Fate - First Reply The Horse Market

[Mirielle Merlon]

Lazular's horse market could have been the world's largest. No run-down nags or cart horses, either. From the edge of a great show-pen, Mirielle watched beautiful, expensive animals trot past.

And their horses weren't bad either.

In all seriousness, she really was there to find the right horse. She'd sacrificed her last one, a mare she never really got to know. That day still woke her at midnight sometimes, really feeling the ever-present dried blood under her nails. Today she wanted to break free however she could.

The horses of northern Amol-Kalit fell into three broad strains: The fast and graceful hamtu; the strong, enduring sadadu; and the damaqu, a midpoint between the two extremes. Each came in every natural hue under the sun, and a few that made Mirielle suspect sorcery. Nothing extreme, just gloriously pearlescent.

She had a full purse and an empty day. Time to wander.

 

[Former and the Foal]

The most common horses to be sold were geldings and those of subpar stock, and if you were not of the seret, you would likely never set eyes upon prized mares or stallions.
So much were these three strains prized with their sloping faces, strong hooves and proudly worn tails.

Yet when the Amir's sister in law set foot in the markets, the selectors began presenting the most enduring of the Šadadu, the fastest of the Hamtu and the most graceful of the Damaqu.
Most of the horses were of perfect age, young but only enough to be ridden, some were approaching the peak of their prime. Stallions of black pelts, glistening like pearls in the sun, grey and gorgeous bay horses to no end.
Yet a peculiar pair was among the presented.
A white mare of the Hamtu strain on a flowery halter, behind her, trotted a leopard foal.