Chapter 1: Luca Brasi

"Stop staring and get to work, Luca. I'm not paying you to gawk at the Pecopecos all day." The grizzled stablekeeper all but snarled at the raven-haired Novice who, with bucket of water in one hand and a grooming brush in the other, was staring with open admiration at one of his showpieces. Her dark blue eyes, usually hooded and penetrating underneath the severely-cut bangs of her long, ebony-hued tresses, reminded him more of a child's almost craven gaze at a coveted toy rather than anything else - and this made him smile despite of the fact that they were pressed for time, and he would miss the finals of the Phracon Cup if he stayed any longer.

Then the novice looked at him, all childlike innocence gone from her gaze. The stablekeeper snapped his jaw shut, like a petulant student being silenced by the mere stare of a stern teacher.

"You don't pay me at all," Luca pointed out in a flat monotone. "You keep me around simply because you need someone to watch over the Pecopecos while you bet on the racetrack." She added, her characteristic bluntness making the stablekeeper wince.

"Well...I..." He stumbled. The raven-haired Novice's stare always had an unnerving effect on him. "Anyway, forget about that. Kharthoum needs grooming. We don't know when a buyer would just suddenly step in and look around for a good specimen." He tipped his hat. "I'll be at the finals, see if my pick's even made it to the last lap." The grizzled man let out a guffaw. "Damn racers are getting more and more careless about what happens to other people's rides, much less their own."

"..." Came the novice's spirited reply, still staring at him.

"Okay, okay, I'll be going." The stablekeeper hastened his exit, almost stumbling all over himself. "You don't have to look at me like that, you know."

The stable doors swung closed behind him, punctuated by the sound of a grown man crashing into a pile of metal feed buckets and cursing loudly about it.

"Idiot." Luca said finally, putting the bucket of water down. She waited until she could no longer her the stablekeeper's limping footsteps, and then proceeded to make her rounds with an ease of a regular stablekeep. She knew each and every Pecopeco in the stable, knew them by name, size, color, everything - down to the last detail. One would consider this mastery of the main transport beast of Rune-Midgard uncanny, if one did not consider the passion that drove it.

Luca Brasi had grown up with the feathered beasts. Growing up pretty much as an orphan, she was taken up by a Pecopeco Breeder that worked for the Pronteran Knights - a widower that had not been borne any sons or daughters. Therefore she was not treated as offspring, but rather as a helper. This was fine with the stoic Novice, until the breeder himself died of old age. His stock was sold, and all the profits were given to Luca as her inheritance. Not even shedding a single tear for the man who had taken care of her, she used the money to travel to Comodo - where the action was, as people so quaintly put it.

Having learned much from the Pecopeco Breeder, she was not prepared for the stark difference of working as a RACE Pecopeco stablekeep. It seemed that there was more to take into consideration - what kind of feeds made the Peco's feet stronger, giving better traction, or what made them lose weight so as they ran lighter - all to gain that edge, that advantage that would get them that coveted trophy, and not to mention the massive purse that came along with it.

She had offered not to be paid for her first job, just lodging and food - which the already shorthanded stablekeep gladly agreed to. After that first meeting, she had then set out to memorize everything there was to know about the Pecopecos in the racing stable.

All of them, fine rides - and each would have made perfect battle steeds if they had been bred for that purpose. But there was one Pecopeco that she took pride in taking care of in the stable itself.

Its - or his - name was Kharthoum. A Berserker-class Pecopeco - which denoted his tendency to go wild, sprinting all-out for the finish with complete disregard to his safety and his rider's (not to mention those in its way). A plumage of the darkest blue offsetted his abnormally-bright crimson eyes - giving rise to rumors that he had been a failed Alchemist's experiment. These Luca brushed off, Kharthoum was just a rare breed that normally took ten years to cultivate, and even more to refine.

Kharthoum was a handful, to put things nicely. His stall had been filthy before Luca arrived, his rampages making it difficult for the stablekeep to clean it. And with this degredation came a sickness that he would have died of, had Luca not intervened in time.

This created a bond between stablekeep and Peco, although sometimes Kharthoum's untamed nature had earned Luca some bruises and wounds of her own. As she came upon his stall, he was unusually docile, his proud beaked head gazing towards the direction of the racetrack.

"I know what you're thinking, Kharthoum, and no, you're not allowed to." Luca said, although the small smile on her lips belied the harshness of her words. "Now, let's see if you've managed to get yourself more injuries for me to treat."

Kharthoum merely squaked, surprisingly unaffected by her examination of him. Finding none, she patted the usually-unruly beast on the head.

"Let's hope somebody'll see through the fact that you look more like a monster than a ride and buy you," She murmured fondly, running her hand across the Pecopeco's silky blue plumage. "They always try to buy the best-looking ones, with no regard to how well they run. It's all looks for them, nothing else." Luca shook her head regretfully.

Kharthoum gave another squawk.

"Well, time for me to feed you ingrates." Luca said pleasantly as she moved to get out of Kharthoum's stall. "I'll be right back with the feeds in a moment and--"

She was cut off, when the azure Peco suddenly darted forward, clutching her collar with his beak - perching the surprised Novice onto his back just as he burst out of his stall - flinders and wood grain flying everywhere as he did so. The other Pecopecos brayed, as if cheering the dark beast on.

Luca held on as hard as she could as the Pecopeco stormed out of the stable, his claws leaving deep grooves on the hard-packed earth.

They were headed for the racetrack, and it didn't seem that Kharthoum only wanted to watch.