He Told Me to Live

4 | Horses

"Songbird, look!"

I looked away from the horses I was leading back to the stable and saw Isa running around on top of Monty.

I didn't answer and made my way back to the stables.

"Aw..."

Hange laughed a bit. "Don't take it personally. I told Y/N to take Furlan and Levi's horses back, so she won't do anything until she finishes that task. She's weird that way."

"Yeah, yeah. She told me."

I put the two horses into their stalls and took off their saddles. Sista suddenly kicked at me and I moved back, although her hooves wouldn't have hit me anyway. "Are you judging me?"

She snorted and turned her head away.

I stared at her. "Fine. Merrill will have your share of food tonight." I looked at the door and saw Furlan standing there. "Most human-like I've seen you, captain."

"Vice-captain. I'm simply directly under Erwin. Did you want to go riding with Sista again?"

"Nah, it sounds like she was being bad. I don't know if she'll buck me off or something."

"She's never done so before. You should be fine." I was about to put the saddle back on Sista when Furlan put his hand over mine. "But seriously, I didn't come here to go riding"

"I see. Did you need me?"

He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Well... did you need an assistant in here?"

"An assistant?"

"You know, in the stable. You always come here alone when you come to care for them, so I was wondering if you ever needed help."

An assistant...

"Sure. I'm not opposed to it." I motioned for him to come over and I taught him everything that I believed he needed to know: how to put on a saddle, what brush to use when cleaning them, the food they ate, their names, so on and so forth.

"Wow... that's a lot to remember."

"Simply remember how to put a saddle on a horse." I would handle everything else.

He smiled a bit. "You know, you act pretty cold when you're not in these stables. Is that...?"

"I was told that I would be the leader in this stable. And I could do anything I want in here."

"So you really do only do things when you're told. Hange was right. Is it hard for you to make friends because of that?"

Friends... I think my only friend was Isa. And that was before I was sold to someone on the surface so my parents would gain residence there. Even then, she came to me first.

I nodded. "Yes, it is."

"Well, it won't be too hard right now, right?" He held out his hand, similarly to when he first introduced himself to me. "We can be friends. Isabel seems to trust you, and you're pretty cool. So? What do you say? Us underground people need to stick together, don't we?"

He was an odd one. He seemed mature, yet had a childish edge to him. Less serious than Levi, but less energetic than Isa. The perfect in between.

"Okay."

He grinned and put his hand on my head just before leaving. "You should talk more. At least to the three of us."

•••

"You're here later than usual."

Isa flinched and saw me sitting up in bed, my eyes on some reports that Erwin had given me.