Can it be fixed?

[conormccarthy]

Conor glanced over his shoulder as the draught horses took them down the road away from the obstruction. "He'll expect me to fix it, and I doubt I'll get supper tonight." He hefted the saddle, finding a better purchase on it. "Its the time he'll mourn." A broken wheel was easy to replace, but it would take the rest of the day for Conor to traipse back and forth between Nettlestone, back to Knighton to get the wheel and then come back to fix it to the wagon, and then get the wagon home again.

He might have to find someone else with a wagon to even get the wheel out here. It wasn't too heavy for the draft horses to carry, but it was far too cumbersome. Sighing, Conor shifted his weight and unconsciously moved Millie into a faster pace. Lillie moved off with a second's hesitation, matching pace with her sister. Remembering Hazel, he slowed. Their pace was smooth, but he should have warned her about the change in speed. "Ah, sorry. They were usable when I first got them, but they were trained badly. They had no idea how to work together. It took a while to get them right but as you see, they do everything together now." He patted Millie's neck with his spare hand, proud of the magnificent pair.

[hazel]

Hazel felt even worse when she realised how long it was going to take him to repair the damage. He could be out all night trying to get it road worthy again. "He'll mourn? I don't know what you mean by that." It was the one thing that confused her and stuck out the most about what he said. Would Arnod really mourn over a broken wagon wheel? Seemed a rather trivial thing to get emptional about, unless she was missing something and showing her ignorance by asking.

When the horses picked up their pace, although Hazel was surprised she coped well, tightening her legs to hold on beter. She was much happier when they slowed down again though, it meant she didn't have to worry about falling off the horse and making a fool of herself. "You must have so much patience. I can imagine training horses isn't an easy job." Considering how large they were. Getting a huge horse to do something it didn't want to, well Hazel wouldn't want to be around when it went on strike to say the least.

[conormccarthy]

Conor grasped for the words to explain. "To Arnold, every day is important. If a task needs to be done, then doing it a day late could lose business. Fixing the wagon wasn't expected, so because its an urgent task the rest of the jobs will get pushed back half a day. We're losing time by having to fix the wagon." Time was precious to the blacksmith, and the obsession with it had rubbed off a little on Conor.

"Training them isn't hard when you know what they want. You just have to assure them it was their idea to do what you want." He explained with a wry smile. "After that, its quite easy."

[hazel]

Hazel understood that, it was their own business and jobs had to get done on time for that to keep going. Still it seemed silly to get worked up over it. Accidents happened all the time, couldn't predict them so what was the point in getting angry over them? At least that was Hazel's opinion, but never having done a full days work in her life as yet, what would she know about such matters?

"But at some point the wagon would had to have been fixed right? So you're not really losing time so much as rearraging the jobs you ha for a different time." It was the runaway's attempt a putting a brighter spin on things, whether it worked or not she had no idea.

Smiling as she looked at the pair of horses, Hazel then looked at the path ahead, which she vaguely recognised, they shouldn't be too long now. "It's quite a skill though, I'm sure there aren't many people who'd be able to do such a job. Quite a few people wouldn't have the patience I imagine."

[conormccarthy]

Conor gave a shrug, which was quite hard when he was holding the saddle. "I should have replaced the wheels before they broke, it will take me much longer to do the same job now." His tone wasn't accusing, rather downhearted. He usually looked after his stables and its contents quite well. He should have paid more attention.

"I don't know about that. My mother taught me how to train horses, I think anybody could learn if they wanted. Its just another skill, practice makes perfect." He mumbled the last, keeping his eye on the road for any more surprise potholes. "Its just like riding. You just have to learn the right signals."

[hazel]

"Well maybe others could learn those skills, but how many would be so devoted to their job." Conor really was so modest about what he did. It must go with his quiet nature, the reasoning behind not wanting to big himself up. Hazel decided it was probably best to forget about the wagon for now, it seemed to be getting him done, even though it really wasn't his fault.

The day had been so lovely, sun shining and no sign of rain at all. It made her hum lightly as she rode to Nettlestone, it had been a long time since she had felt so peaceful and happy, without having to think of anything particular.

[conormccarthy]

Note: Thread done ^_^ Possibly continuing in "Wherefore is the Peasent Girl" thread over in Nettlestone!