[center][h3][color=ff8800]Asmund Gjanarsson[/color][/h3][/center]
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It was matter of a few seconds until the gifted had drawn much more attention than intended. The barn was a rather large one. It wasn't curious that despite the low progress the sun had made on its daily journey so far, several students were present taking care of some of the school's or their personal horses, heading out for a ride or already returning. His voice was an incredibly chesty one and Asmund still had frequent problems throttling it back to a perfectly normal volume. His brain was still configured for the old days when he had been a small boy in that respect... Now people were looking at him. That wasn't new, but new was that subtle expression in their faces: [i]Is he really trying to do what I think he is trying to do ?[/i]

The Norse Gifted wasn't intimidated. Why should he ? It was just a small bunch of students staring at him. The amount of people that had been infected with the 'nickname-Asmund-a-monster'-disease wasn't neglectable and it constantly failed to provoke him to do anything to intimidate back as well. After all, he knew that it was meant in a positive way and it was undeniable that his stature indeed was an open invitation for such things. It became obvious once more when the barn manager approached him and had to stop a few feet away. Otherwise he would have had the choice between buying himself pain in the neck by steeply looking upwards or only seeing Asmund's belly button. Was there a slight sound of chuckling in the room ?

"Hey! What can I do for you ?" The manager stretched out his hand for a greeting.
[color=ff8800]"I'd like to ask if I could ride one of the school's horses. I've done this many times back in my youth."[/color]
Another wave of chuckling crossed their part of the barn, this time a bit less restrained.
The barn manager took a much more analytical approach, stretching the duration of his next exhale to gain some time for thinking and scratching his head. "You know I'm obligated to test anyone before I can allow this ?"
[color=ff8800]"Erm... will that be a problem ?"[/color] He was absolutely confident in his ability to pass through anything that could be coming. Yet his question was marked with humbleness in both wording and tone.
"That depends on you. Follow me."

The mounting block was lazily nudged into place by foot. In front of the manager and his student was standing a mount that was large even by draft standards. The gifted's feet wouldn't drag on the ground when sitting on this impressive animal of gray-white coat color, though Asmund certainly wasn't too small to get up using the stirrup easily. In fact, it had more to do with the mentor's worries that the thing could snap when his apprentice would use it for that. Him dangling from one side like a giant, helpless crab was just bound to be displeasing for everyone involved.

Luckily, none of these things happened. The horse groaned noticeably under the monster's weight, but if, between his long hair and his beard, there was decent knowledge about how to control himself up there and how to keep things relaxed at the reigns, it would be within the upper end of the acceptable range.

The manager wanted to inspect Asmund's seat first. To do this, he lead them slowly onto a path that would run along the training fields later on. That was... if those fields would still be actual fields and not been turned into burnt-out blast pits when they arrived.