Completed Making Mizas (Job Thread)

[Mihiya Darkmane]

Timestamp: 30 Summer AV 513

Komali was frolicking in the grass, her dun coat lit by the summer sun while her rider stood a ways away. She had been sent to care for some of the horses that her clan members had not had the time to take care of. They were mostly unbound Striders, but a few Colorsplash as well as some mixed breed horses were mixed in. She was supposed to be grooming them as some Drykas and some outsiders were coming to look at them for potential purchase. Mihiya had never considered purchasing a second horse, though now that she thought about it, it might be wise for her to consider getting one as a pack animal for when she left Endrykas. She pondered the idea, but dismissed it after awhile. There was work to be done.

The horses were well trained, so she was hoping the would stand still when she approached them to groom them. Komali had always been easy to get to stand still. She was pleased that when she approached one of the grazing Striders he merely looked up from his grazing before returning to it.

"Hello, friend," she whispered, signaling that she was not going to hurt him and that she was a friend herself. She located a brush in her backpack and pulled it out. The stallion eyed it, and then eyed her but remained where he was, seeming to trust her. She began to curry the stallion, keeping her body languaged relaxed.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

It was soothing, in a way, to sit and brush the stallion. Her dark eyes scanned the grass lands as she rubbed down the stallion. She looked over his pelt as she continued to brush. The dust from being ridden seemed to have decreased. His coat was regaining a more glossy sheen. She patted his shoulder and he looked back at her with a look she could swear was gratitude. Or possibly, he just had gas.

"Hey, pretty boy," she crooned as she stroked his velvety nose. He whickered softly as she moved to the other side of the stallion, careful to stay out of the range of his hooves. She had seen a man die when a stallion caught him in the temple with a hoof from startling him. She shuddered at the very memory. Even young Drykas children knew better than to get too close to the hooves of a horse.

She began to gently brush the stallion's other side as she began to croon to him under her breath. The stallion was a handsome fellow, though she had noted that he was fairly young. It was likely he had not yet encountered a Drykas he cared to bond with. She smiled as she continued to brush him. Her mare seemed to have a similar opinion, as she caught the two exchanging glances. It would not have surprised her if the younger stallion began to spend time around her dun mare. The mare was fourteen, but Mihiya wouldn't be surprised if she got pregnant. She frowned. Perhaps it would be better if she didn't let Komali near the stallion...or any stallion for that matter. She couldn't afford to have a mare out of commission.

"She's a pretty mare, isn't she?" she laughed as the stallion cast a look at the mare. Times like these made her think that the horses had human emotions. Thinking about babies made her wince. Briseni had been very explicit about marriage and how babies were made. She refocused on her task. The stallion's pelt appeared to be curried thoroughly. Perhaps it would be a good idea to begin to work on the tangled mane that the stallion had.

"Time to untangle that pretty mane," she informed him as she stroked under his mane and scratched at the skin underneath the heavy mane. He shuddered as she did so. She smiled and set to work.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

The first stroke of the brush through the stallion's mane had him snorting and glaring at her. She had inadvertantly tugged at a knot in his mane and her brush came away twined with the silvery mane hairs of the Palomino stallion. She grimaced as she pulled them out and signed an apology to the stallion. He eyed her balefully as she returned to her grooming. He dropped his head for a moment, taking a bite of grass and she huffed. It was not remarkably easy to groom the stallion when he had his head down. She worked on the knots that were closer to her. The stallion was a good horse, but he seemed to be growing antsy. He continuously glanced toward the other horses. She lightly tugged on his mane and he pulled his head up, glaring at her.

"My apologies, boy," she laughed at his angry look before she worked out some of the additional knots. He looked fairly presentable, or at least, as presentable as a horse that spent most of the day wandering the grasslands could look and so she let him trot off to his companions. She looked at that pack, considering her next victim.

"Little one," she crooned as she approached a buckskin filly. The foal walked up to her, brown eyes wide and trusting. She must have only been a few months old, and Mihiya noted a mare who was watching the filly with guarded eyes. She signed to the mare that she was a friend and knelt down to let the filly suck at her fingers. The filly waggled her short little tail and snorted, rubbing her face against the hand that stroked the side of her cheek. Mihiya gently began working the brush she still held gently through the short mane the filly sported, brushing her while she distracted her by rubbing her ears.

"You're adorable," she laughed as the filly sniffed at her face and wrinkled her nose. Mihiya laughed at the expression as she exchanged her mane brush for a curry comb and moving to the side of the filly. The little horse did not make it easy for her to brush her as she kept turning her head to the side and nibbling at the ends of Mihiya's braid.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

The little filly nudged Mihiya's shoulder, nearly knocking her over as she balaced on the balls of her feet to groom the filly. She worked her curry comb through the buckskin coat and began to get rid of the dust that had accumulated on the pelt of the filly. There were so many horses that needed to be looked after. The filly's mother, for example, looked like her mane could use a good brushing. Her pelt was not nearly as dirty as her daughter's but probably needed to be curried. She loved horses, but grooming them all day every day was not nearly as exciting as riding Komali across the open plains.

"You are going to make some lively little Drykas a very happy rider some day," she informed the dancing filly who side stepped away from her dress in order to butt her head against Mihiya's chest. She scratched at the skin along the filly's mane and almost wished that she could have a second horse, or afford a second horse. However, the idea of owning a second horse was slightly daunting. And judging from the way Komali was glaring at her, her Strider would not take kindly to the idea of a second horse taking away from Komali's quality time.

"A very lively Drykas," she corrected herself. The filly gave a small whicker, a immature version of what would likely be her adult neigh. She tried to move to the side in order to resume grooming, but found herself thwarted by a tugging on her braid. She turned to fix the filly with a scathing look, but found that it was impossible to look scathingly at a creature who looked up at you wtih dark brown eyes that were full of innocence.

"You are an incredibly dangerous creature. Seriously, dangerous."

[Mihiya Darkmane]

Finally, the little filly cantered off and the woman got to her feet. Who was her next target? A friendly looking mare had wandered near her, and Mihiya had to laugh at the way Komali glared at glared at her. If the mare had been a human, Mihiya could only picture what she would say. Komali edged closer.

"You know I only do this for mizas, Komali," Mihiya explained patiently as she began to rub the other mare down. Komali snorted, clearly in disbelief. Mihiya laughed at Komali's antics as she put her nose in the air and trotted back over to the young Palomino stallion who nuzzled her shoulder. Mihiya rolled her eyes. If Komali wound up pregnant, at least there could be no doubt as to who would be the father.

"Tramp," she called out teasingly as she watched the dun mare flirt. Well, it would have been flirting if the two horses had been human. Mihiya sighed. She was a terrible flirt. There had boys in her past, but she was terrible at flirting. Not that she was interested in boys...or marriage. As far as men went, she would prefer to avoid them. She sighed under her breath and viciously brushed the mare who glared at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she pouted silently. Men. They caused problems. Many, many, many problems. In particular, the problems caused were named Briseni and her inept attempts to help Mihiya land an Ankal. Not that she had any interest in being an Ankal's second or third wife, which was what she was likely to be as a young girl.

"Boys. Are. Dumb." she informed the mare, stroking her as she curried, "However, my warning seems to have come to late," she giggled as a small foal made his way to the mare's teat.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

As she curried the mare, the colt occasionally pulled at her clothing, or at her braid which was a pretty convenient length for the spindly colt. She did not mind and found it fairly easy to ignore the annoyance, rather like tuning out the buzzing of the fly. The mother was contentedly grazing as Mihiya worked and all seemed fairly commonplace. Her job was not so bad after all, Mihiya reflected. It was a good way to make money, a good way to spend an afternoon. The horses did not question why she hadn't brought home a nice Drykas boy yet, nor did they question her decision to remain among them rather than going out among the humans of the horseclans.

"You are much easier to deal with," she murmured softly to the mare, patting her shoulder kindly. The mare snorted gently, blowing hot air on her face. Mihiya patted the nose that had snorted on her and scratched under her chin. The mare returned to her grazing and her foal left off annoying the woman who was caring for them and instead decided to nurse. The mother was content, the baby was content, and so was the girl sent to take care of them. Some people considered grooming to be a low occupation and unworthy of the time spent on it, but Mihiya disagreed.

Grooming allowed her to do work and get paid while mainly doing nothing but talking and taking care of her favorite animals in the world. Why would anyone ever do anything differently?

[Mihiya Darkmane]

Moments later, she had her answer. Brinlin had returned from some fight that he had been in, coated in new scars and had handed over his horse, demanding that she take care of him. The stallion eyed her warily, ears pressed against his skull as she approached him. She was so going to get bitten. Brinlin's stallion had a temper and a tendency to bite whenever anyone, even young children, tried to touch him. His ears were laid flat against his head as she approached, his neck snaked out and teeth bared. Oh, hell.

"Come on," she hissed at the stallion who only flattened his ears more. She probably wasn't helping things, her body posture was more than likely intimindating and since Brinlin had trained that petching beast to bite anyone and anything who touched it, he was probably going to tear a chunk out of her shoulder. Then she would have to go see the healers and then word would get around that Mihiya Darkmane couldn't handle a horse. Which was unfair, because she could handle horses. It was just that this horse was a special case.

"It's okay," she crooned, changing her tactic, "It's okay, you rotten beast." Her tone did not change as she insulted the stallion. She kept the aggression out of her stance, as she extended fingers toward the muzzle of the beast, as a gesture of good will.

It was a bad decision. She only just had time to whip her hands away before large teeth clamped together right in the spot where her fingers had been moments before. She swore under her breath. This was stupid. This was just...grooming was not supposed to be a dangerous game! That was hunting, or working with poison, or killing people for a living. She was a horse groomer and she was about to become maimed!

The things she did for money.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

She turned her attention away from the stallion, deciding that there were mroe docile and complecent mounts that she should groom. However, as she cast a look skyward, she noted that day was beginning to morph into night. She whistled for Komali, it was time to head out. She patted one of the horses as she picked up her supplies, nothing that Brinlin's stallion was still glaring at her balefully.

He would proably throw a fit when he noticed that his horse was still caked in dust, but hopefully the people who were actually paying her to do grooming would be happy. It was a pleasant job, easy and relaxing and she had enjoyed it. The horses seemed a bit cleaner than before, though some dirt still clung to their legs and their tails might have been a bit knotted. Still, with the grooming they looked much more presentable.

"I'm leaving, see you all again in a few days," she called out to the horses. One of the mares whickered after her, and a little filly danced up to her before dancing away. Horses, Mihiya thought to herself, truly were some of the sweetest animals.

[Praetorian]

Your Diligence Has Been Rewarded! Mihiya Darkmane Horsemanship +4 XP Observation +3 XP Komali: Flirting Like A Filly Notes : A solid work thread. Nice job! ^_^ Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to message me.