Lucia could feel Nero holding her close as she stirred slightly, and soon she was placed on one of the beds, her eyes remained closed as she to a moment to recollect herself. It had been a very long time since she had slept on anything remotely close to a bed. She could hear Pitt asking if she was awake; she recalled the familiar voice, though she remained still. What was Pitt doing here?

There was a silence that seemed to envelope the room for a few moments before he began to speak again. This time, he addressed her directly. Curious, her eyes fluttered open and turned her head to face him. Immediately afterwards however, she wished she hadn't opened them, as his attention seemed to be quite intent upon her and he asked her such profound questions that she did not know the answer to. Her parents were dead. How was she to know anything of who she was, or even how her powers worked? All she knew was that these powers were the source of all her troubles, the reason why she was family-less and homeless.

These thoughts were immediately put at the side however as he revealed that he had been the source of that overwhelming force of energy from moments before. Immediately she sat up in the bed, with feeling almost scared of Pitt. What if he made her go through that pain again? What if he could control her?

"H-How?" she asked faintly "It was so powerful, surely that couldn't have all come from you? And why did it have such an effect on me?" He seemed to know something that she didn't. That seemed to be the case these days with the people she now met after they ran into Gonye.

Talaitha listened intently to her elder's words. She deeply understood the feeling of being unwelcome in this land, especially within a place that one would like to call home. She also understood what Nadya meant when she described the differences within their own people, something she realized when she consciously compared herself to the older gypsy. Nadya dressed fairly differently, very plain as opposed to her own flashy, gilded appearance, though perhaps that had more to do with age or personal preference. She was never taught to wear her own enchantments, with the exception of a few charms to ward off the evil eye and bad fortune, but she was always fascinated with the mystical properties of the gems rather than their beautiful appearance.

"Since we've finished our meal, there's no point in staying here any longer," Talaitha replied, somewhat perturbed by Nadya's change in expression upon discussing this topic with her. She thought that perhaps next time she shouldn't bother with their people, no matter how much the topic fascinated her.

"Anyone capable of performing sorcery can, to some degree, exude a force from their body but whether this force exist by will or nature depends completely on the experience of the person. The amount of force differs from person to person as well and how you react to the force depends completely upon how aware of it you are. There aren't many left in this world who are attuned to the spiritual, to meet someone who can physically feel magic is, rare." Pitt remained as still as stone in his chair and his eyes remained as they were before, large, intent, and locked directly upon Lucia's eyes. "Even now I can feel your energy swirling and churning. You've changed since we first met, or perhaps you've always been this way and only now is your energy beginning to expose itself."

____

"You go ahead of me then." Nadya reached deep into the sleeve of her robe and into a hidden pocket which was sewn into the inside.. "I have a bit of money left and on the way in I noticed a vendor who was selling hollowed gourds. I have a feeling the mercenaries intend to drag us through the eastern desert and we'll need some way to carry water if that's the case. I'll buy one for both of us and meet you back at the inn, alright?"

"Thank you, Nadya," Talaitha replied before heading back toward the inn. As she walked through the market, the crowd seemed to be the same size as it was when they came in. She pushed her way through once again and, after a minute of struggling through, made it through to the other side. The rain outside the market seemed to pour even harder than it did earlier, though it seemed as if it never let up over here.
"A land of perpetual showers..." she mused as she pulled her robe over her head and made her way through the muddy path, careful to not lose her sandals in the muck.

A few minutes later she found herself at the inn. She let go of her soaked robe and let it fall back into place and entered the inn. The thief stood inside the lobby, but what caught her attention was the strange man propping himself on a cane. He was repulsive, but, like seeing people killed, she grew accustomed to it after a while. Talaitha approached the man to speak to him.

"Thank you for earlier," she muttered to him so that the thief couldn't hear. "With all that went on I don't think I had the chance to meet you. I'm Talaitha."

Lucia attempted to avoid Pitt's gaze, his cold blue eyes made her feel uncomfortable, as if her were staring into her rather than at her. It was quite disconcerting. His information though, did little to assuage her nerves. If anything, it reminded her of the fact that she was incredibly lacking in skill of the magical arts. On the other hand though, her sensitivity to magic and being able to physically feel it was probably related to her ability to spin magic like thread between her fingers. It was an odd skill that she had never seen her parents display while they lived.

"What must I do then?" she asked "Will I succumb to such sensations whenever anyone uses magic around me?"

Lucia pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on her legs as she closed her eyes. She loved her parents, she truly did, but sometimes she wished that she had never been born with these abilities. All they brought her were danger, pain and mysteries which she could not solve. She exhaled deeply before pulling her head back up, feeling a little better.

"No, that's not the case. Your senses just haven't been given time to develop. The way your body perceives energy will change as you grow, both physically and spiritually. In time the ambient energy that you're sensing will become less of a burden, it'll take on entirely new properties and will change to become like any of your other natural sense."

"And how do you know all of this?" Nero sharply interrupted Pitt's explanation. "If being able to physically sense magic is so rare why are you able to do it too? and what's a guy with such a rare talent doing in a mercenary company?" Nero didn't like the way Pitt was starting at Lucia, he didn't like the way he was talking to her and he didn't trust anything the 'mercenary' was telling her.

"There's no need for you to be here anymore." Pitt fired back without hesitation. "This conversation has nothing to do with you. Lucia is plenty safe, nothing here will harm her and I'm sure she'd be fine without you, right?" It seemed as if Pitt wanted Lucia to send Nero away...

While Lucia was relieved that she would grow accustomed to the ambient energies around her, she was torn at the thought of sending Nero away. It was quite clear from the way that Pitt had posed her the question. Nero was her friend, and yet, for the first time she had the opportunity to learn more than had ever been revealed to her before about her powers. Yes, Gonye had taught her how to access it, but she still did not understand so much about it. She knew that Nero was concerned about her well-being, especially after having witnessed her collapse a few minutes earlier.

She looked from Pitt to Nero and smiled reassuringly at her friend, "Don't worry Nero," she said softly, "There are things that I must understand, or I may be a danger to everyone around me. Should I be in any sort of danger, you will be the first person I call." Truly though, if she were in any danger, Pitt probably could have taken out all of them regardless, or so she believed based on what she had felt earlier. She sincerely hoped that she didn't hurt him, though one day she would explain everything. How her family had been burned at the stake by her own kinsmen, leaving her absolutely unprepared for the magical lineage she had been born into.

"I'll be fine" she added with another smile, though she herself was unsure what waited for her.

Nero felt slightly betrayed by Lucia but at the same time he understood why she felt the need to side with Pitt. He understood that Pitt knew much more about the situation than they did and unlike the other mercenaries he seemed willing to share information with them, well, Lucia.


"Right, I'll leave..." Nero turned for the door and exited back into the hall. He turned to push the door shut, but before doing so he shot Pitt one final, cold glance. The mercenary paid no mind to Nero's actions and stayed completely silent until he shut the door.


"Now that that's taken care of, let's resume our talks." His voice stayed low, just barely audible when mixed with the muted commotion outside. "Whether it be through blood or chance you're quite gifted and you have the potential to achieve greatness. You are one in million, perhaps even rarer than that. Though fate seems to have smiled upon more than your birth, it wasn't by chance that you were infected." By the way that Pitt was speaking he was almost making it seem as if being infected was a good thing. "I know this might be hard to understand, so please, bear with me as I try and explain this to you." Pitt hesitated before speaking again, he seemed to be choosing his words very carefully. "When people are infected they begin to slowly change on the inside. Their innards morph and become something new, something that can't support their current life. That's when they begin to shrivel up and look like husks. Eventually everything you are dies and you simply become void. Husks that reach this state no longer have souls so they cannot die and they have no emotions or physical understanding of what's going on about them, all they have is a will to continue existing. They protect this will fiercely and attack anything that threatens their right to exist... But recently there's been sightings of husks that act human, they act as if they still have their original consciousness. These sightings are incredibly rare and no one has ever captured one of these husks or experimented upon it to see what exactly makes it so different than the others, that is, until recently. By what I believe was luck, one was unknowingly captured and brought to a popular trading and science hotspot in the west by researchers who were attempting to disprove a popular theory surrounding the husks. Something went wrong, one thing lead to another, and the specimen escaped into the general public... Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Pitt rose from his chair in the corner of the room and moved himself to the foot of Lucia's bed. From this new, closer view, Pitt no longer seemed hawkish. His eyes no longer seem insidious and his pale face glowed gently as it embraced the light of the moon.

"You could be the key to understanding this curse, and the council in Sol Erra realizes this now. That's why I came. They've sent men across the river to retrieve you and the others and they've sent an army after myself and the mercenaries. When morning comes we'll leave immediately for the east and head to the Earthen Citadel in the desert. Hopefully there we'll be able to find out what exactly has changed with you and the others thus far."

Erratus breathed a sigh of relief as he learned the cause of Lucia's discomfort. It sounded like the effect would only be temporary and wasn't a product of her infection, which meant he didn't have to worry about experiencing it himself. Nero had left the door slightly ajar, so it was easy enough to listen in on their conversation from the hall. Not that he was eavesdropping, mind you. He simply didn't want to interrupt the others by going in. The thief quickly stepped away from the door as Nero exited the room. He seemed less than pleased.

"That was rude of him." Erratus remarked casually. He then pressed his ear against the door once again, making no attempt to be subtle about it. "Mayhap he's trying to hide something."

Lucia resisted the urge to sneer as Pitt insinuated that her present infection was more of a blessing rather than a curse. If anything, all it had done was bring her more trouble and now they were going to poke and prod at her like some sort of experiment. In all honesty, she had half the mind to call for Nero and the others, this was information that they all needed to hear, no? Nevertheless she stayed silent, not entirely sure of what to say.

"When do we depart?" she finally asked.

Kechts was noticeably startled when Talaitha approached him to exchange greetings. It was more than obvious that he was used to being the subject of avoidance. However, the orderly man that he is, Kechts quickly gathered himself and acknowledged the gypsy woman.
"You are      welcome. It      honor to meet you, Talaitha. I      Kechts Udyde, earlier commissioned      find you. I am glad you      safe. My sympathies      encounter with the Lord of Silk.      is quite dangerous. I have      trying to track him down for      recent time."
His voice was as jarring as ever, though the door-like croak accompanied his appearance quite fittingly.

Kecht's croacking voice, something Talaitha had forgotten about before she spoke to him, shattered her calm demeanor. His body she could get used to, but his voice was something else entirely. She took a moment to recollect herself, feeling a bit embarrassed that she lost her cool around the small man.
"It was my own fault that I ended up like that. I made some decisions that, at the time, I thought were fine. I keep thinking I can handle myself in situations having grown up in a hard life, but the cities are different than the country. There was a lot of blame thrown on me, and they were probably right in doing so," she said, lowering her head. She told herself not to dwell on it, but she still ended up doing it anyway.

ooc: Sorry about this taking so long. Between family trouble, computer trouble, draft problems, and getting sick I really didn't get much time to write and even this was pretty rushed. I hope never to take this long again.





"At the break of day." Pitt rose from the foot of the bed and headed directly for the door. "Rest well and be ready to rise early, we can't afford to waste time anymore." Before Lucia knew it, Pitt had vanished through the door leaving her alone with the vague knowledge he had bestowed upon her.
____

"I wouldn't put it past him." Nero growled before tossing his body against the opposing wall in the hall. "All these secrets and lies are becoming intolerable. We deserve actual answers for what we've been through."

Just then the door to Lucia's room swung open, butting Erratus body and pushing him out of its opening path. As one would expect, Pitt was the one exiting the room, and upon doing so he shut the door carefully behind himself.

"I see we've all gathered to say our goodnights." Pitt spoke as he moved away from the door. "You'll be happy to know she'll be fine for now, she just needs rest. As do you two, I believe." He turned away from the pair and began moving down the long hall, towards the stairway, all the while he continued to aloofly speak.. "We'll be leaving this place at the first sign of dawn. We're going east to meet some people who might be able to help you all, just as we originally promised. Rest well, we'll meet you here in the morning" As Pitt descended down the stairs he spoke a final, mellow 'good night' which traveled up from the stairway, carrying all the way to the back of the hall.


_____

Lucia


At last Lucia had been left alone to rest and though she still felt a bit sick, she eventually drifted to sleep before Talaitha and Nadya could join her in the room.



Even in her dreams... it rained...How common it is for us to forget that we never woke

In her dream Lucia found herself standing isolated in a field. The grey sky above her gently sprinkled a cold mist upon her skin and dense fog floated about in the distance, limiting her view of the world. It was lonely and quiet in the field. There were no signs of life anywhere Lucia looked and no sound but the delicate pattering of rain against the swaying grass. It was frightening for her to be here, but for what reason she did not know. The world was not threatening, though nor was it welcoming. Perhaps it was frightening because it was empty and vast and because ahead of her there lay nothing to comfort her or recognized her. If she were to die here nothing would or could mourn her, or remember her, the world would continue to exist because the world and everything else in it could not die. She did not belong in this world, a world devoid of both life and death where things only seemed to exist and continue to exist. She felt an urge to run, to leave and never look back... But there was nothing to run to and no door to leave through. Was she stuck her for all eternity? Was this place a prison? or perhaps she was stuck in limbo, a world between worlds. But why was she here? How was she here? How long had she been here? The questions were without an answer and only madness awaited her if she continued to think about such things...

For some time Lucia simply roamed and wandered the land, but eventually her legs grew tired and she collapsed into the field. Here she laid for what felt like eons until a sudden sight wrested her from the ground... Light... In the distance a light was beginning to shine through the thickness of the fog, and as each moment passed the light grew brighter and brighter and it approached closer and closer. Trapped on the ground all Lucia could do was watch as the light came to devour her, and eventually it did... As Lucia woke her eyes were immediately greeted by the sun's first light shining through the window at the end of the room. Talaitha an Nadya were in the room, both of them were sleeping soundly in the beds opposite hers. The sickness in Lucia's stomach had vanished overnight, and though her sleep might not have been sound she felt much better now than she did last night.

______
Talaitha/Kechts

"Talaitha..." The door behind Talaitha opened and Nadya quickly passed through and sealed the door softly back to its frame. "I brought you the gourd." She was quick to push the gourd-styled canteen into Talaitha's hands. "I think it best that we rest now, so sorry to disturb your conversation." she bowed her head slightly to Ketchs and tried quickly to retreat upstairs with Talaitha. It was obvious that she didn't trust Kechts. To her he was just another one of Gonye's men. Sure he helped to save Talaitha and without him they might have never found her, but him still being with the group only proved that he had been bought out by Gonye and that he more than likely was happy to serve any of the mercenary's whims.

"Ah, so you're the one I've heard so much about."

From the stairs a voice descended, and behind it was a man, the company commander known only to the group as Pitt. Long white hair, pale skin, blue eyes, a narrow, feminine face, and a soft yet sure voice...

Pitt crossed the room and quite visually began to inspect Kechts as if he were some oddity, which technically he was. "I'm quite thrilled to meet you. I'm one of Gonye's underlings, an officer in his company if you will. I'm quite glad that you could join us for the rest of this little operation and I can't wait to see what you're capable of. If you're wondering, we rented a room for you upstairs, though you'll have to share with two traveling companions. Try and rest well though, we'll be leaving early tomorrow." Pitt turned to check on Nadya and Talaitha, but sadly the pair had already vanished up the stairs. Pitt shrugged and headed for the door, but before he left he turned once more to just look at Kechts. Perhaps something about him didn't sit will with the mercenary.

_____

later... Erratus/Kechts

The two rooms Gonye had rented for the party were split between the men and women. Lucia, Talaitha and Nadya stayed in one and Erratus, Nero and Kechts stayed in the other.

With the groups split and preparing to rest, Nero decided it was best to introduce Erratus and Kechts to one another. Nero had some trouble explaining to Erratus just how the group met Kechts and why exactly he was with them now, mostly because doing so would reveal that Kechts had saved his life when he failed to act and froze up in the face of sudden danger. Nevertheless Nero did his best to explain, and though it came out a bit twisted he did a somewhat decent job of explaining that Kechts was an information broker that was hired by the mercenaries when Taliatha was kidnapped by a slave trader in the south. Nero further explained that Kechts was an impressive fighter and Gonye had extended his pay so that he could assist the group further, that was at least what he believed anyway..

With the basic introduction taken care of Nero tossed himself upon one of the 4 enormous beds in their room. It had been awhile since he had rested on something so comfortable, even before he had been caught up in this mess he rarely had enough money to purchase a decent room at a decent inn. For now he would enjoy this short moment of relaxation, he would let his anxiety over the future slip away and he would enjoy what little time he had before the uncertainty of tomorrow came.

______
Talaitha

After silently rushing away, Talaitha and Nadya entered their room upstairs and quickly settled into their beds to sleep. It was too dark in the room to see that Lucia was sleeping soundly across the room from them, but there was very little risk that the two gypsies would wake her; mostly due to the fact that Nadya didn't seem interested in talking to anyone at the moment. And so, without anyone to speak to Talaitha eventually began to fall asleep.

They believe the world before them is real, but what separates your reality from theirs?


The sounds of crashing waves, the smell of salt, the rough feeling of sand on her finger tips. Talaitha's eyes shot open, before her was not the ceiling of the inn, nor was it any place she was familiar with. An island, somehow while she was sleeping she was spirited off to this island and taken away from the group. Unable to comprehend how she was here and without the knowledge of why she was brought here, Talaitha was left with but a single option, to walk and explore the island... So she did.


The island was small, very few trees were growing on it, and most of the land was consumed by a large mountain-like hill which stood erect in the very center of everything. At first Talaitha walked the very perimeter of the island to look for others who might have found themselves washed up in the same situation as her. Alas she found no one and so she was forced to begin ascending the hill.. At first the climb was difficult because the hill started off at a near straight incline, but eventually the hill leveled off and she soon found that she could simply walk straight to the very top. From the flat hill top Talaitha could see the entirety of the island but once more she found nothing and no one. She was beginning to lose hope, but just then the waters of the island began to recede and slowly but surely the small island grew into a more massive one and the hill she was standing upon was no longer a hill, it was a mountain. Far beneath her the sandy beaches were sprouting trees and the jungle floor was beginning to expand and devour everything. It was breathtaking to watch the island grow and bud into something so lush and beautiful, but it was also troubling and logic defying. Talaitha was not given much time to dwell on any of her amazement or worries for not far in the distance her eyes caught sight of a wall of fire rushing towards the coast. The fire crashed into the side of the island and quickly spread from tree to tree. But just as her eyes were focusing on the fire an enormous flash erupted forth from the flames and nearly blinded her. Then suddenly she felt the ground shake, and the flash vanished. A large chunk of earth was hurled into the mountain side and quickly a land slide followed. Then another flash, and a wave of water, and more fire. The elements seemed to be doing battle around her and they never stayed long in once place. One second a flash was in front of her, the next a large column of water was crashing into and flooding the opposite side of the island. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't keep up with the destructive events and slowly the island was beginning to revert to its previous state. She watched helplessly as the island was devoured, but as she watched the destruction come closer and closer she noticed something. A figure, perhaps two, there were people down there and they were the ones who were commanding the elements in battle. One figure was launching attacks of earth, fire and water, the other was responsible for flashes of light which on occasion would glow so bright they would blind Talaitha.

Eventually the battle ceased and the combatants halted somewhere, and though she could not see them Talaitha knew they were still there somewhere on the island beneath her. She watched patiently for a sign, another spectacular flame or another flash, but there was none and the island remained still and silent until finally a pillar of light shot forth from what was left of the once dense jungle. Inside the light she could see faces and each face appeared monstrous, frightening, disgusting. The pillar expanded and twisted with such force that Talaitha felt her own insides moving with it. The energy erupting forth from the column was sickening. Talaitha's vision began to blur, and she could feel her legs growing numb and hard to control. One moment she was standing and the next she was on the ground and just within the very limits of her waning sight she could see the faces...



Talaitha nearly jumped from her bed when she woke from her dream. Instinctively her eyes scanned across the room for any sign of the danger she found in her dream, but of course she found none.

________




Morning

Early in the morning Pitt and Gonye met together outside of the inn. There they waited a short while for the group of six to descend from their rooms and join them outside. When the entire group finally met together Gonye began to be explain the future of their mission, he explained that the group was heading east into the desert and their journey would take roughly two days.

While Gonye was talking to the group, Pitt pulled Erratus to the side.

"You won't be going with the others right away though." Pitt huddled close to Erratus and spoke in a low whisper. "Gonye wants you to go north and exchange our prisoner with Ostarius' forces, that way we can guarantee safe passage east. There's a man waiting for you just north of this town with the girl, meet with him and then the two of you will go together to the exchange point. It shouldn't take long, the trip should only put the two of you half a day behind us." Pitt patted Erratus on the shoulder and smiled as he backed away to Gonye's side. "I'm sure you can handle this, Khast."


"Alright then!" Gonye's voice boomed as he pointed towards the far eastern exit of the town. "We'll be headin' out now, no time to lose."

With that the group of Lucia, Nadya, Kechts, Talaitha, Nero, Gonye and Pitt split from the lone Erratus, a new leg of the journey was beginning.
_____________


Lucia, Talaitha, Kechts

The party made good time crossing Atriast, despite the large crowds still populating the streets. Once the group reached the edge of the merchant town they were greeted by the sight of hundreds of merchants and dozens of caravans preparing to head out into the temperate prairie in the distance.

"There you are Captain." A mercenary emerged from the crowd of merchants with a set of reigns in his hands and a horse following him. "I bought the horses just like you said," He spoke while pointing to a stable with six horses neatly locked away inside. "but they wouldn't sell me a pack animal. They said those are for members of the local trading guild only."

"It's good enough." Gonye grabbed the reigns from the mercenary and quickly launched himself into the saddle. "Well, whatya' waitn' for." He barked at the group. "Go get yer horses, yins can ride, right?"

____________


Erratus


As instructed Erratus returned north-ward and headed for the very outskirts of town. Once he had successfully cleared the town he wandered the open fields just outside for a short while before he spotted the young prisoner-princess sitting bound under a tree. Beside her was a tall muscular man wearing an eye patch and a pair of swords on his side. His hair was short and grey and his face was old and filled with wrinkles. The man appeared to be a warrior of sorts, though it was quite obvious he was well past his prime.

Lucia drifted to sleep without a sense of reassurance at Pitt's words. If anything, they had stirred more questions within her, why was there never a simple answer which she could understand? And why hadn't he answered any of her questions? As she fell deeper into sleep, she found herself dreaming.

Lucia stood in a field alone, a dense fog pressing in around her and her clothes wet with the dew. She felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness as the rain fell on her, hugging herself as she walked aimlessly. The world felt quite unusual, it was one void of energy, and she seemed to inherently know that there was no magic here for her to spin into thread. It was quite alarming; why was she here? She fell to her knees, and the collapsed to the ground, no longer having the strength to go on alone. As she lay on the ground looking up at the grey sky, she noticed an approaching light. She did not know who or what it was, but she didn't have the strength to move. As the light quickly approached, she closed her eyes, accepting her fate.

Lucia opened her eyes, the sun's rays blinding her. She sat up in her bed, breathing deeply, thankful that whatever she had experienced was merely a dream. She could see Talaitha and Nadya sleeping quietly across the room, she had no idea when they had come in for bed, but she didn't want to wake them. She quietly left the room, and made her way to find something to eat.

.....

As the others began to stir, Gonye had everyone assemble so that they could discuss the next steps of their journey. Lucia was still personally troubled by the fact that she still knew so little about their goals. As they parted ways with Khast, Lucia couldn't help but feel a bit sad, they had grown a bit closer in their little adventure. She was glad however that Nero was by her side though. Eventually they came to the edge of Atriast where another mercenary stood waiting for them with horses.

Lucia looked up at her horse with widened eyes. She had never rode a horse before, and hadn't the slightest idea what to do. She looked over at the others, and then back to the horse that stared at her expectantly.

"For the love of Erus..." she murmured under her breath. As Gonye urged them to hurry up, Lucia muttered a silent prayer to Erus, and threw herself at her horse, which of course was quite unsuccessful at getting her on top of the beast.

Talaitha slept soundly following the bizarre dream, which never returned that night. She decided not to over think the vision, whatever it was, there was no sense to make of it. She was trained to enchant, not divine dreams, so there was no reason to even try. However, if they did run into a gypsy group somewhere, she resolved that she should immediately seek one out.

When she awoke Lucia had already disappeared, not that she cared too much. There wasn't a reason for her to care, for all she knew they looked down on her for being a gypsy. She didn't have a need for their company anyway, being a lone minority was nothing new to her.
She didn't dwell too much on this thought on the trip over, but she did start to wonder who the other people really were. Could she trust them as little as she trusted Gonye? They were all in the same predicament, but the gypsy tended to distrust everyone expect their own.

Talaitha had her thoughts interrupted by Gonye and six horses. She had ridden oxen when she was a child in the caravan, but oxen were stiff and sturdy, not as wild as horses and definitely not as fast. Despite this concern she hopped on the horse anyway.

"Not too different from an Ox..." she muttered as she shifted around in the saddle.