira and Sky came over to join herself and Kestrel for breakfast. “I did sleep well,” she nodded, “How about you two?” She ate some more breakfast before remembering to add; “Oh, apparently we have the day off, as well, no fights, no chem deals.” She chuckled, “so mostly a day of rest and recovery. Kestrel is going to be doing griffon things. I’ll probably get some ingredients for my alchemy and practice martial arts, so, zebra things. Otherwise, a quiet day planned.”

“Either of you two have any ideas on what to do?”

Sky looked over to Zestari as she and shook her head, Sky really had no idea what to do. Maybe she could go and help out Zestari on getting some ingredients, better than hanging around here and doing nothing. "Well i have no plans on the rest of the day, so im free to go with either of you if want me to go. Or if sleep gets to me, I might just take a nap in a cloud or something."

Sky said as she finished her muffin, and wiped her mouth of any crumbs that were left over before looking over to the others. To wait for the rest of the po...gryphons and zebra to think of something to talk about, or she would start it and get something going.

Kestrel glanced up at the sky, mentally trying to calculate the time before deciding enough was enough. He wasn't going to get anything done sitting here all day.

"I'll be at the lake." Kestrel said stoically, stretching himself out a bit before turning and walking a short distance away before flaring his wings and pushing himself into the air. A few flaps to gain altitude and then he was off.

His style of flying seemed to match his usual movements. It was focused more on precision, and efficiency, than speed or style.

Peaking over a small hill Kestrel's sharp predator gaze locked on the glimmering sheen of water that was his destination. He banked slowly, bringing himself down to land on an old ruined drydock with a few final flaps of his wings.

Looking around, kestrel surveyed the area. Checking for any threats or possible signs of wildlife activity. Last thing he needed was for a lake-lurk or Cazador to lock onto him out here while he was enjoying a bit of exercise.

Seeing nothing, the big black bird nodded silently to himself and walked over to a near by outcropping of sun baked stones. Peice by peice Kes began to set his gear down, starting with his saddle bags, until finally all that was left on him was his armor and his mask.

Lightning, for some reason unknown to him, had slept away from most of the group and only now has he begun to wake up. Looking down at his Pipbuck, he just realized how late he had slept in. He would just give a sigh though and turn to look back at his 10mm SMG sitting next to him. At least he didn't fall asleep with his gun in pieces.

Standing up, the pegasus now realized how much he missed his home in Stableton and how much he wanted to return. Lightning quickly packed up his stuff and took to the skies but it just seemed to be plain rude to leave without saying a goodbye so he quickly searched for the others. Locating Trails, he came down to a soft landing before clearing his throat, "Ahem, uhh, good morning, Trails. May I talk to you please?"

Trails' ears flicked at the faint rumbling in the distance. His chest was still sore from where the bullet had torn through him, his knees tight from days of running non stop, his mouth dry from leaving it to hang open while he slept. He cracked open his eyes and tasted the air a few times, rolling his shoulders as he stood. All the aches and pains, the way his eyes burned, they told him more than anything else that he was home. He'd always felt like this at the end of a long loop, soon as he got to the end of the route the exhaustion would hit him.

Something felt off though, he couldn't put his hoof on it though, so he chalked it up to not enough sleep yet. He went to the mouth of his yurt and looked at the source of the rumbling. It was Flash, asking to speak with him. Not the first thing on Trails' 'shit I wanna be woken up for' list, but alright. He nodded wearily at the buck, looking over to the campfire where everypony and gryphon sat munching on the breakfast he'd made. A tired smile etched itself on his muzzle when he looked Zestari, she was something, that was for damn sure.

Lightning didn't like to wake Trails up like that but he felt that he should at least let the stallion know before he just got up and disappeared. "I apologize for...waking you up but I just thought I'll tell you that it's about time for me to take my leave. Thank you for everything you did to keep us safe and thanks for everything you taught me. But for now, I'm going to take a flight back to Stableton. Don't worry, I know the way." He bowed his head gently as a sign of respect and waiting for him to respond before he would go take off and fly off in the distance.

Trails nodded as Flash spoke, half listening. He got enough to know this was goodbye for now, that the buck was going home. None of it came as much of a surprise, gunfights probably weren't what he'd signed up for when they'd left Stableton. He returned the nod Flash gave him, then turned back to his yurt and thought for a moment. Sleep or friends, sleep or friends, it was a hard decision. In the end friends won and he turned back to the campfire.

He saw most everypony had finished their breakfast and were chatting about how they would be spending their day. Wordlessly, he sat down next to Zestari and started stoking the fire. He wasn't hungry, least not for what was left of his offerings, so he instead set the coffee pot on. This day was definitely gonna need some coffee.

Zestari nodded and gave a silent farewell to Kestrel as he flew off, before turning back to Sky. “I would welcome the company. It’s been a long time since we talked to one another, Sky. You must tell me of what you’ve been doing since Stableton.” She finished her breakfast. “Of course Kira, you’re welcome to come along, too, if you’re interested.” She smiled at the griffon.

She was about to stand and deal with her dishes when Happy sat down next to her and began to stoke the fire. She smiled as she watched him prepare himself some coffee. “How’d you sleep? Was there anything you wanted to do on our day off?” She nodded towards Sky, “I’m going off to acquire herbs with Sky shortly.”

Sky looked over to Zestari and nodded to her, it really been a while since they both were able to talk again. "I know, it has been awhile since we both were able to talk." Sky was able to get out before Zestari turned to Trails and Sky stood there with the thought that Kira that might also come along, Now all Sky has to do is just wait until Zestari gave the signal to go with her. She quietly watched Kestrel go off on his own to the lake, Sky only wondered what would happen now.

Lightning would watch as Trails returned his nod and walked away to go to the others. He glanced over at the other ponies there and debated if he wanted to go over and say goodbye but in the end, he just silently unfolded his wings and took to the skies. Taking one last look down, the pegasus took in one deep breath before taking off back toward Stableton. Back home...

(Lightning is leaving the thread.)

Back by the lake Kestrel had just finished running though a series of stretches and limbering himself up for the exercise ahead. His muscles were ready now, still slightly achy from the workout this morning.

They'd be screaming for Kestrel to stop after this.

With a final pop of a joint Kestrel turned and walked down to the edge of the lake. Its cool waters lapped gently against the sun scorched ground, leaving a calming sound behind as it did. His gaze flickered upwards for a moment, plotting out a course.

Then he dove in and started swimming.

The cool waters washed over him in a sudden surge, his feathers subconsciously locking tightly against his form. His wings pulled in tightly his paws lashing out in a steady rhythm, the griffon began to swim.

He was silent, focused, as he did this, making sure his form was right and not worrying about speed. It became rather obvious to him that it had been a while since he had last done this. Far to long really, at least he'd have the time to get his form back up again.

Kira looked as Lighting walked away from the group leaving for back home. Home that was a strange concept the gryphoness did not know what she thought of home any more, Stableton was not home for her any more but maybe the equestrian wasteland is something that she could call home instead.

She stood up along with Sky helping Zestari out with this could be nice and well she could not just let them leave alone on this. "You know Zestari I think I will follow you and Sky." Well she had nothing better to do right now so it could be some fun, who knows maybe she get to know the two a bit better. "I mean it never hurt to have a gryphon follow you around it things would go bad."

"Not really at the plan making stage of my day," answered Trails, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. "Maybe take a nap, maybe go round the camp and get to know some ponies, maybe 'make more tea' if you're up to it." He finished with a playful wink at the Zebra before turning back to his fire. "I'll let you catch up with Sky and Kira, I reckon they're tired of seeing my mug."

After a few minutes he rose from his seat and went on a trot, forgetting the water he'd left boiling. The Khan encampment was still waking up, just like him. A few of the yurts had cookfires outside, ponies grilling up breakfasts for anypony looking to drop the caps. Trails decided he was and handed an elderly mare a few caps for a pitcher of what tasted like watered down rice pudding. It was nice, didn't have the charge that a cup of coffee would, but satisfied his long neglected sweet tooth. His trot took him to the drug labs outside the camp, his mother's legacy.

"If you could only see me now, mom, bet you'd be bursting with pride. You're little colt a big strong warrior in the family you helped found." He smiled to himself, then went on his way, no real goal in mind.

At the same time that Trails was musing to himself about making his mother proud, Kestrel was testing his capacity to hold his breath, diving deep under the cool waters of the Lake and carefully propelling himself along, slowly and carefully.

Again, he found he needed the practice. Coming up to the surface he took in a heavy lungful of air, looking around to see where he had managed to get too before swimming back towards the shore.

Zestari smiled at Happy and blushed slightly when he suggested that they ‘make more tea later’. “Okay, I’ll be sure to meet up with you again, later in the day.” She gave him a playful poke with her hoof and stood up and stretched. “Have fun napping and meeting ponies.”

“Well, let’s go look for plants now.” She said, smiling at Kira and Sky. “The sooner I fill my bags with all manner of plants and herbs, the sooner we can come back and enjoy the rest of the day .” She began to trot out of the campsite. “Kira, I hope you don’t find it intrusive, but I’ve not had much of a chance to get to know you, and I would be delighted if you were to tell me of your past.” Zestari smiled at the griffon.

Kestrel arrived on the shore a few moments after setting off towards it, his muscles nice and sore from their previous exertion. It felt good to be in the water again, the cooling liquid was refreshing compared to the hellish heat of the Mohoofe desert.

Pulling himself up atop a rock just within the waters depths, relaxing he began to preform the other action he came here for.

Preening and cleaning himself up. Using his beak Kestrel flared out his feathers and began to carefully preen each and every one, letting the loose feathers and filth fall into the water below. Every so often he'd dive off the rock and into the murky lake, getting himself wet as possible before surfacing, crawling back atop the rock and starting up his preening and bathing again.

Sky happily smiled as she trotted off with Zestari out of the camp, but now was caught by the question Zest wanted to know about Kira. Looks like Zestari want to to know Kira a bit better, hopefully she can. Then Sky can also learn a bit more of Kira and be a good friend to Kira, she looked over to Zestari and Kira as she hovered behind them. Seemed better than walking and a good small few inches off the ground would help her in her small workout of her wings.

Kira got up and followed Zestari as she trotted out of the camp in search of the plants she was searching for, she had to hope as well that nothing would happen as they where away from camp. Following them she looked over at the two mare that she accompanied, still she would have to agree that she wanted to learn some about the two and if they asked maybe she could ask as well.

Trails found his wandering helped his exhaustion more than he could've imagined. Back in the capital wasteland all the wild did was wear you down, till eventually you were at your toughest core, and ready to pass out at the drop of the hat. This desert built you up, embraced you with fresh air and cool water. Yet again he found his old home coming up short when compared to his new one.

He stopped at the shore of the old lake and looked at it satisfied with life. He had found a family, not that he was in need of one, but one could never have enough family. A splash came from nearby, prompting him to look, it was Kes swimming. Trails smirked, the large gryphon was fast becoming Trails' friend, someone he could rely on. A rare find if there ever was one.

"Hey Kes," He called over to the swimming bird. "wanna go hunting, maybe get a carnivore option for lunch?"

Kestrel surfaced and swam to the shore, hearing the voice of the pony that is was quickly becoming one of his only friends. Raising himself up onto the shore and shaking hims self dry, then stretching himself out a bit.

His muscles flexed powerfully, stretching taught his terribly scarred hide, revealing for perhaps the first time in history to the stallion Kestrels 'natural' appearance. It was a humbling sight, telling of all that Kestrel had been through, of all he had suffered. Before Trails could get a full on scan of the layout of Kestrel's many, many scars he began walking over and started to pull on his armor yet again.

It felt a bit strange against his fur and feathers, the water still wicking off of the aforementioned parts. He'd live though, and a hunting trip would be the nice cool down from the work out he had just engaged in.

"Sure." he offered in response to the bucks earlier question, cool predatory eyes locking onto Trail's own.

"What's our quarry?"

As Zestari lead Sky and Kira out into the Mohoofe desert in search of unusual and rare plants, she couldn’t help but tell them of her origins; of how she’d come from Zebrica to Equestria to learn and discover that which she couldn’t learn from her homelands. And everything in between that took them to this sojourn into the Mohoofe to look for materials for her alchemy.

From rocky crag to dusty plain, she went anywhere and everywhere in her acquisition of plants dragging her two willing compatriots along with her, chatting all the while. She was perfectly happy to tell them what made a certain plant more appealing or interesting than another and what possible items she would use those plants in.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, Zestari couldn’t help but feel she was boring her guests, after all there was only so much others would find intriguing about plants, so when they were resting in the shade of a scrubby tree she turned to the other two. “Is there anything you would like to do for the afternoon? I’m sure I can put plant searching off for later.”

Sky walked out with Zestari and Kira, only to be with them and not really talk about it much. But it was nice to be out for a walk and such, Sky could never really be out in this sort of walk when she was alone but just a nice gesture and such to be walking out in the mohoofe. Zestari talking about her origins from zebrica, Sky already heard part of it back in bar in stableton but here Zestari provided even more info on the subject.

After a while, Sky got a bit bored. Zestari chatting about the random stuff of plants and such and Sky actually listened, for being bored and well it was interesting stuff. Like how she met Zestari the first time at stableton, still was nice to be out here with her and Kira.

Sky was soon snapped out of it as she heard Zestari Speak about doing something else, "Sure i guess, never really got to look around the Mohoofe. We can explore the Mohoofe or go somewhere we havent." Sky said as she looked to her two friends.