Fire and Silk

Chapter 5: A Little Trip

     Two weeks. Two weeks Talia had been cooped up in camp. The days had kinda blurred together for a while, the only indicator she had of how long she had been there was her journal entries as she detailed each day before bed at night. Each entry wasn't really anything special. True to his word, that first day Arthur and Charles had woken her up early. Very early. The sun was peeking over the horizon it was that early.

     That first day of her lessons with the two involved hunting, Charles being the main teacher for the day. Arthur tagging along to observe and be an extra gun in case of trouble. Her lesson that day had been tracking. She had been pretty confident in her skills until Charles started correcting her every move. Sure she wanted his help learning but damn if that bluntness of his makes everything sound so condescending.

     The next few days had just been busy work in camp, laundry, taking care of the horses, helping Pearson cook, things like that. It was tedious and tiring, and by the end of each day she just wanted to crawl into her cot and not move for hours. Only to get up and do it all over again.

     The next lesson was shooting, which Arthur of course took over. Not that she apparently needed his help. They had been a bit away from camp, didn't need the gunshots attracting trouble, and Arthur had set up a bunch of empty bottles on a log. Pulling out one of her new revolvers and focusing on the bottles had led her to a shocking discovery. She had dead eye.

     The bottles had exploded one by one as time slowed to a halt around her and Arthur had stood to the side speechless. It was honestly much funnier than she had expected and she had doubled over laughing as he sputtered, unable to form actual words. Although she had to admit, having dead eye really set her mind at ease. She'd be able to defend herself much easier and not have to worry about missing a single shot. From then on, Charles had put her in charge of hunting daily to bring in meat for the camp and she loved it. She really did. But...

     There was something missing and as she sat in her tent after having returned from yet another successful hunting trip with a nice size pronghorn, she realized what it was. A horse. Her own actual horse. She was getting sick of either having to ride with someone when she went out, or having to borrow someone else's, she wanted her own.

     Growing up, she had been taught from an early age how to ride horses. The rush of air, the speed and power of the creatures as she controlled them, and the companionship of the sweet animals if you could get it to trust you was something she was yearning for. The problem, however, was that while she could ride a horse, she had never been taught to break a wild one.

     And the one she had her heart set on would definitely require some skill to break and there was only one man in camp she knew was good enough with horses to do it. 

     So, here she was, standing in front of his tent, eyes on the ground as she clasped her hands behind her back while he just gave her a soft glare.

     "So, let me get this straight," Arthur began. "You want us to go out and get you a horse, but not just any horse, a wild one up in the mountains near some lake. You can't just pick one from the stables? It's not like you can't afford it."

     Talia sighed and looked up at him. "I know, I know! But please Arthur! I'll even pay you for doing this with me. I've never caught a wild horse before and I really really want this one. I swear I won't ask you for anything else ever if you just help me with this one thing. I already know exactly where it is so we won't have to search for it. We'll get it done fast. Please, please Arthur?" She begged, putting on her sweetest voice.

     "I just don't understand why you need your own horse?" He said standing from the cot, already moving to grab his thick blue coat without even realizing it. "You can just keep borrowing Eleuthia or Taima. It's not like you ever go far. You always hunt around camp."