Closed [Windmount Stables] The Value of Learning (Lissa)

[Valien]

13th Day of Summer, 514 AV

In the seventeen or so days since Valien had first started working as a courier in Syliras, the Windmount Stables had become somewhat of a familiar destination for him, quite a few of the knights and squires he delivered for needing to send a message to the stables or to have a message from the stables delivered to them. He'd gotten used to searching the barns that always smelled like horses, looking for one of the grooms in either the stalls or the riding pens to hand out letters and other correspondence and get letters to deliver to other recipients in turn. There usually was someone around to accept mail, and more often than not, it was Serena Windmount herself, although occasionally it was another groom.

On this morning, however, the stables were strangely empty. Valien wondered if it was because of the Shield Games that were still going on in Syliras, most of the knights and squires either going to watch or to participate in the tournament directly. It had been like this a few days ago on the 10th, when he had come here and somehow walked away with a quick riding lesson, but it was even more empty today. More of the stalls stood empty than Valien had seen before, making him wonder if the Games had some sort of riding portion involved in them. Not being a member of the Order, he wasn't allowed to watch most of the festivities, but he wouldn't put it past the Knights. This part of the world had some sort of infatuation with riding.

Of course, the fact that they weren't floating in the middle of a lake probably helped with that.

At any rate, the stables' emptiness didn't exactly help him get his job done quickly, and he found himself searching harder than usual for someone qualified to accept mail on the Stables' behalf. It wasn't until after he had exited the first barn and entered another that he finally found one of the grooms. Valien took a step towards her, then hesitated, frowning. She was a lot younger than most of the other grooms around her, and not one that he recognized, a dark-haired girl who couldn't have been out of her teens. He looked around to see if there was anyone else there, but it looked like the girl was the only groom in the immediate vicinity. He cleared his throat, walking towards her.

"Excuse me, miss," he said. "Do you work here? I'm a courier with some deliveries for the Stables."

OOCSorry this took so long!

[Lissa Maze]

Lissa Maze Lissa always thought of the stable at its fullest--horses being led to and from stalls, tack being taken on and off, but most of all nicely filled stalls with bright-eyed horses peering out. The past few days, though, had been quiet. Her shifts had admittedly been running later in the day than usual, but even so--that only added to the mystery. In the mornings she would have been able to see who was taking out the horses. Now, she was just left to wonder. The girl had decided, two saddles in, that cleaning tack was probably the most boring job in the stable. Anything with the actual horses involved at least two personalities (hers and that of the horse), and was usual pleasant; even cleaning out stalls was hard enough work to be, well, hard, not so much boring. Cleaning tack, though, was simply a snooze. It had to last, the stable-owned tack, and therefore had to e cleaned and maintained. She'd been taught recently how to clean tack properly--all of it, not just the bit of a bridle--and rather wished she had not. It was as bad as dusting or polishing or some other such task, but at least she was getting payed to be bored (and, she supposed, useful). In the mindless pattern of cleaning, Lissa didn't even notice the sound of footsteps. The stable was usually full of such noises, paired with the crisper noises of hooves, but Lissa typically found herself craning her neck at odd angles or turning or standing to see the movement. She always liked to see the movement--movement, action, interest...never things that were nice to miss. This time, though, the girl stayed where she was, unaware of the man's approach until he spoke. "Excuse me, miss. Do you work here? I'm a courier with some deliveries for the Stables." Being called "miss" still made Lissa giggle sometimes. Miss! It was one of the nice things about having a job. Everyone had to treat you more grown-up than they would at an orphanage or even in a shop. A job made one important. Important people, though, weren't supposed to giggle. She held it in, just grinning, and composed that into a normal smile before turning around,resting the bridle she'd been working on on a peg. It was done anyways. "I work here," she replied. "I"m Lissa. Here, I can take that." She gestured towards the delivery, figuring that taking it to the office was a safe bet. OOCNo worries on your timing, and sorry about my own lateness with a reply. Also, sorry about a short post--I'm wiped out and didn't have many interesting ideas, but I really wanted to give you a reply since I saw it a few days late.