Fire and Ice

Ride Picking

I woke up to sunlight resting on my face. Squinting my eyes, I looked at the clock on the wall, it was 7:35am, a little over two hours before I would go riding with Norman.

I got out of bed and walked over to the window. I opened the curtains revealing a bright new day. Snow covered the town, making it glow in the sunlight. I waited there for Mira to come to help me get ready for the day.

"Good Morning, Miss Nashi, did you sleep well?" I heard a kind voice ask.

"Yes." I hummed, turning from the window and looking at my beautifully wonderful maid, Mira.

"Here is your breakfast my'lady." She said placing a tray on the side table.

"Thank you, Mira." I said slowly making my way to the table.

I started to eat my breakfast, toast, tea, and some fruit. Then Mira piped up,
"So I heard that you will be going riding later this morning."
I could tell, of course, she wanted to hear more of the details so I continued with the starting conversation.

"Yes! Norman invited me to go riding with him." I said finishing a sip of my tea.

I proceeded to tell her about Norman escorting me last night and how the topic of riding arose.

"Did you even ask you Mother or Father about you doing this?" Mira asked when I was finished.

"Well. . . I didn't feel the need." I replied, taking my last bite.

"I see. . . well good luck with that then." She said with a smirk, moving into the closet.
"Let's get you into some riding clothes then."

She then came out with two or three different possibilities of attires I could wear for horse riding. I swiftly selected my favorite outfit that I would try to always wear when riding.

It was made up of the brown boots I wore yesterday, black riding pants, white shirt, brown vest, and a black hat. This uniform was more used with men but it was prefect for a situation like this. I tired my hair up in a low bun and grabbed my lucky white scarf.

Before leaving I thanked Mira for her help and closed the door behind me.

"Now to find Norman."

Finally after making my way through the halls I found an exit which I believed to be near the stables. I walked out into the sun and snow, not many people were out. There was the occasional stable worker or soldier checking on the horses.

I looked around for the familiar face that called me out here this cheerful morning.
Finally I found it.

Norman was standing near the end of the open stables tending to a horse that came with us to this realm.

"Oh, Princess Nashi." He said when I was about five feet away.

"Good Morning, Norman." I chirped, petting the mane of the horse Norman was next to.

"Ah yes, Good morning. Are you ready to ride?"

"Yes, but what do I ride?" I said looking down the row of horse.

"Oh, just choose one of our palace horses." He informed me, taking one of the horses out of its stable.

"Alright." I walked down passing the stable doors looking at every horse as I passed.
Well. . . until I stopped at Iona.

"Iona." I whisper as I brushed my fingers through the horse's mane.

The horse was calm and accepted my touch.

"This one." I said turning to Norman.

"Ok, let's saddle her up then." He said walking through her selected door and picking up her saddle.

Norman and I worked together to get her ready to ride.

"Ok, done. let's get her out and go." Norman said handing me the reins and walking back to his horse.

Yes, Iona wasn't my horse, it was Nash's, I thought he wouldn't mind me borrowing her. I really did like his horse. Sure, she was jumpy at times but it made the ride more exciting.

As soon as we knew it, Norman and I were up on our horses and heading out of the stable yard.