Bae Bae

Part II - The Rider

Part II

The Rider

"Are you all ready to go?"

We both turned, the Rider was leading Ringa over to us.

"Yes, I guess I am."

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" The Rider asked.

"Uh...." Ringa was staring at me with dark, intelligent eyes. "Once? I was really young so I don't really think it counts."

"Don't worry," The Rider noticed me sizing up Ringa. "He's very smart and well-behaved. Come here and I can help you up."

With some careful instruction I managed to clamber up onto Ringa's back. The Rider followed, much more easily than I, and sat in front of me.

I looked down at the Gatekeeper, "thank you so much for your help."

He smiled, "of course. I'll see you again when you need to leave Made."

That was good news to me, I was feeling a bit sad at the thought of not seeing the Gatekeeper again. "I will see you then." I replied.

Ringa took a sudden step forward, I grabbed onto the back of the Rider's vest in surprise. The Gatekeeper laughed a little. "You alright?" The Rider asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I quickly let go of his vest, my shoulders raising a bit sheepishly.

"Here, you actually might want to hold on." The Rider twisted around a bit and took my hands in his, pulling me up closer to him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

I let out a little "oh," instinctively interlocking my fingers. My chest was pressed up against his back, my hands resting against his (rather toned) stomach. His skin was very warm and his long hair smelt a bit like wood shavings.

The Gatekeeper appeared amused and took a step back. "Good luck."

I smiled at him and opened my mouth to thank him again but then the Rider dug his heels into Ringa and the horse began to trot forward. Reflexively, I wrapped my arms around the Rider tighter as Ringa began to gallop. I glanced down and saw we were running on the surface of the water, Ringa's hoofs flying across the ocean as if on dry land. Amazed, I looked back, the Gatekeeper and his island were becoming smaller...

And then I felt the world shift.

The ocean frothed beneath us, wind swept past, suddenly cherry tree blossoms were dancing through the air, coming from nowhere.

Then nothing.

For a half a second there was nothing, no sound, no color. The ocean was gone, the island was gone. It was only me, the Rider, and his horse.

The next moment burst to life.

I felt the warmth of the sun. Whites and reds and pinks exploded before my eyes in the form of endless cherry trees in full blossom. A sweet smell filled the air and the sound of a trickling stream came from the distance.

Ringa slowed to a walk and I stared around at my new surroundings.

We rode in silence for a while as I watched the scenery pass by. We appeared to be in an endless field of cherry trees, each one of them blossoming beautifully. In the distance was a huge wooden windmill, slowly getting closer and closer as we traveled towards it.

"So.....what exactly do you do?" I asked.

"What?"

"I mean," now that I was used to Ringa's steady pace I founding the rocking back and forth to be quite relaxing, "do you just travel around Made? Or do you have a job like the Gatekeeper?"