He Told Me to Live

5 | Last Smile

"Can you please pass me that?"

Furlan gave me a needle and thread and I began sewing through the broken saddle. I told Isa to actually ride on the horse and not hang off of it, but she does nothing I tell her to. I adjusted the strap and sewed the leather together, testing it on Monty. He didn't react like he did before when the buckle was prodding at him. "Alright, seems satisfactory."

"Sorry about Isabel."

"It's alright. She was like that before as well." I put the saddle away. "Help me bring the hay bales in, please."

"What was she like when she was a kid?"

"Reckless. She had run over to me simply because I had a bird."

He chuckled. "Sounds like her. These are the hay bales?" I nodded and handed him two. "Can you carry two?"

"Yeah, I'm... good..."

I picked up five and began walking back to the stables.  "Is something the matter?" I asked when I noticed that Furlan wasn't following me. "If you're sleepy, I can do this myself. I was simply instructed to tend to the horses before our expedition."

"No, no, I'm not sleepy. You're really strong."

I didn't say anything. It wasn't a question or anything, so I thought I didn't need to. I placed the hay bales in the stable, Furlan doing the same. "Next is water." I walked outside and motioned for Furlan to follow. "There's a creek about a kilometre from here. Let's go."

I picked up four buckets while Furlan took the remaining three.

"So... how heavy are these when they're filled with water?"

"I don't know. You'll see soon enough."

We made it to the creek and I placed my four buckets down. "Make it so that it only reaches this. It won't spill that way and we'll have enough." I picked up my four buckets and glanced at Furlan, struggling to pick up his last one. I put down two of my buckets so two hands were free and whistled, but only in three short whistles.

Cinder came galloping over and I gave him one bucket in his mouth, taking Furlan's final bucket. "Don't worry. It takes a while to get used to it." I assured.

We walked back and filled the water barrels.

"Do you do this every day?" He asked.

"Yes." I closed Cinder's stall. "Could you replace the blankets, please? I need to clean a few more horse's manes."

"No problem."

I combed through Merill's mane, finding a piece of a potato in her mane. "I said, wash your hands before riding..." I mumbled. "Furlan, are you finished with the blankets?"

"Yeah, I'm finished."

I've never had an assistant before, in anything. But having Furlan, while it didn't quite make things "easier", per se, it did make me more relaxed. It made things feel easier.

"It's getting late. You should head to bed." I said. "I'll do so after finishing Junior's hair."

"You remember all their names?"

I nodded, combing through Junior's mane with a few more smooth strokes, looking at the golden strands and feeling rather proud of myself. "I'm finished. I'll join you in returning to the barracks."

He waved to me, but I didn't even look his way, walking into the barracks without so much as a "goodnight." I don't know why he decided that it would be a good idea to become my assistant when it would be as if I didn't know him the moment we left the stables, but these three never held it against me.