First Impressions - Smokeshow

 The road from Evermire to Athelen was long, as usual, but after a couple days of rest, Kalencia was more than ready to leave her father’s apartment near the university and get some fresh air. It had been some time since she had been back in the capital city and she knew exactly who she wanted to visit, so she rose early and picked up some breakfast pastries from a cute little bakery on her way to the university stables. 

 The riding grounds of Aphinast University remain fairly unchanged since her last visit. The weather is sunny, warm, and breezy and she pauses at the fenced pasture to watch some of the horses graze, the other grand stone buildings of campus creating an impressive backdrop to the stretch of green. Here, many of the more bustling sounds and energies of the city fell away, and she found the animals calming, reminiscent of her childhood spent on field studies and research trips with her fathers. After a while she breaks away and enters the tall, neat main building of the stables-proper. She locates the dark-haired half-elf she’s looking for in one of the cramped shared offices off of the wide main corridor.

“Catch!” 

She calls out to Trishan as he looks up, tossing the wrapped pastry to him with no warning. The half-elf’s hazel eyes widen and he almost knocks the mug of coffee sitting on his desk over as he reaches out to grab the package out of the air. Upon succeeding, he pauses to let out a huff before turning his tan face towards Kalencia, a grin playing on his lips.

“Rude as hell, Kal,” he scolds her with a twinkle in his eyes. “But good to see you.”

“Well if you don't want it, I'll take them both,” she warns, chuckling as she holds up her matching package, though the pastry contained inside was already half-eaten.

“No, no, I'll take it. Thanks,” he says, backtracking quickly. “I'm just finishing up this letter, then I'm hoping you have good stories for me from your travels. I was hoping you'd stop by when I saw Delphi in one of the student stalls,” he tells her, referencing the red dun mare that acts as Kalencia's main travel companion.

Kalencia moves into the room, unwrapping the remainder of her breakfast. She leans against the edge of the desk and smiles at Trishan.

“I do, but none of them have been bard-ified yet, so you'll have to deal with rough first drafts,” she jokes. “Important letter?” Kalencia punctuates her question with a bite of her pastry, trying to hide the slight blush on her cheeks behind her lavender hair.

“Just calling on the vet.”

“Oh no! Who's sick?” Kalencia asks with her mouth full, genuine concern clear on her face.

“New horse. A Loshenka named Smokeshow. A local stable closed after running out of funding and some of their horses are in rough shape. Because of this, they went cheap and the University got some of them. Their veterinary program certainly has the resources to help. I assume they'll either be trained up as driving horses or offered to the equestrian team once they're in better shape,” Trishan explains, setting his breakfast aside and dipping his pen into the nearby inkwell to finish his summons. “I can take you to meet him if you want. Seems sweet, just having a hard time with food.”

With that Kalencia looks down at her breakfast, pursing her lips. How awful, she thinks, to not be able to enjoy a proper meal. She looks back to Trishan.

“Yeah, I'd love to.”

---

The pair finishes their breakfast and Trishan hands off the note to the campus courier when she arrives to ensure quick contact with the vet. The two chat as they head to the wing of the stables housing the non-magical mounts, their footsteps muffled by the dirt and bedding scattered amongst the stone floor. The sun shines cheerily through the tall windows that sit just below the beams of the high ceilings, dust dancing in the shafts of light. Eventually they reach where the stallions are kept and Trishan stops in front of a stall housing a fleabitten gray Loshenka. 

Right away, it is clear the animal is unwell as he is visibly underweight. Grain has certainly been moved around his provided feed bucket, but much of it seems to have been dumped out on the floor. What's more, half-chewed globs of alfalfa stick, abandoned, around the stall. Upon their approach, the stallion turns deep blue eyes towards the pair, his bottom lip quivering. He makes no move towards or away from them, but does seem curious even in his discomfort. Kal’s eyebrows pull together in sympathy as she offers a quick greeting in a sweet-sounding tone.

“Hey there, sweet boy,” she coos, ever the bleeding heart. She rests her elbows on the top of the stall door and turns her attention towards Trishan, giving the stallion the opportunity to sniff or inspect her more closely while she's looking elsewhere. The gray horse flicks his white tail and after a moment, does step closer to give Kalencia a tentative look-over.

“When did he get here?” She asks Trishan, very slowly reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind one of her vaguely pointed ears, as to not spook the horse. Smokeshow straightens his neck with a low grunt, tense and watchful at the movement, but relaxes as Kalencia's hand is restful once again.

“Couple days ago, while I was off. Hasn't eaten much since then, I understand. Hopefully not a major tooth issue, but horse dentists are expensive, so if the problem was funding, I'm not shocked it was overlooked,” Trishan explains, also keeping his posture casual.

The stallion looks between the two of them, letting out a huff. At this, Kal looks towards the horse with a smile, extending her hand out towards him, at which Smokeshow jerks his head out of her reach. 

“Yeah, okay. Ouchie, I get it,” Kal notes sympathetically. She looks back towards her half-elf companion. “Do you want me to spend some time with him today? Choir practice isn't until the evening and otherwise my only plans were to bug you.”

Kal gives Trishan a fond grin.

“Won't Dr. Halbast want to spend time with you?” Trishan responds with a pleasantly surprised expression.

“I'll be back for dinner,” Kalencia tells him with a shrug. “He's busy being a professor and besides, he's driving me a little bananas with preparing for my dad to come home from Venalia. My parents can be such perfectionists sometimes.” She rolls her eyes at the thought of her dads, shaking her head before a look of realization comes over her. “Oh, speaking of…”

Kalencia pulls out a banana from the leather satchel by her hip, looking towards Trishan with bright eyes. He looks between her and the Loshenka, who has tilted his head with curiosity, then nods his permission. Kal’s grin widens and she moves back to allow Trishan to open the wooden door to the stall. Peeling the banana, she steps inside.

Smokeshow takes a couple steps back, flicking his curly tail analytically as he watches Kalencia enter. He sniffs lightly, catching the banana’s scent on the air. As the lavender-haired humanoid approaches him, he simply watches her. With her free hand, she gently reaches out to let her fingertips brush his shoulder, causing it to twitch. Still he doesn't move, and she flattens her palm against the horse’s bony frame. Though the stallion is undernourished, for the most part his black-freckled gray coat still offers a reminder of the silkiness that Loshenkas are known for and isn't coarse by any means.

“What a handsome boy you're gonna be. Trishan’s gonna take good care of you, and I'm gonna help too,” Kalencia tells him softly. She pulls a piece of the banana off of the whole and mashes it into more of a paste into her hand. The food softened for him, she offers out her palm towards the stallion's head. For a moment he hesitates, then moves to sniff whatever she's offering him. His lips brush her hand and she adjusts to help maneuver some banana-mash into the horse’s mouth. Smokeshow tentatively chews, but quickly realizes he can simply swallow the food that has been offered to him. He freezes, processing this, only to swing his head towards Kalencia a beat later, looking for more. Kal laughs at this, overjoyed that her plan to offer the stallion a bit of sustenance has gone well. She hears Trishan chime in and turns to see the stable manager shaking his head with an amused expression.

“Fast friends with everyone as always,” Trishan teases. “Why don't you offer to sing him a lullaby as well, oh clever bard?”

“Maybe I will,” Kal fires back, grinning at him, then moving Smokeshow’s head away so she can mash him more banana. The horse accepts this with rising enthusiasm and she smiles. Fast friends with everyone, indeed.