• Solo • Arrival At Andaris

[Yanahalqah]

Ymiden 45 Arc 716
Midtown

The sun already hung high in the sky when Yana finally made it to the city of Andaris, setting foot within its walls. In her human seeming she slowly walked the streets, her horse following close behind, led by the reins. It was fairly obedient for a stolen mount, which was quite convenient, but even so it did have its moments of resistance. From time to time, the brown mare kept its forelegs stiff and refused to walk another step, once again remembering that even though she had spent more than thirty trials with this woman, it was not her mistress. When it happened Yana simply tugged the reins, fairly gentle at first, but increasingly more forceful the longer it took to get the mount to obey. “Come on, Horse! Get moving!”

Perhaps part of the reason the mare took a while to obey was related to the fact that Yana didn’t know the horse’s name, and hadn’t bothered to give it a new one either. She simply didn’t care enough for the animal to name it. ‘Horse’ was good enough, and with time, the mount would get used to it and start believing it to be its new name. There really wasn’t a reason for the Yludith to give her stolen mount a beautiful name that would show the world her affection for her. Yana only saw her mount as just that: a means of transportation. One that required food, water, and a place to rest no less. Frankly, it was more of an inconvenience and a drain of her funds than anything else. If not for the fact that one could cover distances more quickly by mount than on foot, Yana would have sold the damn creature already.

“Honestly, Horse, you’re a pain in my butt, you know that?” she spoke annoyed, tugging hard at the reins, only resulting in the mare tugging back. Yana scowled at the mount through her one eye, then looked through the cobbled street, noticing that the end of her misery was soon to be reached. The stables were only a house or ten away. Ten houses further she’d be able to leave her stubborn mount behind and traverse the midtown of Andaris without the nuisance that held her back. Yana gave in, deciding to try a different strategy. Anything to get the horse to stop being this stubborn. It had never been that bad before… Well, aboard the ship she’d just left the mount by her lonesome, only checking every now and then to see whether it was still alive. Feeding the animal was left to the crew, one of the hands had taken a liking to the horse and had been taking good care of it, which had been more than convenient for Yana. It meant she had had more time to play dice with the crew.

“Alright, you listen here, you white-spotted, brown waste of coin,” the one-eyed woman hissed, “You stop being stubborn, I take you there-” she pointed at the stables “- where they’ll give you food and water, and will care for you, and you don’t have to put up with me for a while. Or we could just be playing tug of war here until one of us drops dead.” A glare finished it off, Yana’s eye studying Horse’s. The mount blinked a couple times, snorted, and finally stopped resisting. “Good choice,” she agreed, and started leading the mare towards the place she could dump her. Maybe I should be this nice more often, the Yludith pondered, perhaps that way she’ll stop being stubborn. It’ll be a pain, but it might benefit me most in the long run. She sighed.

[Yanahalqah]

The stables were bigger than Yana had been expecting, though the not-so-fantastic scent of horses that clung to the air was exactly like she’d anticipated. It took a bit too become used to it, and all the while she resisted the urge to pinch her nose shut. She wasn’t even sure if it would help… did her crystal body have a nose like her other forms did? Horse seemed to instantly like the place, whinnying rather happily, far more positive than the snorts she’d used during her journey with Yana. The animal seemed just as pleased to get rid of the Yludith as it was the other way around.

She approached a young man who was busy grooming a black stallion, his attention already drawn towards her as Horse exchanged greetings with the stallion. The man looked the Yludith up and down for a thrill or two, his eyes wandering from her eyepatch to her simple clothing to the horse she led. “Good afternoon,” he greeted, wiping his hands on his pants and extending the right one for Yana to shake. She shook it briefly and firmly. “I’m Jack.”
“Rayna.”
“Welcome to the stables. Can I help you?”
“I’d like to place my horse in your care,” she replied, paying attention not to speak as flatly and dismissive as she usually did, taking care to keep her tone of voice pleasant and friendly.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll just fetch the owner, just a moment.”

With that he left quickly, heading deeper in the stables. He wasn’t gone for long though, maybe two or three bits later he returned, an older woman in his wake. She introduced herself as Ruth, the owner of the stables, and Jack went back to grooming. Ruth led both Yana and Horse to a stabe for the mount, where she stationed the animal. “What’s her name?” the owner asked, taking a piece of chalk, preparing to write the horse’s name on a small blackboard attached to the door of its compartment. “Horse,” Yana answered, earning a frown from the Stables’ owner. “Horse? You named your horse, Horse?” There lied a tone of judgement in her voice, along with some sort of suspicion. Did she suspect she’d stolen the animal? Yana decided to bluff her way out of it, confidently stating she, in fact, had. Ruth raised an eyebrow but said nothing of it, instead writing “Horse” on the blackboard.

“No, no! Not like that,” Yana interfered, suddenly having an idea. “She’s called Hoarse. You know, h-o-a-r-s-e.” Ruth stared for a moment before erasing her previous name and wrote down the new one. “Hoarse, then,” she agreed, “It’s an odd name, but alright. I take it you named her for the way she sounds?”. Horse whinnied in protest however, not sounding hoarse at all. “She sounded rather hoarse when she was a foal, yes,” Yana nodded, “but the hoarseness disappeared with the arcs.” She did her best to sound absolutely serious, trying to even put some affection in her voice. Yana even pictured her notebook to help with it, as it was the only thing she had felt that emotion for in a long time.

It seemed Ruth bought the story, and Yana hoped this topic wouldn’t come back up. She desired to take her Eídisi form so she didn’t have to act as if she cared. Sadly, an Eídisi would stand out quite a bit, and Yana was planning not to attract too much attention, especially during the first few dozen days of her stay. Either way, it didn’t seem a good idea to show her uncaring attitude in her human seeming. What a pain.

[Yanahalqah]

In Ruth’s office there were a couple forms that had to be filled out, so if someone came to claim a horse, they weren’t actually stealing it. Plus, with all the mounts stalled in the stables, it became hard to remember whose horse was whose. Thus, paperwork was in order. Yana sat through it patiently, glad that this measure would prevent horse thieves from taking off with Horse. As much of a financial drain the mare was, Yana still had the option of selling it if she proved too much a nuisance. Still, it was better to have a mount at hand, even though it might just be a waste of coin.

“For how long would you like to have Hoarse stay with us?” Ruth asked then, a pen at the ready.
Until the end of the season. It’s not like I have a stable of my own to put her in, anyway. Only the best for my horse.” The stables’ owner nodded understandingly.
“Of course. We have several classes of care we offer-”
“I’ll take the cheapest one,” Yana immediately interrupted. With only twenty-seven gold nel to struggle through the rest of the season, she simply couldn’t afford anything more expensive than that. Well, not that she would have considered the other options anyway.

“Yes, of course.” Ruth did not seem very surprised. She’d seen and done business with cheapskates before. “The common class is five copper nel a day. It includes housing in the paddock, she’ll be fed grass, exercised every seven days, and washed every ten. This for… thirty eight days. Which makes … one gold nel and nine silver. ” Well, that was a lot more than expected. Almost two gold nel! Why was that horse such a money-leeching parasite? Yana sighed internally, keeping a straight face for the person in front of her. “Sounds fair enough,” the Yludith lied, pulling out her small coin pouch and fishing one gold and nine silver coins out of the small pouch.

Ruth counted the money quickly, made a note on the document in front of her. Then she placed it in a file titled “R”. “So, that is that. Feel free to come pick up and drop off Hoarse whenever you please.” Yana nodded and stood up. “Sure.” She paused for a couple trills, then asking another question instead of heading for the door. “Say, could you point me to a tavern or something along the lines?”

***

Not that much later, Yanahalqah found herself in front of the “Ye Olde Inn”, the Inn Ruth had pointed her towards in her kindness. In the thirty-two days on the boat locked in her cabin for most of the time, the Yludith had grown out of the habits of her human form. Being sociable and friendly had slipped her mind a bit, but fortunately the interaction brought the habits right back to the forefront of her act. Rayna was the more social, though pessimist persona. Saeri was the asocial one. The Yludith remind herself of it a couple more times, as if it was a charm, and stepped into the Inn.

Surprisingly, the Inn was quite cozy. More so than one would expect from the one of the largest Inns in the city. The Yludith went straight for the counter, the man behind it perking up, his eyes scanning Yana briefly. Just when she was about to ask about renting a room, the man interrupted her already. “Ya gotta hand over them weapons on ya, lass,” he spoke, pointing to the sword at her hip and the bow on her back. Yana seemingly displayed some confusion, since the man quickly added: “House rules, lass. No weapons allowed inside. No weapons, no excessive bloodshed, no dangerous fellas going ‘bout killing other fellas.” Well, that did make sense, but without weapons the deserter felt a little naked. I should learn some sort of martial art. At least I won’t be helpless when I’m unarmed then.

“And what if I refuse?” Yana asked, wanting to know what the consequences would be. The man squinted. “If ya don’t want to hand over yer weapons, ya better get out. No service for armed fellas.” He paused for a trill. “Or lasses. No weapons either way.” The woman nodded. “Fair enough,” she agreed, removing her sword, bow and quiver from her person. “I take it you’ll not lose them?”
“Sure thing, lass. We’ll take good care of ‘em.” He flashed her something of a smile, and then he pointed at her pack. “Ya got somethin’ in there, lass? Wouldn’t want to be cleaning yer room to find a blade hidden in yer luggage. Could get ya kicked out, ya know. No refunds given. Would be a shame, really. Waste of money too.”
“Right,” she said, rummaging through the small pack, pulling a dagger from between the leather armor within. “Here you go. Thanks for reminding me.”
“Anytime, lass.”

[Yanahalqah]

With her weapons safely stored in what the man called “a secure location”, Yana could now finally state her business, which she did when the guy returned empty handed after a bit or two, though he spoke first. “So, what can I do ya for, lass?”, he queried, leaning on the counter with both forearms. “I’d like a room,” she stated, to which the man nodded, lips slightly pursed. “Of course. Of course. But what kind?” Yana groaned internally, not quite liking the fact that the Inn too seemed to have varying classes of rentable rooms. It made this conversation way longer than it should have been. However, she supposed it was a good thing; if she should one day have an abundance of coin she felt like wasting, she could always rent the highest class room in the Inn. And spoil that horse of hers in much the same way. Not that she saw that happening, the horse would not be getting better care no matter how much money Yana would be making. Unless of course, a higher class of stable would mean she had not to do the grooming and whatnot herself.

“The cheapest room you have,” the Yludith spoke, a frown of light annoyance on her brow. She placed her disappointingly small coin pouch on the counter. “It’s not like I have the means to afford anything more anyway.” The way she said it was almost hostile, but more obviously annoyed. Annoyed that she’d had to hand over what were most likely the most valuable items on her person. Annoyed that renting a room turned out to be this much of a hassle. Annoyed that the man ‘aiding’ her wasn’t really all that much in a hurry.

“Thought as much, lass,” he grinned, opening a drawer and picking out a key with a tag on it. “Ya didn’t really look like yer one of them rich ladies, ya know.” She just stared blankly at him, tired of his nonsense. Thirty days on that boat had really lowered her tolerance for this sort of thing. She wondered why he’d even asked if he’d known she’d be picking a cheap room. “But,” he shrugged, “ya never know for sure.” He finished his words with a sagely nod to himself, as if he’d just proclaimed one of the world’s greatest wisdoms.

“Can I just get the price of the room, or can I stay for free?” Yana cut in impatiently, making sure to put in enough effort to show she wasn’t pleased with the chatter of the man. “Yes, right. I’m sorry, lass. How long will you be stayin’?”
“Rest of the season.”
“That’s one silver a day then,” he stated, starting to count on his fingers with a pensive look on his face. Yana merely placed three gold nel and eight silver on the counter, and grabbed her key, not even waiting for the man to finish his calculations. “There, does that look right?” The man nodded after a quick count of the coins, and the Yludith walked towards the corridor leading to the rooms. “The number of yer room is on the tag,” the man called after her. The woman lifted a hand as a sign she’d heard him. She sighed for real then, content that that ordeal was finally over, but also painfully aware that her funds were dwindling rapidly. It appeared that she’d have to ration her nourishment if she wanted to make it to Saun. A ration consisting only of cheap alcohol would probably be the best choice. That, or she should go looking for a job. Obviously, the latter was probably the best course of action.

[Malcolm]

Skills

Animal Training: 1
Deception: 1
Detection: 1
Negotiation: 1

Knowledge

Basic
Animal Training: Leading a horse
Location: Andaris City
Andaris: Midtown
Location: Andaris Stables
Location: Ye Olde Inn

Comment

Enjoyable little thread, was there one before this when she stole the horse? I'd like to read that. A little tip for next time is to make sure every time someone new speaks, you start on a new line, that way you shouldn't have to colour your font either. I didn't see anything worthy of fame for this thread, and I'm sorry there wasn't too much in the way of skills to hand out, but if you feel I've missed something, give us a bell and I'll update the grade.