Nolian glanced around the stables, noting each horse and what they were best for. There were thicker sturdy draft horses that were definitely more meant for the farm work, chariot and carriage pulling and such. They wouldn't be the best to take riding.

But the others might.. it wasn't too bad of an idea at least. He bobbed his head firmly, shortly, setting his hands on his hips. Henry tapped his shoulder as Kayeni approached.

Nolian turned, smiled back at Kayeni. She had at least given them a smile. She then proceeded to release Henry from his obligations... for a while. That was news. He wasn't aware that was something someone could do.

"I am an adult," Nolian said, his voice a weary chuckle. "I... shouldn't be too much to handle." But they glossed over it and focused on the timing of everything else.

"I am good with horses," Nolian confirmed with his words and a dip of his head. He offered his arm again, a lopsided smile on his face. "Well, as for what looks best in the stables, I'm thinking we look more toward the horses over this way," he guided her from the hallway to the next.

"These are more of your Lustiano, your Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds. I think there's also a few Knabstrupper in the stalls as well. They're more noble or whatnot," he waved one hand as he explained the line of thinking he had come up with.

"But they can be... a bit on the fiery side. Since your'e not too confident, I think we'll stick with the Lustiano. They're far more welcome and friendly as a start. Come on, this way," he guided her down the stalls. "Here we go, here's some of them. Just step up to the stall door, let them get to know you."

He stepped back with a warm smile. Nolian's faded blue eyes were soft, fond and comfortable in the stables. This was... his home.

Kayeni honestly had no idea what the heck Nolian had just said. Sorry for not knowing exactly what horse was what! But then she guessed that she had to play along with it, as much as she disliked her "suitor". He just seemed so comfortable in the stables, though, Kayeni could easily see why he had chosen to retire here after being introduced.

But... okay. Like the topic of the council meeting, of which Kayeni could only remember "trade routes to Praelothys" - a lot of what Nolian had said had gone into one ear with an attentive smile and straaaiiight out the other.

It worked though.

But all the horses looked the same. Frankly, for all her observational skills, they just looked rather similar. Horses were horses, and Kayeni wasn't too fussed. She didn't even know which horses exactly Nolian hd pointed out - the horses there looked the same, with curious heads hanging out of their stalls.

But it would probably throw Nolian off is she waited too long. And she needed Nolian soft enough that he'd actually listen to anything she told him later. Unlike what she had just done.

Although she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, she walked vaguely in the direction that Nolian had pointed out, towards a few stalls. Problem is, she had no idea what to do next. It wasn't like her tutors had covered this - generally a horse was brought out for her. But she guessed, probably rightly once again, that this was a necessary step in Nolian's mind.

But still. When she was standing in front of a tan horse that looked far too curious about why was there a human uncertainly standing in front of their stall, she really had absolutely no idea what to do.

Kayeni finally ventured for help. "Okay... now what do I do?" Really, horses wasn' her strong suit.

But she guessed she was learning how to do something new. At least that was something. Although why a princess would ever need to handle a horse, she had no clue.

Nolian gave her an encouraging smile, his faded blue eyes bright with delight. She was doing wonderfully. The dun gelding didn't seem to care either way that she was there. Which was good! It was a good step. The longer she stood there the more curious he got. Which was when he leaned his head out of the stall to figure out what exactly she was doing in front of the stall in the first place.

She finally asked what to do and the young man stepped forward, extending his hand out for the gelding. "Just get to know him a little bit. See what he likes best."

His hand rubbed along his forehead, just under the forelock of the horse. "Right here," Nolian carefully guided Kayeni's hand to where he had been scratching. "Just take some time to get to know him."

His eyes swiveled around, scanning the other stalls for a horse that seemed like a good companion to the gelding she was trying to get to know. "He's calm enough that he should be a good ride. Nothing too serious should happen at least."

Nolian's gaze traveled back to the front stalls, a few Knabstrupper geldings remained. They seemed tired at best but he knew better than to believe that. They were better at the speed and careful footing should the Lustiano feel the urge to bolt.

"You're doing great," Nolian hummed brightly, turning his attention to Kayeni again. "See how his ears are pricked forward? He's focusing on you and enjoying your presence. Try going under the chin next, see what he does."

Kayeni was operating blind, which was definitely not something she enjoyed doing. She was completely reliant on the fact that the horse wouldn't... eat her or something. Gods knew what they were thinking.

Following Nolian's advice - damn, this felt like such a bad idea because she had no idea what she was doing - she moved her hand underneath their chin. The horse - was it a he? Kayeni had no clue - moved slightly. Kayeni jerked back a little bit. Hell no, but her instructions and tutoring were at an end here.

Tentatively continuing what she had been told to do, and dearly wishing she had a more attentive tutor that wouldn't multitask, she looked over and saw Nolian's attention already what felt like miles away. Resolutely continuing her task, and looking at the horse who seemed to be enjoying the attention, Kayeni finally gave up waiting and turned back to Nolian. The horse could enjoy the scratching while she talked, right?

"Now what?" She hated saying those words, but really. When it came to a real, live animal that likely very much had the potential to send her flying into next Tuesday, she needed more instructions than a few words of what to do. Such as, Kayeni didn't actually know what would be a good idea to do next. If she didn't have to do this to appease Nolian, she'd have long called a stablehand that would have done all of this for her.

She just hoped that later her idea would pay out for what she had to do now.

Nolian scoped out a horse that look more or less like a good solid horse to ride. The dark spotted Appaloosa-like pattern on the face was enough to tell him that the horse was a gorgeous beast. He could already imagine the way he ran...

Kayeni's cautious words brought him back to the task at hand and he smiled brightly. "Well, now that you've gotten well acquainted, we can work on getting him ready for a ride."

Nolian stepped up to the stall door, pulling down the halter and lead from the hook. "Now, when you're leading a horse, you'll want to make sure that the hook here--" he guided the horse's head down, "goes on the outside. It's more comfortable for them at least. This piece here goes over the ears like so..."

He reached up and tightened the halter loosely around the chin. "There we go. He's ready for you to lead him around."

Nolian guided the horse from the stall and nodded. "You'll want to keep one hand up here by the chin while he's still getting used to following your lead. The rest of the lead is gathered up in a loose loop like so," Nolian flicked the lead into his hand and kept it at his side. "On the off chance he does get squirrelly, you can just use this extra and tap his side behind you."

He nodded firmly. "You've got this," the suitor stated with confidence and held the lead rope out to Kayeni. "I'll go get my horse ready and then we'll go saddle up and everything."

His eyes flicked toward the dark beast, hurrying over to do the same. Sure enough, the beautiful pattern was breathtaking. The spotted dark beast mixed with a white undercoat, dark hair and the beautiful brown eyes.

Nolian could've stared at him for days. But he had someone waiting for him. The halter was put on rather quickly, leading the horse out of the stall. "Your horse... is think his name is... I believe the stall label said something like Duke. It'll be easier if you can call them by name."

He gestured to the horse he was holding. "This beautiful beast has a registered name and a call name. The call name is what you'll use, if you find one with both. Raven's Tear is his registered name but it looks like his call name is just Rave."

Nolian bobbed his head and turned, leading toward a different and open few stall bays. "Right in here..."

It felt like trying to learn Jydi, the infamous language of the far northerners that was infamous in being practically impossible for non-native speakers. She had no idea what she was doing past what Nolian had said. And what did he mean by "going squirrelly"? That didn't sound the greatest.

She was trusting Nolian entirely in this matter, and considering that she barely knew him, it probably wasn't the greatest idea.

The horse was hopefully not going to do anything silly. But Kayeni had absolutely no idea if they were going to or not. So, she kept a tight eye on - she believed the horse was a him - and Nolian said his? - name was Duke. Okay. She walked half-making sure Duke didn't do anything stupid, and ended up almost colliding with the horse - no, a great goddamned beast that somehow qualified as a horse - that Nolian had picked. Thankfully neither of them noticed and Nolian kept rambling about something about ravens? Kayeni was not paying much attention - then again, she had no idea what he had just done to Duke to put him in those things. He called them... actually, he didn't call them anything. Great.

So, leading with whatever Nolian had said it was - Kayeni didn't think he said the name of them, but she might have missed it - she inched her way closer to the open stalls, somehow managing to not trip over, crash into Nolian's horse again or let go of the rope while doing so. An achievement, she guessed, but Nolian looked so comfortable in this place he probably had never done such a thing before.

But she kept going, albeit at a slightly slower pace than Nolian, who seemed practically overjoyed about something. Kayeni guessed he had picked a horse that he liked, but honestly she had no clue at this point. All she could figure out was that Duke was being nice, at least for now, Nolian was happy with his beast of a horse, and that she had never been taught how to do any of this. She knew how to ride, yes, but not the steps before.

So she followed Nolian, trailing? - or was she dragging? or leading? - her horse towards where he was indicating.

Nolian gladly chattered about the horses and the things she could do to get more comfortable with them. "Brushing them down--which is what we're going to be doing--is a good way to get a closer bond with your chosen companion. It's kind of a lot of work though, so if it's not really your thing we can always ask one of the stable hands to help out," he glanced behind him toward Kayeni. Oh she looked so uncomfortable and out of place. But there wasn't much he could do or say. She just had to spend more time around them, around the stables and just horses in general to get more confident and comfortable.

It wasn't something easily faked.

As Nolian led his beast into the stall, he connected the halter to the two posts, keeping Rave in place so he didn't go wandering around. "This is the area where you'll brush them down and get the tack ready for a ride," he explained briefly, hefting a bucket over to set between the stalls.

His hands lifted, taking the dun gelding into the stalls as well, turning him around and connecting the halter the same way Rave had been.

"The first thing you'll want to do is to brush them down. It's fairly simple, pretty easy and all of that," he waved one hand idly. "But it might get a bit on the dirty side, so if you don't want to get too dirty, we can ask someone else for help."

Nolian gave her a lopsided smile. "The best way to get more comfortable with them... well, it's to spend more time around them and with them. It's not something you can just be taught and immediately grasp. It ... it requires a lot of time, patience and time, essentially."

He turned to Rave, starting to brush the horse down. "Do you have a specific saddle that you need to use or can we just use whichever?" Nolian asked after a moment. "Or... do you know at all? I might have to ask the Barn manager if she knows..."

He shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. "You'll notice there's different brushes. That's because you can only go so far with each brush. Horses have sensitive nerves at different places on their legs especially. The softer the brush, the lower it goes."

Holy hell. Kayeni really didn't want to do any of this. She could partly see why Henry had been so on edge yesterday - if this was what he had been doing all of yesterday...

But she kind of had to. Although she wasn't a fan of it, it probably was for the best she learnt this. After all, she didn't exactly care about her riding clothes.

Still. She would have called for a stablehand long ago, and resolved this would be the only time she'd ever do such a menial task.

This would be the only time she gave Nolian the benefit of the doubt, and he'd know it later. But for now, she was stuck with brushing a horse down.

Ugh.

She would have definitely called a stablehand. But his words... "so if you don't want to get too dirty, we can ask someone else for help"... Kayeni wasn't a princess, and with maybe a smidge too much pride, for nothing. She could do it.

But still, that didn't mean she had to like it.

But she turned her thoughts back to the task at hand, which somehow included using a brush that had definitely seen better days on a horse that she still had no idea why Nolian had said was now her mount.

"No, i don't have a specific saddle or whatnot." Kayeni kept her voice reserved. "Like most of the time, I don't really bother doing any of this." The stablehands did it for me, is what she implied really. But she doubted that Nolian, with his 0 etiquette training, would have picked up on that bit. For all that he probably knew, she was just a bit inexperienced.

But the task of brushing a horse apparently was a necessity. So Kayeni did it, if only for the sake that she had to appease Nolain for it.

Nolian's hands worked swiftly and expertly as he brushed down the horse in front of him. He hummed warmly as he worked, moving forward and then paused as Kayeni responded. She mentioned that she didn't have a special saddle which made things so much easier.

He turned his head again as she finished speaking. "That's alright. It's not really a noble's job," Nolian said with a weary noise, almost as if the reality had set in. He really shouldn't be doing it at all. Riding, yes. But the rest of this? No.

"But it's alright, it allows others to have a job that supports them and their family," Nolian continued, switching brushes. "Once you're done with the brushes I'll help with the hoof pick."

He lifted one of Rave's hooves, picking through the debris in his hooves. "I wouldn't suggest doing it unless you know what you're doing."

He chuckled softly. "Brushing them down first allows the hair to lay flat. It's more comfortable when you put the saddle pad and saddle on."

He chuckled softly. "It's like brushing your hair before you put it up or do it."

The young man shuffled over, once done, to help with Duke's hooves. "If you want, the comb will and should go through his mane. It's relatively short and I can go grab tack."

He stood up and found one of the stable hands with the tack ready and polished. "Here we go," the stable hand offered, setting it on the side of the stall. "Just to help."

Nolian chuckled warmly. "Thank you so much," he said giddily. "That helps so much."

Kayeni gratefully let the stable hand take whatever Nolian wanted to do with the horse. She wasn't entirely sure still what the point of all this was - wasn't it the job of the stables to keep the horses riding-ready? - but she gratefully let the stable-hand take over.

"What's your name?" she asked, looking at him. He looked a bit younger than the average stable-hand, but nothing out of the ordinary - but Kayeni would remember him in her database of people.

"Jensi, your highness." he replied a bit uneasily.

"Well, Jensi, I appreciate it." she said, a bit ruefully. Looking back at Nolian, she asked, "Do I need to be here, or can you meet me outside? I think the guards are wondering why we're not out yet. I didn't really specify when we'd be out of here," she told Nolian. "And it wouldn't be nice just to leave them out there by themselves - poor officer Derrick would have had to scramble them at quite short notice." She gave Nolian another pointed glance, but not nearly as sharp as she usually would use - she needed all her more sharper ones for later.

But honestly, this amount of menial work was slightly getting to her. She wouldn't have stopped doing it if - she believed his name was Jensi - hadn't come along. Really, sometimes her pride might have gotten a teensy bit in the way.

But that was how Kayeni operated. If anyone had a problem with it, too bad for them. She wouldn't give up that easily.