The portal drops you and quickly disappears. You grump and rub your backside.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" a soft voice calls out. You look around, somewhat confused. You don't seen anyone.
"Down here!" the voice calls out again. You look down in the grass. There you see a dark red equine with a yellowish red mane and tail staring at you. You blink again.
"Be careful where you walk next time!" the mare chirps. "I'm Flamani, a Ja'alek mare. I'm the first to ever come to the realm. I have a few Ja'alek friends around here. Wait a moment and I'll gather them up."
Flamani trots off into the tall grass and out of sight. You wait, watching the butterflys that flit around, starting to grow a bit bored. You're almost ready to leave but soon you hear a rustle in the bushes and a few Ja'alek follow Flamani out of the brush.
The first stallion blinks in the sunlight and turns his head from side to side, listening to the area carefully. His eyes are strange, completely gold. Raw looking scars on his hindquarters and head are extremely visible off his teal hide. He turns his head again, ears moving from side to side, finally stopping when then they face your direction.
Behind him is Flamani herself. Behind her is an antlered male with funny clooved hooves and lastly is a dragon-taloned female. They all nod to you.
"This is Warrior, Anlon, and Jade." Flamani says, introducing them. The teal stallion snorts.
"Warrior has earned his name by his scars and his blindness. Before he came to this realm, he and his mate were attacked by a pegflit. His mate was injured a great deal and Warrior is now blind, filled with a deep anger and hurt that no one has been able to reach. It is best not to anger him. His mate is extremely jealous of other Ja'aleks because her leg was ripped off during the attack. If you look over there, I'm sure you can see her." Flamani says, nodding.
You peer over to where Flamani motioned and see a mare, head hanging and body covered in angry pinkish red scars. Her bright pink mane and tail hang limply as she stands. She turns and you notice that her leg hindleg is gone, all that is left is a stump.
Despite this, you can see the mare has no trouble moving. In fact, her movement is very smooth and liquid. She moves off farther into the brush and you turn and look for Flamani.
"She doesn't like me much...nor any other Ja'alek except Warrior. They both label themselves a cripples and keep away from the eyes of healthy Ja'alek."
Soon, a pair of Ja'alek move past, ignoring both of you, engaged in a lively conversation.
Flamani grins.
"Those two are quite fond of each other, as much as they'll never admit it." Flamani smirks and waggles her brows as they disappear.
Further away, there's a large group assembled, also engaged in conversation. Flamani makes no move to head their way, so you assume that you'll not get a face to face introduction.
"They're all reasonably new here and so hold meetings every few days to explain recent discoveries and such. They haven't intergrated well with the rest of us just yet."
Ja'alek Meadows
The Ja'alek are (c) to Cynther and the background is (c) to me. Nothing on this site is free clipart.