(OT: Hey, ^^ I`m rather nervous, the old thread is quite , and I`m not sure if newbies are allowed to jump in...so here I go. Please correct me on anything. OH! And the computer I use some times edits post for NO reason...I apologise in advance.)

BIC:

Aedre blew dark bangs from a freckled face as she led her new ponies into the stable. The two mares she had choosen both tugged on her lead rope, snorting their annoyance at being led inside.

Once in the proper stalls Aedre cleaned her ponies giving them a solid rub down with the cury comb. The grey mare nipped at her pockets, where Aedre`s brother had stuffed apples and carrots, the second mare, a dappled drown, stood under the cury comb.

"And now I have to name you both don`t I?" She murmered, working on the brown`s neck.

She yelped as the grey bit through cloth to skin. She heard a chuckled behind her and turned around.

(OT: Some one help...please?)

Tor, having secured permission to keep Shrimp and acquiring a pony, had led both the gelding and mare into the stable. The girl had been too absorbed in her grooming of the two equines to notice his quiet entrance. He grinned into his fellow trainee's startled face, mischieviously twinkling hazel eyes belying the sleepy impression created by the way his dark hair that partially curtained them.

"He likes you."

He winked and then secured the dappled grey mare in one of the large, roomy stalls before doing the same with Shrimp. Then, after a cursory search for it, he slipped into the tack and supplies room. Moments later he emerged with brush and curry comb.

As he stepped into her stall, the mare eyed him warily, baring her teeth at his approach. Grinning, he fished in his pocket for one of the carrots he'd taken from a generous Rider who'd also approved Shrimp as a suitable mount, even if he wasn't a pony.

[So, the Rider char's tied up, so, bring out the page. Nothing to do with it, whatsoever. Nevermind me, I'm rambling.]


Artemis, having a rare day off, had been enjoying watching the trainees find their mounts. It was curious to him the way they bonded, and he hadn't quite gotten sick of watching it. But, it was a hot day, and he was beginning to really sweat, and so he made his way over to the stables to get some shade. There were two other trainees in the stalls, and, as the choosings seemed to be over, he turned around to watch them, too shy to speak up.

Aedre grinned. "She likes the treats i bring more like it." She produced a apple for the biting mare. Wipping her hand quickly on her tunic she reached over the stall to shake the new comers hand.

"Aedre Tannerkin. Just arrived today. And you?"

Her eyes wandered over the boys face. She noted the mischief hidden behind his hazel eyes, and her grin brodened.

Having soothed the mare into complacence with the carrot Tor began to run the curry over her with practiced ease. Circular strokes were gentle, but firm enough to get any dirt, loose hair or dead skin from her grey coat. Looking over the mare's withers he flashed Aedre a true smile.

"Torillius Hawkryt, from Horikan. One of the many tiny, insignificant little villages in Hill Country."

Though his tone held a note of mock sadness his eyes continued in their humorous twinkling. As an afterthought he added with a wink,

"But all the pretty ladies call me Tor."

He was in high spirits seeing as he'd just joined up with the Rider's. After all, it was a heady thing to take the first step toward accomplishing a lifelong ambition. As such, Tor was a little more outrageous and full of mischief than usual. Just a little, he was about as bad all the time anyway.

Curious glance was cast toward the other youth, but Tor did not initiate anything with him. He looked highborn, and the new trainee had learned that nobles avoided speaking with commoners.

"You're a Hawkwyrt?" Arty queried suddenly, shifting his stance slightly. "I believe we have met. A Hawkwyrt came to Castle Tirragen for some important issue... Grain prices, right?" He bobbed his head, birdlike, as if in agreement with himself.

[Eh... it could have been another Hawkwyrt, I'm just trying to get him talking...]

Torillius blinked, startled by the noble's recognition of the family name. Brow furrowed slightly as he considered his question. Jory and Da had gone on a trip and returned just before he left, he had been absorbed in his preparations to travel to Corus and hadn't paid much attention... A scrap of conversation floated into his memory's grasp.

"... those Tirragens are odd fer nobles, real fair like... didn't even try to take advantage of us..."

Tor cocked his head, watching the noble warily as he answered.

"My Da and one o' my brothers went to yer castle once, I've never been."

He grimaced slightly, losing a bit of the wary distance he usually employed with nobles. 'Sides, this guy couldn't be much older than him...

"Apparently, I'm too young." Massive despairing sigh. "Having so many older siblings can be annoying."

Having finished currying the mare, he set the comb down and took the stiff bristled brush in its place.

((OOC: May I intrude?))

Meridan peered around the stable doorway. She had heard voices as she led her ponies towards their stalls, and had wanted to investigate. "Stop that!" She exclaimed, turning around and finding that one of her mounts, a black gelding, was trying to nip the other, a chestnut mare called Dalien. She slapped the gelding on the neck, wondering if she had made a mistake in choosing him. He'd seemed well enough in the pasture, but now he seemed downright mean. Normally she wouldn't have led the two horses at once, but in an effort to save time, she had decided to bring them to the stable together. Probably a mistake as it turned out.

Artemis nodded, slowly warming up to this new fellow. "My littlest sister's never complained about me," he said. "But then again, she was only six when I left home." Six? Or was it five? It had been so long ago... He realized that he had never really gotten to know Alinna at all, that she had probably developed her own little personality by now, and if he happened to pass her on a busy street, he wouldn't even recognize her. He sighed. Even another thing you had to give up if you wanted to be a knight.

"Er, why did you leave home?" he ventured.

OOC: Grrr. My home computer is in the shop. I feel so cut.

Aedre watched the noble boy with warey eyes. Talking to Tor the Flirt was well enough, a smile tugged at her lips. But she had no wish to speak to a highborn!

Still her Father had taught her to respect nobles, and obey them, even if you disliked the lot.

"All me brothers are Riders." She said, "I talked my Ma and Pa in to lettin me join as well."

She grinned and tossed her hair giving Tor and the other Rider a grin.

"Don`t wanna break my back at the plow or child."

Tor sobered a bit at Artemis' question. Clearly this was a serious matter for him.

"I've wanted to join up with the Riders ever since a group cleared out a nest of bandits that was laired up near my village."

His mood lightened immediately. Tor couldn't stay serious for more than five seconds at a time. He grinned at the newly entered trainee,

"Feisty lot aren't they, lass?"

Upon hearing Aedre's comment he slanted a look at her and exclaimed in an outraged tone.

"Put a little thing like you on the plow? Ach, horribly cruel treatment of such a beautifully fragile thing like ye!"

He flashed her a teasing smile before again turning in Meridan's direction. Giving her a courtly nod he politely performed introductions.

"I'm Tor, the pretty lady's Aedre and that's...."

Brow furrowed, the Tirragen hadn't given his first name. Puzzled look was quickly replaced with a wicked grin.

"C'mon, lad, introduce yerself to the ladies. Thought you nobles were supposed to be polite to females?"

Meridan grinned encouragingly at the currently nameless youth. Unlike many nobles, she was comfortable with both commoners and those bearing titles. Perhaps because her Da was a commoner.
"I'm Meri."
She offered, to fill the silence. She liked these people! Finally, someone was being friendly to her. She snuck another look at the one called Tor. His good humor was infectious. And Aedre seemed friendly. She turned to the other lad, waiting for him to speak.

Aedre smiled, pleased at Tor`s charming attuitude. Already she could tell the Riders we`re going to be a lot more then she thought.

"Awww, leave the poor lordling alone." She leaned over her grey`s back. "We don`t bit your lordship...at least I don`t."

To Tor she said: "And what makes you think I`m fragile? Woman pull their weight where I come from." She tilted her head, flashing him a grin.

"No, it's all right..." he said, blushing furiously. Why did this always happen to him in conversations?

"My name is Arty. Er... that's Artemis."

He stared at her after that last statement. His family was one of the oldest lines, believed in the old ways. Ladies were meant to be beautiful, charismatic, clever, and skilled at music, but his sisters were never really able to indulge in that sort of thing, though Goddess knew they would have liked to. Still, they did their best, although their 'ladylike' activities tended to lean towards accounting and the like rather than embroidery - or so Merslind told him, laughingly of course. He realized his mind was rambling, and pulled his attention back to the present.

Tor encountered a sensitive spot on the mare's hide and was reprimanded by a snap of dangerous looking horse teeth. Amused by Artemis' embarassment the commoner said to him,

"She's right, you know. But I'd step carefully around the ponies. Mighty touchy creatures."

He grinned at Aedre, stopping a teasing retort to avoid another snap from the "touchy creature" he was currently brushing. Apparently he had patted her on the shoulder with too much familiarity. Alas, 'twas again in vain. Tor skipped nimbly away from the attack, slipping out of her stall and into Shrimp's. The large gelding submitted docilely to the grooming. Again he spoke to Artemis,

"So, you're a squire, then?"

"Yes. But not to anyone, yet. I do deskwork, mostly." He began to shift from one foot to the other, a little uncomforatble. Now that he thought of it, he should've headed back by now. But this was far more interesting, and he thought to himself, Just a little longer...

"Is that why you`re down here with us common folk?" Aedre asked with a smirk.

"Desk work too boring?" She winked.

Artemis didn't really like something about her tone, although he was sure why. Was she teasing him. He scrutinized her carefully. No, impossible. No one ever teased him.

"Uhm, actually..." but admitting that would be immature. "It's all right," he lied.

"What's your horse's name?" he blurted out, trying to get the focus of attention away from him, and immediately feeling slightly stupid.

Aedre shook her hair. "Not sure." She caught her pony`s chin looking it in the eyes.

"Can`t name your beast anything, you know." She stroked the pony`s face, "The animal that you sit upon is your first comrad."

Her eyes twinkled "Any suggestions?"

Artemis leaned back on the rickety stable wall, waiting for someone else to answer. When no one did, he ventured his opinion.

"How about Ruth?" he asked. "Not many of them around. Besides, she looks like a Ruth."

[Tehe!]

Artemis was either shy or simply unused to comradely banter, but at least he wasn't acting aloof like most blue-blooded nobles. He listened with one ear as Aedre teased him and "Arty" tried to turn the conversation away from himself. Tor almost felt sorry for the lad. Almost. As he finished grooming Shrimp, his overly large gelding, he turned his irresistible charm on Meri.

Seeing that she was having a wee bit of trouble with her new mounts he ambled over, giving her a ridiculously courtly bow. Keeping a straight face he inquired gravely,

"Would you allow me to assist you, miss?"

Aedre tilted her head, pretending to think hard. "Are you a Ruth?" she asked her pony. The grey snorted, the other lipped her pockets.

"Animals got to name themselves." said Aedre, "Or else they get misunderstood."

She cast a look at Tor. Off helping another Rider. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the young noble, leaning on her pony`s back.

"Any chance I`ll be seeing you in the field young lord?" she gave him a flirty smile. "Knights and Riders work together now a days I hear."

[Flirting? Lol, I don't think Arty even knows what that is!

Must. Stop. Eating. Chocolate. I will make myself sick. Sometimes it sucks being a girl.]

"Actually, I'm only a squire," he said, looking down, embarrassed for no apparent reason. Did she really mistake him for a knight? He contemplated himself: long thick dark hair that need cutting badly, spectacles, a strong resemblence to his great uncle Alex... He had been a knight, that may be why. But everyone knows about him.

"I doubt it," he told here seriously. "Sir Ervin doesn't exactly go around waving his sword, if you get my meaning."

OOC: But Aedre has just learned how to flirt, she likes to practise so to speak.

BIC:

"But you will be one day, won`t you?"

She tugged her hair away from her ponies, both of whom we`re seeing if hair was tasty.

"Surely you don`t mean to be a Squire forever?"

"Of course. But I have to pass the Chamber of the Ordeal first." Not everyone lives to be a knight. He tried to shake that thought away, without much success. It was the truth. But he passed the chamber. He became a knight.

"But, if I get lucky..." he shrugged.

Aedre shook her head, "My Papa says a man-" her eyes flashed to his in a grin "or women, makes their own luck. The God`s are to busy to trifle in a life such as ours."

She finished with her mares. Quarting them into their stalls, she jumped on to a ledge, looking at him.

"And what makes you think you need luck? I bet you`re a fine enough squire. Or else you wouldn`t have made it this far."

She toyed with her hair. "Luck is for those who have nothing else. That`s what else my Papa says."

Arty looked at her, straight into her eyes this time. "Thank you," he whispered. He looked down, a little embarrassed.

"Anyway," he continued, voice returning to its normal tone, "being a squire isn't that hard, you just have to be willing to work almost all the time, and then some extra on the side, for punishment and whatever your master decides to give you. Anyone can be a knight, s'long as they're determined enough."

Aedre shifted under the nobels gaze. She didn`t like eyes that looked straight at her.

"And s`long as you`re a nobel." She said, kicking her feet out.

"What would you have done, if you weren`t born high?"

Arty stared at her. He didn't associate much with commoners, and had no idea that they could be so bitter about, well, being commoners. Now that he thought of it, he couldn't imagine what he would have done in a different position. When there was a problem, he did his best to fix it, or work through it the best he could. He didn't think of what could have happened had some factor changed in the process. Still, he tried his best to think.

"Probably the same thing as you." Or perhaps not. Knighthood for him was all about bringing honor to his family, a purely noble ideal. "I'm not sure." Or was there something else? Yet another thing to consider before he fell asleep tonight.

OOC: Oops. I`m sorry, she was supposed to come of lightly. Matter of fact type. Not bitter ^^;;;

BIC:

"Did you want to be a knight?" She asked. "My Papa says some got no choice what they do."

She studied him carefully. "I think you`d make a good Rider." She said, "Not that I know much from me or nothing. But I saw Rider`s come to my home for Spidren attacks an the like." She flicked her hair out of her eyes.

"You gotta be brave." She said thoughtfully. "For anything in life." She leaned against the stable frame and smiled. "And I can tell you got pleanty of courage."

OOC: Again she wasn`t trying to come off as bitter. *Scolds Aedre*

[Ooh, you're making him blush!]

The girl's frank openess was starting to unnerve Arty. He didn't know where she was getting these... ideas... from. No one had ever talked to him like this, even his family.

"Actually, becoming a knight was my idea. My parents were opposed to it, since, uhm..." he wasn't exactly sure how to word this without sounding treasonous. "well, they didn't like the idea of me leaving on them," he said, resorting to a partial lie. "But I convinced them eventually."

Aedre grinned "My Mama didn`t want me going off to be a Rider either." She winked, "Mama`s are all alike."

She straightened her shoulders. "But here I am. I`m not going to be a vassal or wife to one." She made a face.

Aedre smiled proudly, "All me brothers are Riders. I gots three. I`m going to fight beside `em one day." She swung her feet, "You got any brother or sisters? Are they going to be knights like you?"

"Two sisters." He smiled, slowly finding himself more at ease. "Haven't seen them in a long while though, not since I started training. We write a lot though. Or at least, me and Merslind. I don't know my younger sister so well." It was amazing how easily the words came out. "They don't want to be knights though, least I don't think. Anyway, its too late now for them, unless they decided to start in older."

Aedre laughed, "You miss `em." She observed.

Making a face she said, "You do miss em`, siblings I mean. I thought I`d die all last year, with out me own brood."

She smiled again, "Maybe you`ll meet em` on day. My brothers, thgey`d like you I think."

Riders... Tannerkin... "You wouldn't be related to the Tannerkin at, the, uhm, skirmish at the border?" he asked, face brightening with realization.

Aedre started, not expecting to hear of her brother`s work. She grinned.

"My eldest brother!" She laughed, "Suprised, you heard of that. Most don`t hear names when it`s the Riders...which is how it should be I guess."

He eyes became dramy, as of remembering. "He did a gppd job then, but he got hurt you know. he was home for a month, Mama claims that`s when he put the Rider notion into my mind."

She toyed with her hair, "Would you like to meet him? My brother I mean?"

"A good job?" asked Arty, incredulous. "Charging the enemy straight on with only one half-strength Rider group, and furthermore, managing to break their line? Do you realize the confidence that takes, the leadership, the..." he shook his head, bereft of words. "I read the report," he explained, "and even there it sounded incredibly heroic."

His normally somber face flushed with pleasure.

"'Course I'd like to meet your brother. He's all healed now, I expect?"

Aedre smiled, "Ahhh, he`s a show off." She winked.

"He`s got a bit of a stiff arm, and his right side troubles him now and then. But he`s fine other wise."

She flicked her bangs from her eyes, "He`s off right now. But he promised to take me into the city when he gets back. I`ll find you then." Another wink. "He`ll be glad to have someone there who think`s he`s heroic."

[Ooh, she's really laying it on thick, isn't she! Lol!]


Artemis laughed, then turned around suddenly, squinting at the sun.

"Mithros!" he exclaimed, "I hadn't realized how much time had passed. I have to go." He figeted nervously, shifting stances. "I'll see you again, Aedre?"

"`Course!" She jumped from her seat and strod over, clasping his hand she looked into his eyes. "You`re a good sort, Artemis of Tirragen." She smirked. "Arty."

She winked, releasing his hand. "Off with ya! Don`t get in trouble over me."