WF24 Taming 6

Archer yawned and stretched, rolling out of bed and landing lightly on his feet. He was well rested for the first time in what seemed like forever. His stresses from the previous day had been all but taken care of- the bills had been paid, and his tokota was doing better thanks to the vet’s visit. Archer wanted to head out to the barn to check on the tokotas, but made sure that he made a quick, warm breakfast for himself and dressed for the weather before making his way outside. Per his now usual routine, Archer was planning on going after Esmerelda and Moira with the help of Balan and Foxtrot, and the two wild tokotas had recently been coming into his yard, where Archer normally picked up their trail. However, this morning, he couldn’t find any fresh paw prints in the snow. He sighed before giving a shiver in the cold morning air, drawing his jackets closer to his body as his fur began to fluff up against the cold. He slid open the large barn door, and waves of yips, growls, and barks flooded over him as the tokotas responded to his presence. Archer patted snouts and rubbed ears as he made his way over to Balan’s stall, rubbing the sphinx’s ears before giving his halter an experimental tug. Balan shook his head, but the halter was secure. Archer unlatched the door and the brownish sphinx padded slowly from his stall out into the center of the barn before making his way slowly out the barn door. With Balan out and no doubt looking around the yard for Esmerelda’s and Moira’s scents, Archer walked over to Foxtrot’s stall and patted the red brown tokota on the head, narrowly managing to avoid getting his jacket attacked with Foxtrot’s slobbery tongue. He led the affectionate tokota into the center of the barn and clipped his halter to the cross ties on either side of the barn walls, before realizing that he had forgotten Foxtrot’s saddle bags with the seal meat in them to tempt Esmerelda. He scratched Foxtrot’s ears before walking out of the barn and back into his house, where the saddle bags were slung over the kitchen chair. As he returned to the barn, Archer caught movement to one side, and looked over to see Esmerelda and Moira padding through the trees at a steady pace. Balan was still nosing through the snow in the other side of the yard, and was unaware of the wild tokota’s steady, even, and quiet loping pace through the trees. Archer watched, standing still as he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself as Foxtrot wasn’t with him, and Balan was distracted. After they had passed on, Archer hurried into the barn, and finished tacking up Foxtrot quickly- brushing out his fur and putting on his saddle blanket, saddle, saddle bags, and clipping his reins to his halter. Foxtrot’s nose twitched at the scent of the meat, but thankfully today he didn’t move around in circles trying to get at the saddle bags on his back. Archer climbed up into the saddle and rode the red brown tokota out of the barn, whistling for Balan as he did so. The sphinx padded over, tail wagging slightly, and Archer lead the two tokotas over to where he had seen Esmerelda and Moira a few minutes ago. Their tracks had been preserved by a layer of freshly fallen snow, and it was easy for Foxtrot and Balan to pick up the fresh scent trail of the two wild tokotas. Archer wanted to catch up with the two wild tokotas, but at the same time he didn’t want to run up behind the on Foxtrot with Balan beside them, possibly scaring them. He decided to follow the tracks until they reached a clear area where Esmerelda and Moira would be able to see Archer, Foxtrot, and Balan approaching, and hopefully not get scared by the random tokotas and handler that seemed to pop up every day. Archer had been pleased with the progress that Esmerelda had made in trusting him, though Balan and Moira seemed more friendly with each other. Foxtrot hadn’t really gotten a chance to interact with either, as both wild tokotas had been hesitant to get close to Archer, but he was pretty friendly and Archer didn’t think that there would be any issues between him and Esmerelda or Moira. He relaxed in the saddle as Foxtrot and Balan padded through the trees, sticking to the trail that the two wild tokotas had left as they moved through the trees. The group crossed a couple of small streams, and Foxtrot and Balan paused to drink from them, though Archer didn’t want to leave the relative safety of Foxtrot’s back to catch a drink from the cold, clear mountain streams. He didn’t particularly want to get splashed by the chilly water, and most of the streams had either a thin layer of ice covering them or ice around the edges of the stream bank. After Foxtrot and Balan had drunk their fill, the group continued on their quest to track down Esmerelda and Moira. They had been heading in the general direction of the bay, and Archer wasn’t surprised when the trees began to thin and give away to stalks of marsh grasses that hadn’t been covered over fully by the snow. As he looked out over the flat landscape sloping gently down towards the blue waters of the bay, Archer saw Esmerelda and Moira padding over the snow, heading for the water. He nudged Foxtrot’s sides, prompting the red brown tokota to pick up his pace with Balan following at his side. Archer began to whistle a tune, letting Esmerelda and Moira know that he was there, and both wild tokotas paused, pricking their ears as Archer’s whistling reached them. Moira made a few more steps towards the bay, but Esmerelda remained where she was, ears pricked and attentive as she watched Archer, Foxtrot, and Balan approach. Her tail twitched slightly, as if it was beginning to wag, but stopped. Archer slowed Foxtrot when he got within fifty feet of Esmerelda, while Balan padded on ahead to meet up with Moira, who seemed somewhat pleased to see him. Archer let Foxtrot get within fifteen feet of Esmerelda before reining him in to a stop, not wanting to upset the wild tokota or make her uncomfortable. He tried extending a hand to her, which got her to shuffle forwards a little bit, but once Archer pulled out the chunk of seal meat that he had brought with him for her, Esmerelda eagerly closed the distance between them, only stopping when she got within five feet of Foxtrot. Archer smiled- it seemed that Esmerelda was beginning to trust him more. He waited a few moments, wanting to see if she would be comfortable with coming any closer, before inching Foxtrot closer by a few steps. Esmerelda remained still and attentive on the meat in front of her, so Archer tossed it to the white patched wild tokota, who caught the chunk of meat in the air with an easy grace. Moira whined, probably wondering why Archer always brought meat for Esmerelda instead of herself while Balan looked on as Esmerelda ate the chunk of meat. After she had finished, Moira chuffed, trying to get Esmerelda's attention, and the wild tokota raised her head, before moving off with her companion towards the bay. Archer watched the two retreating forms, sighing contentedly while rubbing Foxtrot's shoulder. There would always be tomorrow.