Monday

The horses arrived on Monday. A larger boat had been borrowed by the boatman, and the modest herd of four were shipped across the water, walked to the opposite end of the island, and eventually introduced to the other horses already on the island. All four horses were draft, purchased to help mainly with the agricultural labor--increasing as the number of residents here rose--in areas where the riding horses simply could not. After being introduced to the local herd the four were easily accepted, each being of generally gentle and unbothered disposition.

Abel, not that he had been referred to as such for some years, was standing near the center of the pasture they had all been turned out in to. He watched his barnmates graze and shift around the field listlessly. Some of the thoroughbreds would trot about when the winds traveled through, but Abel just stood there and waited. He never knew what he waited for, just for work to do or something interesting to happen that he could observe and think on. Such was the life of a horse.

Of course, there was something about this place that was very different from any other place he had been brought. Not many of the residents had been seen, and none had yet to come view the new arrivals to the stables aside from the few that had arranged the purchase. But even those few had been odd. And for the first time in a long time, there was a spark like hope somewhere buried deep in a place Abel had hidden from himself so that patience could continue to prevail in his mind. Something different wouldn't necessarily help him, but at least it wasn't the same.

Spotted fur slid over rolling joints, the lithe body weaving through the swaying grasses with honed inherited grace. The prowling beast was bored and had something wicked in mind.

There had been a new shipment of horses today.

And so was the reason the cheetah was making it's way out to the pastures. Normally, Ndale would simply run the fields and return to the castle to his boyfriend or mother, or perhaps lazy about on the couches half asleep while keeping an ear up for chatters in the room of those who were too unobservant and loose with their secrets. Today, however, there was an opportunity for some fun. Horses were fast, yes, and so was he. They also spooked when predators came rolling around, like on such as he. Of course, the high strung equine were the best, and he had been told that the large horses coming in were not so jumpy, but hey, wasn't the challenge half the fun?

Coming in sight of the occupied fields, the cheetah lowered, head down, ears back, belly near dragging along the ground, tickled by the blades of green. Sharp amber eyes darted over the forms. One in particular caught his attention. A lone whitish grey, and very big, horse. Separated from the prancing herd, back towards his current location, he was a preferred target.

Right. Now, no hurting the new work force, just startling...
Tail twitching in anticipation, pupils dilated and weight shifted, ears pinned back.

One...
Two......
Three.........
GO!

Ndale shot forward, spine extending, he took a long bound, two, and sprung up towards the horses head with a hunter's hissing growl. The agile body rotated away, not wanting to actually make contact, coiling and flipping. Making almost a complete back flip in the air, the feline landed on his feet again, loaded and tense for the horse's spooked reaction, eager to chase and pester.

Abel had no idea the cheetah were there. Perhaps he should have been paying enough attention to notice such a thing, but a long time ago he realized that not a lot of predators were up for the challenge a beast of his size could present.

He was startled. Airborne-cheetah-in-your-face would do that to you. Abel's chin was tossed up into air with a surprised snort. One back hoof retreated step, and one front hoof lifted a couple inches before thumping back into the earth. But that was about it. Lowering his chin again and stretching it forwards a bit, the massive horse shook his mane, already settled after the faux attack. He then proceeded to simply watch the predator before him. It looked like a cheetah, but maybe it was a leopard. Neither had ever been observed by Abel in person, and he'd never studied pictures or behavior, but he knew both were spotted. Cheetahs were the fast ones, right? This one looked fast.

Some nearby horses had been spooked by the feline's display, even though they were not the targets. Several whinnies and hoof beats could be heard as they hurried to distance themselves from the gray shire and his new guest. Abel supposed standing a bit separate from the herd would make him a target, but he didn't think he was in particular danger unless there were more cheetahs around, if they even hunted in packs, he had no idea.

What was a cheetah doing on an island off of Scotland anyways?

Blue eyes never left the cat, a little curious about what happens next.

Still crouched in ready-for-action pose, he grinned as the beast moved, obviously unsettled and hearing the start of the horses farther off. Surely he had caught them by surprise! Excited eyes watched, waiting...but...

Wait. That was it? The cheetah turned his ears forward and rose from his crouch, watching the horse watching him. What was this?! This was stupid. His grin dropped to a displeased frown. He'd been jipped! This horse was a dud, obviously. One that needed to be sent back, as he was insufficiently amusing. That had hardly been a reaction at all! Ears falling down to the sides unhappily, he stared at the dull beast. Well, this was lame.

Huffing, the cheetah turned tail, head down and strolling away as if bored already. He only made it three paces before he swiftly turned and leaped again. A thin-limbed paw darted out to swat the horses's feet. Surely the grey white-ish huge freakin' horse would not be so undeterred if he showed signs of actually hitting him! He was cheetah! He ate things like this horse! Well...okay, he ate things cooked specially for him by Od made to the way he liked them while also being nutritionally balanced for his needs, but he used to eat things like this horse! Okay...well, he used to eat things a little smaller than this horse, really, he supposed. But dang it! There was a hierarchy to these things! He was a hunter, and this horse was not. However, this horse just didn't seem to get it. He was not following the rules here! He couldn't just ignore these things! Yowling, Ndale continued to bat at the feathered front hoof for as long as he didn't get a reaction, though fully expecting one, so wired and ready to spring back and away.

When the cheetah began his retreat, Abel was admittedly unimpressed. That isn't to say he wasn't glad the hunter had given up so readily. Trouble was not a thing he desired, though he was feeling slightly apologetic at the defeated droop of the cheetah's ears. He shook his head dismissively.

He was just lowering his head for some absent grazing when he was prompted to jerk his head back a second time. The look he gave the feline was almost incredulous. It was... batting at the feathers covering his hooves. It didn't hurt of course, and he wasn't sure it would unless this cat really tried. There was a lot of hair to get through there and most of it was knotted and caked with mud from the long walk this morning; not easy combing for any set of claws. Besides, he could feel the repetitive batting thump against his hoof... Did this cat know anything about hoofs and how.. solid they were? Maybe it was so skinny because it was incompetent at this hunting thing.

Eats perked forwards at the strange sounding yowl and Abel snorted airily in annoyance. At length he obliged by lifting the offended hoof, only to stamp it down heavily into the dirt with a resounding THWUMP very near to the obnoxious animal's head.

He knew he wouldn't land the blow on the feline, he hadn't wanted to, harboring no desire to injure any of his God's creatures. And though he had stepped on his fair share of feet during his five years of cursed-hood, he had endured enough days to grow accustomed to the wide berth of each foot. The aim was to startle the predator enough to maybe convince him to be on his way and leave the poor shire to his grazing.

When nothing happened, it only frustrated Ndale more. Really...What was wrong with this annoying horse!? It didn't do anything! It snorted and, while the lifting of the hoof had been taken as a good sign at first, the offending stomp was unappreciated. Ears swiveled forward at the noise as it impacted with the ground. Right. Big hoof things, careful of those. The cat jerked back, springing away to a safe distance before jumping forward again, relentless.

Not to be defeated by a simple grass-muncher, Ndale dropped to his side, aiming to wrap front paws around the massive leg and kick with his back feet, biting forward into the feathers.

Abel huffed out his annoyance with a mild toss of his head when the cheetah retreated for a second time. At least this time, it came back right away instead of leading the horse to believe he was going to be left alone. And this time...

He tilted his head comically to get a decent view of what the feline was up to this time. It was dangerously close to those hooves, and Abel only fleetingly hopped over the regret that he knew he would not be able to actually injure this animal to make it go away.

Abel watched the feline bury it's muzzle into his feathers and snorted loudly at the abusive way those back feet were kicking and tearing into the white-blonde hair. Still, the horse felt no injury though. Not even a little scratching despite the cheetah's doubled efforts, and he wondered with some amusement if it was trying to play merely play with him.

Shaking out his mane a second time and following it up with a mildly annoyed swish of his tail, Abel bent his head forwards and slowly picked up his tackled front hoof. He was mindful not to step on any dangling part of the cheetah, such as his tail, as he lowered the appendage back to the earth. In this gently slow manner, Abel took a couple steps through the grass, always very careful with how he placed his hooves. Maybe if he kept moving the cheetah would become too frustrated.

He was aware the horse was looking at him, yes. He was also aware that the horse was doing nothing else! Well, until the hoof lifted. The clawing hold turned to more of a hold as he was lifted and he considered briefly that he should spin away, but he didn't want to get caught under that hoof... he was relieved though at the slow pace, and the beast seemed to be...well, delicate with him, actually. He was stubborn enough to both be irritated that he wasn't actually scaring the horse and to claim a small victory in the fact that the horse had moved a couple of steps at his pestering.

However...he also realized the dignity being lost at being dragged through the grass attached to the leg of the Shire. When next the hoof was placed on the ground, and him along with it gently, he released the leg. Putting on an air of being entirely bored of this new toy, he pushed his paws against the leg as if to shove it away from him. Though, he was the one who slid back rather than the horse's leg being moved, it had somewhat the same effect. The pout on his face was clear as he glared dully at the feather foot. His jaw snapped open and closed, tongue lapping, trying to get out the hair his biting had earned him. It didn't seem, however, that the gentle horse would step on him, so he didn't bother moving right away. In face, this new tactic was him being in the way. He turned his glare up on the blue eyes of the grey equine, ears still pinned back.

The slow walk stopped as soon as the cheetah let go. The push against his leg amused him and Abel found himself reminded of the nature of small children. If the feline was going to sit there and detangle horse-hair-balls from his teeth, he had probably had enough. Or at least that was the hope. But then there was the look. He could swear he was being glowered at. Well, it wasn't terribly surprising, supposing he did ruin whatever fun this cheetah was seeking. He would be better off bothering one of the other horses anyway.

Abel delivered the best dull glare a horse could manage, to try and silently instruct the feline to stay put, and began to turn away from this annoyance. Standing obstinately was growing boring and if this cat didn't want to leave, then Abel figured he would.

He maintained a slow pace as he turned his back on the cheetah, not wanting to give it the impression he was fleeing. That, he assumed, would only rekindle some urge to chase or hunt or whatever, and he just wanted it to go away.

On the receiving end of the return glare, Ndale's ears only pressed farther back against his head, eyes narrowing. He went rigid as the large hooves started moving around him though, and lay still until the large beast was safely away from over him. It was then that he rose to a casual seat on his haunches, tail flicking as he watched the horse lumber away in a slow, almost dreary pace. He stayed just watched as the distance between them grew, but inside he was calculating.

This horse was not getting away from him yet. Ooohh noooo.... The cheetah peeled back his lips to bare his teeth and lifted his hind end while lowing his front in a ready stance. He waited until there was at least four of his strides between them, maybe a little more, to gain speed. See the horse stay calm this time!

Deeming it a sizable enough span, the cheetah's back legs kicked off. Zipping down a straight line towards the other four-legged creature, he gained his momentum. One, two, three, four strides. The fourth, he hesitated and loaded his spine before directing his energy upwards. Springing, the feline leaped, arms extended, directly towards the broad back of the horse. Of course, said horse was rather tall, and the leap would land him half upon the back, where he would then try to scramble his way up. Claws would only be used as necessary, and not for any harmful purposes.

Abel continued on his way, not particularly paying attention to where he went. Maybe he'd meander down to the brook and have a drink. He hazarded a glance over his shoulder after a few paced and was pleased to spot the cheetah remaining where he'd left him. Well, even if it was over now, it was interesting. Something to make this day different from the rest.

He didn't hear the cheetah coming. How could he? He'd written the meeting off as concluded and stopped paying any attention, no to mention the cheetah's natural stealth. As it was, what happened was completely unexpected. How gullible.

The sudden impact on his croup made the horse halt sharply, toss his head and reel back one step. He snorted more loudly this time and swung his head around to stare incredulously at the persistent cheetah. He shook his head in mild disbelief, but stood still while the feline got his footing and managed to scramble up onto his back.

Abel was not as clueless as a normal horse, and he realized that if he moved too much the cheetah may be inclined to use his claws to find a hold. At the moment, his attacker didn't seem to find that necessary, thankfully. He also understood what was happening, as another horse might not have. The cat was being annoyingly relentless and shortly after leaving him behind, Abel is pounced. It did not take a terrible lot of thought to realize what had occurred and that there was probably no reason to panic.

So the shire just watched the cheetah, patiently wary of what would happen next. If he was bitten, he would have to move to remove the cheetah, even if the fall could hurt it. He took a couple tentative steps before halting again to test the feline's determination.

Deneli wouldn't deny that she'd had plenty of opportunities to go to the stables and see the horses. There was just so much to see that she'd forgotten. It was one of the first things she'd though of when she'd arrived at Lillegard though. Did land horses look anything like sea horses? She remembered her uncle's friend, a human, loved horses. Almost as much as monkeys! Sea horse weren't that pretty though. They were like little skeletons. Land creatures were so much different than sea creatures though. She had to see the land horsies!

Upon arriving in the pasture, she was shocked. They were huge! She hadn't expected them to be any taller than 3 feet. She horses never got any bigger than one foot! Why did they have the same name when they were sooo different?

Deneli moved quickly about the pasture. Now with her new ability to run freely, Deneli had grown to love the feeling of her messy blonde curls bouncing over her shoulders. She looked around once more, wondering if there were nice horsies around that she could meet, but the area she stood in now was relatively clear of horses. When she finally found one, a huge white one with a pretty mane, she tilted her head.

Ndale had been the first cheetah she'd met, and, if she got the chance, the white horsie would be the first horse she'd meet. She was pretty sure this would be the first and last time she'd see a cheetah riding a horse though. She jogged over to the two but kept a fair distance away.

Suddenly she was excited though. It had been a while since she'd seen Ndale, and her excitement was easily audible in her voice. "Kitty~! Why are you riding a horsie??" She had trouble getting the question out through her giggles, though.

Back legs kicked, tough pads on the bottom of paws making traction with the grey fur to get the feline fully atop the back of the large beast. It was made even easier by the lack of movement or reaction from the horse, though, which was not the point of this adventure here. Still, like a kid rather easily amused and distracted, Ndale found it actually rather cool how high up he was. Looking around, he rose slightly to stand. At the first steps of movement, he lowered quickly almost as if to lay down so he wouldn't fall off and so he could keep his balance. He really tried not using his nails, and as such, felt a little unsteady, but still, really awesome.

It took a moment, but he tried standing straighter again as the movement stopped. This was actually kind of fun. With wide eyes filled with fascination, the cheetah looked around. Eventually he looked up at the head turned to face him and he grinned wide, baring teeth in a cocky manner. Hey, this wasn't so hard.

Hearing a familiar voice, Ndale's ears perked forwards as he glanced up and over. The feline spotted Deneli coming towards them and gave a greeting chirping meow. The cheetah snickered and his tail set to swaying in a languid, happy fashion. The only answer he gave to the question, however, was a simple shrug and tilt of the head.

Abel was at least amused. He watched from the corner of his eye as the cheetah shifted between standing and crouching, which was good. It was a long fall after all, and he really did not wish for the creature to injure itself even if cats were supposed to land on their feet. You couldn't be certain.

The shire's ears flicker backwards warily and with some annoyance when the cheetah bared his teeth. Was it trying to be threatening? Because it sort of looked less menacing and more... demented. Cheerful, perhaps. It was an odd look he had never seen a wild predator give anything before. This experience was very bizarre.

So buggered by the unusual behavior of the cheetah, Abel did not realize another had been approaching them until he heard a sound like little bells, and whipped his head around to see a small girl giggling. She was cute, and her innocent manner brought some warmth when he was reminded of giggling groups of sisters and friends who would play around in the church's gardens while their parents mingled after mass. He used to play with the children, even though he had been rather young himself at the time, but had enjoyed acting like an older brother.

His next thought was recalling the cheetah currently perched on his back. Obviously the shire had proven himself an unaccommodating prey, as bad as the hunting effort had actually been. But he wasn't sure this girl would stand much chance, she looked so fragile.

A wary glare lingered over his shoulder and zeroed in on the feline with his ears pressed back, waiting tensely to see if he would abandon the horse for the smaller prey. If so, he was prepared to move to protect her.

Deneli closed the distance between herself and the horse, only now getting a good look at the Shire's face. Ohhh, that's why they had the same name. Their faces were the same! Upon reaching them, she gave the horse a wide smile. "Hi!" Even though she knew the horse couldn't talk back to her, she still felt an obligation to greet it properly. It was the first horse she'd ever met!

Deneli looked at Ndale on the horses back and tried to make her tone sound scolding. "Kitty! You're not hurting him are you??" She aimed a poke at one of Ndale's paws. "Bad Kitty!"

Deneli had decided by some random thread of logic, that likely made no sense at all, that the gender of the horse was male. Something about the color of his eyes and mane reminded her of a friend of hers. A friend who was male. If Calys was a horsie, this is what he would look like! That must mean the horsie was a boy!

As horse pinned his ears pack and looked, well, maybe a bit pissed, Ndale's ears went back as well. He lingered his gaze on the Shire's face before turning back to Deneli as he was scolded. He made a low meowing noise from the back of his throat in protest. He wasn't hurting the horse, really. He'd actually been really good about it. At the offending poke, Ndale lifted the paw targeted and made another noise of annoyance and he may have made to bat at her hand, but, of course, lifting one paw drew his weight back and the horse's fur wasn't the best ground to be standing on.

The cheetah's back right leg slipped over the side of the beast and he chirped as he nearly fell over. Landing on his stomach on the horse's back, he had to use a bit of his front claws to keep from sliding, but he quickly retracted them as he stabilized himself. Okay, no standing. Unsettled, he stayed laying heavily and close to the skin beneath him, a little scared to move at the moment.

Abel wished he could greet this cheerful girl, he really did, even a whinny. But he could only perk his ears forwards and bow his head a little to acknowledge her words.

When the girl reached forwards to poke the cheetah, Abel grew nervous. He side-stepped to put the predator out of reach again, not wishing for her to aggravate it and put herself in some sort of danger. But when the cat merely mewed pathetically and not at all in the manner Abel was under the impression large cats should sound, he wondered if this was perhaps... some sort of pet? That would certainly explain why his hunting was so rotten, he probably was really just trying to play.

He wasn't sure if it was the fault of his own small movement or if the cheetah was just a little clumsy up there, but when it began to slip, Abel steadied himself as best he could. He even held his breath despite the dully uncomfortable scratches combing through his fur as the cheetah tried to regain his footing.

When it seemed the feline had settled himself well enough, balanced there on his belly, Abel rolled his eyes at the scene before turning to eye the newer arrival again. He lowered his head and tried to nudge the girl's curls gently and playfully with a warm airy breath through his nose. His tail swished leisurely behind him, the brief feeling of danger passing with the feline's lack of grace.

Deneli seemed to find every action made by the cheetah to be comical given his position on the horse, and she couldn't seem to make herself stop laughing. Ndale was so silly. Of course, as the horse played with her curls, it brought on another onslaught of laughter. Yay, he was a nice horsie~

Now with the horse's face so close, Deneli moved to stroke his mane with one hand. She looked at Ndale for a moment before reestablishing eye contact with the horse. "Ndale's a silly kitty!" Deneli couldn't even recall the last time she'd referred to him as "Ndale" and she wondered if she'd even said his name right. She was pretty sure she had though. She knew it had three letters -- in the written language she was used to, anyway -- and the word "doll" in it, and that's how she remembered it.

In case she'd said it wrong though, she looked back at the cheetah and stuck her tongue out at him. The action wouldn't be totally uncalled for at the moment, and if she'd said the name wrong she could pretend that she'd done it on purpose.

He wished the horse would stop moving. It was not all that easy being up here on live ground. Ndale pressed closer to the horse's back, though, laying his head down to try and seem casual. Even being still, the rise and fall of his breathing was unsettling. It felt awkward, though, it was actually soothing after awhile. In fact, never mind, he quite liked it. His eyes took a longer blink and he entertained the thought of falling asleep before Deneli caught his attention. He hadn't really been paying attention, his span for that not being entirely great at the moment, and as such, only caught the words "silly kitty" and a tongue directed at him in a rather childish manner. The only obvious answer that any adult would do? Return the gesture.

His hung out his long, rough tongue at the girl, pulling up his lip slightly and pinned back his ears and gave a huffing growl. With a roll of his eyes, his gaze landed on the span of horse neck in front of him. Bored, and for some reason transfixed on the base of the mane, he absently decided to lap said barbed tongue over the horse's withers before attempting to gently gnaw on them. The cheetah again was certainly not trying to hurt Abel, but it was a sufficiently amusing action and may have been a bit sharp if his teeth poked or pinched the skin.

Abel obediently held still while the girl stroked his mane. He blinked when her eyes caught his, then his gaze wandered back to view the feline where he sat just in the corner of his vision. Nuh.. dolly? Doll-A? Was that what she'd said? It was a strange name, but a name nonetheless. So it was a pet after all. That was a relief, at least. He probably wouldn't have to worry about it attacking any kids or the other livestock. It was traied, he noted, when the cheetah returned the childish gesture of sticking one's tongue out. It was amusing, and he would smile if he could. As it was, his ears merely raised straighter with interest.

He was letting his watchful gaze slip from the predator lounging across his back again when there was an faint unexpected pressure on his withers followed by a very small sharp pinch. The muscles at the base of his mane twitched instinctively as if to scare of a biting fly, but in his mind he knew it was no fly. Both ears pinned back with mild annoyance and the shire swung his massive head around to nip reprehensibly at whatever bit of the cheetah he could manage to reach.

Jumping off a building was not Rhys's most grand idea.

After all, it sounded suicidal, right?

She jumped anyways. Not long afterwards, her wings caught the first draft, lifting her high and away from her starting point.. Only...that draft didn't keep her in the air for as long as she thought it would. It faded, and she flattened out herself into her fish form, lightening so small gusts could break her fall. Instead, she tumbled through the air in mad circles. Since the wind wasn't helping she transformed back into human form, hoping to distribute the pain over a larger area. If successful, her body might ache like it was nothing, but the pain would be lessened.

Being one who couldn't predict the weather, yet another small gust affected her flight. She ended up tilting somewhat, hitting the ground against her left shoulder.

CRACK!

I shouldn't have been doing this in the first place... she thought.

She had no feeling in her left arm, at all. She pondered sitting up, but didn't feel like writing in pain for hours on end. She moved her arm only slightly, and she grimaced, biting back tears of pain. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. Especially Larita. She'd probably come up with tons of ways to insult and criticize how 'weak' Rhys would be.

She smiled at the thought of punching that prissy brat fully in the face.

She continued to glance at the sky. Although one arm hurt, the other one worked fine. It wasn't worth going to the infirmary for.

~~

[[Sorry for barging in. <_> By the way, she lands some couple 20 yards away from the rest of em. I don't think they would hear her arm break though :X]]

Deneli let out yet another giggle as Ndale stuck his kitty tongue out at her. The gesture looked so much funnier since Ndale was a cheetah then it did when she saw someone with a humanoid form do it. Deneli wondered for a moment if the horse was alright with having Ndale on his back. He didn't seem to mind much, but then, how did a horse show he didn't like something anyway? She looked between the two for a moment.

Her voice took on a scolding tone again as looked at Ndale. "Kitty! Don't bite him. Be nice!" She wagged a finger where Ndale would see, but somehow the smile plastered across her face defeated the purpose. Underwater, there was really no fish that was the equivalent of a cheetah. None that Deneli could think of off the top of her head anyway. Even if there was though, Deneli had just learned that seahorses and land horses were entirely different. It didn't click for her that cheetah's were a predators and horses were their potential prey. Or maybe it just didn't click that Ndale was a predator at all. He'd been nothing but nice to her~

Somewhere in the background she saw something fall from the sky. Deneli stood on the tippy-toes to try and get a good look over and around the large horse. Was it a birdie?? That's a big bird!

Gnawing on the horse as he had been, Ndale was startled by the sudden horse face that was nipping at him. He jumped, shifting backwards as the lips of the horse grazed the fur of shoulder. He hissed, annoyed, but pulled back. He huffed and batted his ears in a rather dignified, haughty manner as if he was astounded the horse had dared nipped at him, so great was he. Eyes narrowed and chin high, Ndale sat himself rather pointedly on the top of the horse's rump, farther away where he would be harder to reach, tail curling around his feet, back turned definitely towards the Shire's head.

He likewise ignored Deneli's light scolding. From his perspective, he had done nothing wrong. His attention was soon grabbed, however, by a rather big bird-like thing come down from the sky and crash landing a fair few yards away. His ears pinned back as he winced at the fall, then turned forwards in interest as the thing didn't move. Had it died? Possibly... Either way, he didn't scavange for food and from here he couldn't determine beauty, so it was only mildly interesting to him.

An amused glare was all Ndale got. Even one of the shire's ears, which had been pinned back, flickered forwards at the curiously harmless batting. If anything should have instigated more of a properly predatory reaction from the feline, nipping at him would have been on Abel's 'this should work' list. But he couldn't claim to be terribly surprised when the cheetah merely sat back in a haughty manner. Surprised, and a little impressed perhaps. This was a personality that could entertain.

He head bent to allow him to look at the girl again, humbled by her gentle scolding. It was obviously she had a good heart, and he found himself very fond of her already. He was leaning his nose down to nudge her again in thanks for her watchfulness, when the motion was halted by movement just at the edge of his vision. The horse picked his head up quickly in time to witness a figure crashing into the ground, his ears receiving the muffled sound of the impact over the distance.

He didn't look to see if either of the other two were quiet as concerned as he felt, of if the cheetah was ready to maintain his balance before moving forwards at a cautiously speedy pace that hovered awkwardly between a fast walk and a hesitant trot.

He wanted to make sure whatever had fallen was alright, of course, and as he neared he realized it was a person. How had a person fallen from the sky? His silent question drew his eyes towards the sky, where there was obviously nothing to have fallen from, which confused him greatly. But his curiosity abated for now as he finally reached the figure and leaned his head down to nudge at it very gently in hopes for a response.

Rhys flinched at the sharp stab of pain where someone..something poked, or in this instance, nudged at.
She then blinked at the white beast that hovered above her. She'd seen a creature similar to this before in books of sorts...A unicorn?

Also, unicorns were known to have magical healing powers.

An idea sparked within her mind. Perhaps she could pretend she was badly wounded (more so than she already was) and it'd help her.

She stuttered her words purposely: "W-Who? I-I....f-f-fell..."