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Firefoot · 03-20-2006, 07:59 PM

Léof smiled in pleasure as Thornden left the barn. His approval certainly meant something, and more than on a personal level. It was assurance that this job would almost undoubtedly be his at the end of his month. He had not yet written to his sister of his position here, but decided that now he could safely do so, and decided to do that later on this very day, probably before he went to bed that night.

On an impulse, he went to his small personal room and pulled an apple out of the bag he had gotten from the kitchen. Tossing it up and catching it as he walked, he found Æthel’s stall with her hanging her head outside to greet him. Holding both hands behind his back in a game he had always used to play with her, he waited for her to pick a side. After a moment, she nudged his left side, the side with the apple. “Smart horse.” He produced it and she munched happily while Léof let himself inside the stall. He walked to her side and laid his hands on her back to lift himself up, but as he was doing so she swung her head around and butted him – hard. Surprised, Léof toppled to the ground and after a shocked moment, he began simply to laugh. The puzzled expression on Æthel’s face at this made him laugh all the harder, and he could not have stopped even if he had wanted to.

He was startled out of this by a cold drop on his forehead. His head jerked upwards, and sure enough, there was a small hole in the roof, just enough to let the occasional drop through. Nothing a bit of patch wouldn’t fix, but with half the stalls in the stable empty there was no reason to leave Æthel here. The stall next to hers was empty and had fresh straw; he could easily move her there. He took her by the halter and led her out of the stall, and was met by Gárwine heading his way.

“Good morning, Léof… was something very funny?” he asked.

Léof, too full of high spirits to be embarrassed, shook his head. “Just Æthel here goofing off.” Noticing the curiosity in Gárwine’s look, he explained, “There’s a bit of a leak in the roof in her stall – nothing major, but I’m moving her into the stall next door. I’ll have to get some patch from the roofers when they start working again.

“So how are you doing? I haven’t seen much of you these past couple days – is anything interesting happening?”

03-20-2006, 07:59 PM	#130
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,646	Léof smiled in pleasure as Thornden left the barn. His approval certainly meant something, and more than on a personal level. It was assurance that this job would almost undoubtedly be his at the end of his month. He had not yet written to his sister of his position here, but decided that now he could safely do so, and decided to do that later on this very day, probably before he went to bed that night. On an impulse, he went to his small personal room and pulled an apple out of the bag he had gotten from the kitchen. Tossing it up and catching it as he walked, he found Æthel’s stall with her hanging her head outside to greet him. Holding both hands behind his back in a game he had always used to play with her, he waited for her to pick a side. After a moment, she nudged his left side, the side with the apple. “Smart horse.” He produced it and she munched happily while Léof let himself inside the stall. He walked to her side and laid his hands on her back to lift himself up, but as he was doing so she swung her head around and butted him – hard. Surprised, Léof toppled to the ground and after a shocked moment, he began simply to laugh. The puzzled expression on Æthel’s face at this made him laugh all the harder, and he could not have stopped even if he had wanted to. He was startled out of this by a cold drop on his forehead. His head jerked upwards, and sure enough, there was a small hole in the roof, just enough to let the occasional drop through. Nothing a bit of patch wouldn’t fix, but with half the stalls in the stable empty there was no reason to leave Æthel here. The stall next to hers was empty and had fresh straw; he could easily move her there. He took her by the halter and led her out of the stall, and was met by Gárwine heading his way. “Good morning, Léof… was something very funny?” he asked. Léof, too full of high spirits to be embarrassed, shook his head. “Just Æthel here goofing off.” Noticing the curiosity in Gárwine’s look, he explained, “There’s a bit of a leak in the roof in her stall – nothing major, but I’m moving her into the stall next door. I’ll have to get some patch from the roofers when they start working again. “So how are you doing? I haven’t seen much of you these past couple days – is anything interesting happening?”