Post by Rister Graas S6 on May 14, 2020 7:51:58 GMT -5
Rister was laughing at Gabriel’s exaggerated grimaces behind Morgana’s and Jared’s back, not feeling the least bit sorry for his brother’s plight – they had been the one to foolishly agree to go for a run with Morgana of all people – when the portkey deposited Damon and Pip in the castle courtyard. “Make sure Gabs doesn’t slack off,” he called after the trio, grinning wickedly at Gabriel’s not-so-polite gesture back, before turning to greet the new arrivals. He had considered just organising Pip a portkey, but then he was still young enough for that to not necessarily be the best idea. So instead Damon had picked the kid up from his home as he was coming by old-fashioned muggle-plane anyway in order to be able to hold a brief meeting with a potential business partner during the trip. Followed by Damon side-apparating Pip to the Italian Ministry of Magic from the airport and then it was just a short hop away with portkey. Which still was something of a trek for the kid, especially as Rister wasn’t sure he had travelled all that much via portkey previously, but at least it wasn’t an international portkey.
“Hi,” Rister greeted, exchanging a brief nod with Damon, who absently dropped a hand on Pip’s shoulder as he turned to make his way inside, before focusing on Pip. “Welcome to the Graas castle,” Rister said easily, stretching out his legs from where he was perched on the edge of the fountain. He might as well give the kid a moment to regain his sense of balance. “Those were some more of my siblings – Morgana, Jared and Gabriel,” Rister said with a wave towards the gates through which the trio had disappeared, “But you’ll get full introductions later at dinner. I figured that for today I’ll let you get settled in your room and give you a quick tour. Maybe get you up on a horse for a quick lesson if you want, but we’ll see what time allows. Marco – our stablemaster – and I will show you the ropes of what you’re expected to do tomorrow. Sounds fair? Unless you’ve changed your mind and would rather head back home instead?” Rister paused for a moment for Pip to speak his mind or to hold his peace until, well, until he left at the end of the summer. But seeing as the kid didn’t seem about to make a run for it, Rister simply nodded after a moment and stood up.
“Mirri!” Rister called out, a house-elf appearing a moment later with a deep bow. “Pip, this is Mirri. Mirri, Pip. She will be looking after your room – and to an extent you - for the duration of your stay, so if there’s anything you need, just call for her,” Rister explained with a vague wave between the pair while the house-elf bobbed another of its half-bow, half-curtseys to Pip. “May Mirri take Young Sir’s luggage, Sir?” the house-elf asked, reaching a hand to take Pip’s luggage. “Sure. Pip – do you want Mirri to unpack for you or would you rather do it yourself?” Rister agreed, gesturing for Pip to hand the bags over, and once Pip had made up his mind about unpacking, Mirri disappeared again with a quiet pop with Pip’s luggage in tow.
“Most of the day-to-day housework and cooking is done by the house-elves, but we do also have humans on the pay-roll. Mostly muggles from the village below. And Giovanni here keeps things running,” Rister introduced as he led the way into the castle, the butler – Giovanni - offering a polite bow to Pip and an even greeting: “At your service, Sir.” Rister merely nodded at the man who continued on at an even pace, likely to deposit the used portkey Damon and Pip had used to get here back to the Ministry. “We’ll start with your room,” Rister decided as he led the kid towards the staircase to take the kid up to the third floor where his room would be, close to the bedrooms for the family in deference to the kid’s age. “You’ll be staying here. Bathroom’s through the door there,” Rister said as he pushed open the door and stepped in, “Let me know if you have any problems. Anything else that comes up – just call Mirri. Saying her name out loud is enough.” Rister perched himself on the armrest of a seat to give Pip a chance to have a look around the room and to answer any immediate questions the kid might have. “If you want to owl a letter, you can leave it in the basket in the corner of the desk and the house-elves will send it the next morning. I’ll show you where the owls are if it’s more urgent than that, although if Dad is sending more letters that day there might not be any general owls available. We don’t have that many of them anyway, as mom, my siblings and I all have our own, who sometimes roost in the owlery as well. If you want to use our personal owls, just ask.” Rister paused to let Pip take a look around the L-shaped room – a small seating area, writing desk and bookshelves at the front, the door to the bathroom at the turn of the room and the bedroom part of the room at where the room turned.
“As said, I’ll introduce you to everyone at dinner, but if you are looking for any of us Damon’s rooms are next to you and Gabriel is across the hallway here,” Rister said once Pip was ready to head out for a quick tour, pointing out the doors, “Ashlyn is opposite Damon and Layla is between her and Gabriel – Layla and Ashlyn will be coming next week. You can use the main staircase to get around, but there’s a another one back here, which is sometimes quicker. Depends on where you’re heading. Jared and Lita – she’s coming in July – are on the next floor up. Jared’s door is the first on the right, Lita’s the first on the left when going up here,” Rister explained, even as he led the way one floor down from the spiral staircase in its nook. “Down here we have Morgana’s and Leandra’s rooms,” he added with a nod to the first door on either side of the hallway at the next floor down, “The suite on the left is empty, but if you need me for whatever reason, these are my rooms,” Rister explained, pushing open the door to the right to let Pip peer in. At least in the front reception room of his quarters. While the rooms for the family were large enough for each to comfortably fit a couch or armchairs and a small working area and some of his siblings used half-walls to section off their rooms – Damon having a half-office before a wide archway led into his bedroom proper – as the heir Rister had a suite of rooms consisting of an actual small sitting/living/reception room the hallway opened into it, with doors leading further in to a small private office and an ensuite bedroom.
Taking Pip down by a floor via the main staircase this time, Rister tapped a knuckle on another door, “This is Mum and Dad, should you need them.” Rather than opening that door, Rister simply led Pip forward, pointing out random markers they the kid might remember while learning to make his way around. “As we’re already going past here – this is the library,” Rister said, pausing to pull open the double-doors to the library to let Pip step in, “As long as you respect the books – no underlining or scribbles in books, no folding book corners backwards – feel free to read either here or in your room, when you have the time. The majority of the books are in Italian, which you’d be wise to pick up anyway and will partially need to as Marco doesn’t speak much English, and a lot is in French, but there’s plenty of English ones dotted around as well. If a book is locked up, you’re not supposed to be reading it. It’s largely organised by topics. Fiction is there, but the only ones who really understand the system are Mum and Leandra.” “I suspect you all just tend to be too lazy to find the books yourself,” Cleo interjected calmly from where she was sat in the cosy nook set on the wide bay window-sill, even as she tilted her head and held out her hand to Pip for a handshake, “Hello, Pip. It’s good to see you again. Has Rister offered you something to eat already – you have had something of a journey today after all.” “We’re on the way to the kitchens,” Rister pointed out, leading Cleo to shoo them out again.
“This is the dining room,” Rister pointed out next, after a quick stop in Kris’ office, “Main staircase is the quickest way here from your room. Breakfast is compulsory and will be available from 5:30 to 10. Lunch tends to be a lighter meal here, as days do get hot, but a spread is usually led out from 12:30 for an hour. Dinner is served from 6 to 8 at least, unless dinner is extended or something is happening to delay the start of dinner. But come on, I’ll show you where the kitchens are.” Rister led the way over to the kitchen, letting Pip peer into the rather busy kitchen. “The kitchens are always open. And if you want some food, speak now – otherwise you’ll need to wait until dinner in two and half hours.”
“Let’s go then,” Rister says with a nod to Pip as he turns to head out to the stables for the kids first day on the job. “You will have a list of tasks to accomplish – as long as those are done on time, how you spend the rest of the spare time is up to you.” And once the kid got accustomed to the tasks, he probably would be able to have a spare hour or two here and there. “Might be some alterations to the schedule on random days, in which case Marco will let you know. Or one of us. Dad is the ultimate authority whose orders override anyone else – followed by Mum and then me. Anyone else tells you to do something that would interfere with an order from one of us – you let them know and they can come to us. In the castle, Giovanni is another authority and in the stables you need to listen to Marco. You get paid weekly – on Monday for the week just passed. You also need to let me know whether you want to be paid in cash or whether you opened up a bank account and want me to deposit the payment there,” Rister continued evenly, “You are working Saturdays and Sundays. Marco has been granted leave on those two days during the summer while you’re here, you’re off on Mondays. You may choose what you want to do on Tuesday – if you want, you can have Tuesday’s off or you can work. Thursday is a half-day. Did I miss anything?” Rister glanced at Pip, patiently waiting for the kid to mull over the information and let him know his choices or any questions he had.
“Mmmm, let’s get you up on a horse then. It’ll serve as something of an introduction to some of your tasks in the coming weeks anyway,” Rister decided once any last details had been settled, leading the way to the paddock where the horses were grazing. Gesturing for Pip to wait, Rister stepped in, absently stroking the nose of his own mount as it trotted over to nose at his pockets in search for a treat, while considering the rest of the horses for a moment. Settling on a tall bay mare, Rister headed over to slip the bridle over the horse’s head with a soft murmur and clip on the reigns before leading the horse out of the paddock; his own stallion nudging at him one more time before trotting off with its tail held high.
“Bring the comb-box,” Rister instructed Pip with a gesture to what he meant, while loosely tying the mare to the fence. “Don’t rush – you don’t run around horses and don’t walk past too close behind. If you’re walking around one, make sure to keep a hand on the horse or talk to it, so it knows where you are. Horses are gentle animals who rarely set out to hurt unless they are panicked or abused, but at the end of the day they are half a ton of muscle and temper. Afford them the respect they deserve.”
“Now this pretty lady here is Arabella – say hello and let her smell you,” Rister instructed showing Pip how to hold his hands to stroke the mare’s nose so that the animal could get his scent, “Now, before and after you take a horse out he needs to be brushed down – and you’ll brush plenty of horses even without taking them out. If anyone of us is going out on our horses, we’ll likely do it ourselves, although if we’re in a hurry you might be asked to do it a couple of times. Now Arabella was out in the paddock yesterday and today, so we’ll give her a thorough brush now and then a lighter one later. You use different combs for the brush down – we start with the curry comb.” Rister picked out the correct comb from the box and held it out for Pip to see. “It’s somewhat coarser, so we only use it on the body to brush off any loose hairs and debris in a circular motion like this.” Showing Pip the motion on how to use the comb, Rister passed it over to Pip, patiently walking the kid through the notions. “Next up is the brush. We use this one on the body as well, but this goes in the same direction as hair. Make sure to also brush down the legs now,” Rister explained, having Pip go through the entire process again before handing him the next brush. “This one is for the head and face. It’s softer than the one you use on the body, but you still need to be gentle and careful, especially around the eyes,” Rister guided.
“Next up is hooves. This can be a bit trickier but it is vital this is done well,” Rister explained gesturing for Pip to put away the brushes even as he picked up the hoofpick himself. Sliding a hand down one of Arabella’s front legs, Rister picked up the hoof even as he nodded his head for Pip to pay attention. “When doing this, make sure to keep your hand firm on the leg and when lifting the leg make sure you’re holding the hoof not the leg – horses can be ticklish too. Now all of this bit here is hoof and hard – so don’t worry, you can’t hurt the horse with the hoofpick here,” Rister explained tapping at the hoof with the sharp end of the pick as an example, “This triangle bit in the back here is not hoof, so be careful here. What you need to do is scrape off all the mud and dirt and pebbles here or they will bother the horse and if left might even hurt and cause serious problems in the long run.” Rister demonstrated the movement and then lowered the hoof back on the ground to let Pip have a go. “Picking a hoof up takes practice,” he assured the kid while merely watching the kid struggling to pick the hoof up on his own even as the mare herself peered over her shoulder at the kid struggling with her foot, “The horse can tell how confidently you’re doing it and that confidence comes with practice. Also, don’t try to lean into the horse to try and make it lift its leg. You can’t. And if you do the horse will start leaning back and it will outweigh you without any trouble.”
Once the hoof is finally raised and cleaned to Rister’s satisfaction, he steps forward to show the process for the back leg. “The back leg bends the other way. So half-way down the leg, you need to slide your hand around to pick up the hoof with your hand the other way around,” Rister explains, showing the movement again before leaving Pip to try it. It is trickier of a move however so after a little while Rister steps forward again and placing his own hand over Pip, guides him through the motion and holds the hoof steady for the kid to clean. “And now you need to do the same for the other two hooves,” he says simply, nodding to the other side of the horse while leaning on the fence and absently petting Arabella’s nose – pausing to wave at Leandra who saunters by to put the bridle and reins on her own horse before hauling herself on its back and galloping away – while waiting for Pip to finish with the task. “Good. Now come and get the saddle,” Rister said with a nod, gesturing for Pip to follow him to the back of the stable where the gear was kept. “Some of the horses have their own saddle – in that case the saddle only goes on the horse. Other saddles can be on any horse that doesn’t have a dedicated saddle – which saddle you use depends on what you want to do,” he explained, pointing out the different pegs and signs with labels for individual saddles. “Now, while you will occasionally see us going out bareback like Leandra did before – you will use a saddle - when you’re on horseback. At least until I’m satisfied enough with your riding skills, in which case we can have this conversation again. The same goes for a helmet – you will wear one until I agree you don’t have to,” Rister lifted his hand and shook his head at Pip, “No arguments about it. All of us have been riding since we’re toddlers, so we have the experience. We also know the horses and the landscape. Plus this is Graas land, if anything happens to us Dad will know immediately. As said, I’ll be willing to discuss this once I’m satisfied with your riding skills, but until that time – you break the rule, you’re fired. No ifs, ands or buts.”
Turning to the wall of saddles, Rister considered the options available for a moment. “You need a riding blanket. Take this black one and, mmm, take this saddle,” he said, indicating his chosen options, even as he picked up a riding helmet for Pip as well as a lunge rope. The kid would need to learn how to haul around a saddle itself. The muscle necessary as well as the knowhow would come. “The blanket goes on first. It keeps the saddle from rubbing against the horse’s back. And then you need to toss the saddle over. It’s easier if you fold the stirrup on the far side over the back of the saddle, at least at first until the movement becomes second nature. If you can’t reach, bring the steps,” he instructed with the nod to the steps, “You could also move the horse to the steps, but you wouldn’t be able to tie her to anything then and you might not always have someone around to hold the horse’s head. And you need to know the horse very well to trust that it would stay still for you.” Once the saddle was on, Rister showed Pip how to tighten the straps and how to wait and check to make sure the horse hadn’t inhaled so deeply their belly was extended while the strap was being tightened, leading the unwary rider to fall the moment they would try to mount up. “I’ll adjust the stirrups for you this time once you’re mounted,” Rister said, passing the helmet to the kid, “And come around. You always mount and dismount a horse on the left. Plus it means you can use the steps. Here, one hand on the saddle-horn – if you were alone you’d also be holding the reins in that hand – the other at the back of the saddle and then you swing your right leg over the horse’s back.”
Once Pip was settled, Rister fixed the stirrups and, clipping on the lunge rope, lead the horse to the small fenced off practice area before putting the horse and the kid through their paces as he kept up a steady stream of instructions on Pip’s seat and how he should hold himself. A bit more walking, a trot, a couple of circles in a gallop, some more trotting and then Rister took the lunge rope off to let the kid practice stopping the horse and urging her to move as well as turning. “That’s enough for today. Bring her in,” Rister instructed after an hour, indicating that Pip should guide Arabella to him at the gate. After all, the kid wasn’t used to riding so there was no point in overwhelming the muscles. And dinner would be ready by the time he had finished brushing the horse down again. Taking hold of the bridle once Arabella was close enough, Rister gesture for Pip to get off. “Lift your right leg over the saddle and then drop down. Good,” he instructed, pulling the reigns over and handing them to Pip. “Take her out and wrap the reigns around the fence outside. Then you need to take the saddle and saddlecloth off and run them back to where they belong,” Rister instructed, opening the gate for the two and then strolling over to watch as Pip got through that task and then started on brushing Arabella down again. The kid managed to clean the front hooves on his own this time, Rister taking over after a while. “I’ll do it for today, especially as you need a shower before dinner. You’ll get plenty of practice tomorrow and the days after,” he brushed aside Pip’s protests, dropping the hoofpick back into the box. “Take the reins. We’ll take Arabella to the stable for the night and then back to the castle,” he instructed, dropping the box of brushes on its shelf next to the door of the stables before showing Pip where Arabella’s stall was, the name of each horse on a plate above the respective stall. “Come on,” Rister said once the horse was settled with food and water, “A quick shower – Dad’s a werewolf so he has a pretty sensitive nose – and then it’s time for dinner.” Rister walked Pip back to his door. “If you remember the way to the dining room, feel free to head over once you’re done. If not, you can come by and wait for me – my rooms are a floor down, second door on the right. You can step in as I won’t hear a knock if I’m in the shower.”
The next morning Rister lingered over his breakfast until Pip managed to find his way down, having a second cup of coffee and a mild debate with Leandra about the construction of Stonehenge, while Pip wolfed down his breakfast. “Lunch is from 12:30. There’ll be a spread laid out here at that time, although the kitchens are open all the time. Marco has his lunch in the kitchens I believe,” Rister mused – most young boys appreciated food and working in the fresh air would only serve to whet Pip’s appetite further – once Pip was finished, rising to take the kid back to the stable and to introduce him to Marco. He stayed for a couple of hours, helping the interaction – for while Marco knew the basics he was far from fluent in English – as Marco introduced Pip to the horses and the boy was shown the basics and set to work brushing some of the horses down before setting them out to the paddock, with the thrilling option of getting to start cleaning the stalls in the afternoon. Once the boy was clear on his tasks, leaving the two behind – Pip to brushing Arabella, while Marco sat down to repair a tear in one of the saddles while singing softly in Italian to head back in.
***
Pip settled in quickly and pretty easily. The work wasn’t necessarily easy – not for anyone who wasn’t used to the labour of hauling saddles or hay or horse dung – but it wasn’t back-breaking either. Especially with the help of a good bed and plenty of food to fortify the kid. And what kid didn’t like working with horses? Especially as he had managed to weasel out more riding lessons from Rister and continued to practice whenever he had a spare moment under Marco’s eye. And the conversation shifting largely to English for Pip’s benefit – for all that some Italian was slipped in, when he could guess at the meaning from the rest of the conversation – he settled in easily enough with the family as well as he joined in in boardgames, chases or whatever entertainment did happen at different evenings - or playing tourist in Rome with Rister with Morgana on one of his days off, when Morgana had wanted to go to Rome and Rister had asked if Pip wanted to come along-, soon enough feeling free enough to reveal a snarkier sense of humour than Rister would have expected. But for all the good and fun, Pip was still a kid away from home on his own for the first time. So Rister had quietly told Mirri to keep an eye on the kid should he become too homesick. So when Mirri appeared at his bedside to advise him that Young Sir appeared to be suffering from some distress late one evening it didn’t really come as a surprise. If anything, how long it had taken was probably more of a surprise. “Go by in a minute or two to see if you can help and tell Pip I’m in the kitchen, should he want something,” Rister said after a moment, shoving his blanket aside to roll out of bed. Pulling on the same trousers he had been wearing during the day and a shirt he headed off to the kitchen.
Familiar with the kitchen, Rister was finished with the batter and about to start ladling the first bit of batter onto the pan when a sound caused him to glance over his shoulder to see Pip padding into the kitchen. “Evening, Pip. Couldn’t sleep?” Rister greeted easily, before turning back to the oven. “Want a pancake?” he added over his shoulder, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about the kid’s appearance in the kitchen, “I’m making ham and cheese ones for myself. If you want something else, you’ll need to let me know now.” Hopefully some company and the pancakes would help put the kid at ease. Especially as the late-ish hour meant that there wasn’t the usual throng of people about – marvellously distracting as his family could be during daytime-, although Dad joined them at one point, picking up a fork on the way before seating himself next to Pip for a helping of pancakes. Whether it all helped to soothe the kid’s homesickness or not, the warm food, easy company and late hour did convince his eyes to close soon enough. Keeping up a quiet conversation with Dad, Rister packed up the food again before rounding the corner to get Pip back to bed as well. Only to be intercepted by Kris hoisting the kid up instead. “He’s not that light,” Kris murmured – a statement that probably would have been accompanied by a shrug had the kids head not been resting against one of his shoulders – as the two turned to head towards the bedrooms. Or rather Rister’s bedroom Rister realised, raising an eye-brow to Dad. “The kid’s homesick, what did you expect?” came the murmured response in Italian. Rister merely groaned, especially as he caught sight of his siblings, all of their in their own nightclothes and yawning, making their way towards them as well, all of which just meant that Dad had called them. Giving in to the inevitable – there was no arguing with Dad on the best of days and he was tired himself – Rister merely sighed and pulled the door to his rooms open for everyone to troop through.
Which also meant that when Pip woke the next morning he was buried deep in a pile of Graas. Wedged in between Rister and Jared to be exact, with Gabriel for whatever reason having chosen to lie vertically over everyone’s legs. An indignant question of why he was here, merely earned a sign from Rister. “That’s what I’d like to know. Why are you all here? Out, all you blanket-hoggers and Leandra, how can your feet still be cold. You’ve been freezing my leg with them for the better part of the night already.” All that did to earn him was Leandra’s protest “but you’re warm and my feet are cold!” as no one as much as stirred. “Someone’s knee is bothering me though,” Gabriel added after a moment, “Ow. No, not that knee – although now that is bothering me as well.” And with that little grumbling the group drifted back to sleep again, Rister allowing himself one small secretive smile where his face was half-hidden in Leandra’s hair when he felt Pip inch just a bit closer after a few more moments.
“Hi,” Rister greeted, exchanging a brief nod with Damon, who absently dropped a hand on Pip’s shoulder as he turned to make his way inside, before focusing on Pip. “Welcome to the Graas castle,” Rister said easily, stretching out his legs from where he was perched on the edge of the fountain. He might as well give the kid a moment to regain his sense of balance. “Those were some more of my siblings – Morgana, Jared and Gabriel,” Rister said with a wave towards the gates through which the trio had disappeared, “But you’ll get full introductions later at dinner. I figured that for today I’ll let you get settled in your room and give you a quick tour. Maybe get you up on a horse for a quick lesson if you want, but we’ll see what time allows. Marco – our stablemaster – and I will show you the ropes of what you’re expected to do tomorrow. Sounds fair? Unless you’ve changed your mind and would rather head back home instead?” Rister paused for a moment for Pip to speak his mind or to hold his peace until, well, until he left at the end of the summer. But seeing as the kid didn’t seem about to make a run for it, Rister simply nodded after a moment and stood up.
“Mirri!” Rister called out, a house-elf appearing a moment later with a deep bow. “Pip, this is Mirri. Mirri, Pip. She will be looking after your room – and to an extent you - for the duration of your stay, so if there’s anything you need, just call for her,” Rister explained with a vague wave between the pair while the house-elf bobbed another of its half-bow, half-curtseys to Pip. “May Mirri take Young Sir’s luggage, Sir?” the house-elf asked, reaching a hand to take Pip’s luggage. “Sure. Pip – do you want Mirri to unpack for you or would you rather do it yourself?” Rister agreed, gesturing for Pip to hand the bags over, and once Pip had made up his mind about unpacking, Mirri disappeared again with a quiet pop with Pip’s luggage in tow.
“Most of the day-to-day housework and cooking is done by the house-elves, but we do also have humans on the pay-roll. Mostly muggles from the village below. And Giovanni here keeps things running,” Rister introduced as he led the way into the castle, the butler – Giovanni - offering a polite bow to Pip and an even greeting: “At your service, Sir.” Rister merely nodded at the man who continued on at an even pace, likely to deposit the used portkey Damon and Pip had used to get here back to the Ministry. “We’ll start with your room,” Rister decided as he led the kid towards the staircase to take the kid up to the third floor where his room would be, close to the bedrooms for the family in deference to the kid’s age. “You’ll be staying here. Bathroom’s through the door there,” Rister said as he pushed open the door and stepped in, “Let me know if you have any problems. Anything else that comes up – just call Mirri. Saying her name out loud is enough.” Rister perched himself on the armrest of a seat to give Pip a chance to have a look around the room and to answer any immediate questions the kid might have. “If you want to owl a letter, you can leave it in the basket in the corner of the desk and the house-elves will send it the next morning. I’ll show you where the owls are if it’s more urgent than that, although if Dad is sending more letters that day there might not be any general owls available. We don’t have that many of them anyway, as mom, my siblings and I all have our own, who sometimes roost in the owlery as well. If you want to use our personal owls, just ask.” Rister paused to let Pip take a look around the L-shaped room – a small seating area, writing desk and bookshelves at the front, the door to the bathroom at the turn of the room and the bedroom part of the room at where the room turned.
“As said, I’ll introduce you to everyone at dinner, but if you are looking for any of us Damon’s rooms are next to you and Gabriel is across the hallway here,” Rister said once Pip was ready to head out for a quick tour, pointing out the doors, “Ashlyn is opposite Damon and Layla is between her and Gabriel – Layla and Ashlyn will be coming next week. You can use the main staircase to get around, but there’s a another one back here, which is sometimes quicker. Depends on where you’re heading. Jared and Lita – she’s coming in July – are on the next floor up. Jared’s door is the first on the right, Lita’s the first on the left when going up here,” Rister explained, even as he led the way one floor down from the spiral staircase in its nook. “Down here we have Morgana’s and Leandra’s rooms,” he added with a nod to the first door on either side of the hallway at the next floor down, “The suite on the left is empty, but if you need me for whatever reason, these are my rooms,” Rister explained, pushing open the door to the right to let Pip peer in. At least in the front reception room of his quarters. While the rooms for the family were large enough for each to comfortably fit a couch or armchairs and a small working area and some of his siblings used half-walls to section off their rooms – Damon having a half-office before a wide archway led into his bedroom proper – as the heir Rister had a suite of rooms consisting of an actual small sitting/living/reception room the hallway opened into it, with doors leading further in to a small private office and an ensuite bedroom.
Taking Pip down by a floor via the main staircase this time, Rister tapped a knuckle on another door, “This is Mum and Dad, should you need them.” Rather than opening that door, Rister simply led Pip forward, pointing out random markers they the kid might remember while learning to make his way around. “As we’re already going past here – this is the library,” Rister said, pausing to pull open the double-doors to the library to let Pip step in, “As long as you respect the books – no underlining or scribbles in books, no folding book corners backwards – feel free to read either here or in your room, when you have the time. The majority of the books are in Italian, which you’d be wise to pick up anyway and will partially need to as Marco doesn’t speak much English, and a lot is in French, but there’s plenty of English ones dotted around as well. If a book is locked up, you’re not supposed to be reading it. It’s largely organised by topics. Fiction is there, but the only ones who really understand the system are Mum and Leandra.” “I suspect you all just tend to be too lazy to find the books yourself,” Cleo interjected calmly from where she was sat in the cosy nook set on the wide bay window-sill, even as she tilted her head and held out her hand to Pip for a handshake, “Hello, Pip. It’s good to see you again. Has Rister offered you something to eat already – you have had something of a journey today after all.” “We’re on the way to the kitchens,” Rister pointed out, leading Cleo to shoo them out again.
“This is the dining room,” Rister pointed out next, after a quick stop in Kris’ office, “Main staircase is the quickest way here from your room. Breakfast is compulsory and will be available from 5:30 to 10. Lunch tends to be a lighter meal here, as days do get hot, but a spread is usually led out from 12:30 for an hour. Dinner is served from 6 to 8 at least, unless dinner is extended or something is happening to delay the start of dinner. But come on, I’ll show you where the kitchens are.” Rister led the way over to the kitchen, letting Pip peer into the rather busy kitchen. “The kitchens are always open. And if you want some food, speak now – otherwise you’ll need to wait until dinner in two and half hours.”
“Let’s go then,” Rister says with a nod to Pip as he turns to head out to the stables for the kids first day on the job. “You will have a list of tasks to accomplish – as long as those are done on time, how you spend the rest of the spare time is up to you.” And once the kid got accustomed to the tasks, he probably would be able to have a spare hour or two here and there. “Might be some alterations to the schedule on random days, in which case Marco will let you know. Or one of us. Dad is the ultimate authority whose orders override anyone else – followed by Mum and then me. Anyone else tells you to do something that would interfere with an order from one of us – you let them know and they can come to us. In the castle, Giovanni is another authority and in the stables you need to listen to Marco. You get paid weekly – on Monday for the week just passed. You also need to let me know whether you want to be paid in cash or whether you opened up a bank account and want me to deposit the payment there,” Rister continued evenly, “You are working Saturdays and Sundays. Marco has been granted leave on those two days during the summer while you’re here, you’re off on Mondays. You may choose what you want to do on Tuesday – if you want, you can have Tuesday’s off or you can work. Thursday is a half-day. Did I miss anything?” Rister glanced at Pip, patiently waiting for the kid to mull over the information and let him know his choices or any questions he had.
“Mmmm, let’s get you up on a horse then. It’ll serve as something of an introduction to some of your tasks in the coming weeks anyway,” Rister decided once any last details had been settled, leading the way to the paddock where the horses were grazing. Gesturing for Pip to wait, Rister stepped in, absently stroking the nose of his own mount as it trotted over to nose at his pockets in search for a treat, while considering the rest of the horses for a moment. Settling on a tall bay mare, Rister headed over to slip the bridle over the horse’s head with a soft murmur and clip on the reigns before leading the horse out of the paddock; his own stallion nudging at him one more time before trotting off with its tail held high.
“Bring the comb-box,” Rister instructed Pip with a gesture to what he meant, while loosely tying the mare to the fence. “Don’t rush – you don’t run around horses and don’t walk past too close behind. If you’re walking around one, make sure to keep a hand on the horse or talk to it, so it knows where you are. Horses are gentle animals who rarely set out to hurt unless they are panicked or abused, but at the end of the day they are half a ton of muscle and temper. Afford them the respect they deserve.”
“Now this pretty lady here is Arabella – say hello and let her smell you,” Rister instructed showing Pip how to hold his hands to stroke the mare’s nose so that the animal could get his scent, “Now, before and after you take a horse out he needs to be brushed down – and you’ll brush plenty of horses even without taking them out. If anyone of us is going out on our horses, we’ll likely do it ourselves, although if we’re in a hurry you might be asked to do it a couple of times. Now Arabella was out in the paddock yesterday and today, so we’ll give her a thorough brush now and then a lighter one later. You use different combs for the brush down – we start with the curry comb.” Rister picked out the correct comb from the box and held it out for Pip to see. “It’s somewhat coarser, so we only use it on the body to brush off any loose hairs and debris in a circular motion like this.” Showing Pip the motion on how to use the comb, Rister passed it over to Pip, patiently walking the kid through the notions. “Next up is the brush. We use this one on the body as well, but this goes in the same direction as hair. Make sure to also brush down the legs now,” Rister explained, having Pip go through the entire process again before handing him the next brush. “This one is for the head and face. It’s softer than the one you use on the body, but you still need to be gentle and careful, especially around the eyes,” Rister guided.
“Next up is hooves. This can be a bit trickier but it is vital this is done well,” Rister explained gesturing for Pip to put away the brushes even as he picked up the hoofpick himself. Sliding a hand down one of Arabella’s front legs, Rister picked up the hoof even as he nodded his head for Pip to pay attention. “When doing this, make sure to keep your hand firm on the leg and when lifting the leg make sure you’re holding the hoof not the leg – horses can be ticklish too. Now all of this bit here is hoof and hard – so don’t worry, you can’t hurt the horse with the hoofpick here,” Rister explained tapping at the hoof with the sharp end of the pick as an example, “This triangle bit in the back here is not hoof, so be careful here. What you need to do is scrape off all the mud and dirt and pebbles here or they will bother the horse and if left might even hurt and cause serious problems in the long run.” Rister demonstrated the movement and then lowered the hoof back on the ground to let Pip have a go. “Picking a hoof up takes practice,” he assured the kid while merely watching the kid struggling to pick the hoof up on his own even as the mare herself peered over her shoulder at the kid struggling with her foot, “The horse can tell how confidently you’re doing it and that confidence comes with practice. Also, don’t try to lean into the horse to try and make it lift its leg. You can’t. And if you do the horse will start leaning back and it will outweigh you without any trouble.”
Once the hoof is finally raised and cleaned to Rister’s satisfaction, he steps forward to show the process for the back leg. “The back leg bends the other way. So half-way down the leg, you need to slide your hand around to pick up the hoof with your hand the other way around,” Rister explains, showing the movement again before leaving Pip to try it. It is trickier of a move however so after a little while Rister steps forward again and placing his own hand over Pip, guides him through the motion and holds the hoof steady for the kid to clean. “And now you need to do the same for the other two hooves,” he says simply, nodding to the other side of the horse while leaning on the fence and absently petting Arabella’s nose – pausing to wave at Leandra who saunters by to put the bridle and reins on her own horse before hauling herself on its back and galloping away – while waiting for Pip to finish with the task. “Good. Now come and get the saddle,” Rister said with a nod, gesturing for Pip to follow him to the back of the stable where the gear was kept. “Some of the horses have their own saddle – in that case the saddle only goes on the horse. Other saddles can be on any horse that doesn’t have a dedicated saddle – which saddle you use depends on what you want to do,” he explained, pointing out the different pegs and signs with labels for individual saddles. “Now, while you will occasionally see us going out bareback like Leandra did before – you will use a saddle - when you’re on horseback. At least until I’m satisfied enough with your riding skills, in which case we can have this conversation again. The same goes for a helmet – you will wear one until I agree you don’t have to,” Rister lifted his hand and shook his head at Pip, “No arguments about it. All of us have been riding since we’re toddlers, so we have the experience. We also know the horses and the landscape. Plus this is Graas land, if anything happens to us Dad will know immediately. As said, I’ll be willing to discuss this once I’m satisfied with your riding skills, but until that time – you break the rule, you’re fired. No ifs, ands or buts.”
Turning to the wall of saddles, Rister considered the options available for a moment. “You need a riding blanket. Take this black one and, mmm, take this saddle,” he said, indicating his chosen options, even as he picked up a riding helmet for Pip as well as a lunge rope. The kid would need to learn how to haul around a saddle itself. The muscle necessary as well as the knowhow would come. “The blanket goes on first. It keeps the saddle from rubbing against the horse’s back. And then you need to toss the saddle over. It’s easier if you fold the stirrup on the far side over the back of the saddle, at least at first until the movement becomes second nature. If you can’t reach, bring the steps,” he instructed with the nod to the steps, “You could also move the horse to the steps, but you wouldn’t be able to tie her to anything then and you might not always have someone around to hold the horse’s head. And you need to know the horse very well to trust that it would stay still for you.” Once the saddle was on, Rister showed Pip how to tighten the straps and how to wait and check to make sure the horse hadn’t inhaled so deeply their belly was extended while the strap was being tightened, leading the unwary rider to fall the moment they would try to mount up. “I’ll adjust the stirrups for you this time once you’re mounted,” Rister said, passing the helmet to the kid, “And come around. You always mount and dismount a horse on the left. Plus it means you can use the steps. Here, one hand on the saddle-horn – if you were alone you’d also be holding the reins in that hand – the other at the back of the saddle and then you swing your right leg over the horse’s back.”
Once Pip was settled, Rister fixed the stirrups and, clipping on the lunge rope, lead the horse to the small fenced off practice area before putting the horse and the kid through their paces as he kept up a steady stream of instructions on Pip’s seat and how he should hold himself. A bit more walking, a trot, a couple of circles in a gallop, some more trotting and then Rister took the lunge rope off to let the kid practice stopping the horse and urging her to move as well as turning. “That’s enough for today. Bring her in,” Rister instructed after an hour, indicating that Pip should guide Arabella to him at the gate. After all, the kid wasn’t used to riding so there was no point in overwhelming the muscles. And dinner would be ready by the time he had finished brushing the horse down again. Taking hold of the bridle once Arabella was close enough, Rister gesture for Pip to get off. “Lift your right leg over the saddle and then drop down. Good,” he instructed, pulling the reigns over and handing them to Pip. “Take her out and wrap the reigns around the fence outside. Then you need to take the saddle and saddlecloth off and run them back to where they belong,” Rister instructed, opening the gate for the two and then strolling over to watch as Pip got through that task and then started on brushing Arabella down again. The kid managed to clean the front hooves on his own this time, Rister taking over after a while. “I’ll do it for today, especially as you need a shower before dinner. You’ll get plenty of practice tomorrow and the days after,” he brushed aside Pip’s protests, dropping the hoofpick back into the box. “Take the reins. We’ll take Arabella to the stable for the night and then back to the castle,” he instructed, dropping the box of brushes on its shelf next to the door of the stables before showing Pip where Arabella’s stall was, the name of each horse on a plate above the respective stall. “Come on,” Rister said once the horse was settled with food and water, “A quick shower – Dad’s a werewolf so he has a pretty sensitive nose – and then it’s time for dinner.” Rister walked Pip back to his door. “If you remember the way to the dining room, feel free to head over once you’re done. If not, you can come by and wait for me – my rooms are a floor down, second door on the right. You can step in as I won’t hear a knock if I’m in the shower.”
The next morning Rister lingered over his breakfast until Pip managed to find his way down, having a second cup of coffee and a mild debate with Leandra about the construction of Stonehenge, while Pip wolfed down his breakfast. “Lunch is from 12:30. There’ll be a spread laid out here at that time, although the kitchens are open all the time. Marco has his lunch in the kitchens I believe,” Rister mused – most young boys appreciated food and working in the fresh air would only serve to whet Pip’s appetite further – once Pip was finished, rising to take the kid back to the stable and to introduce him to Marco. He stayed for a couple of hours, helping the interaction – for while Marco knew the basics he was far from fluent in English – as Marco introduced Pip to the horses and the boy was shown the basics and set to work brushing some of the horses down before setting them out to the paddock, with the thrilling option of getting to start cleaning the stalls in the afternoon. Once the boy was clear on his tasks, leaving the two behind – Pip to brushing Arabella, while Marco sat down to repair a tear in one of the saddles while singing softly in Italian to head back in.
***
Pip settled in quickly and pretty easily. The work wasn’t necessarily easy – not for anyone who wasn’t used to the labour of hauling saddles or hay or horse dung – but it wasn’t back-breaking either. Especially with the help of a good bed and plenty of food to fortify the kid. And what kid didn’t like working with horses? Especially as he had managed to weasel out more riding lessons from Rister and continued to practice whenever he had a spare moment under Marco’s eye. And the conversation shifting largely to English for Pip’s benefit – for all that some Italian was slipped in, when he could guess at the meaning from the rest of the conversation – he settled in easily enough with the family as well as he joined in in boardgames, chases or whatever entertainment did happen at different evenings - or playing tourist in Rome with Rister with Morgana on one of his days off, when Morgana had wanted to go to Rome and Rister had asked if Pip wanted to come along-, soon enough feeling free enough to reveal a snarkier sense of humour than Rister would have expected. But for all the good and fun, Pip was still a kid away from home on his own for the first time. So Rister had quietly told Mirri to keep an eye on the kid should he become too homesick. So when Mirri appeared at his bedside to advise him that Young Sir appeared to be suffering from some distress late one evening it didn’t really come as a surprise. If anything, how long it had taken was probably more of a surprise. “Go by in a minute or two to see if you can help and tell Pip I’m in the kitchen, should he want something,” Rister said after a moment, shoving his blanket aside to roll out of bed. Pulling on the same trousers he had been wearing during the day and a shirt he headed off to the kitchen.
Familiar with the kitchen, Rister was finished with the batter and about to start ladling the first bit of batter onto the pan when a sound caused him to glance over his shoulder to see Pip padding into the kitchen. “Evening, Pip. Couldn’t sleep?” Rister greeted easily, before turning back to the oven. “Want a pancake?” he added over his shoulder, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about the kid’s appearance in the kitchen, “I’m making ham and cheese ones for myself. If you want something else, you’ll need to let me know now.” Hopefully some company and the pancakes would help put the kid at ease. Especially as the late-ish hour meant that there wasn’t the usual throng of people about – marvellously distracting as his family could be during daytime-, although Dad joined them at one point, picking up a fork on the way before seating himself next to Pip for a helping of pancakes. Whether it all helped to soothe the kid’s homesickness or not, the warm food, easy company and late hour did convince his eyes to close soon enough. Keeping up a quiet conversation with Dad, Rister packed up the food again before rounding the corner to get Pip back to bed as well. Only to be intercepted by Kris hoisting the kid up instead. “He’s not that light,” Kris murmured – a statement that probably would have been accompanied by a shrug had the kids head not been resting against one of his shoulders – as the two turned to head towards the bedrooms. Or rather Rister’s bedroom Rister realised, raising an eye-brow to Dad. “The kid’s homesick, what did you expect?” came the murmured response in Italian. Rister merely groaned, especially as he caught sight of his siblings, all of their in their own nightclothes and yawning, making their way towards them as well, all of which just meant that Dad had called them. Giving in to the inevitable – there was no arguing with Dad on the best of days and he was tired himself – Rister merely sighed and pulled the door to his rooms open for everyone to troop through.
Which also meant that when Pip woke the next morning he was buried deep in a pile of Graas. Wedged in between Rister and Jared to be exact, with Gabriel for whatever reason having chosen to lie vertically over everyone’s legs. An indignant question of why he was here, merely earned a sign from Rister. “That’s what I’d like to know. Why are you all here? Out, all you blanket-hoggers and Leandra, how can your feet still be cold. You’ve been freezing my leg with them for the better part of the night already.” All that did to earn him was Leandra’s protest “but you’re warm and my feet are cold!” as no one as much as stirred. “Someone’s knee is bothering me though,” Gabriel added after a moment, “Ow. No, not that knee – although now that is bothering me as well.” And with that little grumbling the group drifted back to sleep again, Rister allowing himself one small secretive smile where his face was half-hidden in Leandra’s hair when he felt Pip inch just a bit closer after a few more moments.