What does a Horse say? on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Taransay

January 07, 2017 12:00 PM

These wings are made to fly! by Professor Taransay

Rory enjoyed teaching his beginners class, finding it a privilege to be able to introduce each new group of students to the wild and wonderful world of magical creatures. The children who had grown up in the wizarding world could sometimes be blasé about the animals they got to study and work with, but there was something special about seeing the wonder on a muggleborn’s face as they saw magical creatures in the flesh for the first time.

As Rory increased the dangerousness of the animals as the students got older, his beginners often experienced the more docile creatures. Rory still tried to make these lessons interesting, and believed that it was good for his students to become confident around the more ‘boring’ animals first. In the long run, it certainly made his job easier – confronting a group of over-excited first years with a herd of hippogriffs could only end in disaster. Starting them off with more docile animals would teach them how to act around certain magical creatures, knowledge that could often be applied to other species.

For this lesson, Rory had managed to source a herd of Aethonan winged horses from Philip Johnson, an acquaintance in Arizona. They were a good creature for first years to study: they didn’t breathe fire or anything similar, but they were still pretty cool (although Rory could find something cool about any animal). Hopefully they would be appreciated by his students!

“Good morning all, and welcome to your favourite lesson of the day,” he started cheerfully. “As you may have noticed, we have a few small visitors.” Never let it be said Rory wasn’t prone to mild exaggeration. “In this paddock, we have a herd of winged horses – Aethonans, to be precise - all of which are in need of feeding, watering, and grooming. A selection of foodstuffs, buckets, and grooming implements can be found to my right. In pairs, I want you to choose a horse, and care for it in the manner you deem appropriate. On your marks, get set, go!”

As indicated, Rory had laid out a large array of grooming kits and water buckets (next to a water supply). That section of the task was fairly straightforward, but the feeding would perhaps be a little harder. The students would be confronted with hay, straw, green beans and barley stalks. The students would have to decide which would be best for their winged horse, although Rory hoped they wouldn’t find it too difficult. Some might get mixed up with the straw and the hay, but he was intrigued to see what the students would do with the green beans and barley stalks.

It wasn’t meant to be a complicated lesson, more a chance for the students to familiarise themselves with horses and to enjoy taking care of an animal for an hour. After all, CoMC was, as the name suggested, all about looking after and having fun with animals.

OOC: Normal class rules apply. Feel free to call Rory over/ask him questions, and he would be there immediately at any sign of trouble. Also, thanks go to Alistair Johnson's author for the loan of Philip Johnson's herd of Aethonans!

Subthreads:

What does a Horse say? by Farrah Welsh (Aladren) with Salali Bly, Pecari

I don't need no ready, steady, go! by Finn Scott, Teppenpaw with Gwen Fintoc, Teppenpaw

Not as exciting as Abraxans but I suppose I can settle... by Madeleine Dautin, Aladren

Yay, horses! by Kit Reid, Aladren with Luke Powell, Pecari

And this lesson was made for me. by Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw

9 Professor Taransay These wings are made to fly! 33 Professor Taransay 1 5

Farrah Welsh (Aladren)

January 08, 2017 5:00 PM

What does a Horse say? by Farrah Welsh (Aladren)

Farrah wandered down to the Care of Magical Creatures area for the lesson of the day. For anyone who knew Farrah and her interests and her parents, they would know that she was absolutely without a doubt a Daddy’s girl. He was a vet and she spent many weekends at his clinic ‘helping’ take care of the animals. Really, how she helped was by playing with the animals, taking them for walks when they needed it, or talking to them in a soothing tone after they’ve had a particularly stressful visit. Her sister was less interested in the animals, but Farrah figured it was only a matter of time before her sister encroached on that territory of hers too.

When she made it to the area where the lesson would take place, Farrah nearly screamed in excitement at the sight of the winged horses. She loved horses. She had been riding them ever since her neighbor who owned a couple allowed her to get on one and go. She thought they were the most beautiful things in her life. Plus, Dandy took to her pretty easily and just makes her experience with riding all the better. He was a beautiful chestnut colored Morgan horse with blonde hair and tail. He had been a young adult when she had met him back when she was nine, so she felt like they were growing up together. She was a bit sad that she couldn’t see Dandy more often, but there was little she could really do to help that.

This, however, was a lovely substitution.

She listened eagerly as Professor Taransay discussed their lesson for the day and the smile on her face widened so much that she thought her cheek muscles would get stuck in place. She bounced on her feet as she thought about being able to care or the Aethonans. She would have to write home to her dad to tell him about how she was able to brush the main of a winged horse and wash it and feed it and all around just touch one! Of all the creatures her father had told her about, this one she was most excited for (and unicorns and nifflers and kneazles and crups…). She wasn’t sure what it was as she loved a lot of creatures but horses were different. Cats were different too. She loved cats too.

Farrah looked around for someone who would want to work with her. Trying to lessen her grin (she had been told she looked freakish if she smiled too much), Farrah approached the person not far from her who was on their own. “Hi.” She greeted. “Would you like to work with me? I take care of horses at home and really can’t wait to get started!” She tried not to come off as too excited and to keep herself more relaxed, but her heart was thumping excitedly against her chest and she couldn't keep herself from bobbing up and down at her heels.

6 Farrah Welsh (Aladren) What does a Horse say? 344 Farrah Welsh (Aladren) 0 5

Salali Bly, Pecari

January 09, 2017 7:31 PM

Let's go ask him! by Salali Bly, Pecari

Salali liked animals. A lot. All of them. They were all so cool and nice. Some of them were fluffy and soft, and some of them were strong and smooth. Sometimes they were magical, but sometimes they weren’t, and that was okay too. Salali liked them anyway.

So obviously, Care of Magical Creatures was officially the Greatest Class of All. The whole point of it was to meet - and often play - with different animals. It was great! Salali’s grade was definitely the best in this class as opposed to the others. She didn’t always do her homework for those classes, because reading was boring and lame if it wasn’t something she particularly cared about. And classwork itself was hard. Salali did her Care of Magical Creature readings okay though because it meant that the next time they had class, they were probably going to get to play with the creature she had read about.

To that end, Professor Taransay was definitely her favorite professor. He was the provider of fun times with fun creatures. He was the best. After all, today he was providing them with horses (a long-standing favorite of hers) with wings (a bonus upgrade)!

She needed a partner so they could pick a horse. Salali scanned around for one of her many friends, and happily, she discovered that someone was already approaching her! The girl, a second year, the Pecari thought, seemed very excited, which was great, because she was very excited too! “Yes!” she returned a little too quickly. “Let us go pick one! But how do we pick one?! They are all so wonderful, I just know it!”

12 Salali Bly, Pecari Let's go ask him! 372 Salali Bly, Pecari 0 5

Finn Scott, Teppenpaw

January 10, 2017 3:49 PM

I don't need no ready, steady, go! by Finn Scott, Teppenpaw

Care of Magical Creatures was, undoubtedly, Finn’s favourite lesson. It wasn’t that he disliked the others, but his appreciation of animals and the outdoors meant that he was naturally biased towards this class. Years of spending time around his aunt’s yard had encouraged this enthusiasm. Care of Magical Creatures also made a nice change from the more common indoor lessons.

Finn couldn’t help the smile that grew as he turned the corner and saw winged horses in the paddock. Being brought up around horses meant that they were one of his favourite animals, and these ones were winged! His aunt had both winged and non-winged horses, but of course Finn was a bit young to have spent much time in the air, at least on his own. However, he was slightly disappointed to hear that they were only going to be caring for the horses. Whilst he enjoyed looking after them – it was, after all, an important part of owning a horse, and also helped you build up a relationship with the animal – it was something he knew a lot about. This meant he wasn’t going to be learning anything new in the lesson, and nor was he going to get a solo flying opportunity. Still, time spent with horses was still fun, and he wasn’t going to not enjoy it just because it wasn’t a new experience.

Over the last few months, Finn had been making more of an effort to get to know other people in and around his year, both in class and out of it. Despite being shy, Finn also liked having good friends, and he was well aware that you only made friends by talking to new people. Having been at Sonora for two years now, he was definitely finding his feet, and whilst he was still quiet, he wasn’t going to let his shyness get in the way of living.

He knew that Juniper had a harder time socialising than he did, and this was part of the reason he often worked with her. Of course, he did enjoy her company too, so it wasn’t actually a hardship or anything. However, he was sure that she’d be confident enough with horses in the vicinity, so had no hesitation in looking around for someone else to work with. He often worked with Jozua too, as he got on well with his roommate. He considered himself very lucky on that front – what if he’d ended up rooming with someone awful, instead of the friendly boy who was one of his best friends?

“Hi, want to work together?” he asked a nearby student, with a slightly shy but friendly smile. “This should be a nice, easy lesson, but it can’t hurt to have two people to carry a bucket.” He spoke from experience; wet feet were never ideal, but were a common result of overestimating one’s water bucket carrying abilities.

9 Finn Scott, Teppenpaw I don't need no ready, steady, go! 347 Finn Scott, Teppenpaw 0 5

Gwen Fintoc, Teppenpaw

January 10, 2017 4:17 PM

Talk turns into air (we are <i>so</i> Teppenpaw). by Gwen Fintoc, Teppenpaw

On the whole, Gwen enjoyed her classes at Sonora, although some were definitely preferable to others and all of them had their good days and their bad. She was keen to learn and as it turned out, class time could actually be quite a sociable time so that was a definite plus side. The professors didn’t usually seem to mind the students talking amongst themselves whenever they were set tasks, so long as they got on with the work too (and Gwen always did).

Growing up on a ranch meant that she was very comfortable around animals so Care of Magical Creatures was a class that Gwen took to easily. It was a nice break from the more challenging classes and she liked the professor (not just because he was handsome, honestly!). The Fintocs were cattle ranchers but they were also heavily involved in the horse business, and they used horses everyday for work. This had always suited Gwen nicely as horses were without a doubt her favourite animal. Like all of her cousins she had one of her own, a sweet mare named Jolie, but she was fond of many of the ranch horses too.

So when she arrived for Care of Magical Creatures to find a bunch of winged horses awaiting them, she was rather pleased. Gwen missed being around horses whilst she was at school so getting to work with them today would be a nice treat. They were only partaking in basic care of the horses, but that was okay. Gwen knew it was far too much to expect the school to allow a Beginners class to actually ride the Aethonans.

Gwen was surprised when one of the second year boys asked her to work with him. It was Finn Scott, who was in her house and had always seemed nice (which made sense given the house placement). The first year expected her cheeks might have gone a little pink, just because he was an older boy, but hopefully not enough that he would notice. Blushing seemed such an instinctive reaction whenever boys were involved these days but Gwen was always making conscious efforts not to and she thought she was getting much better. Having been at Sonora for over half a term now, she felt as though she were growing accustomed to being surrounded by so many people who weren’t family.

She smiled and nodded in response to the offer. “Sure,” she said. “Yes, I think it should be,” she agreed, “presuming winged horses don’t have different care requirements to normal horses.”

Gwen knew a lot about horses - she couldn’t not, given that they were such an integral part of life on the ranch. But winged horses were not a type that she had ever had a great deal to do with personally. The first year would have been very surprised, however, if someone were to inform her that they had different dietary needs to your average horse. But given the feed that Professor Taransay had provided, her assumption appeared to be correct.

“Shall we go for that one?” Gwen suggested, picking a horse at random and gesturing to it. The one she’d chosen had a star on its face which was an easy way to distinguish it from the others, since they were all of very similar colouring. She almost went on to give further suggestions about what they do first but she didn’t want to come across as bossy, especially not to a second year.

8 Gwen Fintoc, Teppenpaw Talk turns into air (we are <i>so</i> Teppenpaw). 364 Gwen Fintoc, Teppenpaw 0 5

Madeleine Dautin, Aladren

January 10, 2017 5:07 PM

Not as exciting as Abraxans but I suppose I can settle... by Madeleine Dautin, Aladren

When Madeleine was five years old, her older sister Myrtille was enrolled at Beauxbatons. Their brother, Xavier, who was twelve years older than Madeleine had been a sixth year at the time who came home from the school of Madeleine's dreams telling all kinds of wonderful stories about the magical place that she couldn't wait to start. Myrtille came home the following summer, eyes sparkling as she told about her new friends and the classes and Madeleine felt green with jealousy. Only six more years, she had reassured herself as she fell asleep, clutching her notebook of observations, floor scattered with books on Beauxbatons and, of course, her most prized book the large, fully coloured and moving Atlas which had belonged to a recently deceased great-uncle and gifted to her the year before by Father pour Noël.

As the years passed, Beauxbatons was a frequent subject of Madeleine’s readings along with a smörgåsbord of other subjects dear to the young French witch’s heart. One of the things that came up rather frequently with her readings on the school of her dreams was the herd of Abraxans which was apparently bred and kept at the school. It became one of her most deepest desires to see these winged horses in person and when Léo went off to Beauxbatons the year before her she made him promise to take some nice photos of them for part of her Christmas present. Léo, having shown a penchant for photography at a young age, was someone she trusted to take a nice picture much more than either Myrtille or Xavier though she loved both her siblings greatly.

However, the announcement that she was to go to Sonora with the Évreux heir, Sébastien, crushed all of these dreams and sent Madeleine crushing black in her room for days on end. She was now in her second half of her second year at Sonora and still had yet to see an Abraxan in person and Professor Tarantay’s announcement of “winged horses” incurred much excitement that dulled mere seconds later when he clarified the winged horses in question were Aethonans and not Abraxans. A scowl crossed her face. Was she never to interact with the wonderful creature that had come to symbolise Beauxbatons for her? She felt irritated beyond belief and huffed before remembering Myrtille’s words about scowling causing premature wrinkles.

No, Madeleine did not want those. Even if she didn’t want to marry at all, she also knew that she didn’t want her future husband cheating on her either and the best way to avoid that, Myrtille had advised her, was to stay wrinkle free for as long as naturally possible and then, once she reached that age in which wrinkles were inevitable, to wear them with grace and class. And suddenly she found that, after having smoothed her forehead away, not actively scowling made all the difference in her mood and the happiness emanating from some of her other classmates, including her roommate (the slightly less suspicious Farrah), was rather contagious and Madeleine was soon smiling despite her earlier bad mood.

She begrudgingly gave in and walked forward towards a gentle looking horse with lovely white and chestnut colouring. “Hey there,” she said holding a hand out carefully as she’d read in her books on Abraxans was a good way to first approach a horse. Better to loose a couple fingers than a couple teeth or risk facial scarring, after all, she thought as she let her palm dangle facing downwards and waited for the horse to decide it wanted to smell her hand. Her books had said it wasn’t appropriate to thrust a hand into a horses face and now, confronted with the large creature, Madeleine thought she quite agreed.

When the horse in front of her seemed to be willing to let her come closer, she dragged a stool over with her foot and climbed up on it so that she could better reach and softly stroked it’s mane. Okay, so Sonora really wasn’t all that bad if they had universe themed balls and Aethonans even if she did still think Abraxans were more striking.

10 Madeleine Dautin, Aladren Not as exciting as Abraxans but I suppose I can settle... 340 Madeleine Dautin, Aladren 0 5

Kit Reid, Aladren

January 10, 2017 10:54 PM

Yay, horses! by Kit Reid, Aladren

Care of Magical Creatures was a fun class. Kit enjoyed looking at and working with all of the different creatures that the professor brought in. The only negative part of the class was that it was best not to wear anything that she didn’t want ruined. As such, she tended to wear simpler outfits. For instance, today she was wearing a pair of dark purple leggings under an oversized gray sweater with black rain-boots. The rain-boots were good for those moments when one might step in something less than pleasant. They were working with animals after all.

Arriving at class, Kit was excited to see that they would be working with horses. Not just any horses, but winged horses! She had a horse at home. Albeit, not a winged one, but still a horse. She had read about winged horses in her books and for the most part, they were similar. Though, their care was a little more difficult, because of the wing structure. They could lend to all sorts of trouble with how fragile they could be. But she highly doubted they would be doing anything more than viewing the horses. It took a long time to become an experienced rider on a regular horse let alone one that could fly. She imagined there were all sorts of things that could go wrong. But just the same, she hoped one day to be able to ride one. She imagined it would be even better than riding a broom.

Until then, she was more than thrilled to be able to groom and feed one of the horses. It was one of the most rewarding experiences, because it was when one got to know their horse and their horse got to them. Before one could ever think about riding one of the magnificent creatures, one had to build trust. She just hoped that whomever partnered with her felt the same way. If not, then there was no doubt in her mind that the horse would automatically sense that and could potentially retaliate. Though, she doubted that the professor would allow a viewing of any of the more feisty ones.

While pulling her long blonde hair up into a ponytail, Kit looked over the horses. She saw a little filly that looked bolder than the others with the way she was trotting around. Feeling an immediate connection, she slowly made her way over to her. She was glad that she was wearing the rain-boots since this was very dirty business, but she wished that she were wearing riding boots instead, even if she wasn’t going to actually do any riding. Regardless, they served their purpose and kept her from getting any horse muck any further.

Slowly, she approached, making sure she was on the left side. She made sure to keep her body relaxed. “Hey, girl,” Kit stated softly to allow the horse know that she was there. The horse appeared calm. Her ears flicked a bit. She was listening. “Bet you didn’t think this would be your day.” She stayed a bit away from the horse and held her palms flat to allow the horse to smell her. When the horse stepped forward and sniffed, she took that as a positive sign. She was about to continue when she sensed another person approaching. That was right. The professor had said to work in pairs. Not bothering to turn around, she said, “Make sure she can see you.” She hoped she didn’t come off as rude, but she didn’t know who it was and what level of experience they had. She knew if it were Ayla, her body language would be the same as hers since they were both experienced. But she wasn’t sure of anyone else so hopefully she hadn’t offended them.

0 Kit Reid, Aladren Yay, horses! 363 Kit Reid, Aladren 0 5

Farrah

January 11, 2017 8:54 PM

Yes, let's go talk to horses! by Farrah

Salila Bly was the girl whom Farrah managed to pair up with. The second year was happy that the younger girl was eager to see the winged horses (not that Farrah could think of anyone would wouldn’t want to see these beauties), so she felt confident that it was going to be a very good day for her today. Farrah typically had a difficult time working with people she did not know that well, but Salali didn’t seem like the mean sort and it was flying horses that they were working with so Farrah’s anxieties took a backseat to her excitement.

“Let’s go to that one!” Farrah stated, pointing to one that seemed to be on its own. Really any one of them would have been just fine with her because she loved all things horses, but if that one was on its own, it meant that they had more room to move around without worry of startling the others. Horses could be quite skittish. She wasn’t sure if that was the same for winged horses, but she would take that precaution anyway. “I’m Farrah, by the way.” She introduced as she began walking towards the horse that she had pointed out. She thought it was best to officially meet her classmate instead of just assuming everyone paid attention to roll call the way that she did (usually).

“Have you ever worked with horses before?” Farrah asked the Pecari. She approached slowly with one hand out for the horse to see and take a moment to learn her scent. It seemed agreeable to her so she approached it and began to stroke it. “Aren’t you a pretty thing.” She murmured gently to it. She looked over at Salali, her excitement still as present on her face. “How would you like to start? Feed first or wash?”

6 Farrah Yes, let's go talk to horses! 344 Farrah 0 5

Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw

January 21, 2017 12:03 AM

And this lesson was made for me. by Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw

Care of Magical Creatures was the one and only class Juniper could even think about with feeling a little like throwing up. She loved animals more than anything in the entire world, enough to even become a vegetarian-not a vegan though, she still ate cheese and eggs, just not meat.

So this class-along with Finn-was what got her through all the long and awful days of being surrounded by people. People whom she was certain critiqued her every move and found her lacking in every way. People who proved everything she'd ever feared about them. Some of her yearmates were the definition of mean girls. All Juniper could do was try to remain beneath their notice.

The problem was, they were-mostly-the sort of girls Mother wanted her to connect with. However, Juniper just couldn't do it. They were more likely to pick on her shyness than anything. Which in turn would push her further inside herself.

Today though, she was in Care of Magical Creatures and while they were there, she didn't need to think about them. In fact, the moment the lesson was announced, while Juniper didn't quite allow herself to squeal, her eyes did widen in true glee. Winged horses !. Could it get any better?

Well, they could be riding them but right now this was just great. She looked around instinctively for Finn, what could be better than caring for her favorite creature with her favorite person?

Only to see him talking to Gwen Fintoc. Juniper's heart dropped a little. She didn't want to prevent Finn from making other friends, he wouldn't want to be her friend anymore if she did and jealousy wasn't a good quality in a person, but she couldn't help feeling slightly so anyway. The younger girl was pretty, kind-she was in Teppenpaw after all-from a good family and she seemed to be one thing that Juniper wasn't and would never be-outgoing. And Juniper knew full well people preferred extroverts. That was how Mother always made it sound. That Finn had ever wanted to be friends with her in the first place was nothing short of surprising and Mother had only echoed said sentiment. What if he made a whole bunch of friends, girls like the Ariannas and left her behind.

She tried not to think of it. There were horses here, after all. And she had to draw comfort from them. Juniper grabbed a grooming kit and looked around for a horse, spotting one that was off by itself a bit. One that was shy, like her.

Juniper approached it. "Hi there." She held out some feed, picking out just the one she knew Aethonans liked best. If there was something the Teppenpaw knew, it was how to care for horses!

11 Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw And this lesson was made for me. 345 Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw 0 5

Luke Powell, Pecari

January 21, 2017 5:01 PM

Squee! by Luke Powell, Pecari

Luke had nothing against horses per se. They weren’t really his thing but he’d always enjoyed going riding and stuff whenever he went to Texas with his mom to stay with her grandparents there.

What he did have against them was the affect horses had on girls. This superficial horse crazy phase that many girls went through so often brought out the worst in them. The excited squealing, the bossy know-it-all persona… That was not to say every horse mad girl fit that description but for every OG there were a million phonies that would forget about their old nag the moment they got themselves a boyfriend.

From the glee on the faces of a number of girls in his class, Luke could tell that witches were no exception to this rule. He thought the Aethonans looked pretty cool, but not enough to warrant great excitement. Caring for a horse was what it was, wings or no wings. Of course, it wasn’t as though he got to see a horse with wings everyday and Luke would acknowledge the awesomeness of magical creatures. Franki and Joella had winged horses, but not Aethonans - they were that racing breed he couldn’t remember the name of. He kind of fancied the thought of riding one, but that was never going to happen.

Luke spotted one of the horses trotting around and decided that one looked like more fun. Someone else clearly had the same idea. It was Kit Reid, a girl. Perhaps she’d be okay, he could hope, because he’d already picked up a lead rope and was making his way over to that particular horse.

Kit was taking her time approaching the horse, which was not a good sign. She was going all horse whisperer, wasn’t she. Oh lord help him.

And then there it was: make sure she can see you. A telltale sign that yes, Kit Reid was in fact one of those girls.

“Yes ma’am,” he said. He was being totally sarcastic but his tone didn’t suggest that so hopefully he could get away with it. Then again, Kit had just made the assumption that he was an idiot. Everyone knew that horses were not great fans of surprises. He didn’t need Daddy to buy him a pony to have some basic sense.

“I guess we’re partners then,” Luke said to Kit with an extra charming smile to make up for his cheeky response. He approached the horse, clipping the lead rope onto the headcollar and giving it a pat on the neck. If these horses were safe for a bunch of inexperienced kids to handle, then they shouldn’t find anything alarming about being fetched from the paddock. There was no need to pretend he was catching some wild horse and faff about for ages, instead of getting on with the actual task.

Luke clicked his tongue, encouraging the horse to walk forward as he did. “Come on,” he began then grinned at Kit. “What’s it’s name, did it tell you?” He was teasing her, but meant nothing unkind by it. And he fully expected her to supply him with a name, so they could use it for the remainder of the lesson.

“What do you reckon, girl or boy?” Luke glanced back, leaning slightly to get a look beneath the horse’s belly as he walked along, in a half-hearted attempt to identify the gender of the horse. Kit could look more easily since she wasn’t leading the horse, so she could figure it out, expert that she was.

8 Luke Powell, Pecari Squee! 374 Luke Powell, Pecari 0 5

Kit

February 01, 2017 9:30 PM

Excitement abound! by Kit

Kit couldn’t help being annoyed by the use of ‘ma’am.’ What was that supposed to be? Who used that in reference to someone their own age? She could see if she were a professor or an elderly lady in which it would be a note of respect. She wasn’t even some Southern belle in which those words would be considered flirtatious. No, instead, she just rolled her eyes. There was no point in resorting to whatever game he was playing at, assuming he was possibly playing one. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure since she didn’t know him that well, but it seemed like the sort of games that the proper males back home liked to play.

She forced an equally charming smile upon her face. “It would appear so. I can’t imagine anything better.” ’Except, perhaps, being eaten alive by killer Pygmy puffs,’ was her silent addition. She could just see that this lesson was going to be a long one. He was acting like a complete know-it-all. It was a good thing that this was a beginner lesson. She could never imagine trying to lead a horse that wasn’t familiar with her that quickly. It seemed like a recipe for disaster. It was a good thing that they weren’t working with creatures that were actually dangerous. Though, if he did approach one, it could be doing the world a favor. Hey, no one ever said she was a contender for Teppenpaw.

The Aladren felt like a child with having to follow Luke to where they would be grooming the horse. She scowled and crossed her arms, but reluctantly trailed after. She wished that it had been just her and the horse. Then, she could have bonded with the creature. Instead, she was only given tasks that were ‘appropriate’ for a girl. It was ridiculous. Like she was supposed to make up some name for the horse. She was sure the horse probably already had a name, but instead they were expected to call her something completely different. She would be completely insulted if someone were calling her something different.

Then, he had the audacity to ask her to look under the horse’s belly! It wasn’t as if she couldn’t or hadn’t ever before, but, honestly, what sort of gentleman (oh, that’s right, he wasn’t one) would ask a girl to do something considered so unladylike. Granted, she didn’t really fancy herself to be a lady in the traditional sort of way, but still, he didn’t have to be so crass. However, she obliged him anyhow. “A lady,” she replied. “Perhaps, that should be her name.”

Once they were to where they were going, Kit nuzzled the horse’s face. “Good, girl. We’re going to get you all cleaned up and looking your best. Such a pretty girl.” Turning to Luke, she asked, “Can you hand me one of the brushes, please?” She was going to attempt politeness, even if it killed her.

0 Kit Excitement abound! 363 Kit 0 5