It had been more than a fortnight since she'd worked. Ailova wasn't driven by greed, but she was driven by necessity and vice. Even now her left hand trembled like a pox victim as she furiously curried her mare, Bruiser. The highwaywoman worked up dirt and loose hair, sending tickling dust straight into her nostrils causing - "ACCHHOOO!"
The sneeze caused her mare to spook, half crow-hopping and landing a wide hoof directly to her instep.
Brilliant red flashed in her vision as she let out a desperate gasp, shifting her weight against the horse to push her off her foot in a non-violent manner. It was her own distraction that'd caused her current pain. No reason to blame the beast. If only the same rational logic could be applied to humans. It couldn't though, she reasoned. The more she brushed out the piebald's coat, mane, and tail - the more she relaxed. Everything would be fine, eventually.
Betrayal had seen her cast out of her band. Once a leader, but now she was a scrambling outsider. Banishment had sent her far from her friends, from her safe houses. Here she be in a new land with nary a friend or an idea of where to start. The brigand had made brief acquaintance with several at the main local watering-hole. It was a slow start though, one that rankled worse then being without work and without a band.
"I must work. So must you." A bare hand scratched absently at her mare's poll, the horse dropping her head with a contented sigh. Where Ailova was known to be a clod and somewhat rude - with horses she was nothing but softness. A benefit when she went to work and depended on her four-legged partner as much as any of her two-legged partners.
Pickpocketing had helped line her pockets for board for herself and her two charges. That wouldn't be enough to last for long. Besides, she shirked the idea of pickpocketing for sustenance. She was better then that. Comparably, highway robbery was so much more fun! And profitable. After carefully tending to water and hay, she finally left her two beasts. In her exit from the stables she patted them each in farewell and scolded a smoking stable lad who stood too close to the stable doors.
Smoking stable boys. It was enough to make her drink.