In a busy bar where many patrons go in sober then go out drunk and happy as clams a barmaid crinkled her nose as one of the customers runs past her to puke on the streets. The door swung close wafting the stench to her making her want to puke herself, yet before she gets the chance to gag a shark bark from the boss calls her back. "What are you dazing off for? Hurry up and deliver the drinks before you can deliver yourself out the door!" She bit her lip but glared at the fat old man with annoyance before storming off to deliver the tray of drinks and food.
Her balance was impeccable, as it had to be in this kind of place where people jostled others left and right with no care for the fairer sex. "Get out of the way wrench!" She grumbles under her breath when she gets roughly shoved aside by a drunk customer who seemed to be in bad mood. Most likely he lost a bid at the auction today, judging from his clothes he must be a rich merchant with a bad attitude. When she gets a break from the noise and rough jostling the barmaid groaned while falling onto the kitchen table.
Although the kitchens were as busy as the front, the cook still ran back and forth in a hurry with two helpers busily filling pots and then washing them to cook more of whatever it was they were making or taking things out of the stone over. Contrary to what one would think, the clanking of the pots and pans actually brought her a sense of relief. It was much better than the shouting and cursing of the patrons. A plate was heavily slammed in front of her bowed head making her sense of peace disappear as she whines to the cook childishly. "Ahh! Aunty my head hurts do you have to be so rough!!"
Earning a smack behind the head her whining turns into aggregation and sulking, the cook snorts and went back to work. "Stop messing around and eat! Don't blame me if you don't have the energy to continue working after your break is over." Being reminded of this she flatters the generous aunty while quickly stuffing herself, the cook rolled her eyes. "Eat slower!"
One of the helpers saw this scene and shook their head with a smile, then as if remembering something she excitedly began gossiping with the women. "Did you all hear about it? An actual Black Forest horse managed to be caught today!" Being a town that made a living off of taverns and horse auctions all three of them perk their ears up and give her their attention. The barmaid seemed shocked, "You're joking! Those rare breeds are said to only come from overseas! How did it get here?!"
The helper gave a mysterious grin, "It's said that a rich merchant crashed his ship into the coast and the horses that he spent so long collecting to show off and offer to the royals ended up being freed and ran away!" The cook frowns sensing this tale was a lie, after all the coast was thousands of miles away from here. "What kind of nonsense are you sporting? The coast is so far away from us its not possible for one of those fancy horses to have run this far even if a merchant did crash his ship." The helper tsked at her lack of imagination, "But what if it's true? Who's to say it isn't? And even if it isn't true, the fact that rare breed like that made it this far is actually a wonder in itself!"
The other helper shook her head and chuckles while taking the bread from the over sending her friend a teasing look. "Even if it is true, in the end, it'll still be sold off just like any other horse caught. Why talk about it if you cannot afford it?" She pouts, "You all are no fun! Watch the next time I make dinner I'll burn only your portions!" The aunty rose her spatula in a threatening manner, "You really dare?!"
As they messed about and gossip about the horse, a fierce bid was taking place just outside town where large fences held many unbridled horses running about wildly. Three figures with cloaks covering their head all look at the bid between an obstinate human and another stubborn human in silence. Two of them stood behind the one in a black fox cloak protecting the person from being touched by any humans. In the end, the one that stood out from the other two clicks her tongue seeming annoyed. "What is the point in waiting here? Can we not just choose one at random?"
Sahara attempts to soothe her anger by explaining to her patiently. "The best horses are put up and sold with great fanfare, if we choose one from some of the smaller pens they are not as good quality as the ones sold like this. Please understand Master." Kknoir's nose crinkles with disgust, the smell was getting to her, and being surrounded by humans was making her agitated. If she were in her original form she would have already stomped and tore these humans to shreds.
Yamir could sense the younger Wyvern's agitation from being surrounded by their enemy and also put in a word lowering his head beside her. "Master, it is best to get used to this type of environment so in the future it will be easier to adjust to the cities we will also be passing on the way." Once this was said, Kknoir's agitation and annoyance disappear without a trace and all that was left was an apathetic and distant expression. Satisfied with her maturity he straightens his back and continued focusing on the barrier between them and the humans so if one of them comes close they would only bounce off an invisible bubble. He had taken into consideration the young wyvern's nose and blocked the smell of dung from reaching her.
Currently, the three of them couldn't smell the sweat or odor of feces in the air and could only smell a sweet flowering scent. In other scenarios, he would have just avoided the humans but with the master here it was only proper he protected her from having to get her hands dirty. After the black and white-maned horse was finally sold off to a similarly dressed youth who covered his face mysteriously the auction continued. Seeing the bid come to an end Sahara lowers her head to murmur the breeds of horses that were brought upstage and gave Kknoir accurate descriptions of each breed. Kknoir did not react to the first two who were fancy-looking or prettily combed and waited until they brought up a silver-colored horse with a white mane.
She slightly nods to the horse stopping Sahara's explanations as the wyvern woman rose her hand to begin a fierce bidding battle. Seeing another secretly rich patron taking part in the bidding others curiously look at the three who did not show their faces to the crowd that formed around them. As the price rose higher and higher the faces of those who also wanted the silver horse turned red with indignation as they could only grit their teeth and back out shamefully. Even after the price was way past the original value the three people continued to bid. Throughout the entire process, Sahara's face was expressionless and unbothered by the outrageous price.
"Sold! Fifteen hundred gold coins for the silver beauty!" Seeing they had won, the woman in the leather cloak who had done the bidding walks up much like the youth who won the black and white horse and took the papers that proved she owned the horse. She wordlessly drops a bag of coins at the collector's feet without waiting for them to hold their hand out. "Wait we have to count the amount!" The flustered collector tried to stop her but Sahara's tone was cold when talking back to him making him unconsciously shiver and take a step back.
"If I have the confidence to buy such a creature at such price you think I would be shameless enough to try and cheat you in front of so many humans?" He stutters and stumbles over his words but Sahara pays him no mind and left to go pick up the horse backstage. Yamir and Kknoir waited for her to catch up and show the papers to the stable hand in the back. The stable hand knew these were rich people and tried to flatter them to gain their favor but too bad these three did not like speaking to humans more than needed. They merely walked into the pen that was holding their three horses together.
The horses all nicker nervously when trapped in the same pen as the creatures in the cloaks, Sahara and Yamir go forward and easily force their horses into submission. Meanwhile, the silver horse continued to nervously neigh and get away with each step Yamir made in his direction. The stable hand only watched with fascination as two of the wild horses were effortlessly tamed and obediently stood to the side with the shorter of the hooded figures. Almost like trained horses they did not even let out a fart under her control. Amazing! Are they horse whisperers?!
Yamir could see the silver horse was a bit smarter than the other two and was a bit more restless than them too and was about to call for a rope when Kknoir seemingly tired of his failure entered the pen herself. He zipped his lip and quietly took his reins from Sahara who had already saddled up his ride for him. The last saddle was hung up on the fence awaiting Kknoir's horse. "Will the Master abandon it and ride with me instead?" Sahara asks him, he shook his head and fiddles with the straps to make sure they were tightened properly.
"That horse is stupid, it should have listened to me from the start but it had to go ahead and annoy Master." As soon as Kknoir took a step forward the silver horse could sense the air shift and it didn't even dare to move under the cold glare of the creature in front of it. The stable hand watched with his mouth dropped as the once jittery horse obediently let the person in the black lead it away towards her companions. Wizard!! She is a Wizard! An elf! Contrary to his belief though, in reality, Kknoir had completely frightened the poor horse into obedience showing off her authority and power in her glowing peach blossom eyes. In them, it said, "Obey me or you will die.". Being as smart as it was, it obviously chooses to live and meekly nickered beside its new rider.