Solo [Job Thread-Windmount Stables] Lucy's first day on the job

[Lucy Tides]

Spring Day 1 513 AV

Lucy had always wondered what it was like to see a horse up close. Not that she hadn't seen many horses in her lifetime, she just hadn't bothered to give them much notice like many Svefra, the ocean was their animal and their boat was the reigns. She took a deep breathe as walked out of the corridor into an enchanting courtyard. Lucy let her eyes wander over the scenery, three barns were set across the pasture. Lucy decided to try the closest one to her which seemed to be the one most used. Many people seemed to be coming in and out, most came in with horses, walked into the barn and then came out a few minutes later to go back to the stronghold.

Lucy walked in, the straw greeting her black boots with a crunch. An unfamiliar smell greeted her nose, making her face scrunch up. She looked from stall to stall seeing that most people were leaving their horse there for it to be cared for but one thing was for certain, the woman collecting all their money must know whose in charge. Lucy walked up to her with a bright smile as she tried to ignore the overwhelming smell. "Hello, I'm Lucy Tides. The employment office said you might need an extra set of hands." Lucy asked the woman.

"Very well, go and feed the horses." The woman said and pointed to the corner of the barn where the hay was stacked along with a pitchfork. Next to that were bags of oats and a silver pale. Lucy nodded and headed over to where the bags were. She picked one up with both hands and shifted it's weight. 'Only five pounds? This is easier than manning my ship!'

She carried the bag of feed over to the horses then stopped. 'Wait... where does this go?' Lucy's eyes wandered the ground of the first stable, only seeing smelling horse dung by it's rear hooves. Her eyes followed up to the front of it's body where she noticed a wooden like box.. 'I wonder what that's called...' She thought and heaved the bag over her shoulder as she made her way around the horse. She looked down into the box and noticed what looked like to be oats. 'Alright then, looks like I can finally get down to business.' She opened the bag and poured in the oats until it filled leaving four fifths of her bag still filled. She followed the same process with the other feeding boxes until each one was filled. By then the noon bells had chimed and the flow of people slowed to a drag. 'Where's that woman?'

Lucy looked around the barn she was in, it was the last one where the least amount of people seemed to be coming through. She walked out and headed back to where she had met her boss. Again, her boss was there ready for the next customer. Lucy hadn't realized that all the while she had been picking up bags that straw had caught in her long dark curls or that her violet shirt and white pants were decorated with them. "All done with feeding the horses. Anything else?" She asked the woman who seemed to just notice her.

"Sure, you can go ahead and groom the horses in that barn." She said and pointed towards a barn that was right next to this one but only a few people dressed in what seemed to be riders close were there. Lucy nodded and headed over to the stable. Upon opening the door she was amazed to see that the horses seemed to each have their own stall and most were decorated with ribbons.

"Amazing." Lucy said in awe at all these horses that seemed to have so much favor over the others. 'These must be the prized stallions mother used to come and watch.' She put her hand on the first stall door when it hit her. 'How do you groom a horse?' Lucy frantically looked over the stall for a familiar item and was more then happy to see a brush. She stepped in and closed the door behind her while grabbing the brush off the wall. 'I wonder why horses need their hair brushed?' She shrugged her shoulders at this and tried to reach the brush up to the horses main but it backed away. 'Oops almost forgot to introduce myself.'

"It's alright," Lucy said in a soothing voice like a tide that drags one under, "It's alright. I'm just here to make you look pretty." She finished holding her hand out but the horse flipped it's head back and neighed. 'What do I have to woo you or something?' Lucy sighed and looked around wondering what she could do. Her eyes met a sack in the far right corner of the horse's stall. The shapes in it seemed oddly familiar. Lucy walked up to it and put the brush in her back pocket. She placed her left hand on the top while the right hand undid the string keeping it together. She let her left hand open slightly to reveal shiny red apples. 'Bingo!' She reached for an apple with her right hand and pulled it out. She brought the stem up to her teeth and held it there while her hands retied the knot.

Lucy dropped the apple into her hand and turned back to the horse. "These are yours, so I'm sure I won't get into trouble for giving you one." Lucy thought out loud and held out the apple to the horse. The white stallion took a step forward, eyeing the young Svefra suspiciously. It eyed her with it's brown eyes, sizing her up. Finally, it bent its head down and bit into the apple. Lucy smiled and pet the stallion's head. "See, I'm not that bad, am I?" She asked him but he was to distracted by the apple. Lucy stopped petting the horse and slipped her hand into her back pocket retrieving the brush. She brushed his main then his body. She repeated this with every horse until each one had been thoroughly groomed. 'I hope this is what she meant by grooming.' That's when Lucy heard the bell chime for nine in the evening. 'Goodness I've been here to long!' She quickly set the brush back on it's wall and left the barn.

On her way, Lucy saw the woman again walking towards a small cottage. She waved. "See you tomorrow." She called and started out towards the apartments which she was renting.

[Lucy Tides]

Spring Day 2 513 AV

Lucy awoke early that morning more then happy to walk down to the stables. 'I learned so much yesterday, I can't wait to learn more today!' She hummed a tune of the seas while skipping down the long corridor before finally reaching her destination. The only place in the castle that Lucy knew of to hold so much grass. It's not that she liked land but she hated being cooped up in walls all day long, at least in the pastures there was a feeling of being outside. Unlike yesterday, where she had no idea of what to do, she was told that her first job was to clean the stables. 'Not looking forward to this but I might as well do it.'

It took Lucy three hours to clean up all the stables before she could get to any real work. Taking bags of feed and filling the troughs, brushing the horses mains and fur, cleaning their hooves, and her favorite part was when she had time to watch people ride. 'Wish I could ride a horse.' The bells chimed the hour for noon and Lucy left for her hourly break for lunch.

When she came back she only had to re-fill the troughs and check up the horses before there wasn't much more to do other then watch people ride the majestic creatures. 'I'm sure one day I'll get to ride one.' Soon the hour of seven struck and it was time for Lucy to leave. She walked into the main barn to say her goodbyes to her boss, whose name she still hadn't asked for, then left for dinner at home.

[Lucy Tides]

3rd Spring 513 AV

Lucy was up at the 6th bell and already starting work on the pastures. Today, it had only taken one hour to clean out the stalls with the help of another person who showed her some helpful tricks. She then went on to cleaning and refilling the troughs which only took another bell as well. She began to clean the horses when she noticed one of them acting weirdly. Instead of acting lively like the horses around it, it's head hung low and eyes seemed droopy. 'Somethings wrong, should go ask the boss about it.'

Lucy left the small stable she was at and ran towards the main stable where the customers milled about. There, she found her boss giving someone their horse. "Hello, uh boss?" Lucy asked wondering what to call the woman. She smiled at Lucy and laughed.

"I'm Serena Windmount but you can call me Serena. What's the problem?" Serena asked.

"One of the horses is acting weird." Lucy said. Serena got a worried look on her face and nodded at Lucy for her to show the way. The walked into one of the bigger stables where the prized horses were kept and walked down to the far right pen. There stood a white stallion, it's head low and it looked like it hadn't eaten it's food from the previous night. Serena walked up to the horse carefully wooing it to calm it down and then checked the stallion. A few moments later she walked back to Lucy.

"I need to get this horse a bit of healing powder and will be back soon. She's not too sick so you can give her a good grooming." Serena said and left. Lucy got the brush off the wall and began carefully grooming the stallion and looked up on the wall, noticing it's name was painted there. It read "Lucky".

"You're Lucky huh? I bet you'll get better in no time." Lucy said with a sweet smile as she was finally finished grooming her. Serena came back in just that moment and walked over to where Lucy and Lucky were.

"Take this." Serena said and handed Lucy a small satchel. "There is some powder in this that will make Lucky all better. You just need to pour a handful of it in her feed for the next ten days. I trust you." She said and walked back to the main stable. Lucy turned and opened the bag. Looking inside she saw a strange opal like powder. She sprinkled it over the trough and watched Lucky who still didn't seem to eat.

"Come on girl." Lucy said and looked around the pen. She noticed a bag of apples in the right corner. She walked over and opened the satchel, grabbed an apple and then closed the satchel. Lucy walked up to Lucky very slowly and held out her hand. The stallion looked up at her with it's brown eyes cautiously but then came over slowly. "Come on, take a bite." Lucy said and Lucky looked up at her reluctantly. Lucy held the apple closer to Lucky and she took a bite out of it.

"Good girl." Lucy said and petted her head with her free hand. She thew the apple into the trough and Lucky slowly turned and finished eating it. Lucy checked Lucky's water before leaving as the eighteenth bell rung. "It's time for me to go, see you tomorrow. Lucky." Lucy said and walked out of the stable on her way home.

[Lucy Tides]

4th Spring 513 AV

It was the six bell and like a zombie, Lucy headed towards the pastures. For some reason, she was extra tired today. She got right to work though because she knew that without doing work she wouldn't be able to live. She began by mucking out the stalls of each horse, then went on to cleaning the troughs and refilling the food. Four bells had rung by the time she was done when she remember Lucky. Snapping out of her daze, she ran to the barn which contained the prized horses and was glad to see the white mare was in a bit of a better shape then yesterday.

"Hey girl." Lucy said and the mare nodded it's head her way. She cleaned its trough and put the powder on it's food. Lucky ate it reluctantly and brushed her head against Lucy's shoulder. She put a hand up to the mare's main and pet her. "Would you like to hear a story?" Lucy asked and Lucky just blinked at her. She smiled and laughed. "Well I'll tell ya anyways." Lucy said.

"Among the many seas was a woman of great heart, she spread kindness and wisdom where ever she went. All were touched by her honest words and many became her ally. The woman held the name Lacey. She was a beautiful blonde, pale in skin and blue eyed. Her height something to be trifled with at six feet six inches." Lucy said in Fratava to the mare.

"Twas a not a day past summer when Lacey founded the Tides with a fellow group of friends. Many were Svefra but some were of other races, ones that wanted to see the worlds wonders. They traveled the seas, letting the wind decide the destination. Of all the places and people Lacey had seen, only one thing had taken her breathe away. It was a man named Kannin." Lucy said speaking quietly now, so that only the mare could hear her.

"The two fell in love and soon had a child, her name was Lucy. But all was not well because a storm tore the two lovers apart. My mother swore to find him again, searching the seas but had no luck. Till the day she died she was still looking for him. Though I think he shares the same fate as her." Lucy finished as the 12 bell of the day rang.

"Well, it's time for me to go." Lucy said in common and left for her lunch hour. She came back at the 13 bell and began her chore list all over again.

[Lucy Tides]

5th Spring 513 AV

The sixth bell run and Lucy was already at the pasture. She walked into the stables where Lucky was and checked on the white mare. Lucky seemed to be doing very well today, able to walked around her small fenced in area. Lucy walked in and closed the door behind her. She cleaned the trough and filled it with food then walked over to the bag of apples. She opened it up and picked one out. She placed it in the trough and then grabbed the bag of medicine out of her back pocket. She sprinkled it over the food and Lucky neighed at her. Lucy pet the mare and smiled at her. "Good morning Lucky." She said and went about cleaning her pen while she ate. "Gotta get to work, see you later." She said and pet the mare once more before she left for her daily chores.

She went to the usual three main stables and cleaned the troughs then refilled them. As the horses were distracted with food, she cleaned the pens and refilled the hay. She then went about grooming the prized stallions and breeding mares in the first stables. The twelfth bell rang and Lucy left for her hour of lunch then came back. She checked on Lucky who seemed to be getting better every minute. A smile played on her pale freckled face. "I'm glad to see you're doing better." She said and groomed Lucky carefully before repeating her morning chores for the evening. The eighteenth bell rang and Lucy said her goodbyes to her Serena and the others before leaving for home.