Gysalin discussion

Aria walks into the stables, her glamour at full power. She smells the familiar scent of dust, moldy hay, and horses. She walks slowly between the stalls, looking between the horses with a strong affection evident in her eyes. A chestnut quarter horse lifts his head at her passing. She slips into his stall and shuts the wooden door with a soft click behind her. The stallion stares at her with intelligent eyes. He looks through her glamour and sees the little girl behind the masculine apparition. She giggles and smiles, throwing her arms around his thick neck.

She breathes deeply, knowing the horse scent by heart. She grabs a curry from the wall, brushing in large circles around his back, neck, and rump. The dust surfaces with her strokes, and she replaces the curry with a hard body brush. She flicks the dust and grime off of his hair. Grabbing the soft brush now, she cleans off the tender areas such as the face, any jutting bones, and his legs. She repeats the cycle until he is practically gleaming with cleanliness. She finally brings out her own hairbrush, gently disentangling his mane and tail. After she finishes, she tucks the brush back into her pocket. She steps back to view her finished product, and places her hands lightly on her hips. He is shining, not a spot of dirt anywhere. "Thank you Aria," he whinnies to her. She nods with a smile at him and quietly leaves the stall.

She cleans every horse in the same way, and by the end she is sweating, and dirtier than any of them were before she cleaned them. She sits on a hay barrel, exhausted by the effort. She sits there for a little while, listening to the thumps of the hooves, and the quiet conversations of the horses. Aria longs to ride one, but if she is caught without permission, she could be fired. That won't happen on her watch, her family is depending on her.

Aria gets up and says a loud goodbye to her friends. They all whinny their goodbyes, some asking her to come back later to ride them. "I'll try," she says with a nod. She saunters out of the stable and heads back to the castle.

Ari enters the stables and takes off his armor, standing in trousers and a loose burlap shirt. He inhales the smell of horses and hay. He checks the stalls; they are still pristine from earlier. He goes into one of the stalls and idly strokes a mare. The king makes him tense.

The horse looks through her glamour, and she hugs its large neck with another giggle.

Nymeria walked into the stables. Nymph immediately tensed, ruffling up the scales on her neck. Dragons weren't known for their cooperation with horses.
"Hey, Ari." Nymeria said briefly, before running a finger down her dragon's spine.

Air gains his composure, bringing up his glamour more. "Hello Nymeria. What are you doing here?" He asks, still stroking the mare.

Will came in and poured his bucket into the trough. "Hi, Ari." He said. He picked up a broom and began sweeping as good as he could with one hand.

Ari clears his throat. "Hello Will," he says with a half-hearted smile. His stroking becomes faster, and the horse mutters encouraging words to him. He nods slightly to show he hears.

"Just came in with Will. Is there anything that needs to be cleaned up in here or something?" She asked, eyes drifting around. Nymph crawled down her arm onto Nymeria's hand, looking up expectantly at the girl. Nymp could easily fly on her own, but she preferred a small take of release. Nymera obliged, jerking her hand lightly into the air. The small dragon fluttered up onto the rafters of the stables, and began to clean herself.

Will swept a pile of dust out the door.

((Sorry Baggins, I didn't look at your charrie. Sure Aria can train her as an apprentice, but she won't reveal she is a girl until much much later.))

Air smiles at Nymeria. "You can sweep the dust and hay from the walkway," he replies. He sees Will doing it already and nods approvingly. He strokes the mare a little more.

Will put the broom back up. "Can I do anything else to help in here?" he asked.

((Thank you!))

"Will do." Nymeria said firmly, grabbing another broom and sweeping alongside her friend. She eyed the horses; some more fondly than others. She hadn't ridden much, as she hardly had to travel anywhere. But she knew almost everything about horses. She often thought it was useless information if she couldn't ride, and she liked dragons a bit better than the horses. She liked to think that they were smarter than them.
"Ari, which horse is your favorite?" She asked, looking up at him.

Ari sayings into the dust filled air. The mare whinnies a suggestion. He relays it to Will, "Can you open the barn doors? They could use some fresh air." He slips out from the stall and puts his hands on his hips, looking around slowly.

Ari frowns slightly as he ponders this. He points to a large chestnut quarter horse stallion. "He is my favorite male; his name is Ace." He then points to a beautiful mare. "This is my favorite female; a paint mustang named Lavender." He winks at the horses and they stomp their hooves with pride.

Will nodded and opened the doors. He picked up a rag and began scrubbing one of the saddles.

"I like the white Arab on the end." Nymeria cooed. She didn't know his name, but she thought he looked wonderful. She had only seen the most noble of knights ride him.
"And I also like the brown quarter horse." She added, nodding to him. "I think his name is Brisco, but I've only heard someone call him once. But I've heard people talk of selling him." She frowned. She understood why. Brisco had slightly bloodshot eyes that darted back and forth nervously, along with ears that always lay flat on his head. Bites from other horses were scattered across his rump.

Ari chuckles. "The Arab is named Jango. He's a good horse, but he is used mostly for show." He looks over at Brisco, sighing. "He's a good horse, but he doesn't get along with the others." He smiles at Brisco, knowing that a lot of the others find him annoying and buggy. Ari finds all of them amazing in there own way. He walks into the horse's stall, stroking his mane and forelock. He mutters small calming words, and Brisco nuzzles back affectionately in return.

Will listened to them talking. "What's that one's name over there?" He asked, pointing to a small black mare.

Ari glances over to the Arabian he pointed out. "That's Arabella. She's a younger mare. We still have to train her to be ridden." He nods.

"Oh, Will said. He went back to scrubbing.

Nymeria smiled. "I'd like to be a messenger once I grow up," She said. "I love the thought of traveling. Though I wouldn't use horses to travel, I'd ride on Nymph instead." She glanced up at the small dragon, who let out a fairly loud caw that sounded like a falcon's cry.

Will smiled. "That would be cool!" he said. He couldn't hope to ever be more than he was right now.

Ari smiles at Nymeria. "Hopefully she grows quickly then." He supports kids with goals and dreams; he was forced into his occupation. Of course, he volunteered, but he secretly wishes that he can still go exploring on his own.

"Oh, that's no problem. Nymph is already fully grown; but I know a spell to enlarge her." She beamed, looking up at her blue dragon. "Nymph, come down." She ordered. The dragon looked a bit upset at the prospect of leaving her perch, but she obediently soared down, landing at the girl's feet. Nymeria waved her hands around slightly, a green sparks coming out of them as she did so. They surrounded Nymph, and in a flash of white smoke she was the size of a small horse, big enough to ride in the sky.
"I'd love to ride her more often; I have to ride her bareback, which isn't as comfortable on a dragon as it is a horse. I can't afford those fancy dragon saddles." She frowned lightly.

"That's cool how you know how to do that. Hopefully you can afford one soon." Will said.

She nodded. "Me too." She put the broom back into place once she was done, and looked to Will. "I'm gonna get going; I have school tomorrow." She frowned. She hated school, and was often yelled at for doodling or simply being horrible at magic.

Ari nods to her. "Come back after school. Will, you should get going too; I want the horses to have some quiet time today." He makes a shooing motion with his arms and begins to tie up all of the jobs.

"Ok, bye. I've got school tomorrow, too." Will said. He went toward the door.

"Ari!" Nymeria shouted as she ran into the stables. Urgency filled her voice, and her eyes were red with both tears and terror. Mud was smudged all over her face, and her right had was a light shade of blue, a bruise in development, also smeared with crimson blood.
"Ari come quick!" She bolted through the back door of the stables, hoping the older boy would follow her. Outside Nymph had settled the horse down on the ground. But he was losing blood fast, and his breath was erratic and uneven. A small saddle bag was knotted around his hind leg also. As she waited for her mentor to come out, she unwound the bag.

"Woah, boy!" Jester, mounted on his icy blue tiger, tried to calm his pet down as it kept on snarling at the horses. "Bad, tiger! Bad, tiger!"