Medieval Fantasy: Closest Friend, Worst Enemy

"Whatever you say, my king," Alyss teased once more. She loved teasing her friend, and she loved the relationship they had. But, tactically speaking, it was good that Henry was so wonderful at archery. She would have to speak with Mitch the next day about getting Henry a permanent supply of arrows and a bow. It would be good for him to be able to go on the offensive if he were ever at risk. Alyss laughed as one of the other archer's called out. She slowly approached Henry from behind. "He's only praising you because you're his leader," she taunted, like she used to when they were children. Except when they were children, she would have also stuck her tongue out.

Jaina had been thinking on the name since Mitch had gifted her with the horse. She wanted to make sure she chose something that was perfect, not just something that was chosen out of the clear blue sky. But she had thought about it, and she was fairly certain that her choice was a good one. "I think 'Ebony'," she told Mitch, smiling. She hoped he liked the name choice. She took took the pitchfork from him as he handed it to her, eager to learn everything he was prepared to teach her.
 
"Ebony? I'll make sure to engrave it on something.. Put it at the top of the stall for you, so no one tries to take him." He grabbed a rope, and showed Jaina how to tie it semi-loosely around Ebony's snout, head and the top of his neck. "This is for leading Ebony around, or for riding. When you ride, unless you want to learn bareback, tie it slightly tighter. For now, we're going to tie Ebony outside next to the water bucket so we can muck out the stall." He leaned his pitchfork against the stall, and handed her to rope. "Don't tug on it too hard. Ebony will follow you pretty easily." He smiled at Jaina, and showed her where the water buckets were, just out the back doors that opened up into a small field. "See that post there?" He nodded to the one right next to the buckets. "Tie Ebony up on the post- it has a hole in it so it's easier for a knot around it." He decided to wait next to the back doors, unless she needed his help.

Henry laughed at her remarks. She was funny, that's for sure. He always had a good time when they were kids with her, practicing and playing with her. They were both good sports about each other's weaknesses as well as their own, which made it even more better. "I bet if you got a good shot he'd praise you." He smiled and handed Alyss the bow and an arrow. "Here, try it." He stepped back, giving her space. He grinned from ear to ear, waiting to see if she actually would try to shoot or not.
 
((Do you mind if I take over Lilly for this scene? I'd like to see what Leeroy's like now =D.))

Jaina payed close attention as Mitch explained exactly how to take care of Ebony. She wanted to do it perfectly, not only because Mitch had entrusted her with this other, living creature but also for herself. Jaina had always been a perfectionist--a trait learned from her mother. She didn't feel like she had accomplished something unless she had done it totally, absolutely, completely. Sometimes, it got in the way. Jaina's room and belongings always had to be organized just so, and more than once, as a child, she'd spent time organizing instead of playing with Henry and Alyss. As a preteen, when her father had started keeping her in her room--to keep her safe, he had said--more and more, she had taken up drawing as a hobby, and she had spent so much time starting and restarting to get the lines perfect that time had, indeed, flown by.

She needed to get this perfect too.

She watched Mitch as he demonstrated how to tie the rope so as to maintain control of Ebony without hurting him, and did so herself, making sure that the knots were loose enough to not hurt Ebony but tight enough to stay in place. She followed Mitch to the post, lacing the rope through the hole and tying it in place before turning to Mitch and following him back to the stables--it was time to clean out the stall.

Am I doing it right? She hoped she was, but she didn't want to ask.

Alyss smirked at Henry, taking the bow and arrow from him and trying to adopt a standing position like his earlier. "You just want to watch me fail miserably," she muttered. She tried to focus on the target in the distance, breathing calmly and pulling back the string, but she lost control of the arrow and it just fell to the side. Alyss quickly picked it up, trying again and hoping that Henry hadn't seen that. She set it up again, pulling the string back and then releasing it. It actually flew this time, but completely wide of the target.
 
When they got back to the stall, Mitch get the bucket against the corner of the stall. "You can put the bucket anywhere, but I find that when you get the hang of it, and you just fling it at the bucket- the corners help make sure everything falls into the bucket. Pretty much all you do- until we need the shovel- is take the pitchfork, drive it into the hay, and toss it into the bucket. Twice a week the stalls get completely cleaned out, and everyday they need to be scooped. Scooping is just getting the manure out." He leaned over, and started digging into the hay, shoveling it and loosening it. He tossed it into the bucket, showing her how it was done. "We use the shovels for the hardened stuff."

Henry smiled. "Well, you're better at sword combat than I am, so it balances out." He went over to her. "Knock another arrow," he told her. "I'll show you something, it's a trick my.." He paused. "It's a trick my father taught me when I was younger."


(It sounds like a plan to me. :D Lilly is a typically sweet girl, but with a slight edge to her. She used to date Mitch until Leeroy split them up in jealousy..)
 
Jaina stood still both hands gripping the pitchfork at waist length as she listened to Mitch explain the next part of taking care of Ebony's stable-space. She tried to commit everything he told her to memory, and while she thought she was being pretty successful, she supposed she couldn't' really know until the next day, when she'd probably be doing it alone. After he was done explaining, Jaina got to work, placing the bucket down and doing just what Mitch had explained. After a few minutes, she finished, and looked at him once more, eagerly awaiting anything else.

Alyss slowly turned to Henry after the shot went wide, preparing herself for a tease that never came. His comment was kind. Encouraging. She smiled a little bit sadly as he brought up his father, but prepared another arrow as he had told her, pulling it back and waiting for his instruction.

Lilly was already at work in the stock rooms when Leeroy came in, visibly fuming from she didn't know what. "Where have you been," she asked him, her tone a bit teasing, although there was a bit of a bite to the question. She'd been waiting, he hadn't showed, and so she'd gotten started. But she shouldn't have had to. "What's wrong now," she asked.

((He's kind of an asshole.))
 
When she had finished mucking out the stable, Mitch lifted the bucket. "There's a closet up near the front of the stable, it's the larger one. There's tons of hay in there. Quickly bring it over and start spreading it out. The hay is in bundles- you should only need about four. Thick layers. And always take care of the hay first then this bucket, the quicker you get Ebony back in a clean stall, the happier he can be." He put the bucket on the outside of the stable. "I'll put the pitchforks back." He brought the pitchforks back over to the racks, and hung them up on the wall next to the shovels. They hadn't really needed any shovels this time.. Next time she might. Mitch watched her- she was doing well for her first time. She was learning, and throwing herself into it, and seemed to enjoy it. He smiled a bit- he liked her spirit.

Henry stood behind Alyss, putting his hands with hers. He helped her aim lower, to the right. "Your shot went to the upper left. Try that," he said softly, almost a breath in her ear. He hadn't really realized how close they were, but they were right against each other practically. He smiled a bit and let go of her hands, letting her release when she was ready.

Leeroy glared at Lilly. "I almost got a date. But no. I had to come here, and watch as Mitch stole my date!" He growled softly under his breath, opening a box. "Why did you ask for me, anyways," he mumbled. He looked at the stuff in the box. The shipment included medical supplies, food, and and stuff to make clothing. He started to sort them out, shoving things in their rightful place.
 
Jaina nodded as Mitch explained the next part of preparing the stable, and pushed her hair back off of her shoulder as she turned, ready to go for the hay after handing him her pitchfork. Her arms were only wide enough to take one bundle at a time, so she went back and forth four times, before settling it down on the ground and bending herself. She started separating the bundles, and then placed it around the stall, a relatively thick makeshift padding now in place for Ebony's return. Jaina looked up, ready to rise again, but she caught Mitch looking at her, intently, as he had before they had started clearing the stall. "What," she asked, laughing.

Alyss sighed, shaking her hair off of her face as she pulled the string back, preparing for Henry. He came behind her, strongly placing his hands over hers to guide the next shot. She heard his voice in her ear, and turned to glance at him from the side. Alyss nodded, listening to his instructions, and ready to try again. He released her hands, taking a single step back, although they were still very close. She released the arrow, and it was still pretty wide from the bullseye but this time, it at least hit the target. She turned to him, grinning. "How was that," she asked.

Lilly tilted her head up, crossing her arms. "Do you ever realize how young you sound when you're ranting," she asked, rhetorically. What he had said wasn't at all new, although Lilly was sure it was biased. In her extremely educated experience, Leeroy often went for women who weren't attracted to him, and then took it out on either those women or his brother. "Is this the princess, then," she asked. If it was, Lilly was sure Jaina could have chosen Leeroy over Mitch if she had wanted. But that was really the key word with Leeroy.

She rolled his eyes as he pushed everything around. He was really horrid to be around when he acted like this.
 
Mitch walked over to her, and took her hands, standing her up. He twirled her gently, and smiled. "Nothing. Just a beautiful, young lady doing hard work, deserving of a quick break." He smiled a bit more and led her slowly into a soft dance. He hardly thought about where they were, it just seemed natural to him- dancing with someone in a room. Alone. His eyes were on hers as he kept a hand at her waist, the other in her hand.

Henry cheered a bit. "Look at that! On the target!" He smiled at Alyss, beaming at her. "It's still a little high, but it's almost perfect position for a bullseye, horizontally. Just aim a little lower than the last shot, and I think you'll have it." He handed her another arrow. "Here, try again. I know you can do it." He smiled confidently at her. He did know she could do it- it just took practice.

"A princess doesn't just ignore you and then go on with your brother!" He almost broke something as he slammed it where it belonged. He huffed in anger, bustling around the room in a hurried manner. Although he was rough and angry, he did tend to move along faster and get things done quicker when he was upset. Within another fifteen minutes they would have everything put away, at this rate.
 
Jaina watched Mitch as he came closer to her, smiling gently as he helped her rise. At his compliment, her cheeks began to deepen to the color of her hair. She laughed as he spun her, and her fern green eyes caught Mitch's own darker pair, maintaining the eye contact as he moved her around into the slow, continuous rhythm of an impromptu slow dance. She already felt much less inhibited than she had after the encounter with Leeroy. She felt comfortable with Mitch, and that sense of comfort just seemed to grow as they spent more time together.

Alyss laughed, grinning at Henry's praise. She chortled as she took the next arrow from him, lining it up again. She took a deep breath, pulling the string back, and releasing. It flew to the uppermost part of the second ring--closer, sure, but still widely far from the bullseye. She turned to Henry. "Why don't we just switch to swords? That way, I can be the show-off," she shot back, teasing.

((Shiiiiiit))

Lilly jumped on the wooden ladder at the outburst, stabilizing herself by gripping two sides of supply cabinets. She had many things to say. Maybe you're reading too much into this, maybe that's not how it happened at all, maybe it IS but you made HER uncomfortable. She didn't say any of them. What would be the point. besides, it seemed like Leeroy was finally working hard to finish organizing everything. And he was--they finished about fifteen minutes later.
 
Leeroy looked around. "There, it's done," he said gruffly. He barely acknowledged Lilly. "Cya." He stormed out- in an almost childish way- and nearly slammed the door. He decided to go to the stables. Whether they were there or not, there would be someone to terrorize. He walked in a fast and angry manner towards the horses, people moving quickly out of Leeroy's way as they know not to stand in his path in this type of mood. Once he got inside, he stopped in his tracks. He could somewhat see them. He moved down the stables a bit, so he caught a better view of the two dancing.

Mitch searched her eyes as he kept a semi-tight grip on her, pulling her slightly closer to her with the rhythm of the dance. He twirled her again, letting her go out to the tips of his fingers before spinning her back in his arms. Once she was up against him, he slowly and gently dipped her body downwards. He never lost eye contact. "You're so beautiful, Jaina," he murmured softly, looking down at her as he held her in that position for another second. He leaned down, and kissed her cheek, then moved his lips towards hers.

Henry laughed, smiling as she got an even better shot. "Well, I guess we can go see my miserable attempt to do sword fighting," he said. He liked to do sword fighting, but he had never had a great teacher. His father never really spent the time or money getting him a good one, so he hadn't really tried it much. But he agreed, since Alyss had agreed to his own sport. They walked around, looking for the blacksmith's shop or someplace with swords and a place to practice dueling.
 
Lilly crossed her arms atop her chest as Leeroy stormed out of the supply rooms. "Bye," she called after him. He was so aggravating, she didn't know what to do with him sometimes. Leeroy was Mitch's brother, and she supposed it was good that their rapport was such that Mitch allowed him to stay after all of the proverbial destruction Leeroy spawned, but that didn't make it any easier on the rest of them.

Jaina maintained the pace Mitch set as they danced to silent music. Her hair flew in front of her face as they moved, but she didn't put it back into place. She didn't care. It was like she could let herself go with him, and she'd never felt that way before. She liked it. The skin over her cheekbones gradually returned to their normal, white hue, and she lay her head up on his chest, before laughing a little bit as he dipped her backwards. Her hair skimmed over her shoulder, before pointing towards the ground below. She looked at him, her hands gripping her arms to stabilize herself, although she was sure that he held her securely himself, his arms around her waist. Her heart rate sped as he finally spoke to her, and she sighed as he placed a kiss to her cheek, before meeting her own lips with his in a soft peck. She moved a hand around to the back of his head before he withdrew, the blush returning to her cheeks.

Alyss laughed, grabbing the bow and arrows and moving them back to the shelves where they had gotten them. She put them back, before going with Henry to find swords. "I'm going to wiiin," she sung, teasing him.
 
Mitch smiled a bit after their lips touched, and he pulled Jaina back up to a standing position. Leeroy clapped, uninterested.
"Oh good good have fun kissing- after Mitch helps me find my saddle." Leeroy's voice was a bit sharp, and slightly cold. Mitch groaned softly when he heard his brother, and gently let go of her.
"I'll be right back," he whispered. He walked over to a closet, opened it, and grabbed one of the saddles. He wne to Leeroy and dropped it in his arms. "Now go, Leeroy." Leeroy looked at Mitch, then stared at Jaina for a moment, before turning and getting the equipment on his horse. He tightened the straps, and then flung himself on. He rode out. Mitch walked back over to Jaina, sighing. "Sorry about him. Now.. I'll show you where the food is. Water is in the middle of camp, where the giant well is. There's two buckets- a food bucket and a water bucket. Fill the same one with the same kind of thing each day.. We generally have a mixture of grains for the horses to eat." He showed her where the food was, in an empty stall in the middle of the stables. Not only was there food, but there was also snacks, brushes, and a few other products needed. "Just scoop the food into the bucket. We already fed Ebony this morning so it won't be needed- same with water. Speaking of which, we can bring him in."

Henry smiled at Alyss. He poked her side where she was ticklish. "Oh really? You sound very confident." He laughed and started to tickle her a bit as they walked, then stopped. "Wasn't me."
 
Jaina's smile matched Mitch's own as he helped her stand straight again, their eye contact still maintained. Jaina moved the hand in place at the back of his head, starting to play with her hair. She was being so childish, but she didn't even mind, nor really think about it. Acting her age felt good. Besides, that had been her first kiss. She was allowed to be a little bit flustered, wasn't she?

Jaina abruptly glanced to the side at the applause, her expression growing more and more grave as she spotted Leeroy. "I'll be right back." She nodded, playing with her hair again and purposefully diverting her gaze away from Leeroy. How much had he seen? She tried to focus on the detail of the different pieces of hay, or at least make it seem like that was what she was so engrossed with.

Mitch grabbed a random saddle from a closet and passed it to his brother. Jaina felt Leeroy's gaze burning into her, and she didn't like the way it felt. She crossed her arms, looking up fleetingly as Leeroy rode off, and then back at Mitch when he approached again. "It's okay," she muttered, faking a smile.

Jaina sighed, nodding as Mitch switched back to the care of the horses. She followed him, taking careful note of the rest of the instruction. And then she retrieved Ebony and returned him back to the stall and bidding the horse a goodnight before turning to Mitch once more.


Alyss laughed both from the stimulus and from the surprise as Henry tickled her. "Hey!" She felt the sensation again and turned to him, trying to grab his hands and stop him. "Haha, no, stop! Henry!"
 
Mitch offered her his hand. "May I escort you back to your place?" He smiled warmly at her. "I know it may seem early, but it's actually quite late. This area gets a lot of light. Soon you'll be going to sleep," he said softly, smiling as he took her hand in his and kissed her fingertips. He then led her out of the stall, and out of the stables, taking he slowly towards her tent. "I think Ebony and you will be a good match."

Henry grinned, laughing a bit and took her hands in one of his, turning her and then tickling her more before letting go. He chuckled softly, and smiled. "Hah, you're so ticklish. It's quite funny really. An advantage." He gave her an almost flirtatious smile.

Leeroy had his stallion going around some of the camp. He passed by Lilly, and then went out, into the woods even though it was getting late.
 
Jaina took Mitch's hand as he offered it to her, smiling at him once more as her thoughts moved further and further from Leeroy and back to the man she had spent her evening with taking care of her new horse. She nodded. "I'm tired," she told him. It would be nice to be able to sleep, knowing she was safe. Or. Well. Not in a dungeon. Her face lit up as he moved his lips along the tips of her fingers and her palm. "I hope so," she said. She hesitated, wondering if she was being too forward. "Will you be leading my riding lessons," she asked.

Alyss laughed harder as Henry continued to nudge the more sensitive parts of her neck and sides. "Noooo, stop! Not fair!" His smile surprised her. It was like his approach to her was changing, just all of a sudden. Was she imagining it?
 
Mitch smiled at Jaina as they walked. "Do you want me to? We generally have Lilly teach them, but she doesn't teach bareback. I do, though. I prefer bareback riding. Less work, but more training." He laughed softly, thinking about Aiyana. "It's your choice."

Henry grinned, and straightened before walking off. "Alyss! Stop being so silly, we have a fencing competition you've challenged me to." He winked at her. He enjoyed spending time with her, but found himself enjoying it more often then not lately. She was a smart woman, and he thought she was wonderful company. She was also strong and beautiful. What more could a man want?
 
Jaina thought about this. She wanted to spend more time with Mitch, especially after their kiss, but she wasn't sure if bareback was for her. From what she remembered, her father and Henry rode with saddles. It looked more comfortable. And like one was more easily in control. "You're probably right," she replied. "I'd probably be better with a saddle." She paused for a minute--she didnt' want to be too forward. But then. He'd kissed her. ​"Do you think we could still go riding together?"

Alyss laughed, nodding. "I just don't want to be beheaded if you get scratched, Your Grace..." She grinned, raising an eyebrow at him.


 
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