"Being a Hostler wasn't my dream job as a kid.

I wanted to grow up and become a Knight, or at least a member of the Royal Police, like my Mama is. So as a kid I did a lot of training with my Mama, basic combat and self defense practice, tool upkeep, and animal handling. But being a Knight is so much more involved than that, I found out. Most people train to be a Knight their entire childhood from other Knights, not from RPs who don't even live in the Queen's City.

I washed out of Knight training in the first six months. I could have become a Knight, if I had really pushed myself. But everyone was so far ahead of me in training that fighting their advantages for the rest of my career wasn't appealing. And honestly, when I got out of my Mama's ring and into the dirt yard at the castle for combat training, it turned out that I didn't like actual combat either. I liked sparring, and jousting, where the rules are very structured, and you knew what to expect from the people you were 'fighting' against, but when it came to training for actual battles, where your opponents were trying to hurt you? I didn't like that either, so my prospects for becoming a RP offer didn't look great either.

There was, however, one aspect of both Knighthood and RP life that I excelled at. Animal handling. I'd been taking care of the Family Runner, Steed, for most of the time my family owned him, almost a decade by the time I went to the Queen's Castle. Both the Jousting Master and the stable hands for the MP were sad to see me go.

When I had to make decision to push forward with being an MP or reevaluating what I wanted to do for a career, I decided to take a ride. I went to the stable, took out one of the big Runners, and let it take a route it knew out of the Queen's Castle grounds and into the hills and forest beyond. The beast's ride was smooth, and it kept one ear trained on me as we ride, keeping a watch on me as my mind wandered. I didn't want to leave the Runners behind, but all of the other jobs I could think of that involved being around them or working with them were displeasurable. I didn't want to be a courier, too much travel. Breeders required a lot of staring money I didn't have. Trappers looking to deepen the breeding pool didn't travel much, but they did live in the middle of nowhere, and I wanted a home my friends and Family could easily visit.

Several hours later, by the time we got back to the stable, I still hadn't made up my mind.

One of the handlers complemented me on taking their biggest male, a breeder who was a difficult ride, on such a complex and long ride without seeming to have had any trouble.

I looked up at the big male who had kept an ear out for me while we traveled through the wilderness around the Queen's Castle. He hadn't seemed a hard ride, and that's why I'd picked him. His size was perfect for someone my height and weight, his hump was comparable without having to put a saddle stand on him, just a riding saddle, and he'd seemed amiable when I let him take his own path. I told the handler this and he shook his head as he lead the big male Runner back to his stall.

Later that day, after I had eaten a solitary meal on one of the walls that looked down into the riding grounds around the stable yard, the woman who ran the stable approached me. She was the head Hostler, and asked if she could sit with me. Once I said she could and she had, she asked if I had ever considered working with Runners. When I said I had but that the jobs that involved them wouldn't suit me, she asked me about allbacks, hounds, and grazers. I hadn't had the opportunity to work with any of those.

After a few moments of silence, she asked if she could pay me to work as a stable hand for a month. She'd introduce me to her other creatures, and see if I had as intuitive a hand with them as I did Runners.

That was two years ago. A few months into working for the Head Holster, she stepped back from her duties, which she had been training me to fill. A year after washing out of being a Knight and a RP, I've become the Head Hostler. I break, train, breed, and care for Runners, and they'll always be my favorite. The big breeder male was retired around the same time I became a full time handler, and I took him on as my own private steed, and named him Ride. I've also learned how to hunt for, break, and ride allbacks, and am learning how to breed them. I handle the overseeing of all the hounds in the Queen's Castle, and I also do the books for the herders, as well as knowing how to milk and herd them.

I didn't expect that what had been a natural talent and a source of comfort for me could have become my job. I didn't see myself working with animals for a living when I was a child. But that's kind of a good thing, seeing as it came as a delightful surprise. Just when I thought I had failed, I found something I was meant to succeed at all along."

World: Knights of Nodd.
Characters: Avid and Ride.
Media: Easy Paint Tool SAI and Microsoft Paint.
Art, ideas, design, and character © me.

-Topknot