Lex noticed the young woman with all the animals entering the corral but ducked his head and kept to himself. When she spoke to him, he was a bit startled by the woman speaking to him, Lex looked up from the path and paused awkwardly and then blurted out, "You've got quite the eye. My father was a tanner and he taught me how to work with leathers and dyes. I made these boots. I have some small skill when it comes to wood as well, but that I learned out of necessity not from proper training. Do you have anything you'd like mended or made? If you have supplies, I am happy to try my hand at the craft."

"Now that you ask, I am in need of something.  I tend not to ride Puck there often."  She points out the grey horse she had ridden into Oleg's.  "He's more of a pack mule than a horse.  When I do ride him it's usually bareback.  We've been riding all day lately and that gets a bit difficult, especially when wolves attack.  I wonder if we can still find a few of those wolf carcasses?  I could really use a saddle for Puck.  You did a fine job on the boots, I'm sure you could manage a saddle."

Lex smiled at the complement, but continued to fidget, rubbing the brand mark on his hand as though he could wipe it away. "Saddles are a little bit harder than boots but I think I can manage. I will see if I can convince Oleg to part with the carcasses you brought with you. I guess technically they are Henry's and you work for him, right? Might I ask a favor in return?"

The young man shuffles his feet at he finishes his request for a favor.

"Of course!"  She nearly yells, before lower her voice once she realized how loud she responded.  "It wouldn't be fair for me to ask for something and pay nothing in return.  I'm afraid I'm not as skilled a healer as some of the others in the group so I hope it's not about the brand.  I'll do my best regardless.  What is it you need?"

"Oh no, not healing, the pain is gone..." He only then realized he was still rubbing the brand. "Sorry, that's a nervous habit. I wasn't nervous before. At least I don't remember being nervous, wait did I just say that out loud? My favor was not about the brand. You have taught animals tricks right? I watched the way you were with them. I would like a pet. Could you help me with that? It doesn't have to be anything fancy like that fox of yours. Maybe just a dog or a cat... Preferably a dog though..."

It's as though no one as spoken to him in weeks, which may actually be the case...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:49, Wed 01 June 2016.

With a twinkle in her eye Zorah gasps loudly.  "You want me to help train an animal!"  She squeals with delight.  "Do you have a dog in mind?  Oh!  What about a wolf?  We could find one of those wolves, maybe a pup so it's easier to tame.  No, a dog might be easier for your first shot at training.  What do you think?"  She seems to have either completely forgotten the nervous comment or ignored it.  Regardless of which is the case Zorah is off on a tangent about animals and there's no going back now.

"I was hoping you would train him for me. But I would very much like to help or at least watch. When I am done with the tanning and such though of course." Lex liked talking with Zorah, she seemed to get excited by things that excited Lex as well. He hoped she wouldn't change her mind later on and take the wolf pup for herself.

In reply to Lex (msg # 10):

The wind blows a few leaves across the corral.

"The winds speak."  Zorah says partly to herself, but loud enough that Lex can hear.  "Training pups is my favorite thing to do.  If you can grab them before they get all grown up pretty much any trick can be taught with enough time spent.  I'm more than happy to show you the basics.  Who knows, maybe one day you can train the horses here?"

Zorah checks the level of the moon in the sky and performs a few calculations in her head.  "I think we may have enough time tonight to work on one of my current friends.  Would you like to help me?  Wilson is learning an interesting trick, but it may be better for you to see Murdock or Puck.  Fox or horse training?"  Her enthusiasm causes Zorah to forget to wait for an answer to the first question before asking the next.

Lex hadn't really thought about his future, not for a long time... He found it lifted his spirits to hear the young woman say he could be a horse trainer. Not that he knew the first thing about training horses...

"I would really like that," he said. "I think we should start with the horses, it may help me get a sense of you need from your saddle." He smiled at the thought that he might learn more about how one of his goods might be used. Boots were pretty straightforward, although he'd learned to put a nice bend in the middle of the sole as a young boy to help his own stride. Armor was also pretty cut and dry except the fitted kind, which was becoming more and more popular these days. But a saddle, a lot could be done with a saddle. This would be a really interesting task. It would take some time for the skins from the recently killed wolves to be ready for his work. He'd seen Oleg setting them aside though. Perhaps Henry or Oleg had some other leather they could work with...

He looked up from his thoughts, realizing he'd been standing there smiling silently for a minute or more and quickly blurted the questions that were now bubbling to his mind, "What is the goal here? Is Henry founding a city? Are you starting a stable, you know bigger than the one I'm currently sleeping in?"

"Come on then, I'll answer your questions while we train Puck."  Zorah strides off toward the grey pack horse.  She slowly approaches the horse and strokes his side in long slow motions.  "Rapport is important.  If the animal doesn't trust you the task of training it will be all the more difficult."

"To answer some of your questions, I don't know much more than you."  This wasn't entirely true, but Zorah wasn't completely trusting of the boy yet.  She always gave others the benefit of the doubt.  That didn't mean she was fool enough to trust someone who made a living stealing from others.  "I'm not sure of Henry's intentions.  I'm hired help at this point.  As for myself, I hadn't really thought much about the long term.  An orchard or stable of animals could be a great way to pass my time between jobs for Henry."  Zorah invited Lex over to Puck.

"How do I build rapport with Puck? Is he hungry? We have some feed over in the corner?" As soon as he asked the questions, he'd noticed a difference in the way Zorah carried herself. There was a deeper calmness as she stood beside the animal. A peace even. Lex wasn't sure he could be so calm next to an animal of that stature...

And then he took a deep breath and stepped forward. He made eye contact with Puck and then fell in rhythm with Zorah's strokes on the opposite side. The repeated motion only deepened the sense of belonging Lex felt. This was great! Amazing even. He'd only ever felt such satisfaction in labor working with leather alongside his father and that felt like ages ago.

"I guess I am just lucky to be alive, but moments like this make me really grateful for the mercy of Henry..." A tear dropped from Lex's left eye, the mercy and the peace, emotion was welling up within him, the shame, but also the gratitude for his new life. "Thank you, thank you so much for showing me this, for teaching me your skills when what I deserve is so much worse..." It was all the young man could say.

OOC: I rolled a 20 for his Handle Animals check, I was prepared to get a 1 and have Zorah have to talk him through it all, but the opposite seems to be the case, what a great teacher :)
12:27, Today: Lex rolled 20 using 1d20. Handle Animals.

Empathizing with the young man, Zorah felt her own eyes well up as she saw his tears.  It could still be an attempt to gain her trust for some trickery, but Zorah didn't have it in her to see the bad in people for long.  She quickly bounded to the other side of Puck and gave Lex a large embrace.  She easily wrapped her arms around him being taller than normal for her race.  What she lacked was any meat on her bones to really give any substance to the hug.

After a short hug Zorah let go of the boy.  "We're all lucky to be alive.  It's best to see the good and happiness in the world.  Don't dwell on the things that bring you sadness.  You are quite welcome for helping you discover this hidden talent.  You seem to be a natural."

"Let's get started."  Zorah swung one leg up over Puck's back and mounted the horse.  "Eventually I want him to perform the trick with either a word command or a visual command.  To start off we use both."  Zorah waves four fingers clearly in front of Puck's face while repeating "four" a few times.  She pulls back on his mane a bit before calling out "throw rider" and hurling herself off Puck's back and into Lex, hoping the boy would soften her fall.  In hindsight she probably should have informed Lex of the plan, but that didn't occur to her until she was already falling.

Lex was surprised by the hug from Zorah, but he found it comforting in a way he hadn't felt in a few years. He followed Zorah's lead, right up until the point that she landed on him. He did his best to catch her and break her fall, but they landed in a heap of arms and legs. As he pulled himself and her to their feet, he said to Zorah, "What exactly was the point of that trick?"

Zorah laughed through the pain of landing on Lex.  He probably took more of the brunt then she did anyway.  "I'm working on teaching Puck to throw his rider."  She stood and offered Lex a helping hand to get up.  "There are some not so nice people out there in the world.  The kind that like to steal horses.  I want to have a surprise in store in case that ever happens."

Zorah remounts Puck and repeats the process, this time landing on her feet instead of on Lex.  "Repetition."  She calls to him.  "When Puck gets it right we reinforce the behavior with praise until he understands what we want him to do."

Lex was impressed with the woman's patience and agility. To be repeatedly tossed from the horse and land and then praise the horse was quite the feat.

After watching the process a few times he had an idea, "Zorah, what if instead of Puck tossing a rider when he is told to, he tosses a rider when he is not told not to? Puck seems pretty smart, can he tell the difference between someone he knows and doesn't know?"

It was a good idea.  Zorah thought on it while she tumbled from the horse again.  "I like the idea, but I have a few concerns.  There may be times when I want someone unfamiliar to Puck to ride him.  I also think the element of surprise is important for this kind of a trick.  If Puck were to throw a friend or throw an enemy before I'm ready for him to it could be more trouble than not throwing the rider at all.  I love the suggestion though, keep them coming."  She tried to keep the conversation positive so as not to deter Lex in the future.

"There is something we could do later.  Once a trick is learned an animal can be taught to take a command from someone other than their handler.  We could train Puck to throw the rider anytime someone in the group gives him the command."

Lex laughed loudly at the suggestion Zorah made and the image he had of riding along with the others and then being tossed to the ground by Puck.

"What if we taught Puck a command, a word or an action, that made him trust someone. Anyone who didn't use that command couldn't ride him or would get tossed when Puck wanted him to. I guess then you don't get to randomly toss them to the ground as your making your way down the King's Road." He snorted at he finished the last statement.

"I think that degree of command will take steps.  It certainly is something we can try, but even so Puck will need to be trained to throw a rider first."  Zorah continued with Puck's training.

"About that saddle.  I'm not familiar with any kind of skilled work such as that.  What do you need from me?  Do you need to take measurements of Puck, like a tailor would for clothing?"

Lex thought about it for a minute and then spoke up saying, "Ah, I see you've got to walk before you can run. Sorry, I keep jumping ahead..."

He then answered Zorah's questions about the saddle, "Well that makes good sense. My pa always said 'measure twice, mark and then cut.'   If we wanted a perfect fit... No, let's see if I can walk before I run... For my first saddle I intend to follow the pattern of the other saddles in the stable. Maybe the second saddle I make can be designed specifically for you."

"Agreed."  Zorah smiles as she mounts Puck again.  "I think we both are getting ahead of ourselves.  You both have done well tonight."  The druid nods to Lex and then Puck.  "I'm not sure what Henry has planned for us, but next time I'm in we can work with Puck again.  Or maybe a pup by then.  Have you eaten yet?  I'm heading over to the fire soon."

"Thank you. I haven't eaten this evening." He looks around and notices it getting later, he's surprised by how quickly the time went. "And thank you again for, for, For teaching me a little bit about Puck and training." He stumbles over his words and emphasizes the final "for".

Zorah smiles, ready to answer when Puck hears Lex emphasize "for".  The horse mistakes it for "four" and bucks Zorah from his back.  Having learned from the past few days Zorah struggles to stay on Puck, but ultimately is tossed to the ground.  Landing hard on her hip she grimaces.  Lex's expression is cause for Zorah to pretend she was less injured than she actually was.  The grimace turned to a grin and all she could do was laugh.

"I guess we need a little more work still."  She continues to laugh through the pain.  "Let's go eat."  She extends a hand waiting for Lex to help her up.


12:04, Today: Zorah rolled 16 using 1d20+7.  ride check (-5 bareback, so 11 total)

"I'm so sorry, miss Zorah. Are you ok? I'm so sorry." Lex grabs her hand and pulls her from the ground gently. He is clearly embarrassed and frustrated that he would be so careless with his words.

Still laughing, Zorah waves off the comment.  "No worries.  You actually gave me a good idea.  I'm glad this is Puck's fourth trick to learn, some well placed emphasis in a real situation could be very useful."  Using Lex to get up off the ground Zorah gives Puck a few pats on the flank before heading for the gate.  "Let's get some food."


-------> To Fire