amara and manuel: another lesson

[x-volcanic.livejournal.com]

Monday morning, Amara and Manuel talk after their horse-riding lesson. They discuss Valentia, Lil, the lessons and Amara's inability to feel the cold and it seems to be going well, until Manuel makes yet another of his weird comments he won't explain.

"That was well done, " Manuel praised Amara as he took the reins from her. "Perhaps next time, you can make an attempt at flying changes. You seem prepared enough for it, although I am not entirely convinced she is comfortable with your seat as you tend to collapse when you slow her down into a walk. Straighten when you ask for a walk and hold it. Posture is everything concerning a horse and how well they perform."

"Thank you" Amara said in reply to the praise, a small glow of pride igniting. Amara usually brushed off any sort of compliment - comments on her appearance were met with embarrassment, and compliments on her cooking met with pleasure that they enjoyed what she had made. But horse riding was something that required her hard work, and she was pleased that it was paying off. She listened carefully to the comments that followed, nodding at the instructions.

"Collapsing is the... relaxing yes?" She clarified, her posture automatically straightening further, despite her not needing to. Amara was still getting used to how much her body language communicated to the horse.

"In essence, yes. You ask her to walk and on slowing down, you relax and slouch. It forces the horse to collapse beneath you but if you maintain your seat and posture, you will not have as much trouble collecting her up again when you ask her for a trot or an immediate canter from a walk, which you are not ready for."

Manuel lead the horse towards the barn from the arena and opened the door, leading the horse through. Immediately the warmth touched his body and he reveled in it. The arena was cold and he had not been dressing in accordance to the weather, though that was going to change next week.

The mare was put on cross ties in the middle of the hall and he fetched the halter, gesturing that Amara should undo the girth and remove the saddle. "She is probably hungry," as their lesson had went well into the horse's feeding time.

Amara nodded a couple of times in response to his instructions, the thoughtful expression remaining on her face. It is something she would need to remember for next time, and she was determined not to forget it.

"Maintain my seat and posture, okay," she murmured underneath her breath, before responding to the gesture and starting the process that would allow her to take of the saddle. It was something she was getting to be quite practiced at, given that she had not only been learning how to ride the horse, but also to take care of her.

"She deserves a good meal," Amara said with a smile, hefting the saddle off the horse with a slight moment of overbalancing, but one she corrected easily enough. "She was very patient with me."

He picked up a brush, waiting for Amara to take the saddle back to the warm tac room that overlooked the arena before offering the brush to her. It was vitally important for her to learn the basics before he would help her groom so speed things up. He checked his watch. "Valentia will be finishing up her ASL lessons soon. We should hurry up."

"Yes sir," she said with a tart note in her voice and a slight smile on her face. She took the brush from him, moving to brush the horse down like he'd shown her before. "How are her classes going?" She moved quickly through the brush down, trying to be as thorough as possible despite the hurry.

"As well as they could be, I suppose. She does not progress like the other kids which is why I have her with a tutor as well." Manuel paused, stopping her strokes with his hand over hers and reshowing her the shorter flicks with the brush that got more of the arena dirt off than the longer strokes. Then he let her resume. "However, I do think I am pushing her too much perhaps. Trying to have her catch up where the other kids are in writing the ABCs, her name and being able to say the alphabet. They do the rest, although it does not seem enough. I cannot rush her progress."

Amara froze for a split second when his hand touched hers, not expecting the contact. She blinked, shaking it off and paid attention to what he was showing her, as well as what he had to say.

"I think she will work it out for herself, in the end," Amara replied after a moment of thought. "She experiences the world in such a different manner than anyone else her age, you cannot expect her to progress in the same manner as them." She paused, shrugging and returning to the last of the brushing. "But, she is your sister. It is not my place to tell you how she is, or how to raise her."

"Advice helps, when it is helpful," Manuel replied and picked up a face cloth and he took careful care to go over the horses face in a light sweep. The horse's eyes fluttered closed and for the moment, Manuel was wrapped up in the soothing emotions of an animal that was comfortable with her surroundings. A vague smile of enjoyment settled over the silence that came from him until he was pulled out of his trance from the brush being put away.

"I believe she is ready and eager to go back into her stall."

"Well, I hope I was helpful. Valentia is an intelligent young girl, I have little doubt that she will work it out." She smiled a little, before taking Manuel's hint and leading the horse back into her stall. She ran a friendly hand over the horse one last time before she exited the stall and made sure it was securely locked before turning once more to Manuel.

"Thank you for the lesson, senhor."

"It should be I who is thanking you. These lessons are good for the mare. Sometimes a lighter hand is needed and your hands are quiet on her mouth. I have a stern hand, although I do not grind on the bit, Valentia does that well enough for both of us on Sundays. I would suggest that you wear warmer clothing as I would like you to ride in the outdoor arena when it is not icey."

"I think they're good for all of us," Amara said with a little bit of a smile, before looking a little confused about the comment about warmer clothing. "I don't have much when it comes to warmer clothes," she replied, confusion evident in her voice. "Unless it is raining or snowing, I don't feel the cold at all."

Manuel was surprised by this. "Not even when it snows?" he asked, a bit more interested as they closed the stall door and headed down the hallway, pausing only long enough to close the tack box.

"Yes and no," she said with a little bit of a shrug. "When it hits my skin, I can feel that it is cold, though most often it melts when it does. It can be a little uncomfortable, but it does not change the temperature of my body." She smiled a little, drawing off a glove she'd worn for riding and extending the hand out towards him. Even without touching it, he would be able to feel the warmth radiating from her. "Lil used to joke about us being the suite of hot blondes."

"I am sure of that of her companion but not of Lillian herself. She was always a crude animal," he said and released her hand to open the door without a pause. He waited for her to exit before he closed the door behind them. "I would ask why you saw her fit to be in your company yet I could not possibly answer that question if I posed it to myself."

"She ran almost as hot as I did," Amara said blithely, not noticing (or perhaps ignoring?) the comment about her appearance. "Lil perhaps did have her faults, but she was a good friend to me and taught me valuable lessons about not being uptight and boring quite so often." The last comment was softened with a smile - Amara did not think she was quite so boring as all that, but she would be the first to admit that she was a lot more confident about actually letting herself have fun these days.

"Lillian was very uptight. She still is. I am not quite sure how we got along or managed to stay in the room together. I seemed to frustrate her a lot and she to me."The contrasts were startling when he looked at them more closely, although they had always tried to get along. "I believe you and I have more in common that she and I do."

"Perhaps, but her version of uptight and mine are quite different. She lived her life with a great deal of freedom, which I am not used to." Amara had, perhaps, a rather idealised view of her former roommate. "You and I?" Amara sounded quite surprised at that. "What on earth makes you think that?"

"I am not sure. Just a thought," he said dismissively, not providing an answer but not being rude about it. "I must go or I will be late. I apologize however, you will have to walk yourself back to the mansion. I am sure you can manage that, yes?" he asked, although he checked his watch again, for once, evaiding a question that would not do him right to answer.

"I am perfectly capable of walking by myself," she said indignantly, momentarily distracted from his odd comment by her annoyance at the question from him. "And you really need to stop making comments that you will not explain." And here she thought they had actually been starting to get along.

"Good day Amara. See that you arrive safely," he added, departing immediately for the sake of being on time. Funny, checking his watch, it was clear that he'd be fifteen minutes early.