[Location: Windmount Stables] Time for Tea (Garland)

[Nivel]

8th day of Spring, 515

Syna’s light was bright and warm in the sky and only a subtle breeze could be felt. little buds could be seen springing from the trees and birds were chirping their chipper little melodies. It was the perfect day to venture outside and bask in the pleasant weather after Zulrav had ravaged the land with a spiteful snow storm during winter. Sera Grey was quick to intercept her squire before she could venture out to frolic, appearing at the pycons door wearing a pale blue mask with yellow flowers around the fringe and a simple green robe. Unlike Sera Grey’s usual masks this one revealed her lower jaw and thin lips.
“I hope you are available for training today” Said the Mage knight in a calm tone “Because Sera Cathrine is also going to be training her squire in riding and I would like us to join them.”
Nivel knew there was no way she could refuse this invitation so she lowered her head and accepted. “I’ll get patcha..”
“Wonderful I’ll meet you there” Sera Grey said as she clapped her hands together delicately before making her exit down the dimly lit hallway. “No Dallying” she called back.

Nivel had kept forcing the poor kelvic into a chaotic sleeping cycle and she had recently decided it was best to give her time to recover .She felt guilty for having to wake Patcha now that she was letting her kelvic mount sleep in but she wasn't about to disobey her Patron ether. Nivel hesitantly poked the small pup but got no response, so she poked her again and again until Nivel was able to nudge and poke Patcha awake. The groggy kelvic gave a defeated scowl and retrieved her saddle for Nivel to put on.
“I’m really sorry” Nivel whispered with guilt “Sera Grey wants us to train with one of her Knight friends.”
Patcha really didn’t care, she just wanted her beauty rest. .The kelvic hoped this training was short so she could have a long nap.

When Nivel arrived at the Windmount stables atop her sleep mount, she was pleased to see that Garland was there too.
“Garland! How have you been?” Nivel cheered “how is your baby! is it born yet?”
Nivel hadn’t seen her friend since the chaotic new years party at Sayana’s house where he announced that not only his mate but Sayana herself was with child. It hadn’t been that long but she still missed his company and hadn’t been able to concradulate him on his bundle of joy to come.

Looking past Garland Nivel could see Sera Grey Casually sipping tea and conversing with a far less extravagant female knight. This women looked like the complete opposite of Sera Grey, and had a more masculine quality to her. The two seemed to be in the middle of a pleasant discussion and Nivel could swear she could even see a smile on her patrons face. Nivel didn’t bother Announcing her presence yet until she had gotten a bit of time to recap with her friend.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Telor Riptide

[Garland]

"Nooooo! Let me sleeeeepppp!"

"No, Don't make me drag you through the bushes again!" Sera Catherine had just kicked in the door leading to Garland's room, this was pretty much every single morning since Garland had joined the squires, much to Aventis' annoyance, Catherine just didn't care for Garland's roommate, if he was sleeping or not. She just wanted her squire out of bed and into his armor.

Catherine took the discarded chestplate and greaves and dumped them on Garland, with a loud crash and bang and literally kicked Garland out of bed. "Put on your clothes and get out, I'll be waiting by the stables." She said with a scowl, and walked out the door, slamming it shut.

"I hate mondays..." Garland mumbled under the heavy platemail on top of him. "Right, I got to go... Clothes... They are somewhere here." He pushed off the armor and went over to his drawers. He pulled out his clothes and quickly threw them on. He gave a stiffled yawn and walked out the door.

Amazingly, Aventis was still asleep... Or he could have already left, he didn't know. Aventis was always a strange one, though he swore he had met him before.

Now wasn't the time to think about that. He strapped on his sword and shield and went on towards the exit of the building. Then he noticed that he's not wearing he's not wearing his armor. "...Shyke..." He stiffled another yawn and ran back to his room and picked up his armor and kit. He strapped on his greaves and boots and walked out, carrying his plate armor and gauntlets.

He slipped on his gauntlets while he was walking, careful not to drop the platemail. "Bah! Next time, I'm sleeping somewhere else, somewhere she won't find me." He muttered to himself, though he wasn't planning to be late for anything ever again, after the last time that happened.

He stopped and quickly threw on his chest piece and made his way to the stables.

It wasn't such a long walk, though he did get side tracked by the smell of food in the distance, but he made it there in time. He gave a small yawn, and looked over to Sera Catherine chatting up someone else, drinking tea and such.

He recognized the masked knight as Sera Grey. "Seras." He greeted with a small bow. "Am I training with Nivel today?"

"Yes, you can wait over there for her." Catherine said and pointed to Garland's mount, Tryn. It has been a while, and it looks like his horse was not happy with Garland's neglect, though he looks fine health-wise. The stables keep their horses at top notch condition.

It didn't take long for Nivel to get here though. “Garland! How have you been? how is your baby! is it born yet?”

Garland smiled at Nivel curiosity. "You remember that? Well, he or she won't be here for a little while, maybe around fall or late summer. Anyway, how are you? I haven't seen you around for a while, been keeping busy?"

[Nivel]

OocSorry for the late response
The response Garland gave to Nivel’s question didn’t correlate at all with what she knew about reproduction. “Are you really sure it will take that long?” Nivel perplexed as her ears drooped to rest on her shoulders. In pyconia expecting mothers weren’t pregnant for very long and the babies didn’t stay babies very long ether. Nivel barely spent any time being a defenceless infant and hadn’t had the chance to see a tall folk one in person. “I thought it only took a season to give birth to a clay sphere” Nivel paused for a chime upon realizing that Talk folk were made of different material so their babies might look different. “Are Tall Folk babies spheres or are they some other shape?

“Oh wait you want to know about what I’ve been up to?” Nivel recalled after pushing away the thoughts of square shaped children. “You should hop on your horse and we’ll catch up on each others adventures as we ride.” The pycons waited patiently on her mount Patcha as Garland ascended his surly looking horse. Nivel faved her tail in Patcha’s view to show that she was ready to start moving forward. Patcha saw the signal and started into a slow trot but soon picked up speed to catch up with Garland’s long legged horse.
“Well at the start of winter I survived a battle with a Qamur. an ancient beast that took up residence in a cave…All the other important adventures you already know about” The pycon explained as she tried to think of any other notable events she might have missed. “what about you?”

After Garlands reply the two Patron Knights stopped conversing long enough to notice that the tiny mage squire had arrived. Sera Grey gave a delicate wave to the two Squires before calling out to them “Pick up the pace you two, you came here to ride not to chat.”
“Wait why do you get to sit there and chat?” Nivel hollered back in protest
“Because I am already a Knight and I am afraid that you are not”
Nivel couldn’t argue with that logic but it was still didn’t seem very fair in the pycon’s opinion.

Nivel let out a sigh and looked up at Garland “do you want to have a race then, I know I can’t win but it will still be more fun then running aimless laps”

Credit for Boxcode goes to Telor Riptide

[Garland]

“Are you really sure it will take that long? I thought it only took a season to give birth to a clay sphere. Are Tall Folk babies spheres or are they some other shape? "

Garland was caught off-guard by Nivel's bombardment of questions about human babies. "Usually it takes three seasons for the baby to form." He said with a small smile, Nivel sure was curious and under-informed. "Human babies aren't tiny clay spheres, they are more... tiny fat versions of adults, only... less hairy? They are hard to describe, but they are soft and squishy, like clay, but more solid, less... shape-able? Is that a word? Less clay-like and more fleshy." He said with a furrow on his brow, it was very difficult to describe babies, especially since he had not seen a lot of babies in his life, a few in the orphanage, but not really a lot.

As Garland gave Tryn a small pat on the head and mounted the horse, he could feel that his horse was a little peeved at Garland. "Oh shush you, I've been busy." He said and rubbed the back of Tryn's ear, earning Garland a whinny of approval. With that out of the way, he placed his boots on the spurs and gave a small kick to get Tryn started.

"Qaumar? Haven't heard of those before, I assume everything went right?" He said and went on a slow brisk pace with his horse, it looked like Tryn was itching for a run. "Well... Adventures... Hmm...The winter was uneventful for me, the yukman hunt, you know about... Sayana was sick for a while, I met April... Not a lot has happened to me the pass winter."

As the two of them neared their patrons, Sera Grey gave a small wave to the two of them and ordered them to move faster, though politely. Sera Catherine on the other hand... "Move your butts you two, double time!"

"Sera, with all due respect. I will mostly get launched off of this thing if I go too fast." He said with a small roll of his eyes."Yes Nivel, a race would be better than just endless laps." Tryn gave another whinny, hearing the words "faster" and "race" were all the horse needed to have an excuse to run at full speed.

With a loud neigh, Tryn reared up, making Garland hold on to the reins and then running off on a full-sprint around the track, sending the dirt and dust up the air and making his rider hold on for dear life.

[Nivel]

Garland’s descriptions of babies didn’t make the pycons any less confused, especially when it came to the shape they were. It seemed odd to Nivel that Tall Folk off spring were just smaller versions of themselves upon creation. It saddened the pycon to think that the only physical progression for Tall Folk was to get taller and grow that thin brown grass they called “hair”. It also made Nivel a little envious that they already had limbs and were full functioning right out of the womb, what she didn’t know was that this just wasn’t the case.
“Tall folk are strange…” Nivel replied with a chipper flutter of her wings. “I like that about them”
She truly did like learning more about the enigma that was the tall folk that surrounded her and craved more information about them. She knew she would have to look mostly to the books in the Syliran Archive is she was to learn more about Tall Folk offspring, since it would be rude to pester Garland.

Garland went on to explain what he had been doing during the winter. Nivel was surprised and concerned to hear that her dance instructor Sayana was sick. The pycon relaxed once she realized that Sayana wasn’t sick the last time she saw her but still felt guilty that she wasn’t there for the dancer in her time of need. Nivel wanted to learn more about how Garland and April had meet but the patterns had interjected before the tiny creature could ask.

“No fair” Nivel protested loudly as Garland catapulted into the lead without so much as a simple ready set go. The pycon gave a light tap of her legs to her mounts sides as a signal to go forward but the tiny kelvic was scared stiff from the sudden ruckus Garlands unruly horse had just made.
“Come on Patcha he’s going to beat us!” Nivel impatiently urged the mount.
“Nivel, your mount is scared. A knight must know how to calm their mount in dire circumstances” Sera Grey called out her advice “Try petting her”
The squire exhaled and gave a quick nod of affirmation at her Patrons advice before resting her tiny hand on Patcha’s soft head.
“It’s just a cranky old horse, no need to be scared Patcha” She said as her small clay hands moved lightly along the bad of the Kelvic’s scalp “Lets go finish this race”
Patcha finally started galloping on her tiny paws but it seemed Garland was already far ahead. His horse was simply too fast for a stubby legged corgi to catch up. Regardless Nivel trotted along on Patcha’s back heading towards the end. Even if there was no hope of winning the two of them could at least complete a lap around the track.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Telor Riptide

[Garland]

Garland was holding on for dear life now. He knew that it would be better to try and stay calm and try to sway and bounce along with the horse instead of clinging to his neck. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" But right now, his mind and body was stuck in a perpetual fear and held on the horse with a tight grip.

Catherine propped her feet up on a small square hay bale and sipped on her tea. "This is entertaining." She said to her patron friend. "Though I should probably give him some tips on how to stop before he crashes into a wall, again." She got up and went over to the side of the track.

She watched with unrestrained glee on her face as Garland was clinging on tight, while Tryn was making a full circle like it was barely making any strain on him, this horse had a lot of pent up energy. "Garland! Try to slowly calm him down! Do not try the ear trick on him, unless you want both of you to tumble and crash! Stop being such a wuss and let go, try to keep balance and go along with the jostles! That way you will get control back much easier!" She yelled loudly, making sure Garland could hear her over the galloping hooves.

Garland took a deep breath and tried to sit back up, grabbing the reins and pulling up firmly, but not too rough. "Slow down, you overgrown mule!" But Tryn was having none of it, after that lost he suffered during last winter against Ashryn and her horse, he was gonna finish this as quickly as he can.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the track, opposite of Sera Catherine's position, Gunther the stable-head was having a very odd discussion with a delivery boy with crates of tea sitting atop his cart.

"I'm telling you again, boy! I did not order two dozen crates of tea! I can't drink all that tea! The horses don't drink the tea! What am I gonna do with all these tea bags and tea packets!?" The loud horse caretaker yelled with several exaggerated hand gestures.

The delivery boy on the other hand had an equally determined look and even more exaggerated hand gestures. "But sire! It says right here that there was an order of two dozen crates of tea! I can't go back with all these crates! I'll get fired and probably have to pay for the tea myself! Now where would this tea go!?"

"Take it to the Bean then! They could use some tea, or maybe the Herald's Arms or the White Swan, Just not here!?"

While the two of them argued with each other, a shadowy figured snuck up to the driver's side of the wagon and got on, it would have been to risky to remove the horse from the cart without being spotted by someone. Whoever this shadowy figure was, he needed a horse, they were quite expensive and a fast one would make fast money.

"The Bean, maybe... in all honesty, whoever wrote this delivery order would need several lessons in penmanshi- Hey! Get off of that!" The Delivery boy said, and started running towards the wagon.

The shadowy man raised up the reins and sent them down, whipping the horse and making it gallop off at high speeds down into the street. Catherine heard the yell from the delivery boy and looked over to Garland and Nivel. "Get your butts in gear, we got a thief!" She ran off to one of the stables and quickly got up onto the bareback of the horse, she didn't have time to put on a saddle.

This was what Tryn had wanted, a good chase! Breaking away from the track, the wild mixed blood started following the cart, but it was making an incredible even pace, this horse was very fast! But the cart of teas were slowing the horse down, sooner or later he will tire himself out.

[Nivel]

OocI'm back! sorry for keeping you waiting
“I imagine that would be the best course of action” Sera Grey lightly chuckled at Catherine’s comment. The mage knight was glad to know that she wasn’t the only one that had her hands full tutoring her squire. Nivel didn’t make a habit of running into walls but she was still pretty alien. Having the pycon as a squire was very much like having a child but unlike a child the clay homunculus would always be foreign. There would be things they would never completely understand about each other.

Patcha’s sensitive canine ears were alerted to a commotion going on nearby and she started to whine in distress. Nivel was about to ask the kelvic what was the matter but the problem became very apparent as a tall folk angrily called after a mysterious figure galloping away with a horse. Catherine stated what Nivel and Patcha had already assumed and were more than ready to chase after a thief.

“Let’s go Patcha” Nivel directed with a quick point of her hand in the direction she wanted her mount to go.
“Garland you go ahead, me and Patcha will be right behind you” Nivel wasn’t sure she would actually be right behind the other squire but she would at least do her best to keep him in her sights in case he needed back up.

Patcha bolted through the fence and down the dirt road which would soon lead near the Nettle district and after that would be the gate unless he was heading towards the docks. It was very clear this thief wasn’t a thinker, stealing in Syliras just wasn’t a very good idea. Nivel assumed the thief was a young tall folk like the last one she had dealt with, this would be thief probably didn’t know what he was getting himself into. The skill the thief had with the horse seem to suggest otherwise. The way he maneuvered this animal he had never had contact with seemed effortless, almost like they were one solid being.

Garland and Sera Cathrine quickly shot past Nivel but there seemed to be no sign of the masked mage knight. Sera Grey was the last to get her horse, like Cathline she was forced to ride her dark coloured mare bare back. Sera Grey wasn’t a fledgeling rider but definitely had some trouble getting on her horse without the aid of a saddle. She stubbled about comically for a bit but was able to regain control of the situation and mount her horse properly soon enough. Her horse was catching up speed and would soon pass Nivel as well, It seemed there was no way that the pycon could ever compete with a the speed of a mounted Tall folk.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Telor Riptide

[Garland]

The way this thief was riding told that he was either very good at controlling a horse or at the very least lucky enough to get a docile horse that would obey to anything you order it. Garland was trying his best to keep Tryn from galloping too fast, unless he wanted to lose control, the black mixed blood was capable of turning by himself.

Soon enough Sera Catherine shot pass Garland and was right the thief's tail. They were going through the Nettle District, meaning sharp turns and crowded streets, this just spelled trouble. Sera Grey soon shot pass Garland as well, despite Tryn's speed, Sera Catherine and Sera Grey had more skill in riding and had battle-hardened horses to boot. Garland was still rather slow even with a moderately fast horse as his steed.

Garland looked forward, waving his arms around trying to warn people of a high-speed chase. "Get out the way! To the side! Move! Knights coming through! For the love of Sylir GET OFF THE STREET!" He yelled as loud as he could. "We need some sort of alarm if we're ever in a chase..." He muttered to himself.

The people moved off to the side as the horses thundered through the street, luckily enough no one got hurt. The thief made a sharp right turn, and was heading to the gates. Garland forced Tryn to slow down to match Nivel's speed. "Nivel! There's an alley up ahead, the horses can't get through that, you can cut him off if you hurry." With that he let Tryn speed up, almost skidding into as he made the turn. "Dang it! Don't scare me like that you dumb horse!"

Soon enough Garland was right behind Sera Grey. "Sera, he's heading through the gates, if he gets into the woods, there's a good chance we can lose him!"

[Nivel]

OocSorry for the long wait again, I hope this reply was good enough.

It seemed like the two knights, her fellow squire were far head of nivel, the only thing that allowed the pycon to track her companions was the chaos of alarmed citizens and the shouting of Garland. The pycon and her mount still pressed on and tried not to get left in the dust. Poor Patcha was moving her stubby legs in such rapid succession that she Nivel was sure she would be thrown off before she caught up.

Garland suddenly became visible and Nivel was certain that is was because they were actually catching up. The Tall folk squire yelled back about an ally way that Nivel could use to catch up to the bandit. She quickly spotted it and gently veered Patcha in it’s direction.
“Thank you Garland!” Nivel yelled her appreciation back at him before turning her attention back to her mount and the course she was now taking.
“Let’s catch this horse thief Patcha” Nivel declared and received a determined high pitched bark back from the furry beast beneath her.

After clumsily weaving through the crowds of giant feet that the tiny duo dove into the ally way. As soon as they were in, it became apparent that this wouldn’t be the most hospitable of shortcut since it was used for storage. Small towers of crates filled the alleyway most likely emptied of their precious goods and left out to be filled once more. There was a convenient wooden plank that let to the first level and Patcha quickly ran up it, she weaved through some square wooden obstacles and emerged through the other side. The poor Kelvic was tongue was panting in fatigue but she pressed on.

Nivel spotted the devious horse thief as soon as they exited the alley and pointed him out to Patcha. The tired dog ran out into the streets and barked loudly at the man as he headed towards them.
“He’s here!” Nivel hollered to her companions.
The thief didn’t seem to pay much attention to Nivel or her tiny dog and continued on his regular corse towards the gate. The pycon knew she wasn’t big enough to make him stop on his own, so she quickly dismounted and readied her self to preform her flux magic.

She didn’t need as much focus as she once did to control her own flux energy but she still needed to get her mind fairly clear. She took a deep breath in and out and relieved a bit of her stress. With her mind more relaxed she focused channeling her flux to her lower body so that she could jump on to the horse and apprehend the escaping criminal. The energy flowed quite nicely to the areas she desired and when the horse came into view she launched herself like a grasshopper onto the horse.

She just nearly grabbed onto the mans coat and had to hold on tight so as not to fall off. The Thief took notice and tried to swat Nivel away but the nimble pycon was able to swing her self behind him and onto the saddle so as to escape his grasp.

Meanwhile Garland had caught up with Sera Grey and had voiced his concern to the Mage knight.
“Do not worry Squire, thieves do not ever get very far in Syliras.” The Mage knight shouted back to reassure the young squire.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Telor Riptide

[Garland]

Tryn had enough of Garland's "safe" riding, he had enough of it. He had most of the control already, but Garland was still holding him back, slowing him down or speeding him up.

Tryn had gone full gallop, even going as fast as Catherine on her veteran horse, it had seen plenty of battles, and had given chase to faster things, though Tryn was on pure excitement, rushing faster and faster.

Garland tried to slow down, but Tryn was not having any of it, if anything he just sped up. There was a cart, with several barrels on it, the thief decided to knock the barrels off and try to block the street, Tryn had a mad glint in his eyes, rage to the man that was trying to bar their way.

"What are you doing you dumb horse!? I hope you're not- I hate you." Garland gripped tightly on the reins of his horse, as Tryn went full throttle and ran as fast as the horse possibly could.

"Garland!" Sera Catherine called out to the squire. "Jump on the cart!" She yelled, Garland could barely hear her through the wind moving through his ears, but he did hear most of what she said.

"Are you crazy!" He yelled back, gripping his horse tighter around the neck, clinging on like a monkey to a branch.

"You'll be fine, just do it! That was an order!"

Garland sighed and took a deep breath, he loosened up his grip and removed his legs from the stirrups. He raised his legs on Tryn's back and barely held on. He had to jump now or he'll fall off. He leap up and over the railings of the cart and landed on said cart.

There was a loud crash and with the fall sent a few crates of tea off the cart and into the street. Garland fell rather painfully on his arm, luckily it wasn't his sword arm, so he could still hold a sword fairly well. He stood up, grabbing the sides of the cart to keep his balance.

He saw Nivel swing herself back behind the thief, grabbing on to the saddle. Garland walked forward, but it was bumpy road, the thief noticed the squire on the back of the cart. He sped up, trying to knock the squire back and make him fall.

Garland tripped and was sent back a bit, knocking a few more crates out of the cart. Catherine had barely dodged the overboard cargo. "Oi! Who's side are you on!?"

Garland crawled back up, having a tighter grip on the sides. The horse and cart had broken through the gates, almost hitting several people along the way. He was making a break to the woods. Garland grabbed the thief by the neck, but the thief was quick with his reaction and quickly elbowed Garland's face, sending him to recoil.