Silent Love, Silent Pain [Levi x OC]

24. Fear

More than half a year has passed before Erwin was finally satisfied with the results of Sophie's training. He watched as she straddled her horse and didn't lose her balance even once.

"Do one more round" he ordered her and she nodded, urging her horse to trot around the storeroom and stables. He watched thoroughly to make sure she wouldn't make any mistake and she didn't, it caused him to smile. Something he was showing off a lot recently during their exercises.

"Happy?" she asked as she directed her horse to the place where he stood. He looked up and nodded.

"Very" he admitted. "Teaching you how to ride wasn't as easy as some would think"

She rolled her eyes in response that was followed by her words. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad, Erwin. Or was it?" as she said it Erwin drowned in memories of their first trainings.

Sophie was standing on a training ground, practising her punches and kicks when Erwin approached her. "I did my warm up first, don't worry" she said, not really in a mood for company. Recently she started participating in conversations with others. After so many weeks of being quiet it was exhausting to talk.

"Good, did you do your run as well?" His question made her sigh in resignation and she threw her hands in the air.

"I thought I could do that later. Or must I do it in the beginning?" The irritation in her tone made Erwin stay quiet for a while before he gave her his answer.

"No, you can do that later," he finally said. "I want you to practise something else today"

"Huh? What?" she scratched her head, looking at him suspiciously.

"Come with me and you'll see" he encouraged her as he headed to the horse stables. She followed him there and joined him next to one of the looseboxes. "It's your horse, right?" he asked.

"Supposedly. I rode him last time"

"So it's yours" he smiled and patted it on its face. "Did you name her yet?" he asked and she shook her head. "That's bad. You should call her somehow to build a bond. It's important if you want her to listen to you"

"What's the point? She'll probably get crushed by titan anyway" she shrugged her arms, trying to look away.

"Actually titans don't kill horses. We don't know why, but they're ignoring them" he explained. She looked at him with interest in her eyes, imbibing his every word. "So coming up with a name won't hurt" he smiled and gave her more space so she could come closer to her horse. She carefully placed her hand on it and caressed its skin.

"Nolla," she finally said. "She looks like Nolla," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Nolla it is. Come on, take her out of the box. We're going for a ride" he said and took his own horse from its box. "I bet Nolla will like Fushi" he introduced his horse and mounted him. She clumsily sat on her own and tried to lead it outside. Erwin found himself next to her and helped her with the harness, something she still had trouble controlling.

Normally, he would have assigned teaching her how to ride to someone else, with lower rank, but he promised Levi to keep an eye on her on his behalf. He didn't exactly have time for that, so he used his rare free time for her lessons. He was lucky that she was a fast learner. "Let's trot to the nearby glade, shall we?" he asked and she nodded.

At first she had trouble with keeping her balance when Nolla stepped on a branch, rock or hole in the ground, but as Erwin told her to grab the harness stronger she happened to sit still in her straddle. Maybe she won't need him as much as he thought at first? He was happy thinking about it, but a small part of him didn't want to end their lessons too quickly. All because her snarky comments and mostly curt sentences reminded him of Levi. Spending time with her was a good way to practise conversations with him and if he would know how to talk to Levi he would also know how to make Levi do things that he expected from him.