S and K

Arthur was called into attention. He looked at the woman but it didn't take long for him to avert his eyes due to the incisive gaze that his client had.

"Well?" The woman asked with more than a hint of impatience in her voice. Arthur then remembered the question that was posed. He quickly provided the answer lest the woman got even more irked by him. "Yes, I did accept a petition that was sent to the Midnight Emporium and the client is a Miss S..." Arthur paused before asking cautiously like he was afraid the question might come as some sort of offense, "Miss, are you the Miss S that sent the petition?"

"Miss S?" The woman asked with surprise. She turned to give Arthur a closer look before understanding dawned for her. She scoffed and said, "So you're really brand new at this."

She paused before adding another one of her observations, "They really aren't picky with their choices these days, are they?"

The insult stung and Arthur could feel the fire rising within him. Who was this woman that she thought she could just trample all over his dignity like this?

However, there was another instinct, one would call a survival instinct within Arthur that told the young man that the woman standing before him was a character he couldn't afford to cross... at least not yet.

"Yes, I suppose I'm that Miss S you're yapping about." The woman confirmed before adding with interest, "Wait, does this mean you don't know who I really am?" This was the first time since she had walked in that the lady didn't sound miffed.

Although Arthur was not sure he was glad knowing that it was at his expense.

Even though Arthur knew he was probably not going to get an honest answer, he asked anyway, "Then, miss, would you kindly tell me who you are?"

The woman looked at Arthur with a frown on her face like she was weighing the option in her mind. Eventually, she shrugged and changed the subject, "Anyway, back to my petition. So can you help me or not?"

"I suppose so..." Arthur thought back to the details of the petition, "You only needed me to help you find your horse, right?"

"Essentially, yes."

Arthur couldn't understand why the Midnight Emporium would place him in the role of stable boy but if completing this seemingly simple task would grant him a special power, then he was not going to complain.

Arthur had not gone searching for a missing horse before but he'd figured the process wouldn't be too far from how one would search for a missing cat or dog.

The first thing he needed to do was to take down the animal's description so he could ask others about it or identify it when necessary. Therefore, he asked the woman, "Miss S., do you mind telling me something more about your missing horse? What is its name? Is it a he or a she? How tall is it? What color coat it has? Or is there any defining feature."

The woman did not answer directly but studied Arthur with a look that was akin to amusement. Arthur had no idea what was running through the woman's mind but in the end, she seemed to have to a decision and revealed the following information to Arthur.

Apparently, the horse was a he and his name was K. When the woman told Arthur that, he suspected she was just toying with him so he asked for an elaboration, specifically, whether K stand for something else or was it a short-form of a longer name.

The woman answered that it was. Arthur waited for her to provide the rest of the story and when she didn't volunteer, Arthur prompted her. She gave an explanation that made Arthur want to pull his hair out, "Since you know me as Miss S, then it's only fair that you know my dear horse as K."

Based on the way his client was acting, it seemed like this Miss S. didn't want her horse found at all.

'Are all the clients going to be as unreasonable as this?' Arthur thought to himself. In any case, Miss S. proceeded to fill Arthur in on the rest of the details regarding K.

K was about as tall as a grown man and adorned seaweed on his body. Arthur found that detail to be quite peculiar. Horses normally liked to race on open plains so he couldn't see the connection to seaweed. When asked, Miss S. answered with yet another shrug.

That was all the information Arthur was given to go by. When the young man asked for the lady to provide more information so he could do a better job, Miss S. merely said, "I've given you more than enough considering you're new at this. Another proprietor would get even less aid from me." Then she added cryptically, "You'll know it when you see it."

Before Arthur could argue his stance, Miss S. turned and proceeded to sway out of the store.

'There's that rustling sound again.' Arthur noticed how the train of the lady's dress moved according to the rhythm from the swaying of her hips. It was seductive, yes, but also quite unnatural. A normal human being's hips shouldn't sway so much from walking.

It appeared like she was moving from side to side to create the momentum to propel her body forward instead of just walking forward.

Arthur was highly intrigued. He had half a mind to yank the train of the dress upwards to see what it was hiding but he doubted Miss S. would appreciate him doing something like that.

He watched transfixed as Miss S. moved to the door. Other people would have slapped him for his indecent behavior.

When she reached the door, she placed her hand on the doorknob and turned around to face Arthur. "You done watching? I came to ask you to look for my missing horse, not my behind."