[Strongheart Stables] No spurs please, she's my mother (Badb please)

[Lyssoryl]

The 22nd brightening of The Month of Immanis in the Season of Winter, Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum.

After making a few casual inquiries, Lyssoryl had learned that the place of choice to have riding lessons was Strongheart Stables. This hardly was surprising news, the establishment was enormous and the sound of the elephants and jolos could be heard from far away.

She made her way there soon after Violin lessons, stopping off at her room first to change into trousers, which seemed to be the most convenient clothing choice for riding on both sides of a mount with decorum.

Lyssoryl would have liked to spend a good candlemark touring the facility and viewing the elephants, but she worried that it would make Kamvia nervous, so she headed for the horse wing with only a quick stop to peer at the more exotic animals.

She haled the first employee that she came across.

"Serale! I would like to speak to someone about riding lessons. Specifically, instruction on how to ride this frost deer." She patted the deer lovingly on the neck. "Can you point me in the direction of someone who might be able to help me?"

[Badb]

"Serale!" The teenager said cheerfully, sticking his pitchfork into the straw. A shock of black hair covered one eye, and he grinned down at Lyssoryl. "A frost deer, eh? Beautiful. Heard of them, but I can't say I've ever seen one before now," he had a good look at the deer, letting out a low whistle of awe, and listened to Lyssoryl's request.

"I'll tell you what. My father's a bit busy with the Jolos right now, but I'd bet my brother could help you out. He works with horses and ponies, mainly, but he's good with them. I'd do it myself, but I'm not allowed to teach yet," he gave her a pleasant wink, and wiped his hands off on a brightly-colored handkerchief dangling from a back pocket of his pants. "Let's go. He should be just finishing now, I'd imagine. I'm Jaoquin, by the way," he headed along the hallway of the stables, towards the far door. He'd come back to the stall he was working on later.

The boy led Lyssoryl out to an airy indoor arena. The ground was dirt, and a young man on a yellow horse with a black mane and tail was trotting alongside a child on a grey pony. They went around the edge of the enclosure before slowing to a walk, and then they dismounted. They were still talking as they came towards Lyssoryl and Jaoquin. "Good luck with your lessons," the young man with the green eyes winked at Lyssoryl. "I'll see you around, I bet."

"Nice timing, Jaoquin. Can you see that this fine young man gets his pony taken care of? Who do we have here?" The young man eyed the Halfling and the frost deer with interest.

"She would like to learn how to ride her deer, and I told her you could probably manage it. But come on, Omar," Jaoquin winked at her again, and bowed slightly. The two boys made their way out, going back the way they'd come, leaving Lyssoryl with the young man and the yellow horse.

"My brother's manners could be better," he sighed. "I apologize on his behalf. My name is Tobi Zan'al," he offered her a polite bow. He was a tall, broad shouldered, and muscular. His attire was simple, yet functional: dark riding breeches, a loose shirt, and riding boots. "So you're looking to learn to ride a frost deer, are you?"

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl was rather charmed by Jaoquin. I wonder if he'd shrink down to my size if I washed him in hot water, she thought idly. Somehow she had never lived near a sizable concentration of Cether, and as she grew older it began to bother her that nearly all the menfolk about were much to large. It further occured to her that she wasn't sure where such a place could be found.

"Thank you!" she said brightly. "I do hope I'll see you around the place when I come for my lessons. You've been most helpful."

Tobi, she decided, was not so bad to look at either.

"Yes, it is my plan to ride this deer if it turns out that I can be taught. Her name is Kamvia, after my mother. The story of how I aquired her is long and doesn't include either dashing highwaymen or pirate warrior maidens in scanty armor, so it probably isn't worth the bother of telling." Lyssoryl had decided on the way over that she ought not to spread the story of her mother around too freely- the group that had murdered her might still be around somewhere and who knew what sort of spies they had?

"She came with a certain amount of leather contraptions which I brought with me in case they are needful." She displayed the tack she had recieved from the guardian at the Loudan statue. "I am not sure what one does with such things but I'm sure they are quite the height of deer fashion when properly applied."

[Badb]

Tobi wasn't too bad to look at, no. He had a few eras on his syounger brother, with a rather different manner. Regardless, Jaoquin hadn't managed to making the poor Halfling run screaming from the lad's impropriety, so Tobi wouldn't say anything - yet - to their father. Jaoquin may be a stable hand, but by the Gods, he didn't have to act like one!

"Many stories are quite interesting, really. My first ride on an elephant when I was a lad doesn't have highwaymen or lady pirates in it either, but many would say it was quite amusing to hear, nonetheless. I daresay I can fulfill your request," he offered Lyssoryl a bow. "What's more, I'll waive the lesson fees. It's not every day one has the pleasure of working with a frost deer and a striking young lady like yourself," he studied the leather contraptions, as she called them, with interest. He soon nodded. Tack. Wonderful. He'd like to do some drawings of it later. It was similar in so many ways to what they normally used, but different with the deer's anatomy.

"No time like the present to begin," the big man he continued. "Those pieces are what we call 'tack'. But before we can ride, we must prepare our mount for riding. Where we do it varies, though I like to generally do outside, if we can, instead of on the arena floor. So we'll go outside, and I'll show you how to groom Kamvia properly to prepare her for riding," he patted the horse's neck, and guided Lyssoryl and her doe out of the arena, and over to a large box stall nearby.

He picked up what looked a bit like a toolbox filled with different brushes and some weird instruments. "Do you already have a grooming kit?" He figured he'd better ask now before going outside instead of having to come back in.

[Lyssoryl]

"Many stories are quite interesting, really. My first ride on an elephant when I was a lad doesn't have highwaymen or lady pirates in it either, but many would say it was quite amusing to hear, nonetheless. I daresay I can fulfill your request," he offered Lyssoryl a bow. "What's more, I'll waive the lesson fees. It's not every day one has the pleasure of working with a frost deer and a striking young lady like yourself."

"Well! Aren't you sweet! And I should very much enjoy hearing your story, and will even return the favor with one of my own should you wish it. I believe I even can produce one that is interesting despite a lack of highwaymen and pirate women, since you are versitile in your appreciation."

"Riding out doors suits me quite well. The day is cold but fine, and Kamvia is sweet tempered and I doubt she will throw me into the nettles" As she said this, lyssoryl gave Kamvia a look out of the corner of her eye. She assumed that Kamvia was going to allow herself to be ridden, but there was a lot she didn't yet know. How much of her mother was left within the body of the deer? She really needed to have a heart to heart talk with Kamvia and find this sort of thing out.

She had a couple thoughts on how to do this, and after her lesson she had something she planned on trying. If she could avail herself of a yard or so of sturdy canvas and ink, she proposed to make a series of boxes, each with a word and illustration inside of it. Kamvia would be able to use her hoof to touch the boxes and thereby communicate, after a fashion. On the way over she had thought of two dozen words that seemed useful for starters, although she was not entirely satisified with it yet.

Lyssoryl listened to Tobi's description of the leather pieces with good attention. "Tack, is it? Now that you say so I believe I've heard that term. Is that just the general word for horse-wear, or are only certain things 'tack?' And I fear that this is all the deer-tending equipment I own, I don't have a grooming kit."

[Badb]

"To be sure; I enjoy a good tale. Although the cold air is pretty refreshing... you just came in from it. So perhaps we're better off in here," Tobi turned the mare with a gentle touch of a big hand on her hindquarters. He patted her gently once the big yellow horse stood facing the Halfling and her deer, and reached up to unwind a rope from a hook on one of the wooden walls of a stall. He clipped it to one side of the yellow mare's bridle, and took an identical rope from the other side to repeat the procedure. Once the horse was loosely secured, he nodded with satisfaction, and returned his attention to Lyssoryl.

"'Tack' is indeed the word for the various pieces of equipment and accessories worn by horses, ponies, jolos, elephants, or in the case of the elegant Kamvia, deer. It includes saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, and so on. When we equip a mount, we usually call it 'tacking up'," Tobi explained. "But like I said, before we can do that, we have to groom our mounts first. I'll get you started, and while you brush your deer, I will work on Alqua here. It may seem backwards, because we have different methods for preparing our mounts before and after we ride. So let's get you started, shall we?" He smiled at her.

"First, we'll get Kamvia situated. We have these ropes here that hook onto either side of the halter or bridle, and we use them to secure the animal in place. This is for their safety, our safety, the safety of the other animals in the stalls, and the safety of others that may come through," as he spoke, he took first one rope, and then the other, and showed Lyssoryl how to clip it to the halter strap. "These are powerful animals, and a single, well-placed kick could paralyze or even kill the unwary. They're docile, sure, but all it takes is one second. When you're kicked, usually you'll never see it coming," Tobi added as a warning. "It's not quite so bad with a deer, I'd imagine, as they have different hooves. But a horse like Alqua had big, iron-shod hooves and more power than most can ever imagine in those muscles."

"Grooming is important for many reasons. It improves the health of the skin and coat, lowers chances for health problems caused by neglect and keeps them from being unduly discomforted by carrying us. If we don't groom a horse properly, chafing may happen under the tack, and then we have skin sores that can be quite nasty. Ultimately, grooming is important not only because it gives the groomer a chance to ensure the health of the mount, but it builds and strengthens a relationship with between handler and animal." With the deer and horse secured, he lifted a rug off of a trunk to the side, and opened it. He lifted out a small, rectangular box, and handed it to Lyssoryl. It contained a currycomb, body brush, dandy brush, hoof pick, and hoof file.

"These are what we call grooming kits," he replaced the rug on the trunk, and put his toolbox of brushes and supplies on top of it again. He lifted an oval-shaped brush made of a rather resilient, rubbery substance. One side was covered in blunt pointed 'teeth', and the other side was smooth and had a strap. "This is the currycomb. This is what you'll use first before we ride," he demonstrated how it was slid on to his hand. "The currycomb is used to loosen any dirt, hair, or other detritus that may have settled on their body. It also helps to stimulate the skin to encourage the production of the natural oils. We use it in a circular motion," Tobi held the brush just off of Kamvia's shoulder, and demonstrated the proper movement.

"While you do that, I'm going to untack Alqua. Don't be afraid to apply a bit of elbow grease and give her a good going over. Don't worry about making a mess, either," he encouraged her, and let her get down to business while he started to remove the various leather contraptions from the horse's body.

[Lyssoryl]

As Tobi spoke, Lyssoryl listened carefully, and gave the animals a look of respect. She had no doubt that a horse could kick her clear across city with one good shot, should it take a mind to, although she was more concerned about being stepped on accidentally. She was not especially afraid of Kamvia though. Surely her own mother would not lash out at her.

"I shall be sure to be careful, although I do not believe that Kamvia would kick me. Still, one likes to be in the habit of doing things properly."

She took the curry comb, but had a bit of trouble getting it to stay on her hand, which was quite a bit smaller than a human's. She found that she could hold it by putting her tumb and little finger on the outside of the strap.

She went to work on Kamvia with a will. Lyssoryl was a naturally energetic person, but as she only weighed 30 pounds she had to lean into the brush to exert enough pressure. Kamvia seemed to enjoy the attention which made it more fun to do, and she concentrated on areas in which she liked to be scratched.

As she worked, she began to hum, and then to sing quietly to herself. She sang a light-hearted song of her own devising, a song about a girl who fell down a well and eventually was elected queen of the frogs after winning a debate with the previous monarch. She was eventually rescued, but returned daily to preside over her subjects.

From time to time, she looked over at Tobi to make sure she was doing things the same as he was.

"It's rather like washing pots, isn't it?" she said. "Only there aren't any potatoes stuck to anything. Well, at least I haven't found any yet. Do we do this every time before we ride, or is it done on a regular cycle of time?"

[Badb]

Tobi got the horse untacked and was going over her with a cloth as he listened to the Halfling's song with a grin on his face. "It is, isn't it? We do this every time before we ride, because it doesn't take much to cause a buildup somewhere that could irritate Kamvia's skin, or cause problems. Jaoquin's got a shaggy mountain pony around here somewhere that was neglected to such an extent that its back and sides were entirely open sores. The previous owners abandoned it, left it to die, and my little brother took it in. No one rides it. He says one day someone will, but we'll have to see," Tobi shook his head and got out a second brush from his own box before he came around Alqua to see how Lyssoryl was doing with the currycomb and inspect the deer.

"Very good. You see these little tufts?" he ran his fingers gently over the deer's side, showing little bunches of hair that stood up as the result of Lyssoryl's currycombing. "This is what we want to work out, and the currycomb does that. Now we're going to get the dandy brush," he showed her the brush he was holding. It was rather rectangular, though pointed at the end. One side was lacquered wood, and the other had rather stiff bristles. "Some people call it a hard brush, and we use this after the currycomb. While some of the dirt and hair falls off," he nodded at the floor with loose hair all over it, "the dandy brush gets out whatever is determined to stay on, but has been worked out by the currycomb."

"We always use the dandy in the direction of the hair growth," Tobi continued. "Short strokes are best, until you reach the animal's back, and then you can go from one end to the other. Some mounts will tolerate the hard brush on their legs, but not all, and I like to restrict it to above the quarter," he used the side of his hand to indicate the cutting-off point on the deer's hind leg, where it began to bend out again. "And above the elbow," he held his hand just off of the location on the deer's front leg. "We never use the hard brush on a mount's face. Their heads are usually quite sensitive, you see, and these bristles," he ran the harsh side of the brush down his palm, "usually make them object."

"All set? Any questions?"

OOCSorry for the delay!

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl listened to the information on brushing with great interest. "I believe that on consideration I shall not take up a career as a bank robber, as it seems likely that the constables would apprehend me as I was brushing my mount in preparation for my getaway. It's probably all for the best, as your classic bank robber should be tall enough to see over the counter."

Lyssoryl got the dandy brush situated on her hand, then began plying it over Kamvia's side, working from front to back. For a time she worked in silence as she concentrated on getting the motions right, but as it began to become a familiar movement to her, she again began to hum. After a minute she paused.

"I should warn you that I have a rare medical condition that requires that I sing or talk most of my waking moments. Doctors call it "having a big mouth" or some such technical jargon. If I start to annoy you let me know. Perhaps I can wear Kamvia's bridle and bit and it will help things."

"Or hey, I can tell you a story while we work! You said before that you enjoyed them so it's too late to back out gracefully now. Let me see..."

"There once was an old man who worked as a woodcutter in a forest with no name. His hair was white, and it quite suited his features, as snow suits the top of a mountain. His hands were as gnarled as trees at the edge of a cliff from long eras of cutting wood, but there was still strength in his arms. His long experience had worn away the rough edges of his movements, so when he was cutting wood he was as fluid as a river, with no wasted motion."

"He lived in a small hut with one window, an arrangement that helped keep out the cold in the winter but did not provide him with as much light as he would have preferred. To make the best of this arrangement he set his bed so that when he lay in it his head was by the window, and when awoke in the morning he could see out of it into the trees of his forest, which had no name and did not need one. If he chose to raise himself up a bit, he could see the small river that ran past his hut, and enjoy the quiet sounds that it made."

"Sometimes when he awoke, he would see things out of his window that would have startled most people. But he was an old man, and had learned to take things in stride. In his experience, things had a way of doing what it was their nature to do, and why should he object?"

"One day he awoke to raised voice which filtered through the dusty glass of his window, and he sat up to see what the commotion was about. Outside he saw two men dressed in long saffron robes who were having an argument. The men’s robes were inordinately clean and well pressed, and stood out in stark contrast to the organic flow of the forest. Apparently they were students from town, who had gone out on a walk in the woods."

"The two men saw his face as it appeared behind the glass, and called out to him. He raised the window carefully, mindful of the fragility of the old frame."

"'Sir,' the shorter of the two men said, 'I ask that you adjudicate in our argument. We are both students of philosophy, and have come to a fundamental disagreement about the nature of the universe. We cannot both be correct, and we wish to appeal to your common sense and tell us whose view you support.' "

"The old man considered slowly, as he was not used to doing things in a rush, then allowed as how he would do his best to satisfy the strangers, although he made no guarantees of their satisfaction."

"The taller of the philosophers spoke first. 'I follow the school of Universal Flux, which teaches us that everything that exists must necessarily change with the ebb and flow of seconds. Taking your river here as a metaphor, it is impossible to step in the same river twice, as it must necessarily change with the passage of even a moment of time. The obvious truth of this statement cannot be denied.' "

"The old man opened his mouth to give an opinion, but the shorter philosopher spoke first."

“ 'Your notions are absurd! I follow the school of Universal Convergence, which states that all that exists are but minor variations of the essential prototype, which is the source of all meaning. This philosophy instructs us that all rivers are the same, and the “changes” my colleague speaks of are nothing but distraction and illusion which prevent one from seeing the true nature of reality. To step into this river is to step into all rivers that have ever been or shall ever be.' "

"The old man had an opinion, but the two philosophers fell to arguing and it never was heard. After a few minutes of heated debate, they both marched down to the edge of the river and stepped into it to better illustrate their points of view. Both raised their index fingers as a prelude to making a statement, but it was then that the water dragon that lived in the river made himself known. There was a splash and a brief flash of silver, then only ripples which were soon washed away by the flow of the stream."

"The old man was saddened by the course of these events, but had learned to take the vicissitudes of life in stride. In due course he rose and dressed, and before he went to cut his day’s quota of wood, paused to remove a boot that lay in the shallow water at the edge of the river, a sad reminder of the morning’s events. He had no fear of the dragon, which had always left him alone. There was a difference, he knew, in understanding a thing and being part of it."

Lyssoryl worked vigorously with the brush as she talked, stroking Kamvia's back and then horizontally down to the deer's legs. She went to work on her legs tenatively, giving Kamvia a chance to protest, and did not venture below the areas indicated by Tobi.

"There we go! All clean and spiffy, or so I would say in my beginner's opinion."

OOC: No problem about the delay. How do you do that nifty business where the words only appear when you mouse over the text?

[Badb]

"Well, if you left her tacked up, I suppose you wouldn't have a problem there. But a bit of height might help when it comes to robbing a bank," Tobi agreed with her. He had said he liked stories, and he was always interested in hearing them. Grooming was a fine as any time to hear a good one. He had finished rubbing down his mare while Lyssoryl told the tale, and had started with the soft body brush before checking the mare's hooves, and swapping bridle for halter while the horse stood patiently and let him.

He let out a low whistle when Lyssoryl finished that caused the mare to perk her ears up at the sound of it, and clapped his hands softly. "Well told. Now, the last step is the body brush, or the soft brush. This is always the last brush used on the horse before we tack them up," he held up his, which looked like the dandy brush, but with much softer bristles. "This one we can use on their face, if we're careful about the eyes," he got her started with the soft brush and turned the mare loose in her stall. He closed the half door behind her.

He set himself to sorting out Alqua's tack while the Halfling brushed away. "My father asked me to help him one day with the elephant training. This was some months before my era and a half in the Vermilion, and I had never been allowed to work with the elephants before. My father showed me how to brush and groom them properly and get them ready, which is a somewhat different procedure from that which we use with horses."

"It's a little known fact, but elephants have very sensitive skin. It's tough, but it's sensitive. So I was working on tacking the young bull, and wouldn't you know, but a fly or something got stuck under the saddle pad," Tobi sighed. "I got the pad on, did up the girth, and the rest of the equipment. Just after I managed to climb up, my father got called away to deal with an emergency. As it goes, I was sitting up there waiting for him to come back, and the poor elephant couldn't take it any longer. I couldn't get him to hold still, and it's somewhat difficult for a youth to willingly dismount from a suddenly crazed elephant. As the reasoning goes, you're safer on top of them, generally, then under them."

"Around and around and around we went, until he decided he'd had enough. Went right through the closed door on the way out to the paddock, and I got knocked off," Tobi pressed his fingers against his eyes at the memory. "Landed flat in one of the biggest piles of dung that I had ever seen. And that wasn't even the worst part. A certain little monkey saw the whole thing. I have to confess to a certain pleasure when the same thing happened to him some eras later, only for entirely different reasons," he chuckled, having finished with caring for Alqua's tack and begun to sort out Lyssoryl's. Ultimately, there wasn't much of it. A saddle and reins.

"Normally the next step would be to check the hooves, but the hooves of a deer are quite different from the hooves of a horse. For one thing, they're not shod," he gently grasped and lifted Kamvia's foreleg and cupped the top of the hoof with one of his large hands. "For another, deer hooves are essentially two elongated toes. A deer's hoof has three parts: the compact horn, the sole horn and the cuneus. The compact horn is the hardest and widest part. Most of the shock from running dissipates here," he tapped each part gently as he named them.

"It's a good idea to check each foot anyway, just in case something is stuck in there. There's a hoof pick in your grooming kit, and that can help dislodge something like a pebble that might get stuck between the toes. If you don't check the hooves, and something gets wedged in there and doesn't come out, the animal can go lame. Deer hooves are like, say, fingernails or toenails. They are made of pretty much the same thing, and they are constantly growing. There's a hoof file in the grooming kit as well. If the toes are not worn down naturally, you may have to file them. With me so far?"

OOCBB Code. :) To use it, type [*ooc=text of message (with quotation marks)]ooc[*/ooc]. Only without the asterisks. :)

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl picked up the soft brush and went to work on Kamvia. "I"m rather enjoying the brushing. It's only too bad that her fur is not long enought that I could put it up in curlers when we're done." She considered Kamvia with an apprasing eye. "I suppose we COULD add a bit of liner around the eyes, and perhaps paint her lips. What do you think Kamvia?"

She listened with great attention to Tobi's story. "Oh no!" She laughed. "That really was not your day!" She shook her head. "Sometimes a learning experience is a good thing, but falling from an elephant seems like overkill. I suppose that on the plus side, a large collection of elephant debris is likely softer than the ground, so at least you had that going for you."

When it came time to examine the animal's hooves, Lyssoryl decided to try an experiment. She was still a little fuzzy about how much of Kamvia was left in the mind of the deer. She held out her hand and said "Kamvia, could you please give me your hoof to inspect?"

[Badb]

OOCSorry for the delay. My internet went down over the weekend, and left me scrambling to catch up.

Tobi grinned. "It's a bit short for that, to be sure. How much the deer would like it, I don't know, though," he watched her with the deer, and smiled a bit at the way she spoke to the frost deer as if she was a normal person like him or her. He talked to the animals, too, as did the rest of his family, but aside from a few cues, he didn't really expect them to answer. Still, to be fair, he hadn't met Lyssoryl before today. So perhaps she had trained the deer to respond to those cues.

"Not my finest hour," the Kemite man agreed. "But as you said, it was a bit softer than the ground. And I did learn to be very, very careful with the tack after that. When did you acquire her?"

The deer took her foot back from Tobi's big hands, and swung her head to look at Lyssoryl, and raised the same foot again, holding it up, blinking her big, dark eyes at the Halfling. This foot? the deer wasn't sure, clearly, but she seemed to have understood.

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl ran her fingers tenderly over Kamiva's hoof. All seemed to be in order, but she thought she might as well have a good look at it. "Ah! Such a cute cuneus!" Lyssoryl exclaimed happily. "You must follow a strict regime to keep them in such good shape." She gave Kamvia a pat on neck.

"As to when I aquired her, well it is a bit complicated, but the short answer is just a couple of brightenings ago, although she's long been in my family. I'm becoming a young woman, as you can see," she guestured to herself, or perhaps towards her chest, "And it's rather a family tradition to ride deer. But I've been away for quite a time, studying in Aelyria Prime and at Imaden in Vers...well, as I said, it's complicated."

She made a quick inspection of Kamvia's other hooves, just to be through, and gave one fo them a few quick buffs with the hoof file just to get an idea of what it did.

"She looks to be in good order to my not-especially-trained eye. Is it time to strap on the gear? Also, how sore am I to expect my backside to be after we begin to ride? I am the sort of person who likes to know the worst."

[Badb]

Tobi n