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

[Ashfalcon]

Illanova paused with the broom in her hand and glared at the massive beast in the stall beside her. There might be chores she detested more than cleaning the stables, but offhand she couldn't think of anything that even came close. She didn't mind sweeping out the dirty straw, or even shoveling up the manure; she'd been dirtier and smellier than this more than once in her life. No, what she hated about cleaning the stables was that the stables were full of horses. And horses, as far as she was concerned, were clearly some sort of vile darkspawn whose only pleasures consisted of nibbling at things they shouldn't and kicking -- or threatening to kick -- perfectly innocent children who just happened to be in the street.

The horse looked her over and then stretched its neck, trying to bite her. Or nuzzle her. Or possibly lick her. Something unwanted and horrible, anyway. She shook her broom at it, but it ignored the gesture.

Illa sighed. In order to clean the stalls, she was going to have to move the horses out of them... starting with this one. Kolvir Gaidin had made it sound so simple, too. Just take a firm hand, show them who's in charge, and lead them down to the spare stall. Well, Illa was pretty sure she knew who was in charge, and it wasn't her.

[Billy]

Sigmund hurried across the paved courtyard that led to the Tower’s eastern stables. The four raised welts on his ribs still ached from his morning sword play session with Sotma Gaidin. The aging Warder had bested him several times before the sun had even peaked itself over the towering mountains surrounding Hama Valon. It was only through the use of every ounce of his skill that the Drin was not sporting additional reminders of his teacher’s ability with a blade. The old man had been working with Sigmund on his blade work every morning for the past several months, and though he would never say it out loud, the Drin was relieved when Sotma had ordered him to the stables after their session. Sotma was a firm believer in the power of manual labor to clear the mind of ‘distracted’ students. In truth it was a welcome break from the Yard where Sigmund had spent the majority of his time since arriving at the Tower, he needed a break from the constant sword work, plus he was rather fond of horses.

Approaching the high roofed stone stable Sigmund was assaulted by the smell of manure, straw, and animals. Well, it smells like I have my work cut out for me. he stopped outside the open doors and peeled off the grey coat of his Drin uniform. He had zero interest in walking around smelling like horse manure for the rest of the day and his loose white shirt would undoubtedly be cooler as he worked. Folding the garment, he set it on the low wall that ran out from the stable yard and grabbed a nearby shovel. His long hair had been tied back at the nape of his neck since this morning, so he wasn’t worried about it getting in his way. As he walked into the stables, he raised his voice slightly. “Good morning ladies! Did someone ask for a mucked-out stall?” His self-serving laugh died in his throat as he realized he wasn’t alone in the stable.

He had nearly plowed over a dark haired girl who seemed to be nervously walking a horse down the central aisle of the stable. Planting the butt of his shovel in the ground he offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone else was…..” He trailed off as he scanned the young woman’s face. She was younger than him with dark hair, but it was her eyes that had stolen his words. They were mismatched, one was a pretty blue, but to his shock the other was as silver as one of his mothers prized wine goblets. Realizing he was staring he quickly continued. “I didn’t realize anyone else would be working here today.” He gave the horse she was leading a playful rub on the nose. “Name’s Sigmund, pleasure to meet you.”

[Ashfalcon]

"Don't touch it!" Illa snapped immediately. "Those things have teeth. Don't you know that?"

The man in front of her looked unconcerned, and for that matter the horse wasn't behaving like the blood-thirsty shadowspawn she knew it secretly was. Probably trying to lull me into a false sense of security, she thought. Both of them. Nothing that big was safe, not the horse and certainly not the man. It would have been easy enough to slip out from between them, but that would mean dropping the lead and dropping the lead would mean leaving her fellow trainee at the mercy of an uncontrolled horse.

There were some things even Illa wouldn't stoop to.

"What are you doing here?" she asked after a moment. She hadn't seen his name on the roster, which meant he'd probably been assigned to this personally, by one of the... Oh. "Sotma Gaidin," she said. "You're the one he's been training to the sword." Sotma Gaidin didn't like to keep his pupils on the roster; he preferred to assign their chores himself, a personal touch that new Drin either appreciated or despised. Illa had hated it, but then Illa much preferred knowing what to expect. She hadn't been one of Sotma Gaidin's better students, either, though she was still working to improve.

[Billy]

Sigmund was startled at the young woman’s sudden outburst. He stared at her for a moment, trying to discern if this was some sort of odd joke. She stared back at him without a hint of a joke in her eyes, or eye. Sigmund still was not sure what was going on there, he had never seen someone with a silver eye in his life.

“Erm, yes I have been working with the old bear in the mornings before the official training day begins. Apparently he believed that I needed to build a little character after our session this morning, so here I am.” Reaching out once again he scratched the horse behind its ear. The brown whickered slightly in pleasure. He could tell that this was making the girl uncomfortable, but for the life of him he had no idea why. “Is there some reason I should be wary of this fellow? He doesn’t seem to have the horns or fangs that most trollocs possess.” He smirked at his own jest and continued. “I didn’t catch your name.”

[Ashfalcon]

Illa studied her fellow drin for just a moment, and then something shifted in her head and she thought: Perfect. He was friendly, confident, and not at all afraid. And he wasn't bad-looking, either; with those shoulders, he probably received more than his share of attention. She offered a hesitant smile. "You seem like you're pretty comfortable with horses. Could you take Fleshrender here to the spare stall, so I can start mucking out his?" She hesitated. "Sorry. I have kind of an issue with horses. Childhood thing." Then she smiled again, a little more confidently. "I'm Illa, by the way. Illanova Restrov, if you're being formal."

No, she shouldn't have overreacted to his arrival like that. True, he'd nearly stepped on her, but if she hadn't been trying to lead a horse at the time she wouldn't have been anywhere near so nervous about it. Of course, if she hadn't been trying to lead a horse at the time, she could have easily stepped out of the way. The horse was clearly the problem here. Better if Sigmund took care of that part, really...

OOC: The horse's name isn't Fleshrender. Illa neither knows nor cares what it actually is.

[Billy]

Sig watched as some of the tension left the other Drin’s form and she seemed to study him slightly. Now what could a horse of done to terrify her all the way into adulthood? Reaching over he playfully put his hands on either side of the horses head and looked it in the eyes. “Ah, so this is the famed Fleshrender! I hear he led a mighty host out of the Blight and battled in Tarwin’s Gap! We are lucky to have captured him alive.” Chuckling he guided the brown to the empty stall behind him and closed him in. Peering through the bars he picked up a sinister tone. “We have ways of making you talk shadowspawn.

He picked up a shovel leaned against the stable wall and turned back to the young woman. “Don’t worry, I dealt with his kind plenty of times when I was in the Whitebridge guard.” Drunk merchants count as the same thing in Whitebridge. Grabbing the shovel in both hands he spread them out shoulder width down the haft then raised it above his head and stretched his back. Letting it down he looked back at the young woman. “Well Illa, where do you want to start? I can muck first if you’d like”

OOC: We're going with Fleshrender

[Ashfalcon]

Illa was already halfway to Fleshrender's stall by the time her new companion had the beast closed away. She could hear him pretending to question the horse, making a game of it, and it was... surprisingly soothing. She knew Warders rode horses, as a general thing; maybe it wouldn't be so bad to learn how herself. What with trying to become a warder and all... "I'll take this one," she said. "If you can move Skullcrusher too..." She gestured to the stall past Fleshrender's. "...then we can-- do you call it frog-hopping, here? When you each of you move past the other?"

She would be leaving him with the additional work of moving the horses back and forth, of course, but he was an up-and-coming swordsman who'd apparently worked in the Whitebridge Guard. He could handle it.

Then she shook her head, just slightly. No. She needed to be treating him as a partner in her pull, not one of the marks. "I'll take care of filling the troughs if you'll handle the horses." That would leave her with the additional job of providing oats and water, but that seemed a fair exchange for not having to move the horses herself.

[Billy]

Sig headed towards the occupied stall that Illa had gestured to, this one occupied by a tall black warhorse. Sigmund recognized the beast, he had seen it ridden by a scowling Kandori warder several times. Rumor had it the beast shared its rider’s sour disposition. What was this fellow’s name? Ashan? Alantin? Something in the Old Tongue. Not being able to require the towering horses name he approached the stall and smiled at it. “Hello Tiny. Ready to have that stall cleaned out and get a little fresh food?” He opened the door and slowly approached the animal who eyed him in a decided dangerous manner. To his surprise the horse allowed him to lead it out of the stall. Despite this positive outcome the young man continued to whisper soothing words to the animal.

As he passed Illa he leaned into the stall she was working on. “All joking aside I wouldn’t put it past this big guy to try and take a mouthful out of one of us. He seems to have picked up some his rider’s endearing attitude.” He moved the horse on down the lane to the next empty stall. Closing the animal in he said. “You just relax here, we will have your stall sorted in no time, and please let’s take the return trip just as calmly as we did this one.”

He looked over towards where Illa was busy loading up the stall feeders with fresh oats. The straw in the stalls seemed relatively tidy already so he moved the rest of the way out of the stable to the nearby well. He drew several pails of water from the old stone well and filled two buckets that were sitting next to it. He headed back into the stables one bucket in each hand. Moving to the stall adjacent to Illa’s he started emptying the first bucket into the horse’s trough. He glanced over at the pother trainee and studied her subtly. She was pretty and had a lithe form with a posture that spoke to her training in the tower. “So, where are you from?” He winced to himself. He had never been great at talking to women and the mundane question seemed somehow awkward and jarring to him. “I mean…how did you end up at the Tower?

[Ashfalcon]

Illa chuckled as her fellow trainee passed and kept sweeping. He wasn't scared of the horses. Cautious, certainly, but... Then he asked a question, and she realized she'd gotten lost in the repetition of sweeping. "The Tower?" she asked. "Well..." She smiled. "Would you believe I was a princess of Arafel? Only from the wrong side of the bed, as it were. Still, my father was not unkind. He came, read me stories, taught me things... and of course my mother saw to it that we were well taken care of. I even came to Court a few times, though never... well, never with a name of my own. That was where I saw my first Aes Sedai. That was also where, a visit or two later, I found out that I was never going to be one of them. So I said I wanted to be one of their Warders instead, and, well... She said Warders were always men. My parents said Warders were always men. My best friend said Warders were always men, and he laughed at the idea." She paused, looking thoughtful. "I think that was what did it. I left two days later, determined to prove them all wrong, and... well... here I am."

She set the broom aside, checked the level of feed in the trough, and nodded to herself before turning back to look at Sigmund again. "What about you? Whitebridge guard with delusions of grandeur?" She kept her tone gentle, teasing rather than mocking.

[Billy]

Sigmund set his bucket down loudly. Did she just say she was a borderland princess? He looked over and studied Illa a bit more in depth. Having spent his entire life in Whitebridge he had not seen many borderlanders, but since arriving at the Tower he had been forced to attend lessons covering all sorts of topics to include the various nations. He racked his brain for details on his lessons over Arafel. Typically pale skinned with fiery tempers and they have a tendency to wear bells in their hair. Eyeing his companion he wasn’t sure that he could tell whether she was putting him on or not.

Deciding he would roll the dice he offered a deep bow to the other trainee. “Forgive me for not addressing you properly, my Lady. I must beg her highnesses forgiveness.” Straightening he adopted a serious expression and leaned in closer to Illa with a conspiratorial whisper. “Since you have seen fit to reveal your noble lineage to me, I feel I can trust you with a secret.” He leaned even closer to her over the stall railing getting as close to her as was allowed by the wooden beam. “I am no humble Guardsman from Whitebridge. I am in fact The First Prince of the Sword of Andor.” Carefully maintaining a serious expression he continued. “I am on a mission issued by the Queen herself. I am to hunt down a secret coven of Darkfriends that have infiltrated the city of Hama Valon and dispense the Queen’s justice.”

Turning his face slightly more towards her he picked up a slightly playful tone. “I am so glad to have found another noble in this place. However, I fear that two such high profile individuals may not be able to maintain such a ruse for long. I think we should take extra precautions lest the Darkfriends find us.” He couldn’t stop the small smirk from forming on his lips. “You said Arafel? Perhaps if we both go to Sotma Gaidin and tell him that there are not one, but two nobles gracing the Tower grounds he will help to keep our secret. He is Saldean, I am sure that he will want to help the princess of a neighboring kingdom, and if he doesn’t then you will have my blade pledged to you my lady.” There, bluff called. He only hoped he hadn’t made a huge mistake. He had spent his time obsessively training since he had come here and he didn’t want to alienate his new companion.

OOC: I read Illa’s profile again to confirm that she’s Tarien, but just to keep the RP honest I actually rolled a D20 for an ‘insight’ check to see if Sig caught the bluff or not. If I misread the situation let me know!