At least it's a *stable* job... {Attn: Sigmund}

[Ashfalcon]

OOC: Nope, you caught it, she is 100% making that up. And now she knows that Sigmund didn't fall for it, which is actually a point in his favor.

"Don't be foolish," she said severely, straightening her back and lifting her chin. "You know as well as I that all trainees are merely trainees, no matter what their rank might have been before they came to the Tower. And you betray your noble mission with your lack of caution! How do you know that Sotma Gaidin is not a darkfriend himself?" She moved over to the wall between the two stalls, studying him closely. "How do you know that I am not? I must say, as a future Warder of the Grey Tower, I find your behaviour highly suspicious, Sir."

The she spoiled it by grinning. He hadn't fallen for her tall tale, so he deserved a better answer. Maybe not the truth, but something better than the flagrant lie she'd just offered. "Would you believe me a Tairen innkeeper's daughter, run away from home to escape a bad situation?" There, that wasn't so bad, and not so far off, either. "But if anybody else asks about me, you have to tell them I'm an illegitimate princess from Arafel. It's one of the rules." She made her expression serious, then let her mouth quirk. "Especially if you want me to tell people that you're the Sword Prince of Andor."

[Billy]

Sigmund couldn’t help but grin at his companion’s playful tone. “If Sotma is a darkfriend then I am the Betrayer of Hope in the flesh.” He absentmindedly rubbed at one of the welts on his ribs that he had earned this morning. “I can think of any number of names for the old bear, but crowns to coppers he has never had a dark thought in his life.” The man bloody well fights like the Dark One though. He picked up the next bucket of water and moved around the wall to the stall that Illa was currently in.

He eyed the other Drin’s somewhat haughty stance. “You know, I half believe your princess story given how high that nose is in the air!” He chuckled as he unceremoniously emptied the bucket into the empty trough. That done, he turned back to face her. “Tarien though? I thought all Tariens were in love with horses?” He glanced over to where Fleshrender was temporarily stabled. “You seem to have an….aversion to these handsome fellows.”

He walked over to the stable wall that she had moved to and leaned against it next to her. “You have clearly seen though my very devious ruse. I was born and raised in Whitebridge, my parents live there still.” This brought a small pang of homesickness to Sigmund. I wonder how mother is. She wasn’t ecstatic about me leaving after all. “I spent most of my childhood there ducking out of lessons to follow the Guardsmen around. As a child I used to play at marching behind them with a stick for a sword and cooking pot on my head. No matter how hard they tried my parents never could get me interested in taking over at my father’s counting house.” He smiled again at the memories. “It wasn’t until I had fully gown that my father finally relented and spoke with the Guard Captain about me being allowed in as a squire of sorts.” He looked over at her and winked. “Your secret is safe with me your highness.”

[Ashfalcon]

"As it should be," she said haughtily, and then let herself relax. "As for horses, well... my countrymen may very well treasure the nasty beasts. I didn't know that was something that other nations said of us, but there are certainly enough of them in and around Tear. Still, horses are expensive to purchase and maintain, and for a small inn on a minor trade road... let us say that they presented more challenges than opportunities." For one thing, they're extremely difficult to sell. People have an unfortunate tendency to recognize them, and the guards will hang you for stealing one. And that was leaving aside her other reasons for disliking the beasts. "No, I'll learn to ride if I must, but I'd honestly prefer to travel through one of those power-wrought gates than risk an unpredictable animal. The gates at least won't try to throw you off."

She managed to keep her voice casual, though discovering the existence of Gateways had been profound shock. Birno had never so much as hinted that such things were possible, so the first time she'd seen someone step out of empty air she'd nearly tripped over her own boots while leaping back in surprise. Then she'd nearly tripped over Drin Caedra's boots and taken them both down. Kolvir Gaidin had not been amused. "What about you? It hardly seems fair to keep discussing my fears when I know nothing of yours."

[Billy]

Sigmund winced slightly at the mention of the gateways used by the Aes Sedai and Asha’man. Like all other newcomers to the tower he had been warned to stay clear of the travel point at the Tower. He hadn’t needed to be told twice as the threat of being sliced in half was plenty of motivation for him to heed his instructors warning. “We disagree on modes of travel, my lady. Those gates make my skin crawl.”

He smiled at Illa a bit ruefully. “If I am being honest, the only thing that unsettles me more than those gateways is water. I remember playing on the banks of the Arinelle when I was young, the other boys and I would wade out and see who could go farthest from the shoreline.” In truth he more than remembered the day, it was burnt into his memory. “I had gone maybe ten paces out, easily to my waist at that time, when I felt something touch my leg. As I looked down I saw one of those large brown river snakes brushing past my legs as it swam downstream.” He shuddered at the memory. “I learned two things that day. The first was that I had the ability to walk on water when given the right motivation, and the second is that I didn’t need to learn how to swim. I can’t say that I’ve been in anything deeper than a bath since then.” He looked over to the other Drin fully expecting laughter.

[Ashfalcon]

"You didn't know how to swim?" Illanova shook her head, picturing that moment. "That must have been... how big was the snake?"

She wasn't sure what would have been worse: something small and fast but still dangerous, or something large enough to drag him down. She would have been more worried by something that could drag her down, but then she had learned how to swim early in her life. She hesitated for a brief moment, struck by the memory of old Vandrost teaching her to swim. If anything more fearsome than one of the small fish had bumped her... I never thought of water as having dangers in it. Dangerous, yes, if you weren't careful, but never holding anything that might be hunting me.

[Billy]

Sigmund smiled sheepishly. "No, I didn't know how to swim. I actually never learned. The whole event was enough to keep me out of the water from then on. Looking back, the snake was probably no bigger than the ones that could be found in my mother's garden, but to a young boy? It was easily big enough to swallow a small river boat. " The memory still gave him chills, if he really concentrated, he could almost feel the wriggling body slide past his legs.

He gave her a sidelong glance. "I can't imagine swimming in Tear. Sailors used to dock in Whitebridge and they would tell stories about all manner of monsters that live in its waters. If you swam there then you are bravery than I'll ever be." He glanced around the stable and tried to gauge how much work they had left. "What do you say we finish this place up and find something else to do? I would say we could go for a ride into the city, but knowing how her Highness feels about horses I am open to other suggestions."

[Ashfalcon]

"Alas, I need to get to my archery lesson as soon as we finish here." Illa wasn't sure if she actually regretted that or not; Sigmund had proven to be much better company than she'd expected. "Not all of us can wave great bloody swords around and look like we know what we're doing." She smiled to let him know she was teasing.

OOC: Want to call a halt here? I'm back in town, but the conference kind of did me in.