[Windmount Stables] Horse Sense (Aedai)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"All right, I'll see you at the gate." Sam couldn't help but respond with an equally sunny smile. Perhaps it was the relative youth they shared; Sam had lost brothers and cousins as well as parents and sisters and the like. Sometimes he felt like he was either trying to make a connection with people or trying to push them away. What was most fun was when he was doing both simultaneously. He was crazy like that.

Once Aedai was off, he went out the door of the stables and slipped the reins of Horse's cavesson off the hitching post and leaped nimbly from the ground to the saddle with the agility of some fairy creature. He caught one of the stable hands staring at him thoughtfully, but all he could do was shrug and wave, urging Horse away with the pressure of his knees.

It didn't matter so much that people knew he was Drykas, he supposed. Let them think him outcast or some such rather than his true shame. Horse carried him dutifully toward the gates and then outside to wait. From the saddle, he turned around to make sure he had everything. Of course he did. Snails carried their homes upon their backs. Horse carried Sam and their homes upon his back.

He was glad to be outside the city walls as soon as they were, and he settled in to wait with all due patience.

[Aedai]

As soon as they parted, Aedai walked out of the building. He noticed it was a lot larger then what he once saw it was with more than one barn. He didn't bother to wander any longer though, his head urged him home. What he didn't have in his position was a shovel. I have to buy a shovel...why didn't I ask before I left? He had looked down while he was walking and thinking entering the castle so that he could head home. The immense size of the halls sometimes intimidate him. He did not take note how close the stables was to the castle as he should have. He would surely have trouble finding it again, but he made sure he knew how to get to the gate. It is where he marked the entrance to his new home. He still didn't want to fully accept the idea of this new place as his home. His bed was his bed, it wasn't owned by another and his cottage was his home, it wasn't made by another. The cottage was his father's home.

A tear slid down his eye, feeling homesick, missing his father. He needed his mother, he needed to hug his mother. Before he did he would finish this before he went home and cried into her arms. She was always kind to him, listening to him whine about how it wasn't fair. His father always told him the world wasn't fair but that was one reality he couldn't accept. He felt his breathing rise and he kept his gaze lowered so that no one noticed his tear or the sob rising from his throat. He was sure though that some might have noticed.

He was going to head home first to tell his mother what he had planned to do. As soon as he turned the corner heading into the residential side of the castle, his steps started to slow. He was distracted by different thoughts in his head, such as what if he met the mad man again or if his father was still alive or wild creatures devoured his corpse. "Stop your day dreaming son and get inside", said a sweet voice a few feet away from him. He looked up to see his mother about to leave their small new home. "Mother...I came to gather my waterskin and...his spear", he said pausing a little at the mention of his father before throwing out his words.

His mother nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek with a warm hug, "You be careful son, I am hoping this is for gathering herbs and not to venture in any danger about this magic business". After she let go of him she wagged her finger at him, "I'll not have my son dying in a forest as well you hear?" He nodded his head quickly, "Don't worry mom I will be careful, I'll just speak of peace to those creatures the same way you have taught me to speak". He gave her a small while she shook her head. "You be careful now or I will drag you out of that damn forest myself," she paused placing her hand on his cheek, "I'll be busy as usual working, people buying herbs, others looking for cures you know how it is just a lot more people than usual."

He used his key to go inside his home and quickly collect the things he needed to travel. He equiped a back strap sliding it across one arm and adjusting it so that it felt comfortable across his back. He placed his spear in the strap to hold it in place and pulled it to check if it was firm. He could feel the extra weight on his body, on his legs, on his heart. He carried his things in the pack but held it in his hand in a paranoid way thinking someone might take something. He wiped a tear from his left eye and walked out of his house, closing the door and locking it. He carried with him enough money knowing full well he had to buy a shovel from the Bazaar. His father called it the Great Bazaar because that was what people called it. It was huge afterall, and that was where he was headed, into the familiar forest of tents and people selling a variety of things. He knew the path from when his father would buy things from the castle. It was a sight you couldn't miss.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

It was a while before Aedai appeared, so Sam had slithered off Horse's back to check his saddle and tack to make sure all was in readiness for a bit of a jaunt out into the woods. Everything was, of course, as securely and expertly put together as he had left it.

Watching traffic through the gate, he spotted Aedai almost immediately, noting how the guards nodded approvingly at the spear he carried -- it was, after all, somewhat dangerous outside the City -- but Sam was curious about the shovel in his hand. It didn't bear asking questions, he supposed, as there were plenty of reasons to need a shovel. In fact, he had a little trowel in his pack for digging a temporary cesspit for himself when out and about beyond the reach of civilization.

"Ho, Aedai," he greeted when the lad was within easy earshot. He grinned widely as if they were about to go on some adventure rather than just a ride through the woods.

[Aedai]

He finally arrived at the gate gripping the shovel in his hand, the tool that would be used to bury his father into the ground. So that anything underneath may take his father instead of wild beast. The idea almost made him want to run away, he couldn't face something like this so easily. Aedai quickly snapped out of it as he heard two knights talk among themselves while he passed by them, "Look, Bob, one of the citizens thinks he can survive out in the wilderness alone." "I know, right? Where do these crazy kids get their ideas..."

Aedai smiled at the words, knowing full well he could. His paced quickened as he approached Sam with his smile. Sam greeted him in a way that confused Aedai so his response came out more of a question. "Ho, Sam?".

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"H'lo," he said, smiling and unaware that his greeting was misinterpreted as anything else. "Here, gimme that. I'll strap it to the saddle."

He held out his hand for the shovel, secured it among the rest of the things Horse was carrying, and leaned down a bit more to offer Aedai his hand.

"Come on up," he said. "Horse can carry double while the terrain is easy. Neither of us is much weight, anyway."

[Aedai]

Aedai handed over the shovel to Sam as soon as Sam offered to take it. He wiped his hands as if trying to make them clean, as if he was dirty. Sam offered him a ride and Aedai shook his head look at him with a puzzled face, "I don't ride animals...and I never have".

He didn't like the thought of riding an animal, he never did. To have the horse carry more then it already did made Aedai feel heavy. It seemed too uncomfortable for him. "I can walk alongside your horse or run althought I'm not sure I can keep up with him out on the land till we get to the forest".

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

There was a long moment where Sam's good manners abandoned him and he stared at Aedai in disbelief, but he quickly shook it off, not questioning his personal moral code. Of course, he had been raised in communion with horses, knew their capabilities and would never overburden a horse except in a case of extreme need.

Though tall, Sam weighed little. He owned little, and thus Horse carried but little. Still, it was good to make small sacrifices for new friends, or for someone one might make a friend. So he shrugged and slid off Horse's back, the dismount a graceful thing for thousands upon thousands of repetitions. The cavesson he slipped off over Horse's head; it bore no bit to bite into his mouth, but he would be more comfortable without the leather straps. That too he tied to the saddle and then stroked his shoulder. He muttered a few words in Pavi, which caused Horse to turn his head and perk up his ears with rapt attention. All that while he stroked Horse's face, dispelling any discomfort from the cavesson.

After a moment, he stopped, smiled at Aedai, and started walking. Horse needed no lead, but immediately moved to keep pace with the young horseman.

"Shall we?"

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Sama'el Exp +1 Riding Lore Foreign Views of Horses Aedai Exp +1 Interrogation Lore Losing a Loved One Additional Comments Hey guys, as usual, you can always PM me with any questions or comments about me or my grading. If a problem arises, I will gladly work out a solution with you. Nice thread and keep up the good writing!