caught in this tangled maze

Theodoric Martin · 12-17-2010, 06:17 AM

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for liliana (wc: 514)

Yesterday, Theodoric had spent a fairly significant period of time in the stables looking after his two ponies. He went with the pretense of grooming the sweet mare and her standoffish mate, but really he had gone for the equines’ quiet company. Armed with sweet treats and plenty of patience, he had groomed both ponies until the dapples in their hide shone. Suthen had even allowed Theodoric to plait her mane and tail into neat braids. Duncan, however, had stamped his hooves warningly when Theo began to do more than comb the knots out of his mane. He took the hint, and left the proud stallion’s hair unbound.

The several horses housed in the AniWaya stables generated a fair amount of body heat. But the stable had been built with the tribe’s growth in mind, and there were many open stalls. Theodoric had found, therefore, that he grew rather chilled during the hours he spent at the stable, despite the exercise of grooming. Granted, he didn’t have the highest tolerance for cold, but he imagined that if he had gotten chilly with a significant amount of movement that the horses, especially the old and the young, would get cold standing around all day.

So Theodoric returned to the stables today, a small pouch of treats laced to his belt and a measuring cord in hand. The thin rope was knotted at even intervals along its length and was a handy tool for estimation. Theodoric really didn’t know what he was doing – he wasn’t much of a tailor and he certainly had never attempted to make blankets for horses before. He figured he could estimate the amount of cloth needed today and start weaving, and perhaps another of the tribe could help with the final product.

Since both of his ponies were about the same size, Theodoric chose the more mild-mannered Suthen for the project. She stood patiently in the stable hallway, contentedly nibbling on the sweets her luperci had brought while the grayscale Gatlvksa measured her from withers to hooves and mane to tail. The dappled mare cooperated brilliantly and the process took only a few minutes. After returning her to her stall, Theodoric was at a loss. He really wanted to make blankets for all of the horses in the stable, or at least the ones that looked like they had thinner winter coats. Since arriving in AniWaya, he really hadn’t done anything to benefit the pack in general, and he was eager to be of use.

But Theodoric was inexperienced with equines larger than his two fourteen-hand ponies, and, frankly, the larger horses intimidated him. Even if he was comfortable with horses, those in the stable belonged to other tribe members, and he wouldn’t handle them without permission. Of course, he could wait around the stables and try to catch each member individually, but that would take and waste time. He would much rather get a good idea of how much cloth he needed and start right away. Theodoric sighed softly and remained outside his mare’s stall, hesitating and indecisive.

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