We're Golden

Finally fished this! So happy with it, probably one of my favorite pieces so far! Love everything about this group...and this horse! Please download for better view <3

Bid for 063 Desert Ghost at the Black Market. Featuring my new character, Nioma Tokhta!

Name: Desert Ghost

Nickname(s): Ghost, Dez

Gender: Stallion

Breed: Jibita

Height: 151 cm
Personality: Dez is a loyal companion. He is untrusting and quick to judge with his fight or flight instincts. This makes him not particularily friendly, from which he earns part of his name, Ghost. However, once you earn his trust, he's yours. Dez is protective and and caring, no matter how aloof he may appear. He puts on an act but he truly loves company, particularily that of humans. He is fascinated with children and thinks them very sweet. He's a strong and capable horse looking to be a good companion.

History: Dez was born and raised to a nomadic family that lived in the deserts. He became naturally adapted to the sand and was able to survive with the help of his humans. He loved the family and grew up in nothing else. They were kind and loving. When three of the grown children went off on their own they took Dez with them. They had been living on their own for a year when a storm separated the siblings. Dez and another one of the horses were found by one of the siblings. Needing money and not able to live off the land by himself, one of the humans Dez had been raised by sold him at Kestrana. Since then he has been living in the city, waiting to be auctioned to the highest bidder. In his days away from the family he's become aggressive and temperamental, nothing like he was in his prior life. He's been deemed dangerous by others, a true wild horse. Dez is none of that, he instead has just had his trust broken. He will need a strong new home to help him rebuild himself.

STORY

Nioma was beginning to regret everything.

She had been traveling nonstop with her brother. Aslan insisted they had to keep moving. The last leg of their travels had been through the hazardous desert. Nioma had seen sand dunes, massive winds, and hot suns before. Growing up on the outskirts of Ashore to a nomadic family, she had passed the Wastelands before. Never had she hiked through the fiery sands before. Aslan, astride the back of one of their father's horses, explained their destination with fervor. The people, the horses, and the goods were items Nioma had never seen before. Aslan turned back, arms outstretched, smiling. His thick dark curls wrapped around his face all the way down to his chin. He still had his freckles, though not as many as when he was younger. Astride the horse Nioma could see how much he took after their father. His legs stretched below the horses' barrel, and his figure was tall and lean. Laughing, Nioma leaned down and patted the steed she was on, another animal lent from their parents. 

Nioma rubbed her eyes. "How much longer?" She called out to Aslan, trotting far ahead. She saw nothing but sand everywhere she looked. Her brother shrugged and kept riding, spreading his arms out to the wind. She had dreamed of this day when her parents would let her travel with Aslan. As a child her brother, being the older one, was allowed to go on trips with their father to barter. Now the siblings went together. Nioma had lost track of the days since they left--it must of been a season ago--when they waved goodbye and galloped off. They were to return to give back the horses after buying their own. It was a right of passage, their father always said, to find and buy your own horse. Nioma watched the horizon, waiting for buildings to appear.

They were going to Kestrana.

Her throat was dry, her legs sore, and her eyes heavy, but they had to keep riding. The only thing keeping her awake was the hope of seeing the marvelous city. She had been six when she had first learned a world existed beyond the forests and plains her family travelled between. Nioma was told by her mother to wave goodbye to her older brother, then eleven, and her father. She did so and watched them until they disappeared into the horizon. When the sun rose every morning she would crawl out from her tent and sit in the grass, watching the fire rise into the sky. She expected to see her brother and father to return and so she sat in wait. When her mother finally noticed this she took her daughter into her arms and smiled.

"They won't be back for awhile." Her mother, a gentle woman with deep auburn hair and loving brown eyes held her daughter close to her. "There's a world beyond the western coast. Mountains, plains, and deserts."

"Desert?" Nioma had heard of them before, places where instead of grass sand lay. Similar to beaches, but instead for miles and miles.

"Yes. That's where Erhan and Aslan are going, to a large desert and a city called Kestrana."

"Kestrana." Nioma whispered and looked back to the horizon. "Can I go?"

"One day, one day. Right now, you have chores to do." And so Nioma stood and skipped off to go take care of the horses. She never asked her mother again about the world beyond them, she wanted to see it for herself.

"People ahead!" Aslan called out. Nioma looked up and her brother was right, a group of travelers were stopped with their horses. Aslan stopped and waited until Nioma caught up. "Let me do the talking, alright?" Nioma shrugged and the two dismounted, leading their horses forward.

"You two are young to be taking the desert on alone!" One of the travelers called out, an older man dressed in long robes of ripped and frayed fabric. He wore a scarf to cover his head and face from the sand.

"I'm Aslan Tokhta and this is my sister, Nioma." 

"I'm Mergen and these are my sons." The man gestured to his fellow travelers who were tending to their horses, they nodded but quickly went back to work. "Where are you two going? You know that sun won't be in the sky very longer." Mergen gestured to the sky with his walking stick and he was right. The sun was starting to fade fast.

"Kestrana. To trade." Aslan said with pride. 
"And to buy horses!" Nioma piped in with a grin.

"I wish you luck. One of ours went lame, no more travels for today," Mergen said. "Hurry fast, todays auctions will be ending soon." 

Aslan waved goodbye and the two mounted again, galloping off with the sun descending behind them. They galloped until their horses could no longer and fell back to a steady trot. Finally a sight appeared on the horizon. Buildings. Nioma almost leapt from her horses' back in excited. Instead she pointed and called out to her brother. It wasn't much longer before they entered the city. It was everything she hoped it would be, but looked nothing like it did in her imagination. 

The place was filled with white tents, standing out against the shadow of the approaching night. People, so many people, walking and riding by. Every shade of skin, every color of clothing, every age and shape passed Nioma. Her jaw dropped as she looked back and forth through the crowds. Cries from animals she had never seen beat against her ears, and weapons she had only heard of were openly displayed. With Aslan riding next to her, his arm reached out in comfort, she felt safe. All the tiredness of the travels had worn off. Her eyes were vivid, her mind excited, and she felt no pain. She had no more regrets.

Nioma reached into the pocket of her pants, pulling out a small pouch of valuable coins. Their parents had each given them a pouch, enough to make it to Kestrana and back comfortably. Nioma hadn't spent any. She had gone hungry, cold, and thirsty to save her coins for this day. 

"Put those away!" Aslan whispered in her ear. She quickly stuffed them back into their pocket.

They dismounted upon reaching the auction grounds and tied their horses. Above them the sky was vibrant shades of pink and purple, the daylight almost gone. A voice called from the distance. It was the last auction of the day. There was still a large crowd but Nioma suspected it was smaller than usual. Nioma and Aslan pushed through to the front of the crowd. Nioma took her pouch of coins into her hands, ready. 

Hooves beat against the packed sand. A man released a horse into the pen. It galloped around with a neigh like a scream. It then came to a sliding stop and tossed its head back and forth. Nioma heard nothing but a drone from the auctioneer. Instantly she had dropped the bag of coins. In slow motion they fell from her hand into the sand. Her eyes could not be lifted from the stallion trotting around the pen. He was large but muscular, with a short mane and large hooves. Nioma was transfixed. 

The auctioneer began the bids. She didn't hear what the price was but it didn't matter, she was already waving her hand madly in the air. Aslan had wrapped his arm around hers, trying to stop her, but she pushed him away. 

Her shadow grew to darkness behind her and others began to call out their own bids. She looked like a child with her short hair and freckled face but she held her own. She was going to buy that horse, there was no other reason why she had felt a desire to travel. It was for this moment, and she couldn't have wanted anything more.

So she threw her hand in the air again and screamed out her bid louder than all the others. This was her Kestrana.