Take One

by **Oryani** on May 23rd, 2014, 1:23 am

Spring 58th, 513 AV
Hooves n' Horns

Oryani had been led to the center of this city only that morning, and she'd quickly gone to the recommended place to arrange lodging. It turned out that the coins she'd found the morning after the Dhani fight (she'd learnt the names of the two races after some inquiry) were actually this city's currency, and were worth about three times more than the mizas she was used to. So... she'd managed to pick up 60 mizas, something she hadn't expected. What had surprised her, however, was that.. as a kind of 'trivia' fact, one of the Myrians had pointed at the red stripes and called them blood. They looked like blood... and looking at this race's style and culture... it probably was blood. It was a little disturbing, but she was half warming to this strange city.

She wasn't quite sure where she was going, and was half tempted to lay a web from point to point to keep track of where she was going. It was strange to be in a city and see absolutely no webs. Anywhere. Even Riverfall had a few, scattered here or there, and nothing, of course, compared to the cacophony that was Endrykas. Thinking of the city made her sad...and homesick. She frowned and continued walking, before running into something that simply made the emotion stronger.

Horses. A myriad of horses filled a large pen, mulling about aimlessly. She'd seen a horse or two in this city, but namely a lot of other strange creatures she didn't recognize. One was before her as well, standing on the closest edge of the pen. She didn't know how to describe it. The thing was... brown. And bit. Very tall, with massive ears, and bright green things dangling down from those ears. There was a funny thing attached to the front of her face, a kind of... long flexible nose or something. It was absolutely absurd.

She would have to ask someone what it was. Looking around, she spotted a woman standing with one of the horses, grooming it. She looked like she worked there. A quick glance behind told Oryani that Alaril was still perched on top of a building behind. The bird seemed to be addicted to following the Chatakwe, though stayed in sight now, rather than when they were in the jungle... and she was still in chains. It felt good to be free, to be able to do what she wanted, and... to be alone, if just for a bit.

She approached the woman, who glanced up at the new arrival. Her coloring and appearance was different from the Myrian's somehow, but the archer couldn't place it. It all reminded her of home, but this woman... she couldn't help but think of her brother. Yetrian. What was it that made them similar though? She couldn't place it...

She took another few steps forward, pushing through any kind of shyness. Other than her black eyes and short height compared to many of the women, Oryani didn't really feel... too out of place here. Appearance-wise, at least. So may aspects of the culture were familiar, so like the ways of the Drykas. She almost loved it. Sometimes she didn't like change, sometimes she positively hated it... but at the moment, she was all right.

The woman said something in Myrian, and Oryani shook her head. "Common?" she asked, and the woman nodded. "What do you want?" Her Common was good, though it still had the accent of all these Myrians... and a heavy one. One could say this horse-owner was better at the language than Oryani herself, and they'd probably be right. still, she was getting... better. She was getting a lot of practice at least, and little with her own native language.

"What are... those? Big things, brown." She pointed at one of them, its ear-thingies longer and more blueish. The woman frowned, then said a word in Myrian. "Ashta." Ashta... they were called Ashta? Completely unhelpful, but... another word, another name to her quickly growing list. Every new word she learned was in Myrian, here. By the end of this, she was going to be speaking a garbled mix of half Myrian half Common, and maybe even a little Pavi. It would be... amusing.

She nodded, and was about to turn away, when something dawned on her. She needed money, and she needed a job. That was half her goal out here, though she was unsure of how she would contribute to this kind of society. Every one of their warriors was twice as good, twice as strong as she was. There was little need for her skill riding horses, without the wide open areas of the Sea. But... still... horses. She was good with horses, having lived with them her entire life. She could work here, maybe..

She faced back again, coming closer to lean on the paddock's fence. "Excuse me?" she said, causing the woman to turn back and frown. Once again... there was that strangely familiar face. "I am good with horses. I could help? Work?" She gave an awkward smile. Her accent was probably completely foreign here, so used to Pavi was she. This would be a good, excellent chance to do something, make money, and stay alive and fed. She couldn't live off those 20 bikka forever, of course. She couldn't even remember if they would pay off the rent at the place she was living.

The woman raised an eyebrow, sounding surprised. "You are good with horses, but do not know Ashta?" It was a serious inquiry, not a rhetorical question. Oryani nodded, then added "I am new. To Taloba." She received an understanding nod. The woman moved to the side a bit and opened a nearby paddock door, motioning for the Drykas to come into the pen. She spotted a horse that reminded her of Khal, and sighed a little... she still hadn't gotten over the loss of her Strider. She'd known the horse for so many years... she wished he was here, as well as Alaril, to keep her company. But that was not to be.

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by **Oryani** on June 1st, 2014, 8:02 pm

"What experience do you have? What do you?" the woman inquired of Oryani, when the two were inside the pen. She'd led the horse she'd been grooming earlier over, apparently as a kind of 'test' for the Drykas. The outsider was tempted to simply state that she was a Drykas, as that would explain everything... but few people here knew what the Drykas were, in the same way that she had never heard of a Myrian or a Dhani in her life. She was quite happy to prove herself, however... she was certainly able to do it.

"I had a horse... a stallion. I groom, I feed, I ride. I live with horses always." It was a rough explanation, but all her speech in Common was rather... halted. Some simple sentences she could piece together, as long as there weren't complicated words or tenses. She didn't really see how what she said helped much, as she could always lie, of course. She wanted to show her skills, to prove she knew how to take care of a horse as well as anyone else. As well as any other Drykas. Better than most Myrians, actually. That was why she was working here, after all. Or... planning on working here.

"Okay. Show. Take horse there, groom." The woman pointed to a spot on the far side of the pen, where the small image of a box could be seen, probably containing the items for grooming. Before Oryani could get moving, however, the woman stopped her. "I am Reylil of the Lost Grove. You are?" Oryani gave her own name, and was allowed to lead the horse down to the other end. Reylil probably wanted to see if she could lead a horse, but it was something the Chatakwe was so used to that she barely noticed.

She reached the other side in no time, but it involved some weaving between horses. The mare she was leading seemed to like getting distracted, and kept pulling away to try and nip at another horse, or nibble at the ground. She went by an Ashta once as well, the size even more intimidating close up. She hoped she wouldn't have to deal with those too soon, while working here.

There was a small loop to tie the horse to, so she looped the halter around and through it, so her hands could be free to work... and the horse wouldn't wander off. She looked through the bucket and found all the usual stuff... There was a curry comb, a dandy brush and a body brush, and even a metal curry comb. She'd seen more items, but those were for fuller groomings, rather than regular ones. She was also sort of unfamiliar with their uses, though would never admit it.

She grabbed the curry comb first, going over the horse's sides and back with it rapidly. She didn't know how much grooming Reylil had done, so it was best to start from the beginning. She then went over the same areas with the dandy brush, and finally almost all of the horse, including the legs, with the body brush. Every once in a while she rubbed off the dirt collected on said brushes with the metal curry comb. It barely felt like any time, but soon almost all of the dead hair and dirt was out of the mare's coat... and about half of that was on Oryani herself, sprayed over her clothes. She'd forgotten how messy grooming could be, but also... soothing.

She then moved onto the hooves, using the hoof pick to scrape out mud around the frog (of which there was quite a lot), and brush off looser particles from the flatter parts. Those were more annoying, as it was easier for the mare to make her life harder. For the first foot, the horse flatly refused to lift it at all, until Oryani shoved at the joint in the back to make it go up. For the second, it didn't stop moving the hoof, making working on it a pain. Little fusses like that just to prove that it was in charge. It was practically infuriating. Most Striders were well behaved enough to know not to do that, and waste time.

Still, the job ended up done, and eventually the Chatakwe was able to straighten and look at her to-be employer. Reylil was nodding, before coming forward to run a hand over the mare's coat. "Good job," was the only comment give. "You are good at grooming. You can tack a horse, yes? Can you ride one? I have no tack for Meia, but maybe you can ride bareback?" It was question Oryani could almost answer. Using a Yvas was practically like riding bareback, though there were still a few straps to hold onto. She had some practice with it at least, though not as much as she'd like.

"I can tack, I can ride bareback. A little." It was more than a little, but she couldn't figure out how to say 'sort of', or 'mostly'. This would have to do, and once again she'd have to show her skills off.

"Good... ride Meia around a little to show me." Oryani wasn't entirely sure how riding helped at all with this job, but it was part of owning a horse... so she guessed it was expected. Anyways, she wasn't going to throw away the opportunity to ride a horse for the first time this season, since Khal. She untied the mare, apparently called Meia, and led it a little ways away from the fence. She paused, and glanced at Reylil. "Halter or bridle?" she asked, thinking of the potential complication. She didn't know if Meia listened to knee signals. "Halter," was the answer, and Oryani was prepared to mount up.

She took a moment to notice the height of the horse, actually a little shorter than Khal, as the Strider had been a full grown stallion. Still, Meia was rather tall for a female. She found a nice patch of mane where tugging on it wouldn't hurt the mare, and set that as a good place to grab. She was used to mounting like this, as a Yvas didn't provide much help in that area. She let go of the halter and laid it across the horse's withers, to pick up later. That done, she took a step back, then grabbed the tuft of hair and withers to help her launch her leg over the mare's back. In a moment, she was sitting, attempting to make herself comfortable. It had been something hard to get down in the first place, but it seemed remarkably easy now, after doing it for years.

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by **Oryani** on June 2nd, 2014, 12:30 pm

It took Oryani a bit to truly find her seat on the mare’s back, as it was different from Khal’s… and the gait would probably be very different as well. She would try to adapt, however. This was one of the first times she’d ridden someone else’s horse, since she’d bonded with her Strider. Before that, her family had taught her how to ride on their own, so she had seen a variety of horses. The Chatakwe glanced at Reylil for a moment, then nudged her heels into Meia’s sides. She kept a firm grip on that same tuft of mane at first, since her balance was upset by the odd gait. She went a few paces forward at a walk, slowly getting more comfortable and more adapted to the movement. It was comforting, being mounted again. She practically felt safer, being higher up… safer especially from those strange Ashta. They didn’t look particularly threatening, but similar to the Sea of Grass… most of the things in the jungle here wanted to eat you.

She began loosening her grip as she walked around, quickly discovering that the mare did indeed take knee commands, and responded rather well to a light nudge here, a light nudge there. Sometimes it required more than a light nudge, however, to keep the horse away from more tempting things. At least Meia wasn’t as troublesome being ridden as she had been whilst being groomed… That would have been even more of a pain. She made her way back across the paddock again, passing over a large circular trampled space she’d barely noticed before. All the other animals were nice enough to leave it alone, at least for a this period of time… and there seemed to be enough space to trot in a circle a bit.

She pressed hard and constant into the mare’s left side, wheeling the horse around to face the trampled area. She wished she was as comfortable and confidant with her seat here as she was on Khal’s back to be able to put her hands on her knees as she sometimes did… but that was not to be. In fact, she wished Khal was here in Taloba with her… but he was gone now, body given back to Caiyha and Semele, and left in the Sea along with other Drykas and their Striders. She should have been there, and she probably would have been except for those Svefra. It was funny… they’d practically saved her, but then sold her as a slave to the petching Dhani.

When she reached the circle, she began turning Meia slowly around the edge of the circle, mostly at a walk. When it seemed like the mare was quite comfortable with this (and Oryani as well), the Drykas nudged the horse up to a trot, using her heels rather than her knees. The sudden change in gait upset her balance, and she nearly fell off because of it… she was so used to Khal’s smooth change, rather than Meia’s rough jerky one. It quickly evened out, though Oryani had forgotten to continue steering in a circle, and the pair had ended up going in the other direction. She turned the mare back on course, having to half think about the up and down movement whilst trotting.

The speed was refreshing and nice, and Oryani was tempted to bring it up to a canter… but she found that gait awkward and a little odd, and it was especially confusing in a circle. She was also not going to gallop for the life of her… there was no room, and she’d probably run into something. She’d probably run into something whilst galloping anywhere in this city and its surrounding area… it was all too cramped and full of trees. More trees than a Drykas could dream of… and probably too many, at this point. The Sea of Grass lacked wood most of the time, as there were few large plants on those plains… but that made it so riding straight and fast usually came with no problems, especially at a Strider’s top speed. She didn’t think any of the horses here could run as fast as a Strider, or Khal.

When she felt done and satisfied with the trotting, she slowed the mare down to a walk and headed back to Reylil. The woman had been watching rather patiently, and straightened from leaning on the paddock fence when Oryani approached. Reylil’s eyes watched the rider and horse for a moment, before stating “Dismount,” motioning for the Chatakwe to come down to the ground. The archer did, bringing one leg over Meia’s back and slipping to the ground, facing Reylil. This would probably be the final assessment, the decision to see if she was good enough for the job. In her opinion, she was. She was a Drykas, after all. She was, in all truth, a horsewoman.

“You ride good. I think you will work good. Come… Meia has maybe buyer. You start work now.” With that said, and elation jumping in Oryani’s heart, she grinned and followed after the woman, leading the mare alongside her.

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by **Catastrophe** on June 5th, 2014, 9:12 pm

Oryani :

Notes :

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