Solo [Windmount Stables] A First Lesson in Riding

[Rhu]

7th Fall, 515 AV
Windmount Stables

Rhu stared, resigned already, at the large building ahead of her. Riding. It was something she had never done before, had never really wanted to, but riding would be an invaluable skill for travelling across Mizahar, especially as she didn't know where she would end up, yet. So, riding. Martialing her courage and with her head raised high, Rhu marched herself down past the paddock and up to the nearest barn's door. She shuddered self-consciously, feeling the eyes of one - or perhaps more - of the beasts on her. Stupid petching creatures, she thought. These were dumb beasts, nothing like the proud tigers her people rode. Now they were mounts worthy of - well not her, obviously, she thought with some amount of grim amusement. Had she been worthy to ride a tiger she wouldn't be here, about to ride a lesser beast.

"Can I help you with something?" a woman asked, stepping out from the door of the barn. Rhu moved to stomp past her and find someone more important, but the woman moved with her, neatly blocking her steps and put a hand out, forcing Rhu to either trample the much smaller woman or come to a stop. "Serena Windmount. This is my stable."

"Rhu."

One elegant eyebrow rose on Serena's face, but she made no comment about Rhu's short answer. "Alright, Rhu. What can I do for you?"

"I have riding lessons" Rhu said, then shook her head abruptly. "No. I want have riding lessons." Petching common - the language was no more complex than Myrian, but the subtleties of it were different, and frustratingly so.

"Alright...How much do you know already?"

I know that cutting a man's head clean off requires far more muscle strength than you might think, Rhu smiled. "Nothing," she said. "I have never ride before.

"Hmm." Serena tilted her head to one side, eyeing Rhu up and down. "Do you have your own horse?" she asked, and Rhu shook her head. "Know much about horses?" Another shake. "Which horse in that field would you like to ride?" From the tone of Serena's voice, Rhu thought the question was less giving her an option, and more a test.

Rhu examined them, instantly dismissing the smallest - they would never hold her weight - and the impractically coloured - camouflage was unlikely to be necessary in a lesson, but a bright white horse was still to obvious for comfort. "That one," she said, pointing at a black horse with a white mane. It blinked at her docilely.

"Not a bad choice. Zara's a sweetheart, one of our most even-tempered. She's a Seme, though, from Cyphrus. A driving horse. I'm assuming you're just here about riding?"

A little disappointed, Rhu nodded nonetheless. "And how to look after the beasts," she added. Serena turned away from the paddock to give her a sharp look.

"A good start would be to not call them 'beasts'. A horse is a companion, not just an easy way to travel."

Who the petch did this woman think she was? Rhu glared back, opening her mouth to deliver what she hoped would be a sharp retort, but Serena had already turned back away, studying the horses pensively.

"Let me see," Serena said. "You're going to want someone simple to ride, gentle. Large enough to carry you.... Pepper!" she said the name loudly, followed by a low whistle and click, and a tall dark horse with a speckled back pricked its ears up. "Come on, Pepper. Rhu, meet Pepper. Pepper, meet Rhu"

Rhu followed the woman over to the fence and watched as the animal trotted over. Once it neared them, Serena stroked the horse's nose and fussed with its mane for a few moments, then turned to Rhu. "No need to be shy. Pepper's a real sweetheart, I promise. He's a Zavian. It's a common breed, cheap, not especially fancy but they get the job done." Dubiously, Rhu reached out a hand and touched the horse's nose. It snuffled, reaching for her, and she hastily withdrew.

Serena laughed. "Don't be shy. He's just hungry. Get him an apple while you're here and he'll love you forever." It wasn't long before Serena's expression turned contemplative, and she glanced up at the sky with a faint frown. "I'll make you a deal, Rhu. Twenty gold, four lessons. It's a discount, and in exchange you'll help out a little around the stables. There's no point learning how to ride until you know how to look after a horse, and I can always do with some more help around here. Deal?"

Rhu tilted her head, considering the woman, then the horse, then the woman, then the horse. It snuffled at her again, hopefully, and she couldn't help but smile at it a little. An apple, Serena had said. An apple couldn't be too hard to find. "Deal"

"Excellent. I'll find a hand to get you started. Once you've done a bit of work he can get you in the saddle, too," Serena said, before giving the horse a last pat and strolling off.

Left alone with the animal, Rhu cautiously held out a hand.

OOCI wasn't sure about the price and am perfectly okay to change that if need be.

Rhu of the Tempered Steel

[Rhu]

When the stablehand found them, Rhu was leaning across the paddock's fence, rubbing the horse's nose. Pepper huffed at her and nuzzled back, mouthing at her shirt. Grinning just a little, Rhu pushed the animal's head away, and ran a hand through the coarse strands of its mane. "Hello," she said without turning, the stablehand's booted feet easily loud enough to hear. She kept one hand on Pepper's side, instinctively stepping in front of the horse, shielding it from whoever was approaching. Pepper ruined the gesture somewhat by neighing enthusiastically and butting at Rhu's back with its head.

"Hey, hi Pepper," the man said, crossing over and leaning in to rub the horse's neck. "I'm Mark. Rhu, right?" He didn't want for a nod, and simply ploughed ahead. "Pep needs his stall cleaning out. Then I'll show you how to tack him, and we can have a little walk around one of the fields. Sound good?" it didn't, not really. Cleaning out a stall was not the sort of work Rhu wanted to be doing, but it seemed fair enough - she was, after all, taking up Mark's time with the lessons, it made sense for him to have some help to catch up on his work.

A few bells later, as Rhu did her best not to breathe in the rancid stench in the stall, she started to regret her choice. Mark, still beside her, chuckled at her expression. "This isn't even that bad," he told her cheerily. "You should have been here a few seasons ago. Pep has a nasty infection, and let's just say some of the symptom of that weren't particularly pleasant for the nose." His grin widened, eyes gleaming with wicked amusement as he waited for her to flinch or wrinkle her nose in disgust. Rhu met them blandly, keeping her expression closed. She took a step closer and shifted her arms out, widening her stance. Slowly, the mischief fled from his expression.

"Smell not bad," Rhu intoned, deepening her voice and focusing more on her accent. Normally she tried to disguise her voice, to make herself fit in, but now she let the Myrian accent thicken her words. "Blood, worse." Mark paled just a little and he ducked a step back. A horse from the stable adjacent poked its head out, and he reached over, patting its nose in a gesture that seemed more to take comfort than to give it.

"Well I'm sure you'd - you know," he attempted a smile. "I'll just leave you here then, should I? Buckets are over there, brushes and the like in the tack room. If you need anything just - well don't shout, you'll startle the horses. I'll be in the field."

Rhu waited until his hurried footsteps faded from hearing before she let her stance relax and a smile to appear on her face. Unhurried, she walked over to the horse Mark had patted, and clicked at it until it wandered over. This one was a reddish brown in colour all over - coat, mane and tail. "Hi there," she said in Myrian, running a hand over its neck. "So you're Pepper's neighbour, hmm? Must be nice." The horse flicked its tail in response, then ducked down to resume eating.

Rhu watched it for a few moments, idly stroking whenever the animal's head rose high enough from the manger. She turned back to the stall and surveyed the mess. Mark had been right. It wasn't that bad, not once she got over the smell - and she hadn't been kidding, the metallic stench of blood was a hundred times worse and a thousand times more distinctive. It was a good thing she was wearing boots, she thought, although after this she would definitely need some more clothes. And a job, for that matter, but that could come later.

Mark had given her a brief rundown on what to do on the way to the stable, and the first thing was, apparently, remove the horse. Check, Rhu thought dryly, staring at the empty stall. Step two. Remove the water bucket and food manger, and then the hay. She patted the horse one last time and crouched down, grinning when the horse ducked its head to reach after her, and tucked her trousers into her boots. She walked over to the stall with barely a pause, stooped down to pull the bucket up. It was mostly full and a little heavier than she had expected. She adjusted her grip and took it out, dumping it a short distance from the door, then returning for the manger. This was heavier, made of some pale, stained wood and still full of water , and she grabbed it with both hands, letting out a soft grunt as she took on its whole weight. Once she had it in her arms it was much easier, although dropping it onto the ground was still a relief.

At the noise, the horse poked its head up again, ears pricked and eyes bright. Rhu looked down at the hay in front of her, and shook her head. "This is not for you," she said, then straightened and turned back to the stall. She walked to the room Mark had indicated as the 'tack room' and found a large amount of leather...stuff hanging from the walls. Saddles and bridles, she assumed, but from the confusing array of straps and buckles they could have been anything. That wasn't her concern though, so she grabbed the nearest pitchfork and retreated the way she had come.

The large lumps of poo were the easiest to remove. She stabbed under them with the pickfork, or into them if they kept rolling off, then carried that out and dumped it, as instructed. Once that was done Rhu removed all the wet straw, shoved the rest to the sides with a broom, and swore when doing so revealed another dropping.

This one was half-squashed to the floor, and even when Rhu shoved the fork under it, only the top half peeled off, leaving a lumpy brown mark behind. "Shyke, she muttered, scrapping at it for a few moments before giving up. Water then. She headed to where the buckets were supposed to be, and grabbed one and a small dirty cloth, pleased to notice that the bucket was already half full. Once returned, she put the bucket down and squatted beside it, then put the cloth in, rung it out and scrubbed ferociously at the mark. Some of it came off, and some didn't. As a last resort, and with an accompaniment of muttered Myrian swear words that steadily grew more foul, Rhu wrapped the cloth tight around her hand and scratched at the mark with her covered fingers, rubbing the lump hard until it finally came free.

There was still a slight stain left behind, but given the less-than-unmarked state of the rest of the stall, Rhu was happy to leave it be. She rung out the cloth, washed it to remove any excess poo, and gave the floor a last wipe over before leaving it, satisfied. Rhu went back to the bucket room to grab a second cloth, and quickly dried over the wet patch, then stood back and finished brushing the straw to the sides.

Mark had told her to leave it there, give the floor time to air before adding more straw over it, so she carefully replaced all her equipment, washed her hands, gave Pepper's neighbour a pat, and went off to find him.

Rhu of the Tempered Steel