HOME | DD

Description
Evening fell, the clouds that had been looming over them and sprinkling the earth with rain all day had decided to make themselves at home in the sky and the raindrops continued their soft pitter patter on the roofs. Jay made sure the tokotas were taken care for the night Monty's fear had been conquered, check. With the first rite done, Jay knew what came next. The rite of navigation. It would be an extra challenge doing this rite, hell for that matter it would be a challenge for all of the rites. That was for one simple reason, the tokota he was riding, was blind.

Montgomery, the brown curly maned male tokota had been blind since birth, he had had time to hone his senses to a keen point. His sense of smell, normally sharp in any tokota could pick up scents days older then most, he could track almost any prey or human, though he often used it to hunt down where Jay had hidden the treats. Second was his hearing, he was extra aware of very small sounds, using them as cues to steer by, taste, well you could tell Monty enjoyed his food, he was quite the chubby buddy. Still, tokotas were normally such eating machines Jay could not really tell if Monty enjoyed food more than his sighted pack-mates. Last was touch, Monty was sensitive to the ground beneath his feet, and the wind against his fur, maybe not much more so then other tokotas but his body made up for his lack of vision in any way it could.

Besides all that, he had his handler, Jay to guide him, and outside of Jay the tokota might not have gotten too many hunting or explorations as he was lazy to the core and preferred to try and live the life of an indoor tokota. Jay had to admit that Monty was spoiled, but after all, his sire, Tiberius was also in Jacob's pack. And the pup being blind had added to the affection and being spoiled. That's not to say Jay did not try to make Monty work for all the food he consumed, but taking the blind tokota hunting or on explorations was always more mentally, and sometimes more physically taxing then he would prefer.

There were also the many other tokotas in the pack who could see well, who were not lazy and motivated to hunt and explore so Jay often opted to take one of those tokotas instead. But for the rites of dominance he could not exactly substitute tokotas, he had work with the blind tokota. After all there were a few other blind tokotas in the pack who he would someday have to do these same rites with. He would try his best with Monty and learn from his mistakes for the next time.

Jacob had been making plans for days now which mountain pass he and Monty would choose to traverse, he had tried to commit the area the pass was in to memory as he would not be able to bring a map with him and would have to rely on his and Monty's wits to be able to get through this second rite in one piece. This time, hopefully without any injuries. He rubbed his shoulder ruefully, fortunately it has just been a sprain, but he would rather not get more bruises and sprains.

Supplies had been gathered, granted, the journey was not usually long, and he had chosen a mountain pass close to home, or at least close enough to make the ride only a few days versus the week or even longer. Compass, his water flask along with extra water bottles, snack bars, deer jerky, blankets, first aid kit, rope, flashlight and extra batteries. The saddle bags were packed, and all that Jacob needed now was a good nights rest. Well that should not be a problem considering everything he had done today.
Sure enough when he fell into bed his eyes closed instantly and soon sleep fell on him like a curtain, black, warm and comforting.

All too soon it was morning, the sun was rising in the east, just as it always did. Dew still shone on the grass and there definitely large mud puddles in evidence from the rain the night before. Jacob grabbed himself some breakfast and soon he and Monty were on their way to the mountain pass. Monty was not particularly happy about having to hurry throw breakfast and then getting tacked up again, but he was too lazy to really protest. The trip to the mountain pass was pretty easy and only took a few hours, after all it was the easy way. After all it was the way through and down that would be a challenge.

Jay paused with Monty at, from what he could remember, was the start of the mountain pass. He took a moment to orient himself with a compass and patted Monty's curly mane.
“Alright boy, now the real challenge begins. Anything could happen. Just.. be prepared.” He tried to put aside his nervousness, after all it would not be good to telegraph that feeling to Monty, the calmer the both of them could remain, the better. Cool, level thinking heads, not panicked, hot headed and nervous ones were required for this.

It was fully morning by now so there would be, hopefully, plenty of light. From what Jay could tell the weather was supposed to be pretty clear, if not warm it was getting rarer to have days without rain or frost now. Jay had tried to plan everything, even the weather. The clouds, though more prevalent then they were in say the in the summer sky, they were light gray poofs in the far off horizon, not dark, close, and full of impending rain. Of course the higher the pair traveled there was a fair chance still for fog, after all the sun could not get into every nook and cranny and it had been raining so often that fog was to be expected.

Monty and Jay entered the pass, in no rush, there was no time limit after all. It was not a test of speed, and besides Jay had taken the time to bring some environment friendly chalk along to mark their paths as they went, carefully putting the marks on the sides of the rocks. True, Monty could not exactly see these marks but then the tokota had all his heightened senses to rely on whereas Jay was stuck with his normal human senses. Now if the fog did roll in badly or if it rained or Jay made some little mistake these marks could just lead to more confusion but Jay still had a compass and Monty as well. If nothing else Jay was pretty sure he could rely on Monty's desire of food and a familiar bed to guide them home.

Everything seemed to be going well for the first hour or so, making their way down one path then another, occasionally turning around and circling back to their original path and taking the other way as they went. But the chalk helped in this situation as Jay had marked dead ends and their path choices. It seemed like this rite might not be such a challenge after all. Sure they were a long way above sea level and many miles from home but the quiet ride felt like nothing more then a map-less exploration.
In fact they might be more prepared for this, even with no map then some of Jay's other expeditions.

Fate is a funny thing though, it often knows what you are thinking even if you try very very hard not to think it, and it likes to laugh right in your face. Sometimes if you were expecting fate to screw things up it would not but it was better to be over prepared then to be dead. You would make it home alive over prepared, if not feeling slightly silly but dead, well that tended to be rather permanent.

As the second hour of the trip reached its middle, so for those at home that would be an hour and a half traveled, at a walk, stopping fairly often along the way to make chalk marks along the wall. So in total the distance traveled, well it was not much but it was a safe travel.
To the minute of ninety minutes traveled a soft rain started. Jay peered up the sky, which was surprisingly clear. A sunshine rain, figures. Well at least his vision was not impaired. However it did mean that his chalk had gone to bunk. It would be washed away with the water, as it was meant to be but still all that time they could have saved if he had known the chalk would just be erased while they were on their journey.

An added bonus was that pretty soon here Monty would start smelling like wet dog, and of course the rocks would get slippery and even though the sun should have burned off most of their chance for fog by now due to the rain now they could get fog and mist. Lovely.

Monty was even more miserable with the rain. He just wanted to be home, he could not understand humans sometimes. Why would Jay ever want to be out in the cold wet stuff when he could be at home stuffing his face with yummies and napping? God, Monty really wanted a nap right now and he let out a whine trying to let Jay know just what he thought of the rain.

“Its just a sprinkle boy, nothing to complain about” Jay reassured the curly mane tokota, despite his own glum thoughts. There was something about rain, even sunshine rain, that was depressing.

They pressed on, trying to be more careful about choosing paths so as not to go to the outside of the mountain pass and risk slipping. The rain grew heavier and the clouds grew darker as distant thunder growled and Monty whimpered, trying to shake himself dry. It was just getting worse, wasn't it? Would they even stop for lunch? Surely it had to be lunch time soon.

“Come on boy, the acme of the path is just ahead. If we're lucky the weather will clear up a bit and we can stop for at least a snack. How's that sound?”

Monty perked up at the word “snack” and quickened his pace. Jay grinned. Typical Monty.
As they reached the highest point the rain did indeed taper off until it was just a foggy mist around the tokota and rider. But it was still better then being rained upon. Jay took Monty's tack off and as soon as he had the blind curly maned tokota shook himself spraying water everywhere. “C'mon boy, we are trying to get dry here” Jay scolded playfully. Monty flopped down, sprawling on the ground, tongue hanging out of his mouth as he waited patiently for the promised snack.

“Alright, alright I can see we are not going to go anywhere til you have had something eat. After all we are almost half way. Its only been a bit of rain so far, not bad all in all. I know you do not like it much, but I for one can deal with the smell of wet dog if that's what we have to trade for a safe trip.”
As he talked Jay had dug snacks out of the pack for both him and Monty and the two ate in silence, Jay making sure the tokota also got water and he took drinks from his flask. A short rest of fifteen or so minutes was in order after they ate, partially due to re-packing and tacking up Monty and also to the fact neither of them wanted to go back into the colder, wetter part of the trail. Finally though Jay urged Monty forward and the two continued on their way.

As morning turned into afternoon the rain disappeared, leaving the area cold and damp. If it had been much colder Jay might have even been able to see his breath. As it was he was glad he was atop a fluffy tokota, a heat producing machine.

Their pace was slow though and Jay was a bit confused as to where they were along the mountain pass, not going to the outside paths, while safer meant that they were stuck with the view of rocks all around them sheering upward, sometimes they even blocked the skies as the pair traversed through tunnels. It was quiet up here as well, almost eerily so and the hairs on the back of Jay's neck rose as they passed the particularly dark areas, sure if he just looked behind them fast enough that he would see narrow red slits coming at them. No such thing happened of course, but the sooner they could get out in the open the better.

It was this urge that drove Jay to guide Monty, when the next fork in the path came, to the path that had more breeze coming from it, and the faintest hint of a wet grass scent in the air. Sure enough it lead toward the outside and Jay's stomach flipped as he found himself staring down the mountainside. Sure there were pine trees down there that might break their fall but he was not eager to risk it. He tugged on Monty's reins wanting the blind tokota to turn around.

Monty was having none of that though, he was not going to back peddle when there was a nice obvious path right there, right in front of them. Besides, the curly tokota was able to tell they were truly heading down now, and down meant home, and home meant food. So no way was he turning around just because it felt a little more windy and the ground felt slicker underneath his paws.

Jay could have forced Monty to turn around but at the same time he was glad to be out in the open, he no longer felt watched for one thing and for another seeing certain landmarks off in the distance helped him get his bearings.

Perhaps it was the fact that his attention elsewhere, perhaps that Monty's steps had grown longer and faster as the tokota picked up on the fact they were heading home but suddenly the two of them found themselves slipping as rocks tumbled out beneath Monty's very feet. The wet declining slope caused them to hurtle forward, Jacob was flung off the tokota and he barely had time to think “not this again” as he landed further down the slope with a thud. Monty yelped and was sprawled unceremoniously next to Jacob, but the two didn't have much time to recover.

It seemed their fall had triggered some sort of rock slide. And they were heading downhill, if they did not get out of here soon, gravity would finish what the fall had not.

Jacob groaned, at least this time he didn't seem to be more hurt then a few cuts and what he was sure would be a couple of nasty bruises in a few days and Monty had already scrambled to his feet and was shaking himself so the tokota also seemed to be fine. The clatter of rocks snapped Jay back to attention and he swung on to Monty's back and kicked the tokota's side. “Run boy! Run home!”

The two ran, for what seemed like ages, down one path then another, whipping their way through tunnels, trees, bushes, rocks and other obstacles. They probably ran for longer then was necessary but Jay did not want to spend the night on the pass.

Suddenly he realized they were running on flat ground, not only that but it was sloping gently uphill. He pulled Monty to a stop and looked behind them. They had made it through the pass.

“Come on boy, we've got a hot dinner to get to” Jay laughed and the two continued home.

Description
Evening fell, the clouds that had been looming over them and sprinkling the earth with rain all day had decided to make themselves at home in the sky and the raindrops continued their soft pitter patter on the roofs. Jay made sure the tokotas were taken care for the night Monty's fear had been conquered, check. With the first rite done, Jay knew what came next. The rite of navigation. It would be an extra challenge doing this rite, hell for that matter it would be a challenge for all of the rites. That was for one simple reason, the tokota he was riding, was blind.

Montgomery, the brown curly maned male tokota had been blind since birth, he had had time to hone his senses to a keen point. His sense of smell, normally sharp in any tokota could pick up scents days older then most, he could track almost any prey or human, though he often used it to hunt down where Jay had hidden the treats. Second was his hearing, he was extra aware of very small sounds, using them as cues to steer by, taste, well you could tell Monty enjoyed his food, he was quite the chubby buddy. Still, tokotas were normally such eating machines Jay could not really tell if Monty enjoyed food more than his sighted pack-mates. Last was touch, Monty was sensitive to the ground beneath his feet, and the wind against his fur, maybe not much more so then other tokotas but his body made up for his lack of vision in any way it could.

Besides all that, he had his handler, Jay to guide him, and outside of Jay the tokota might not have gotten too many hunting or explorations as he was lazy to the core and preferred to try and live the life of an indoor tokota. Jay had to admit that Monty was spoiled, but after all, his sire, Tiberius was also in Jacob's pack. And the pup being blind had added to the affection and being spoiled. That's not to say Jay did not try to make Monty work for all the food he consumed, but taking the blind tokota hunting or on explorations was always more mentally, and sometimes more physically taxing then he would prefer.

There were also the many other tokotas in the pack who could see well, who were not lazy and motivated to hunt and explore so Jay often opted to take one of those tokotas instead. But for the rites of dominance he could not exactly substitute tokotas, he had work with the blind tokota. After all there were a few other blind tokotas in the pack who he would someday have to do these same rites with. He would try his best with Monty and learn from his mistakes for the next time.

Jacob had been making plans for days now which mountain pass he and Monty would choose to traverse, he had tried to commit the area the pass was in to memory as he would not be able to bring a map with him and would have to rely on his and Monty's wits to be able to get through this second rite in one piece. This time, hopefully without any injuries. He rubbed his shoulder ruefully, fortunately it has just been a sprain, but he would rather not get more bruises and sprains.

Supplies had been gathered, granted, the journey was not usually long, and he had chosen a mountain pass close to home, or at least close enough to make the ride only a few days versus the week or even longer. Compass, his water flask along with extra water bottles, snack bars, deer jerky, blankets, first aid kit, rope, flashlight and extra batteries. The saddle bags were packed, and all that Jacob needed now was a good nights rest. Well that should not be a problem considering everything he had done today.
Sure enough when he fell into bed his eyes closed instantly and soon sleep fell on him like a curtain, black, warm and comforting.

All too soon it was morning, the sun was rising in the east, just as it always did. Dew still shone on the grass and there definitely large mud puddles in evidence from the rain the night before. Jacob grabbed himself some breakfast and soon he and Monty were on their way to the mountain pass. Monty was not particularly happy about having to hurry throw breakfast and then getting tacked up again, but he was too lazy to really protest. The trip to the mountain pass was pretty easy and only took a few hours, after all it was the easy way. After all it was the way through and down that would be a challenge.

Jay paused with Monty at, from what he could remember, was the start of the mountain pass. He took a moment to orient himself with a compass and patted Monty's curly mane.
“Alright boy, now the real challenge begins. Anything could happen. Just.. be prepared.” He tried to put aside his nervousness, after all it would not be good to telegraph that feeling to Monty, the calmer the both of them could remain, the better. Cool, level thinking heads, not panicked, hot headed and nervous ones were required for this.

It was fully morning by now so there would be, hopefully, plenty of light. From what Jay could tell the weather was supposed to be pretty clear, if not warm it was getting rarer to have days without rain or frost now. Jay had tried to plan everything, even the weather. The clouds, though more prevalent then they were in say the in the summer sky, they were light gray poofs in the far off horizon, not dark, close, and full of impending rain. Of course the higher the pair traveled there was a fair chance still for fog, after all the sun could not get into every nook and cranny and it had been raining so often that fog was to be expected.

Monty and Jay entered the pass, in no rush, there was no time limit after all. It was not a test of speed, and besides Jay had taken the time to bring some environment friendly chalk along to mark their paths as they went, carefully putting the marks on the sides of the rocks. True, Monty could not exactly see these marks but then the tokota had all his heightened senses to rely on whereas Jay was stuck with his normal human senses. Now if the fog did roll in badly or if it rained or Jay made some little mistake these marks could just lead to more confusion but Jay still had a compass and Monty as well. If nothing else Jay was pretty sure he could rely on Monty's desire of food and a familiar bed to guide them home.

Everything seemed to be going well for the first hour or so, making their way down one path then another, occasionally turning around and circling back to their original path and taking the other way as they went. But the chalk helped in this situation as Jay had marked dead ends and their path choices. It seemed like this rite might not be such a challenge after all. Sure they were a long way above sea level and many miles from home but the quiet ride felt like nothing more then a map-less exploration.
In fact they might be more prepared for this, even with no map then some of Jay's other expeditions.

Fate is a funny thing though, it often knows what you are thinking even if you try very very hard not to think it, and it likes to laugh right in your face. Sometimes if you were expecting fate to screw things up it would not but it was better to be over prepared then to be dead. You would make it home alive over prepared, if not feeling slightly silly but dead, well that tended to be rather permanent.

As the second hour of the trip reached its middle, so for those at home that would be an hour and a half traveled, at a walk, stopping fairly often along the way to make chalk marks along the wall. So in total the distance traveled, well it was not much but it was a safe travel.
To the minute of ninety minutes traveled a soft rain started. Jay peered up the sky, which was surprisingly clear. A sunshine rain, figures. Well at least his vision was not impaired. However it did mean that his chalk had gone to bunk. It would be washed away with the water, as it was meant to be but still all that time they could have saved if he had known the chalk would just be erased while they were on their journey.

An added bonus was that pretty soon here Monty would start smelling like wet dog, and of course the rocks would get slippery and even though the sun should have burned off most of their chance for fog by now due to the rain now they could get fog and mist. Lovely.

Monty was even more miserable with the rain. He just wanted to be home, he could not understand humans sometimes. Why would Jay ever want to be out in the cold wet stuff when he could be at home stuffing his face with yummies and napping? God, Monty really wanted a nap right now and he let out a whine trying to let Jay know just what he thought of the rain.

“Its just a sprinkle boy, nothing to complain about” Jay reassured the curly mane tokota, despite his own glum thoughts. There was something about rain, even sunshine rain, that was depressing.

They pressed on, trying to be more careful about choosing paths so as not to go to the outside of the mountain pass and risk slipping. The rain grew heavier and the clouds grew darker as distant thunder growled and Monty whimpered, trying to shake himself dry. It was just getting worse, wasn't it? Would they even stop for lunch? Surely it had to be lunch time soon.

“Come on boy, the acme of the path is just ahead. If we're lucky the weather will clear up a bit and we can stop for at least a snack. How's that sound?”

Monty perked up at the word “snack” and quickened his pace. Jay grinned. Typical Monty.
As they reached the highest point the rain did indeed taper off until it was just a foggy mist around the tokota and rider. But it was still better then being rained upon. Jay took Monty's tack off and as soon as he had the blind curly maned tokota shook himself spraying water everywhere. “C'mon boy, we are trying to get dry here” Jay scolded playfully. Monty flopped down, sprawling on the ground, tongue hanging out of his mouth as he waited patiently for the promised snack.

“Alright, alright I can see we are not going to go anywhere til you have had something eat. After all we are almost half way. Its only been a bit of rain so far, not bad all in all. I know you do not like it much, but I for one can deal with the smell of wet dog if that's what we have to trade for a safe trip.”
As he talked Jay had dug snacks out of the pack for both him and Monty and the two ate in silence, Jay making sure the tokota also got water and he took drinks from his flask. A short rest of fifteen or so minutes was in order after they ate, partially due to re-packing and tacking up Monty and also to the fact neither of them wanted to go back into the colder, wetter part of the trail. Finally though Jay urged Monty forward and the two continued on their way.

As morning turned into afternoon the rain disappeared, leaving the area cold and damp. If it had been much colder Jay might have even been able to see his breath. As it was he was glad he was atop a fluffy tokota, a heat producing machine.

Their pace was slow though and Jay was a bit confused as to where they were along the mountain pass, not going to the outside paths, while safer meant that they were stuck with the view of rocks all around them sheering upward, sometimes they even blocked the skies as the pair traversed through tunnels. It was quiet up here as well, almost eerily so and the hairs on the back of Jay's neck rose as they passed the particularly dark areas, sure if he just looked behind them fast enough that he would see narrow red slits coming at them. No such thing happened of course, but the sooner they could get out in the open the better.

It was this urge that drove Jay to guide Monty, when the next fork in the path came, to the path that had more breeze coming from it, and the faintest hint of a wet grass scent in the air. Sure enough it lead toward the outside and Jay's stomach flipped as he found himself staring down the mountainside. Sure there were pine trees down there that might break their fall but he was not eager to risk it. He tugged on Monty's reins wanting the blind tokota to turn around.

Monty was having none of that though, he was not going to back peddle when there was a nice obvious path right there, right in front of them. Besides, the curly tokota was able to tell they were truly heading down now, and down meant home, and home meant food. So no way was he turning around just because it felt a little more windy and the ground felt slicker underneath his paws.

Jay could have forced Monty to turn around but at the same time he was glad to be out in the open, he no longer felt watched for one thing and for another seeing certain landmarks off in the distance helped him get his bearings.

Perhaps it was the fact that his attention elsewhere, perhaps that Monty's steps had grown longer and faster as the tokota picked up on the fact they were heading home but suddenly the two of them found themselves slipping as rocks tumbled out beneath Monty's very feet. The wet declining slope caused them to hurtle forward, Jacob was flung off the tokota and he barely had time to think “not this again” as he landed further down the slope with a thud. Monty yelped and was sprawled unceremoniously next to Jacob, but the two didn't have much time to recover.

It seemed their fall had triggered some sort of rock slide. And they were heading downhill, if they did not get out of here soon, gravity would finish what the fall had not.

Jacob groaned, at least this time he didn't seem to be more hurt then a few cuts and what he was sure would be a couple of nasty bruises in a few days and Monty had already scrambled to his feet and was shaking himself so the tokota also seemed to be fine. The clatter of rocks snapped Jay back to attention and he swung on to Monty's back and kicked the tokota's side. “Run boy! Run home!”

The two ran, for what seemed like ages, down one path then another, whipping their way through tunnels, trees, bushes, rocks and other obstacles. They probably ran for longer then was necessary but Jay did not want to spend the night on the pass.

Suddenly he realized they were running on flat ground, not only that but it was sloping gently uphill. He pulled Monty to a stop and looked behind them. They had made it through the pass.

“Come on boy, we've got a hot dinner to get to” Jay laughed and the two continued home.