Page 11 of Forging Bonds: Part One

Mael stomps his front hoof and shakes his head.

My eyebrows raise, "I guess he doesn't agree with something that I said, but I'm not sure which thing." I look at Mael, "Am I wrong about being able to call the whole herd because you are the leader?"

Mael nods.

"Well, that's that then. I'll just ask Sully and see if he knows," I say with a shrug. "At least that means that you guys should be able to call your kelpies."

"I'll try first!" River announces and then immediately starts whistling.

The tune is entirely different from the one that I used to call Mael, or I suppose I accidentally called the whole herd, not just him. I wonder if the call that I use specifically for him is different again? I don't want to call the herd every time that I want to call Mael.

Sure enough, the kelpie bonded to River quickly appears, and they both seem to be as excited as each other that they are together. River immediately swings himself up onto Reath's back, and then they start galloping through the long grass that extends around the property.

I laugh, "I love that his kelpie is so similar to him."

"Me too," Raiden grins, "my turn."

One by one, they all call the kelpies that are bonded to them until they're all here.

I grin at how happy they all look, and their kelpies seem to match their personalities just like River's does. He's still not back, and I can see him in the distance encouraging his kelpie to jump over some of the crumbling garden walls. I'm not sure we're going to be able to convince him to come back and leave his kelpie.

"This is awesome," Griff says, one of his rare full smiles gracing his face.

It occurs to me that I don't know all of their bonded kelpies' names, "What's everyone’s bonded kelpies called? With everything that happened with the breach, we didn't get around to talking about that."

"Venor," Griff replies immediately, patting the neck of one that looks like it will eventually be closer in color to grass green with a darker mane and tail once it is no longer dulled.

“Mavros,” Raiden replies.

His kelpie is a lot darker than the others; in fact, it's black, but whereas it did look dulled and muted just like the others, its coat is starting to look a lot more vibrant, the black looking like the night sky, and as I study him closerI realize that he has tiny flecks of silver covering him as well. I honestly can't wait to see what he looks like when he is no longer dulled.

"Mines called, Kaelar," Evander says.

His one is dark midnight blue, with patches of royal blue on his chest and face. At least, I think he is. It's really difficult to tell what their true colors are going to be while they're still so muted.

Doc pats the neck of the caramel and dark green kelpie, standing next to him calmly, "This is Jago."

"Adikia," Ransom smiles.

The kelpie that is currently nuzzling his shoulder is going to be a very light blue, almost white or maybe even silver. I can't quite tell yet, but it is definitely going to be a light color.

Reed reintroduces his purply blue one, that has a lighter colored mane and tail, "Thoreah."

"Nice to meet you," I say to them. Glancing out to where River is still galloping. Originally when I first saw River’s kelpie he looked to be a murky kind of green, but now that his colors are beginning to brighten up, it’s clear that he actually has a dark teal body and burnt orange mane. I add with an amused smile, "Obviously, I know Reath."

We all enjoy watching the kelpies as the rest of the herd start to chase Reath and River, and they all look like they are having the best time.

"Is it me, or do the rest of the herd look like they are also changing color?" Reed asks after a moment.

I look closer at the herd and then nod, "Yeah, actually it does. That's weird and something else that Sully didn't mention."

"We'll add it to the list of things that we need to ask him about the kelpies," Doc grins.

"I hate to say it, but we should really head to Naimh's place so that we can get home," Evander says.

I sigh, "Yeah, we really should."

Evander calls River to come back, and while he's on the way, the rest of the kelpies follow behind him, Raiden looks back at Griff.

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