Sorana - 1999-5-6
mber was sitting at her stall in the market considering one of her works in progress when she heard a familiar male voice.
"How much for this piece here miss?"
Amber looked up quickly. "Tarlin! What are you doing lurking around my stall?" she teased.
"I would hardly call it lurking," he said with a grin, "after all, I did inquire as to the cost of this piece."
"Hmmmm...." she pretended to frown disapprovingly at him. Amber couldn't maintain a frown like that for very long though, and the hurt expression he affected just made it worse. She collapsed into giggles after a few seconds. "You--you should've seen your face!"
"Well you should've seen yours! Who knew that a sweet creature like yourself could have such a fierce expression? So, have you decided if you're going to join the caravan yet?"
"I knew you had an ulterior motive for being here! No, I haven't decided yet."
"You don't have much time left you know. We'll be leaving in two days."
"I suppose you'd like a decision now, wouldn't you? Fine. I'm coming."
"You are?" Tarlin blinked in surprise at her swift decision.
"Didn't expect me to actually take you up on your offer did you?" she asked with a mischievous smile. "Well, surprise, I did. I don't suppose you'd be willing to watch my stall while I go look at wagons and horses would you? It's all right if you can't. I can just close it down for the day. I'd really rather not though, I'm not sure how much all my supplies will cost and I might need all the money I can get." Amber looked at him hopefully after this explanation, and Tarlin found he couldn't possibly say no.
"It would be my pleasure, Fair Lady."
Amber laughed. "Thank you so much Tarlin. I really appreciate this. The prices are all in that blue book right there, and I'm sure you know what to do." She smiled brightly at him, kissed him on the cheek, and ran off through the crowd.
"Excuse me sir," Amber called to the Horse Trader. "Excuse me, but do you have any..." She paused for a moment as she tried to remember what sort of horse had been recommended to pull her new wagon. It was there, she knew it was in there somewhere, but she couldn't seem to find it. Sighing, she said, "Nevermind. Could you please show me your horses?"
"Why of course, milady. If you'll just walk this way?" The Horse Trader gestured in the direction of his stables, then lead the way inside.
He stopped first at the stall of a lovely little roan mare. "This here is Lyada. Her dam was Glorymorn and her sire Lightningstrike..." Here he went on for sometime about Lyada's lineage until Amber finally interrupted him.
"That's all very nice, but I don't want to buy Lyada. I need a horse that can pull a wagon."
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" he asked, and led her to another stall further down.
This stall held what had to be the ugliest horse Amber had ever seen. It was a dull, dirty brown in color and had a coarse mane. The head and body looked like something that someone, having just picked up a hammer for the first time in their life, had attempted to smash out of a block of stone.
While the Trader went on about the virtues of this...specimen, Amber looked around rather desperately for another, any other horse. In the back corner stall, she saw beautiful, strong looking horse.
"Stop," she told the Horse Trader. "What about that horse over there? Would it be strong enough to pull a wagon?"
The trader looked over at the horse she was indicating and seized the opportunity to get rid of an unwanted animal.
"Ah, yes. That would be Corby. He's a beauty isn't he? And he's plenty strong enough to pull a wagon about." The trader droned on in this vein for a rather long time before finishing with, "And I'll sell him to you for only two hundred fifty silvers."
Amber gave him one of her special Looks that she saved for bargaining, and said, "That is far too much. I'll give you seventy-five silvers."
"I suppose I could part with him for two hundred," the horse trader replied.
"One hundred," Amber countered.
"One hundred fifty. That's rock bottom for a horse of this caliber."
Amber gave him a regretful look and started to turn away.
"Wait! One hundred twenty-five slivers. That's my final offer. Deal?"
Amber turned around and shook the trader's hand. "Deal."
She gave the Horse Trader his money and he handed her the horse's lead-rein; which he had connected to the horse's halter. Amber opened the stall door and led Corby out. Or rather, tried to lead him out.
"Corby," a rather massive creature the color of polished jet, planted all four hooves and refused to budge. Oh no you don't, human. I'm not that kind and you're not that stupid. Find some other 'dumb beast' to labor for you.
Amber tugged a few times on the lead rein unsuccessfully. The Horse Trader had disappeared rather quickly after receiving his money; obviously signifying that he'd washed his hands of the situation.
Okay, he obviously does not want to leave his stall... But why? Maybe he was mistreated by his previous owner. Would that be the trader or someone else? On the other hand, it could just be part of his nature. I hope not. I wouldn't want to have to get rid of him... Well at any rate, I can't just stand here in front of his stall all day. I'll have to coax him into following me. I can deal with whatever his problem is once I get him to his new home.
Amber went and stood next to Corby. Stroking his nose and shoulder, she whispered sweetly into his ear. "What's wrong Corby? Huh? Why don't you want to go with me? Do you think I'll mistreat you? I won't. I'd never mistreat anyone. Not on purpose anyway. I'm sure you're really a very sweet horse. I know you're the perfect horse for me, that's why I bought you. Unfortunately, we can't stay here forever. If you'll just follow me, I can take you to your new home. I'll make sure you get some nice grain, and carrots... What do you think of that, huh? Will you come with me? I'd be so happy if you did. You're such a beautiful horse..."
Alexia - 1999-5-6
he woman frowned slightly and continued to study her, while Elexa's heart beat a frantic pattern. Why didn't the woman just get it over with, quickly? Why was she just standing there, watching her? This waiting was sending her fear soaring to new heights and she felt herself frozen to the spot. Couldn't move, couldn't speak, and just waiting to find out what was going to happen to her like so many other times before. Then the woman shook her head, at which she would have flinched if she had been able to move, but, instead of hitting her, the woman relaxed her expression into one of calm, gentleness. So like Redel that first time. She'd come walking into the underground cavern, robes flying around her, face like stone: hard and cold. Her mentor had looked around with an express of disgust until she spotted her, cowering behind a rock, one hand stuffed in her mouth so she wouldn't make any noise. And then her face had just changed. Redel had coaxed her out of her hiding place, picked her up and carried her out to her carriage, not minding the terrified clinging. And then they'd gone home, and she'd had a nice cool bed and no men and no one to hit her. But no one else was like Redel. She'd been lucky to have Redel for as long as she did. Another person with such kindness. what were the chances of that?
But this woman looked friendly and she had a nice, gentle voice. Tender liked her, as he was sniffing a little in her direction but not in an antsy way. And the grey mare, too, was quiet under the woman's hands and contented. Seeing this, she felt a slight hope rise in her and she focused hard to understand what the woman was saying, which was hard work, in and of itself, when she was this scared.
"My name is Keleos, child, and I'm not going to hurt you. I take it you're responsible for that blaze?" Thankfully, the woman carried straight on from that question. "That's going to cause you some problems here, if anyone else figures out something of what happened. I'm headed north tonight--why don't you come with me? You need someone to help you control that power of yours; I'm no Master but I'm not a complete novice, and I'm good at getting out of messy situations. I can help you find someone to train you, so this sort of thing doesn't keep happening."
Oh, she wanted to believe that: wanted to believe that this woman's intentions were good and she was as kind as she appeared. but how likely was it for her to find someone like that? At least it wasn't a man, which gave her a good deal of comfort. And it would be so good to have someone else to be with on the road. It didn't matter where this woman was heading, after all. Keleos, her name was, and, slowly, that gentle voice was winning her over, grudgingly cautious and wary. But what was there to lose? And to just believe that, for a moment, she had met someone who was kindly inclined towards her. that was worth the risk, however it ended. After all, what else was there now? And if this woman really meant what she said.
"Why don't you come with me? If you don't like me, you can always leave later, but it looks like you could use some help."
Being able to leave. She'd not had that option before, but now she did, with Tender. She wasn't locked up anymore and could run away if need be. Then the woman offered her hand slowly. It was probably stupid and she should have known so much better, but she couldn't resist the gesture and the hope that what lay behind it was genuine. Two fingers attached themselves to her lip as she slowly raised the other hand, watching the woman closely and warily, pausing before touching. She didn't like touching or being touched, except by Edex and Redel, but she wanted that comfort again. being touch and held without the other person wanting anything more. Slowly, she put her hand over Keleos', watching her for what she would do next.
Copyright (c) 1999-2000 Abigail Laughlin and the members of the Circle of Stone.