Swirling Snow

Amber now that it seemed to be pranks being pulled she was embarrassed to have cried out and a look over at her bond sister, she knew she felt the same. But the sudden touch had spooked her good. "I thinking a Snow Elemental. No wait the fog, Water Elemental?" She was not sure since she heard there was a recluse stallion in her home land with them, but he was not water she was 100% sure on that, though she never met him. So she had really no experience with an elemental serian.

Amber laughed at Sign and Tribe's explanation to her health exam her mate was giving her. Though looked at Sign when the word mother came up, but the mare looked fine. She did wonder where Sign's mate and boy were.

She shook her head, sending some snow flying off and lifted each leg to give her mate reassurance she was fine. She leaned over and nuzzled his shoulder. "I am fine dear. Like Tribe said look like it was snow games, no harm done. I was just not prepared to have something brush me is all. I was trying to figure out the weather and few other things," She looked around the area, "I defiantly want to give this Elemental a taste of his own medicine! They can not expect to have fun without us getting them back!"

Traveler watched everything and listen, she was embarrassed, but also curious. She heard of serians and their connection to an element, but she never seen one. She was ok now, just a start was all, and she was kicking herself mentally for not really seeing the weather she was thinking to much on the game and her words blunder to come to really see it, she was aware but no bells to react went off. "Amber has that right," whom ever was in for it making her feel even more awkward and nervous.

Rain watched from his hiding place. This was turning out better than he thought. He have to thanks his now bond brother Dart for the information of some of his other bonded family members and their friends. How ever he had no info of the beautiful mare they called Tribe. 'Well if they want to search for me they can, this shall be fun,' he thought grinning and feeling way to cocky for his own good. With this he moved off leaving and this time not having the prints go away for a bit. Then he have them start and stop and he galloped a good yard around the clearing, never leaving the forest. He then found a new watch point to see his work.

Pleased with his inspection, Sparkle pulled back just enough to give his mate another kiss; one that was long and deep and lingering, leading into a soft nuzzle along her neck.

She had sure given him a scare.

Tribe grinned a little at the couple and then turned back towards the others, giving them a moment of privacy.

"I'm not very familiar with tracking over land," she admitted, tossing her mane as Sign gave her a suspicious look, "so I have to ask if you could help us out there, Traveler?"

"If you sell yourself short one more time, woman, I will smother you," Sign declared and earned herself a bark of a laugh from the bangle covered mare. "You travel and play more than any of our other bondedmates, and I know for a fact you have decent tracking skills and a talent in healing."

"Small tricks, sugar, you know that. I dabble here or there..."

"You know more than you admit. Now get over there with Traveler and see if we can find a place where the pain in the neck came from. I call being the first one to kick them in the head, though."

"But if you do that it won't be as much fun to drag them under the ice," Tribe complained in all good nature, offering a wink and a slight nudge. Sign merely grinned; it was fun to talk about kicking someone's head in for being a pain, but they both knew when the time came she would hang back and allow others to get the trickster back.

"At least this is different from that one fellow," she said, glancing over as Sparkle finally stepped back from his mate, "Who was it, Sparkle? The one you simply can't stand at all for being so rude with his tricks?"

"Dart," Sparkle said, laying his ears flat in frank distaste. "There's never any humor found in what he does. Only cruel teasing and victimizing."

"But with the pile of snow," Tribe began, "There really can't be any mistake at that being a simple laugh," Sign finished.

"Besides," Sparkle snorted with a grin "as far as I know that pain in the backside isn't an elemental at all."

Sign paused for a moment here and have the stallion a very considering look. She had never known the fellow to have a blood enemy before, but she had the feeling that if there were any who could be considered such it would be this Dart.

"Which means that we could simply make it a game," she said, continuing the hold his gaze, "they were rude, but there are signs of fun intended. We could bury the goof in a pile of snow of their very own."

Tribe grinned as she saw Sparkle's ears twitch at the idea, his blood finally beginning to cool as his automatic fight-ready reaction started to fade. When Amber had cried out he'd been ready to kill; if it was all some harmless fun, however, and if they could simply bury the fiend in a pile of their own...

"Come on then," he snorted, and gave Amber a quick nudge while Sign side-stepped back towards Traveler, almost as a little sister might cling to their older sibling. The poor mare always seemed to need to pick one serian to look towards for support. "We need to run a bit, regardless, or we'll freeze under all this snow."

With that he turned and bolted towards the trees, Tribe close on his heels before he began to out-distance her. Half a step later Sign started to run as well, the snow in her mane, tail and fetlocks dragging her down and making each stride twice as difficult.

It was a blessing in the water, but in this white snow stuff the extra weight of all her hair was her greatest disadvantage.

Amber was so ready to get this elemental back but when Sparkle kissed her long and deep kiss, she was content to just stay there with him. It was only after he pulled back that he thoughts got on track again, since they derail any time a kiss or touch happened.

Traveler turned to look at Tribe. "I try, however from first look no tracks can be seen but I can see if I see the cover up of them." She turned to face away from the group and held her head low, looking for differences in colours in the snow. She widened her nostrils as she took in the smell near the ground, she did pick something but it was so miner she could not place it, nor follow it. She wondered if all the snow and fog would idlute the scent, it made sense that it would.

The green mare swiveled her ears back to the group and listened as she hunted for a colour change, whom ever did this was very good, so far nothing near her, though she knew they had to have made tracks but then covered them up. She headed following where she hopped they had gone. She was happy to hear she have help, snow tracking like this was not her game, remove the white stuff and she was golden. However, she stopped and looked back at the group when her bond brother, came up. She seen him, but he seemed pleasant enough. Was this the same Dart?

Amber laughed, "Ya that be Dart. No humor in his pain, only taunt and bully." She rolled her eyes thinking of him, and shook her head. "No, he is not an elemental, and I quit happy to say that. Plus if he were he would be a fire boy, being of the Red Sands, but I take our trickster being any alter that does with water."

Traveler was now confused, "He seems nice enough though when I met him when I first came."

Amber turned her head to look back at Traveler, "Only cause Kyra was standing there, he is such a hmmm word not coming to me. Any way if Kyra is there no evil mischief comes from Dart, he like an angel when she is around. Kyra knows what he does and is working on getting him to lean more towards humor... So far no change."

Traveler looked up at Sign and when she bolted she kicked some snow up and she saw it, the slight differences in snow coloration, a few inches away from where the snow the mare had kicked up from her bolt start. She could see it now, "Sign keep heading the way, I can see slight changes in snow colour, so he went this way after bugging Amber, I can see a trace of his cover up!" She moved into a gallop but was back in looked at everything mode again.

Amber was glad to get moving, she wanted to run, but she as she nipple her mate's mane playfully and took off after Sign, she skidded to a halt at hearing her bond sister's voice. She snowed the tree a feet feet in front of her and she whipped around to look at her. "Awsome! Lead the way! I also like the idea of snowing this elemental, he has no idea how good I know Sparkle, Sign and I! I also bet Tribe and my bond sister are just as great! They are done for in snow when we catch them!" The black mare was on fire, she wanted to catch this trickster and see the look of his face, when they got them back.

---

Rain had watched and could not make everything that was said out, but loved to watch the reactions and their actions. He was quit impressed when the green mare finally found a bit of his cover up, but she would need to more than look to find him. He watched them all but always fell back to the mare they called Tribe.

He had a few more ideas to put in place. So he moved off to another clearing and began phase two of his plan. The grin still on his face, as he tried to predict what would happen next.

With a snort, Sparkle and Tribe spun around and trotted towards where Traveler was leading, cutting a sharp left to get on the right course. Sign hadn't gotten far before the call had come; all she needed was a slight adjustment.

The three traded a quick glance and a grin as they headed into the cover of the trees, where the fog was still dense. It was good to run together.

Although Sparkle was troubled, his thoughts lingering on the red and white stallion Dart that his mate lived with. He wished to protect her from the fiend, and yet he knew it was beyond him; their bonded had yet to even make a difference. That, however, was another matter; what troubled him was that she had laughed.

She had laughed.

As if it was okay that the stallion behaved the way he did. As if it was amusing, even, to live beside someone that could be so completely two-faced and cruel.

It troubled him.

As a result, the others had no trouble keeping up with him, his pace slowed and slightly uneven as his thoughts churned uncomfortably. Sign kept one ear cocked in his direction, curious about his odd manner of running, but otherwise held her peace. When he was ready he would talk; he always did.

Tribe, meanwhile, was right up there next to Traveler, helping to point out small areas where the unstable trail had broken and come together again so that they wouldn't lose it entirely. There was more than one instance where they could have, if they hadn't been working together.

Once they reached the trees, however, Sign balked.

"I don't like it," she mumbled, tossing her heavy mane as large clumps of snow began to loosen and fall. "I can't see. I won't go in there, I won't."

"What-" Sparkle started, and then fell silent as Tribe over-rode him, quickly cutting back to return to her bondmate.

"I'll stay with you, then."

"No, go-" Sign tried to object, and then she too fell silent as Tribe offered a tender look and again spoke over her, although her voice remained soft and comforting.

"I'm not going to have you go in there, sugar. I know limited visibility frightens you, and I know it's how you got those scars while you were young. I'll stay here with you. If the prankster comes out, maybe we can ambush them real good and help it all lead to one good hard laugh. What do you say, sugar?"

"Al-Alright," Sign mumbled, glancing back towards the heavy fog with a nervous twitch of her tail as a guilty headache started to stab it's way in her temples. "We can ambush them."

"I like that idea," Sparkle provided, trying his best to perk up the poor blue mare's ears once again. "We can try and drive whoever it is this way. What do y'all think," he asked, though he kept his eyes on his mate. He was still troubled; there was simply too much going on at once, between some jerk that had to pick on them and his poor bondmates, on top of all the complications that merely being around his mate brought. He couldn't even breathe while she touched him, and he always lost himself in their kisses. That would complicate anything.

"If we can find them," he added, and looked back at Traveler for a moment, as if asking a question. They would need her to lead the way. The only tracking he ever did was during a game of hide and seek!

Amber noticed her mates uneven strides, and moved to his hide and nudged his side, "Don't let Dart bug you, if he bugs you he wins. Laughing he hates which is why I do it, but he is only funny when he is being all cutesy to Kyra, does not suit hmmm." She hoped this may help his thoughts that seemed to be consuming him as consequence his strides were off.

She looked over at Sign, when she put her brakes on. She felt sorry for the mare, everyone has a thing that frightened of. Though she was glad that Tribe would stay with her. "Chasing them towards you two for an ambush sounds great and lots of fun! So be ready girls, this is going to have the be good team work!" she hoped her enthusiasm would catch with everyone. She then turned and nipped her mate's mane, "We will find them, that is a fact!" she winked and grinned, there was no doubt they find their trickster, she was not thinking anything else.

Traveler listened to the conversation but comforting was something she had little experience with, so she hoped Tribe would help Sign where she did not know how. She looked over at Sparkle when feeling his gaze on her, "This trail not bad to follow, so we should be good."

------
Rain was off at the other clearing, and realized, shoot left such a hard fog in tact ones in the woods it be a miracle to see any signs he left behind. So concentrating he lifted the fog enough to see trees so not head on collisions and with a head above the snow tracks could be seen. Then he returned to what he wanted them to find. He used his nose and well as ability to start moving the snow where it needed to be. He held back a chuckle, he thought it be quit amusing when it was done to look at his work.

Sparkle smiled, nipping at his mate's mane and offering Traveler an encouraging whicker as he turned back towards the trees. She had known just what to say; Amber always knew. It was as if she could read him.

She was right, of course. As long as the fool was seen as nothing more than a fool, he didn't have any power; he was inconsequential. He had to reach over and offer a quick nudge to the black mare; she made him so proud to call her his own.

"Come on then," he said, offering a half laugh to Traveler as he stepped back into the trees, "Let's round 'em back to the girls!"

With that he bolted back along the tail, nickering playfully at the two mares that would chase the trickster down with him.

Sign smiled at Amber's good cheer as they started off again, sighing as the fog lightened just enough to keep the others from slamming face first into a tree.

"If you trip them, I'll tackle them," Tribe offered, taking Amber's example and trying to be enthusiastic. "They'll get a good facefull of snow."

"I wanna sit on their head," Sign joked, and grinned as she got herself a laugh from Tribe. "Hey, all that snow was heavy! I can return the favor of some extra weight."

"Speaking of, let's circle around a few times. You still have too much sticking to you to be good, and I can see some of it freezing back into ice."

Sign's answer was to nip at the bangle in the mare's fetlock before leaping forward, chuckling as Tribe bounded after her with a cry of "Gonna catch ya, sugar!"