Jotiwa at Seth's

[Aesha]

The next morning, Seth was waiting in his storage barn. He always came to work early anyway, and currently he was ordering a few of the workers to arrange the various objects he had in storage in a better manner. He was just doing a little tidying up, and wanted to be able to make more room for new clients should the need arise. He made his order with a numerous amount of hand gestures, indicating for his staff to move that there, or push that here, or not to drop that, you bumbling idiot!

There was already a stableboy at work on the stabling section of the big barn, distributing feed among the horses from a big hessian sack. He gave each one a friendly rub on the nose as he did so.

Seth hadn't forgotton about Jotiwa though, or the crowns he was due to earn from training her in horsemanship a bit. Every so often, his dark brown eyes would stray towards the large entryway of the barn, looking for a sign of the girl, his student.

[Jotiwa Jahansin]

Having gone back to the inn quite early yesterday evening, she had eaten a filling meal and gone up to her room and had fallen into a deep and healing sleep. Thus this morn she had been up with the rising suns, wrapped her injuries, which were thankfully healing well and not even a problem today, so she had left the sling from yesterday in the room. She had also walked the pup and had breakfast and was now entering Seth's, hoping to find him there and free to start her training.

Upon entering she quickly spied Seth and gave him a quick wave, before rushing over to where he was, "Good morn, Seth. Are you able to train me? Or are you busy? I am pretty much free all day, so now or later or what ever may be best for you." the puppy had followed Jot in and was sniffing around abit, exploring the new territory.

[Aesha]

Seth waved in return as he spied Jotiwa coming through the big, open doorway of the barn. Before speaking to her, he turned, and gave a couple of hand signals and a nod to an employee before paying attention to his student.

"Serale, Jotiwa. Aye, I can train you know, no problem. Got plenty of staff in today so there's not too much to take care of. There's just the matter of the money, of course...?"

Seth was a shrewd businessman, and was certainly not backward in coming forward. He waited for Jot's replying in a polite manner, but it was clear that the money was just as important to him as the training was to Jot.

[Jotiwa Jahansin]

"Oh, sure" blushing slightly, thinking she had made financial goof in not having offered the payment first. She quickly opened her pouch and counted out the proper coinage and offered it to him. Just as the coins started to change hands, the busy puppy bounced over to swish hurriedly between them, only to pass them on by as he went on to sniff at a new area.

Jotiwas eyes followed the playful puppy, her lips curled with a smile, "I hope that you don't mind that I brought Cerwyx along. He was so good not to soil the room last night as I slept, I thought he deserved a special outting. Also I didn't want to take any extra chances in leaving him too long in the room, he could have gotten impatient and taken a squat. Then if someone had come in to clean the room and stepped in it, I would be out on my rear. I brought his leash, so if he is any problem we can tie him outta the way or something." At the mention of the leash, Jotiwa lifted the side of her ragged cloak to show the leash which was hooked over the roping that held her baggy britches in place, also reveling the tight low cut top of her vest.

[Aesha]

OOC: I am SO sorry about the wait -__-. Crossed wires. Anyway...

IC: Seth grinned at the puppy, his eyes following the small dog around the room a moment before they placed themselves back on Jotiwa.

"Oh no, he should be fine. The workers'll keep a look around, we're used to all sorts in here." When the money for the lessons where produced, he bobbed his head in thanks. "Ahhh, thank you." After counting it and depositing it in a large pocket in his breeches, he glanced over to the stable area of the storage facility, then nodded at the girl, indicating he wanted her to follow him.

"So, have you had any experience with horses at all? By our conversation yesterday it sounded like you hadn't... but I just wanted to check. Don't want to teach you something you already know..."

He gave Jot an inquiring glance, waiting for the answer to the question as he began to sort out various piece of equipment used for the upkeep of the steeds stabled in the barn, ready for the lesson.

[Jotiwa Jahansin]

Jotiwa followed behind Seth and pondered over his a question for a second as he rummaged through several strange looking horse things.

"Well, except for when my pa would come home from his soldiering and occasionally take me for a ride with him on Staticus, he was a war horse, I think, but I was so young then, and mostly Pa just kept him stabled when in town." giving him a smile, not realizing how to many she was still young she continued "Then recently I rode over her from Prime on the back of that one," giving a nod toward the stall which now housed Artis horse "behind Artis, so he controlled the strings. Other than that I had only seen them about the streets as others rode by or such."

She turned her eyes back to his face as she watched to see if he would be disgusted at her lack of knowledge or if he would laugh at her for being so inexperienced.

[Aesha]

Seth was neither disgusted or amused at Jot's lack of experience in horsemanship. The man certainly knew, particularly in a city such as Abestat, that people came from all walks of life, and certainly wasn't surprised at Jotiwa's confession.

"Well, in that case, we're really going to start from scratch. Anyway, the first thing to do will be to introduce you to the horse that's going to be helping you learn all this."

The man gave a Grin at Jot, and petted the horse in the stable on the nose a little before introducing them to each other. The horse was a large, chestnut coloured beast, and looked like any other plain, working horse in the city. His mane was a dark, chocolate coloured brown, matched by his tail, and it was in need of a little grooming, which was probably why Seth had chosen that particular horse for Jotiwa's training.

"This is Starmane. He actually belongs to me, and I keep him here, so we're not going to be doing anything to a customer's horse. He is a Mellan, that's a breed favoured by both farmers and warriors, because of their strong muscles. Say serale to Jotiwa, Starmane."

The horse ignored his owner completely, staring out into the barn at nothing imparticular rather than inspecting Jot. Seth chuckled slightly.

"The most important part is to earn a horses trust. You certainly don't want to get on his bad side." The owner of the storage barn gave his steed a last pet on the muzzle, and then left the floor clear for his student.

"He'll probably respond better if you give him a pat. Once he knows you, you'll be able to groom him, but he can be wary around strangers, like a lot of horses can."

[Jotiwa Jahansin]

Jotiwa gave a nod of her head as she listened intently to Seth's words and watched with a slight frown of concentration as she watched the man reach up and stroke the horse hair at the top of his nose.

As Seth stepped aside to indicate that it was her turn to greet the animal, Jotiwa heart racing, gingerly eased past the large head, not yet daring enough to put her petite hand anywhere near those long teeth, she stepped up to the shoulder of the horse and tentatively ran her hand down the dark chocolate hair falling against its neck muscles.

"Se...Serale...Starmane. I'm a nice person. I'm not gonna hurt..." the final word came out in a tiny screech as the horse made a snorting sound and twitched his tail, causing Jotiwa to jump several inches off the straw covered floor. Backing up a quick step, holding her hand tight to her chest as if she had been stung, Jotiwa turned wide eyes to Seth's face, "What did I do wrong?"

[Aesha]

Seth gave Jot a kindly smile when Starmane did not react in the way that the girl would of liked. The man reached over and gave the horse another pet, and this time he stood in a placid manner, not showing any obvious signs of affection, but not any of hostility, either. He turned to Jotiwa again and explained what had happened.

"Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong at all. Starmane is just always a little nervous around new people. You just have to show him that you don't mean any harm. Have another go... if you think you're ready. Don't worry if he does that again. If he's really mad he'll rear up on his hind legs, a little snort just means he's mildly irritated at the intrusion, I suspect."

Seth patted the horse again, this time so Jotiwa could see what he was doing, running his hand down the horses fur, before taking his palm away, going back to the start and doing it again.

"There, now if you pet him the same time I do, he shouldn't be so uneasy."

[Jotiwa Jahansin]

Jotiwa took a deep breath and stepped forward to once again place her slender palm against the smooth warmth of the horse's neck. Jotiwa slid her hand smoothly down the horse's soft neck in the manner Seth had just diminstrated.

The sight of her hand against the brown tones of the horse brought a flash of memory floating teasingly through Jot's mind.
The same hands only much smaller, against a similiar colored horse, strong safe arms circling about her tinier frame, and a broad chest bouncing against her petite back as a deep rumble of laughter floated over her head, caused by the long strands of her black pontytailed hair flying back into her fathers face causing him to break out with thejoy filled sound as he spurred his horse on to greater speeds.

Smiling, she spoke to the horse, as her delicate hand continue to stroke softly, "See, Starmane, I'm not gonna hurt ya. We're gonna both make it through this just fine." almost forgetting the big man who stood nearby.

[Aesha]

A faint smile appeared on Seth's features as Jotiwa attempted to stroke Starmane again, though it was dubious whether the girl saw it. He let the horse and the human get to know each other for a little longer, and eventually turned his own attention away from his steed, letting the pair of them get a moment on their own while he rearranged the grooming apparatus that himself and Jot were going to be using shortly.

Starmane himself only barely noticed the absence of his master, and whinny slightly under his breath, in a friendly fashion, at Jot's attention. He remained quite placid for the duration of the introduction.

Meanwhile, Seth started to give some advice on grooming, and being around horses in general.

"Right, the first thing to remember is not to make any sudden movements when you're going to groom a horse. It just makes them nervous and jumpy, particularly if the horse doesn't know you. It's also a good idea to wear boots with tough toes..." Seth paused to point down at his own, hardened leather work boots, "...encase the horse accidentally steps on them. But Starmane shouldn't be a problem in that department. Lastly, It's important to keep all the equipment your using away from the area your working in, unless of course, you've actually got the piece in your hand. The horse might have a tendency to play or chew on the rest of it if you're not paying attention, so it's best to keep it outside of the stall when not being used."

Seth looked up from the equipment, just outside the stall on a wooden push-table thing, and nodded at both Jot and Starmane. "So, are you two ready to give this a go?"