A furry eclipse [WF28]

After an unsuccessful night she spent rolling in her bed like a larva queen, Mery abandoned the idea of a restful night. She finally decided to get up of her comfy bed. The young woman looked through her window, everything was still dark and silent, only a weak light coming from the stable was breaking this dim landscape. She stretched her back until her spine joints cracks and went in front of her wardrobe, picking her old riding pants and a big pull over, she dressed quickly up and braided her ginger hair. Mery took her good old jacket from the coat hanger and left the bedroom. She hurtled down the wooden stairs to the ground floor like a ninja cat and slipped into the kitchen. The young girl grabbed an apple and a treat from the drawers. The early bird grabbed her fur-lined boots and finally went outside of the house, but she surely didn't forgot to grab her favorite long blue scarf.

She could guess by the thickness of the powder snow that it didn't stopped falling during the whole light, she shivered slightly, going from a comfortably and warm cottage to a cold early morning snowy plain. Mery slowly went to the stable, following the invisible path coated in white. Luckily, her father spent the evening sticking provisional fences to guide them. She gently pushed the barn door and greeted her beloved mount. Sammy was still half-asleep when she entered in his box but he came to her in a dizzy attitude, putting his big head on her shoulder, as if he could say : "What the hell are you doing here that early ?!!" But it wasn't like if he wasn't use to it. Mery was a big insomniac, always struggling with her sleep like in a wrestling fight with a famous champion, that she, without any surprise, often lost. We could wonder how she could still be that energetic during the whole day, like if she was magically pulling all that dynamism out of nowhere.

Mery grabbed her groom set attached to the box's wall and started brushing her fur baby, she inspected all his fur and skin, looking for wounds or parasites, like she always does. The little Sam couldn't complain, he loved that, it was certainly the sweetest way to wake him up and to apology for interrupting his sleep. The young rider went all over his fur for almost three quarter of an hour, the pretty boy almost put himself back to sleep with this big massage. Mery put the brushes back and scratches his head, that was her own way to say "wake up sleepy head, groom time is over now." She asked him if he wanted to go for a walk in a gentle whisper. His ears tilted and he reopened his eyes, looking at her like a tiny pup asking for his daily walk. So she opened the door of his box, a smile on her lips, took his tack and slowly prepared him for their early excursion. She put another bear pelt between the rug and the saddle to be sure that her baby will be warm enough and won't catch a cold. But Mery also added some leg protections made out of leather and fur to protect his paws, we're never cautious enough!

The sky was still pretty dark but it was pretty clear and it felt like the weather was going to be perfect. They finally went out of the barn side by side to a big log next to the path, Sam knew the routine, the small little girl couldn't climb on his back with some help, so he naturally stopped next to the piece of wood and waited for his silly rider to get on his back. She put her feet in the stirrup, sat on the saddle, took the reins in her frail hands and gently pressed his flanks, leading him to the forest, they were gone. She loved the variety of the woods and all she could find in them, rabbits, foxes and even caribou, it was never boring to go for a walk there because it could be really different according to the time of the day, the seasons and luck.

They silently walked along the forest track, observing the treetops and how hard the snow had fallen during the night. It was fascinating to observe how the snow could make things quieter, we couldn't hear any sound, like if everybody was still asleep. The companions decided to ramble to the top of the mountain, to see the sunset from above the pine trees. Mery liked the noiseless of nature early in the morning, it was one of the things that made her insomnia bearable.

Sammy and his ginger girl kept walking for an hour, until they reached a clearing. And there, among the white of the snow, right in the middle of the clearing, was standing a huge black shadow. they, slowly but surely, came closer to that shadow, trying to understand what it was. It quickly moved its head in their direction, staring at them with big light brown eyes. It was a Tokota, probably a wild one. It looked absolutely magnificent, its brown fur looked like a burnt chocolate cake with the edges even darker.

As soon as she saw it, Mery had the urge to try her luck to approach it. So she gradually went down of her mount, she asked Sammy to stay here and, step by step, approached the beast, stretching her hand. The creature looked very leery and stepped back. So Mero knelled in the snow, looking at the ground, her arm in the same position and she waited, waited and waited. Sam was patiently waiting at his spot like the good Toko he was, it was the first time that he saw a wild Toko and he wasn't sure about how to react. He wasn't a fighter, nor a smooth talker. His social skills were pretty narrow and his clumsiness towards others was just turning him into a brainless puppy in front of others. So he just decided to silently wait and paid attention to how the wild creature reacts, do be sure that he could be able to protect his beloved rider.

Until she felt a warm breath on her mitten, she slowly raised her head, progressively detailing the Toko until her eyes meet its own intimidating eyes. Mery guessed it was a girl, as her face felt a bit more feminine compared the Sammy's big nose face, sorry Samsam, but it's true ! She let the beast identifying all the different smells her human hand could contain and finally whispered to her.

"Good morning you charcoal beauty."

And she didn't moved, always staring at her, inspecting all her movements, so Mery decided to pull out a few pieces of dry meat she had in her pocket. But she wasn't careful enough in her acts and the wild Toko stepped back, her ears drawn back on her neck, melting in her big fluffy mane. So Mery stopped moving, closed her eyes and maintained her hand with the treat to the Toko's lever. Until she finally decided to take them, the young girl opened her eyes again and looked at the beast in the eyes, the sun finally sowed himself, illumination the sky with his pastel colors. She couldn't help but smiling, holding back her excitement to not scare the pretty lady. But the combination of sunset and this big dark Toko looked like a sun eclipse, what made this moment even more magical.