Yo' Mama's so Fat...[Rhi-Rhi]

[Haze]

Etharon sat beneath the shade of a tree, just on the outskirts of Ketra. He was about to go to the place he loved the most, The Randy Peach. He grinned stupidly, as he pulled a big apple out of his bag, thinking of the place, and the ladies. Of course, its not like he was going to do anything with them when he got there. He'd just sit, drinking the cheapest wine possible, and watch them. Yes. He liked to watch the ladies.

He tossed his apple into the air, concentrating on catching it, when he fumbled, and the darned piece of fruit rolled away from him. He scrambled up, following the morsel, picked it up, rubbed it against his shirt, and tossed it again, brows furrowed in concentration. This time though, it his a big man in the back of the head. He turned around, snarling. "Watch it, kid!" Etharon stepped back a little, and glared back at the man, feeling bravado run through his veins.

He was stupid, you could give him that.

"Yeah... well... if your head wasn't so big you wouldn't have a problem!"
"My head!? What has my head go to do with anything you big-eared little shite?"
"Your head is so big, your mother probably -"
"Don't you go talking about my mother, boy." Etharon probably should have listened to the warning tone in the man's voice, but unwittingly, he carried on.
"Hah! You're mother's so hairy, you almost died of rugburn at birth!" Etharon laughed, and laughed, until he saw the dark look on the man's face, and the knife in his hand. Etharon's eyes and mouth burst open, and he gave a yelp, turned on his heel and ran.

Yelling at the top of his lungs, Etharon tore through the road into the market place, his gangly legs spinning out of control. And of course, the boy wasn't watching where he was going. He tripped over a rock, and went sprawling out across the ground, limbs splayed like a starfish. Then he wasn't on the ground anymore. He was sailing through the air, the big man's hand clenched around the scruff of his neck. Etharon kicked his feet, twisting and turning his body. Dammit... he'd left his knife back in his bag.

"Hey .. hey... I was just kidding, you know, making a joke?" He tried desperately to smooth things over, but the man wasn't having any of it.

"Hows about I take you to meet my mother, hmm?" He sneered. Etharon's eyes popped open, confusion showing on his features.
"Oh yeah? That'd be nice. Where is she?"
"Dead."

Oh shite.

[Rhindeer]

It was the yelling that first caught Sita's attention.

He had been in the middle of a deal, making an arrangement with a fat merchant to come by his lord's stables to view the horses he'd brought in, but that made him jerk in surprise and swivel to look. What the bloody blazes...?

He turned just in time to see some gangly stick of a kid fall on his face, right before a large bear of a man was on him, hauling him up roughly with one hand while his other wielded a wicked-looking knife. While the ruckus was already drawing gasps and stares from the other folk browsing the marketplace, Sita could see no soldiers nearby and the people near were mostly women and children. With so many witnesses, if that man did anything to the boy, it wouldn't end well for him--but it might end worse for the boy; intoxicated, angry men did horrifically stupid, vile things and that sure as hell didn't look like an idle threat to put the fear of the gods in the boy.

"Uhh...pardon, ya know where to find me," Sita told the merchant right before he took off.

He moved quickly, drawing his knife from his belt as he went and moving cautiously behind the man, using the cover of the crowd to get there unnoticed.

The large man waved his knife in front of the boy's face. "How 'bout I take your ears first, hm?" he growled. "Why, your ears are so big your mother--"

"Put him down," Sita cut in and the man froze when he felt the tip of his knife against his lower back, though he didn't move to comply. If the man weren't the size of a bear he might have just knocked his skull, but he wasn't so sure he'd get him on the first try--and then he'd just be angrier.

"I said drop him or you'll be pissin' blood your final days! Let the kid go and he better not be harmed."

There were few things that truly made Sita angry, and this? This terrorizing the weak? It was one of them.

[Haze]

Etharon froze seeing the knife in front of his face. "Heh .. yeah... my ears. Haven't grown into them yet." He gulped, and was about to make another attempt at getting free when another voice joined in. The boy almost wet himself. Someone was coming to his aid.

He wasn't stupid. He wasn't about to get knifed in the kidneys, just because some reckless kid couldn't control his tongue. He had better things to do with him time. "Not worth my fuckin' time anyway." The man grumbled, dropping Etharon without grace. The boy went once again, sprawling on the ground. The man gave him a beligerent kick, then with a glare over his shoulder at Sita, stalked off.

Etharon hastily scrambled to his feet, almost tripping over himself again, turning around to face the stranger who had just saved him from a very unpleasant fate. "Ohmygosh" was all that he managed to splutter out, gasping for breath, and he waved a huge wad of hair out of his eyes. Looking at the man, he suddenly straightened up. This man looked huge! Not that much taller than him, but geez... what ever he'd been fed as a child... Etharon wished he had some of that.

He almost said it out loud, but for once he actually caught his tongue, and said with eyebrows raised, and an awkward shrug, "Thanks."

[Rhindeer]

That went far better than he'd expected, and thank the spirits, too, because that had been a bluff. He had to wince, though, when the guy kicked the kid, but he let the man go and sheathed his knife with a low sigh of relief.

He wasn't opposed to a fight, but he was still recovering from his last one, his forearm still bandaged (damned thief had bit him!) and head still sore where he'd been struck. He needed at least a couple days to recover, these days! He wasn't twenty anymore and his body liked to remind him of that even while his head still felt it.

Stepping closer to the boy as the bully lumbered off, Sita started to offer the kid a hand up when he scrambled to his feet.

"Don't mention it. Y'alright, kid?" he asked, then shot a glance over to where the man had vanished and back, raising an eyebrow. "The hell ya do to make him wanna murder ya? Might be wrong, but he didn't look like the jokin' type."

[Haze]

"Hit him in the head with an apple." Etharon explained quickly, rubbing the spot on his ribs where he'd been kicked, and ducking his head, a hand going up to rub the back of his neck in embarrasment. "Then called his mama hairy." He tilted his head to where the big man had stalked off. "My mother always said I had a big mouth."

He shrugged again, as if this was a common occurance, then brightened up as he was stuck with an idea. "Hey, I owe you, like ... big time. What do you do? Do you think I could come with you? I have a knife too, so I could always help you out and stuff. 'Cept you don't really look like you need help, but I've got nothing else to do."

"I'm Etharon, by the way. Etharon Legun. What's your name?"

[Rhindeer]

Sita stared at the kid, mouth slightly open. Then he sank his head into his hand with a low groan. He'd done what? Hoo, boy. Kid was just begging for trouble from the sounds of it, which wasn't uncommon; young, stupid boys always figured themselves immortal and Sita knew that one first hand! He'd done more than his share of stupid shit--in fact, he still did.

Had the bruises to prove it, too. And the nearly-healed bite mark on his arm from where a damned horse thief had taken a chunk out of him. That one still boggled him.

Rubbing his face, Sita let his hand drop away. "I can see why your mother'd say that. Anyhow, name's Sita," he said, and extended his hand to the kid. "Just Sita, nothin' fancy. But kid, that weren't nothin', really. I ain't just gonna stand 'round and let some brute gut ya like a fish, even if ya was pretty stupid."

He gave a little shrug, grinning a little, showing he meant no harm by that comment. It was just the truth!

"But if ya wanna work off this 'debt' of yours, I ain't gonna stop ya either." The stable was short some workers and hell, he wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. He glanced the boy over. He was all scrawny limbs, but looks could be deceiving. "How good are ya with animals?"

[Haze]

Etharon glowed bright red under the big man's observation. He was pretty stupid. And then he asked about animals, and his eyes lit up.

"Yessir! I'm great with animals! We had lots of animals as kids, and I reckon I was the best out of all my brothers with animals. Any kind! I swear! I love them to bits!" The words tripped over themselves as they tried to escape from his mouth, mind working so fast that he stuttered just slightly.

"Have you got animals, then? Can I see?"

[Rhindeer]

Sita couldn't help but laugh at the kid's enthusiasm. Guess he must be pretty desperate, the way he was talking, but the response was encouraging, at least. With any look, his word and reality would actually line up, because Sita had had the bad luck of people claiming to be knowledgeable to get work when, in truth, they were utterly incompetent.

He'd give this one the benefit of the doubt, however, and hope he wasn't completely rash in everything he did. When you combined that with horses? Well, it could be pretty tragic.

"Well, sure! That's why I was askin'. C'mon, it ain't much of a walk from here."

Motioning the boy to follow him, Sita started to head toward the stables he worked at. "Hope ya ain't opposed to gettin' a little dirty. I've got some stables that could use a muckin'."

[Haze]

Etharon grinned away like a mad-man, following beside Sita as they walked, the location as yet a mystery to him. He wondered if it might be some cows, or goats, or maybe even piggies. He likes pigs. They were his favourite.

It was all going swimmingly, in his head at least, until Sita mentioned stables. Etharon knew exactly what that meant.

"S-s-stables? As in, with horses?" He swallowed back a gulp, and gallantly nodded. Horses scared the crap out of him, but he wasn't opposed to cleaning out stables. As long as the animals weren't there.

"Sure, sir. I don't mind getting mucky. That's half the fun of being a boy- a man, I mean."

[Rhindeer]

"Eh?" Sita turned his head to look at Etharon, one eyebrow raised and expression thoroughly puzzled. What did the kid think people kept in their stables...?

Finally, he snorted and shook his head. "Pffft, no, not horses, boy. Dragons. I'm gonna have ya shovelin' dragon shit, maybe even clean their teeth and--of course horses, kid! What kinda stables ya been around?"

[Haze]

To be honest sir, dragon shit would be a whole lot better. Etharon thought, hanging his head. Truth be told, he was terrified of horses. Bears, no, mountain lions - pfft! Big kitties, they were. But horses... they scared the crap out of him.

"Oh, I was... I was just checking Sita, sir." He said with a nervous chuckle, "You got many?"

Please say one. I can handle one. Maybe, without peeing my pants, even.

[Rhindeer]

Kid was odd, that was for sure, and Sita couldn't help wondering just what the hell he was checking. Still, he shrugged and continued to lead the way. The place was in sight now; just a couple more minutes and they'd be there.

"Well, it is a stable. There's about, oh...fifteen, now." He grinned back at the boy. "They ain't all mine. Five belong to the lord, the rest I brought in to sell. We've got an arrangement, see. Takes a while, 'specially when you're short on hands and--" He came to an abrupt stop. "Y'okay, kid?"

The boy seemed awfully nervous and he wasn't sure why. Maybe he felt a little unsure about going with a stranger to a place he'd never been? But the kid had volunteered himself, so...

[Haze]

"Fifteen?! He squeaked out in reply, face paling considerably. He rubbed his hands over his face, and then, trying to hide the stricken look on his face, he nodded. Clearing his throat, and trying to make his voice sound deeper, and more confident replied.

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine. It's just... fifteen horses. That's a lot of horse shit. But uh... I can do it. Yessir. Not like I'm scared of horses or nothing." He grinned, while a bright red blush took to his face, lighting even the tips of his big gawky ears.

He peered ahead to the stables, and took a big breath, trying to control the knocking of knees that had suddenly crept up on him. "Say, Maybe... maybe I could find buyers for you... I mean..." Anything to stop me from actually having to be with the monstrous things "...I mean... I got the gift of the gab and all." His eyes looked sadly hopeful, like a puppy after  a treat.

"D'ya think I could do that, instead?"

[Rhindeer]

"Now, I don't mean to be rude or nothin', but I'm sorta picky so I deal with the buyers," Sita said. "These horses are special. So I gotta make sure they'll get a good home to someone who knows how to deal with 'em." He paused and lifted an eyebrow. "Not that I don't trust your judgment, boy."

Actually, no, no he did not trust the boy's judgment. Shoveling shit was one thing, but Sita had bore witness to the fruit of this kid's 'gift of gab' and it had nearly gotten him killed. Not that Sita never got into trouble--that was the pot calling the kettle black--but he was at least careful about what trouble he chose to get into and he kept work very separate from fun!

So it was different. Yeah.

Reaching out, Sita lightly tousled the kid's hair. He still looked so pathetically scared. "Ya ain't gonna do all of 'em, kid. That's too much work for just one person. There's a couple other workers so you'll just be dealin' with a few, and I'll even get ya supper once you've finished and cleaned up, alright?"

[Haze]

Etharon's lips twisted wryly. There was no way he was going to get out of this one. He could at least appreciate the fact that Sita obviously cared for the animals, but it did not fix the fact that Etharon would have rathered stuck pins in his eyes, than spend any time in close quarters with the beasts.

He gave an embarrassed little laugh at the touslling of hair, and ducked his head. The trader's explanation that there would be others to help still did nothing to calm the nervous jitters in his stomach. But then he said the magic word.

"Supper!? You mean I can eat? That would be grand!" His eyes brightened, and he slapped his hands together, rubbing them together to steel himself for the task. "Right then. Where are these horsies?"