Hopelessly Devoted ~ Garroth x F!Reader

Ch 47: A Wild Ride

Second Person:

The table was being cleaned off, and when it was done, Aaron folded it back up and Garroth helped push it against the wall where it had been the night before.

***

You gathered and cleaned all of the items from inside of the barn, now standing outside with every other member of the village.

The humongous group stood in front of the barn, huddled bodies dripping with sweat. Horse poop lingered in the distance, forcing you to suck it up and breathe out of your mouth if you wanted to retain any sanity. It was only mid-afternoon and the sun was already beating down on you—not even a light breeze accompanied it. The horses whined in distress, which matched your inner feelings. Hot, hot, heat.

"Hey, listen up guys," Lord Aphmau shouted lazily, but the crowd still hushed with respect, exactly as it had every time before. "As most of you know, Katelyn's dad, Erik, has agreed to let us use his horses. He was so very kind enough to let us spend the night here-" Lord Aphmau wiped the gleaming sweat off of her forehead and looked at Erik. "Thank you so much." She resumed her attention to the crowd. "I talked with him earlier. We won't be staying here much longer because we can't be using up all of his supplies and eating all of his food. We'll get going once everyone has been assigned a horse. You're all dismissed for now, just don't split up and wander away before we head off."

You couldn't see any signs of Garroth near you, and no one dropped the hint that they wanted to talk to you, so you ducked down and listened in on your Lord's conversation.

She had just turned around and started talking with Travis. "Didn't you mention it was on an island? We don't have a boat."

Travis pointed down at his map. "Yeah . . . Maybe we can—" Travis continued talking as he walked with Lord Aphmau, but from the distance between you, his words were muffled.

You made your way over to the paddock where Aaron was standing by a lone (color) horse. Upon approaching, Aaron welcomed you with a warm smile and gestured to the animal behind him. "This horse is a royal pain. I'm going to make sure you get (him/her)."

You looked at the Aaron with a quizzical expression. "Since when were you an expert on horse behavior?"

"Since this one started thrashing its head around, refusing to wear a bridle earlier. And I saw it tailgating the other horses. I think (he/she) suits you perfectly."

You stared at the horse's massive body. Its strong legs gave it a prominent stance just shouting sass. (His/Her) (color) tail was almost floor length, but it was hard to tell because it occasionally swatted at a swarm of flies.

You raised your chin. "Well... (He/She) is very beautiful to me and I'd be glad to ride (him/her.)" If this horse could talk, your tone matched exactly what it's attitude would sound like.

Aaron's brown eyes pondered your words. "Have you even ridden a horse before? As far back as I can remember, we were never around horses."

You rolled your eyes. "It can't be that hard." The horse stuck its muzzle through the pasture gate like you were some kind of problem. You approached and held your hand out. (He/She) didn't move an inch as you got closer. When you could just about feel the soft fur, (he/she) whipped (his/her) head back, long mane flowing sassily in slow motion.