One Shots!

Luriel's First Time Riding A Horse

"First you must put your left foot here," Elrond instructed, pouring to the metal triangle hanging by the horse's side. Luriel listened closely. She was dressed in a traveling tunic, her white hair braided down her back. They were out in a spacious field. It had just rained so the ground was soft with mud, but that did not bother them.

"So I simply do this?" she asked as she reached up and grabbed the saddle, placing her left foot where she was instructed. She hoisted herself up onto the horse, but misjudged it slightly and found herself falling on the other side. She quickly recovered and stood back, turning to face a chuckling Elrond.

"I thought you said you had some experience with riding?" he asked.

"That was different, I rode an elk bareback, and that was based on trust not necessarily skill," she retorted, embarrassment giving her voice an edge.

Elrond noticed and immediately stopped chuckling. This time, she successfully mounted the horse and sat. She grabbed the reins, then looked at Elrond expectantly.

"Let us start slow, give the horses side a gentle nudge with your heel." he instructed taking a step back.

She did just that. The horse slowly walked forward, she turned back to Elrond, "This is a lot like the elk, but how to you get the horse to turn?" she asked.

"How did you do it with the elk?" he asked.

"Well I communicated with its mind," she said.

"That may work with an elk, but a horse is a little more stubborn, you must pull the reins the direction you want it to go."

She pulled the reins right and the horse went right. She smiled a little, "This is not to difficult," she muttered to herself.

"If you wish to go faster either nudge it's side or even flick the reins a little."

Feeling confident she nudged the horse faster, but she was not ready for the horse to suddenly charge forward, straight towards a tree that was at the edge of the clearing.

"HOW DO YOU MAKE IT STOP!" she yelled.

"Pull the reins back towards you!"

She did that, but too hard and too fast, the horse reared back, neighing in protest. She lost her grip and slipped off the horse. Falling into a particularly muddy spot. The horse panicked a little and kicked out, nearly hitting Luriel as she fell. Elrond quickly walked over, grabbing the horses reins firmly, quickly calming the horse, murmuring a few comforting words to it. Once the danger had passed, he turned his attention to Luriel who was slowly pushing herself out of the mud. It covered her, her hair was matted to her back, her clothes ruined and dripped off of her face.

Once Elrond saw she was fine, he felt a smile twitch the corner of his lips, before long he was laughing in amusement. Luriel tried getting the mud out of her eyes, managing to smear it off, so she could open her eyes. She looked up and glared at Elrond.

He extended a hand to help her up, still laughing as he spoke, "You know, I believe you are to remain on the horse." This earned a scowl from Luriel, it slowly turned into a smirk. She grabbed Elrond's hand and pulled him into the mud as well. He fell on top of her, splashing mud everywhere. He blinked, shocked, he noticed his position a top of Luriel and quickly got off, but in his haste he slipped in the mud, landing on his back next to her. She was laughing too hard to notice his embarrassment, he joined in once his initial embarrassment past. She slowly stood, Elrond soon following. She tried getting the mud off best she could, but looked up in frustrated defeat. She saw Elrond having the same struggles, as he had worn his golden tan robes, now stained with dark mud.