Mindartis nods his head, "Thank you for your assistance."

After eating a lite meal, he will go down to the stables.

Still in thought, Elwin soon followed Mindartis toward the stables. Walking up at random to one of the grooms, he asked, "Well, can't say I know much about horses, so I guess I'll take whichever one you find fit to give. But, what can you tell me about him? Or her? Does he have a name?"

(( Elwin's really just looking to get a line or two about the horses personality and uniqueness... such as "this one's lively but smart" or "Xavier's a bit bigger than the others, but loyal to a fault." ))

"We ready to go then?"  Raven asks as she finishes her food and nods to the others.  "I would like to be there when Huark gets his broken cup back..."  She would go on to the stables as well, once the others were ready.

The groom nods at Elwin and brings out a large, solidly built blue roan with black mane and tail and white stockings on his back legs. "This is Oroman. He's getting a little old, but he's sensible, gentle and obedient--perfect for a beginner."

The guard stables have a wide variety of horses. Some of them are in stables with names over them, showing that they belong or are assigned to certain officers, soldiers or units, but there are plenty available. They are all strong, healthy and fit, if maybe not quite as magnificent as the fine horses you can see over in the king's stable.

Del is pretty small, so he wants not too tall a horse, and hopefully moderately calm. Del knows a little (as jack-of-all-trades) but he's not an expert

Elwin pet the creature as the groom handed him the reins. He couldn't help but smile even as inside he had to squash his concerns over riding. He'd seen plenty of horses, of course, but had never been on one. "No better time to learn than now," he chuckled to himself.

Remembering how he'd watched others mount, he approached the horse's right side, placing his own right foot into the stirrup. He hopped and threw his left leg over as he pulled himself up, landing squarely in the saddle, a bit surprised that he hadn't fallen over flat on his face. Taking a moment, he lightly tapped his heels against the horse and clicked his tongue, and actually took it out of the stalls.

Stopping the beast with a gentle tug on the reins, Elwin decided to test something out. He summoned his pact weapon into his hand, but this time, fashioned it into a glaive, with a large blade and accented with a huge blue gemstone. Swinging it to grip it with both hands, he gave a number of experimental strikes, swings and thrusts with it before dismissing it into an icy mist. Oroman had hardly flinched at all. He would actually be able to fight on the beast. Smiling broadly, Elwin picked his reins back up and resumed getting a feel for the animal while waiting on the others.

Quentin heads down with the others and happily takes whatever horse he is given. He doesn’t really mind any particular one, just happy they don’t have to walk to town or sit in a stuffy carriage.

Mindartis looks at the horses, looking for one who seemed to have a look in it's eye that made it seem like it was eager to get out and moving.

Raven looks over the horses and takes one that looks to be quick and nimble.

(Oroman looks kind of like this guy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/709910697/wild-horse-photography-wild-blue-roan )

At Del's request, the groom leads out a beautiful golden mare with a white stripe down her face. "This is Alcari. She's a sweetheart, but a bit frisky sometimes. Would you like to try her out?"

(Looks like this: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/73/34/ae7334af9dca68a791dbff6d01fa0296.jpg)

((Just making it clear, you guys are free to pull whatever you want your horse to be from the stable. You don't have to take what I assign you. ^^ Feel fee to name or describe your horse any way you like. ))

 ((Though, of course, if you want me to name and describe your horses, I don't mind. XD ))

Mindartis finally stops at one when her head bows out of the stall to try and get his attention. "Well, aren't you the eager one," he chuckles, petting her nose and checking to see if she was already named for another person. "Want to get out and see the world a bit?" Even though the horse can't answer, something in the look she gave him answered it for him. "Well then, Caizana," he says, "let's get going shall we?"

((Caizana: https://thehorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/paint-horse-running-in-field.jpg))

Quentin gets a simple black horse that has splashes of white on it seemingly random. A younger horse that is easily motivated by food but, to Quentin's dismay, also loves to get into dirt and he already see's himself cleaning this horse multiple times before riding it. His name is Rufus.

Del mounts Alcari, and takes a short trot to get used to her. When we all get mounted we can head off to Free City, Shall we start at the temple at Westoak, meet the rescues and get Cup back to Huark? After some tear-wiping, on to the bank and the police station. For the sugar distribution, a meeting with whatever guild - importers, grocers, traders? - that normally does wholesale sugar might be efficient.

After looking through the various stalls, Raven moves up to a mare a deep brown, nearly black in color.  The mare wickered softly at Raven's approach and took the apple from Raven's hand.  Raven ran her hands over the flanks and withers, nodding to herself. This one seemed like it would be fast and graceful as a dancer.

"That be Rose." The stable master informs Raven.  "Got a bit of a temper, but seems to have taken a liking to you...  She is fast as anything we have on this side of the stables anyway, some of the boys take her to the races often, and she has won her fair share."

Mindartis nods, "Yes, that does seem a good plan. Perhaps on the road you can tell me more of this Unnamed Goddess?"

"Excellent horses, all of them," says the groom. "You know your way, right? The highway goes straight from the castle to the Free City, so it's pretty hard to get lost." He laughs.

Mindartis nods, "It shouldn't be too difficult. Do you have kit for them so should we seek that out elsewhere?"

Del tells M what little he knows I can say more about Her worship than about Her. The Lady doesn't intervene much, perhaps not at all - we are never sure. That is why I say the vision was of Her but unknown whether is was from her. In centuries of the Abbey, we have no idea of Her Identity. There is a faction that believes discovering Her Name is Her purpose, and another that feels the need to preserve Her Mystery. I do not favor either and it seems not to matter - Her Mystery is at no risk and Her Identity has resisted anything but speculation. But faith in Her seems to work - clerics get spells, calls for intervention have the desired effects, if never a clear presence. Del fingers his reliquary Saint Selasi, one of the founders of the school, taught that we pay back Her Anonymous Favor with care for others, but she never claimed that was Her guidance. At the Abbey we teach and care for the needy, the preaching is more ethical than theological, the festivals are just fun. Brother Elwin probably got something from them, most of us poor slaters do.

When we are on the smooth highway and the riding is easy, Del will have Alcari follow the leaders, and practice with his new bow with some travelling fiddle tunes

MIndartis nods. "Last night, someone interrupted my trance," he explains to Del. "Grey mist, and a voice that seemed to know of me and my sister. It seemed, frustrated that I didn't know who she was. She's been, banned from somewhere. The Twilight lands, saying that she could reach out to me.  Eventually I saw a, figure. Pitch black, save for flames outlining them. When I came out of my trance my sword had been changed." Mindartis draws it from its shieth, it's blade now pitch black save for flames outlining the edge. "She wants me to find her name and say it out loud next time I meet my sister. Quentin says he might be able to help me get in contact with her. I need to see if she has seen the same thing. This might be the answer we were looking for."