13th of Spring of 512 A.V.
Midday
Kelvic Camp Outside of Lhavit
"Come on, Tess! You have to get on the horse at SOME point! Rose, Tessa's sister, rode Violet, a Mixed blood horse who had a silky black coat around in circles impatiently waiting for Tessa to mount her horse.
Tessa, nearing her first birthday but looking around the age of six, stared up at the sturdy, golden horse her sister had chosen and named Marigold for her. The horse seemed so foreign to Tessa, as if riding it was out of the question.
"Tessa!" Rose grew even more impatient waiting for Tessa to just get up on the horse. Even if Tessa had never ridden a horse before, she should at least know how to mount it. Before even going near the horses, Rose had shown Tessa how to calm, tack, and mount a horse using a fallen tree as a 'Horse'.
Tessa reached out her arm, stroking Marigold's silky mane. The mountain pony whinnied with approval and dipped her neck, obviously expecting Tessa to climb on.
Tessa set a look of determination on her face, and abruptly swung her leg over the horse and mounted it. Staring triumphantly over at Rose, Tessa set Marigold into a trot, casually jumping over logs and high roots.
Rose smirked, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd bonded with that horse!" Laughing, she added, "I wouldn't be surprised if you started serving the horse, instead of the horse serving you." Rose cracked up over this as Tessa, annoyed now, turned Marigold around and steered her in the direction of her sister.
Rose, opening her eyes to see her sister riding a large animal at full gallop towards her, jolted her foot into Violet's rump, startling the poor horse into a full out run.
Violet took of so fast Rose didn't have any time to grab the reins, so when Violet took off, she didn't take Rose with her.
Now it was Tessa's turn to laugh as Rose was thrown off the horse into a deep puddle of mud. A look of shock on her face, Rose stood up and as dignified as she could, shook the mud off herself.
"This will Never wash out!" Rose moaned in frustration as Tessa giggled, watching her big sister Rose get so dirty was very entertaining.
"Yeah yeah! Laugh now! But remember! I'm the tiger here!"
Tessa stopped laughing immediately. Unlike they're parents, who were mice, Tessa had been born a bobcat while Rose was a great white tiger.
"Yeah. Thats what I thought. Now, how about we finish our riding lesson tommorow. When I'm less muddy"
Tessa smiled at this, and nodded at her sister.
Rose jogged back over to her tent and slipped inside, leaving Tessa to stare up at the sunset, still sitting atop Marigold.
Marigold whinnied under Tessa, kneeling down when Tessa swung her leg back over and dismounted. Leading Marigold to a nearby low-lying log, Tessa sat and stoked the horses' mane as the sun went down.