Love comes in many forms.
Speaking about it, imagining it, and melting at the mere prospect of it can leave you giddy with its richness.
But defining it, expressing or experiencing it - that's a different game.
Elijah - the heir to the throne of...
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He screamed.
The silence was mercilessly destroyed, and the noise was enough to steal the sense of tranquillity that had settled between the both of us.
I quickly got up and rushed out of the cottage, to see if there was anything my horse had sensed as a threat.
The violent sounds of his vigorous pawing against the floors of the forest only increased my worry, but there was no suspicious movement my eyes could reach.
"What happened, boy?" Zyanna came rushing towards my horse, worriedly looking him over as he continued to scream, though we didn't know what was the cause of his sudden restless behaviour.
I carefully placed my hands near my sword, just in case we were under attack, as executing an assassination on the Prince of Yandestine when he seemed to be surrounded by no protection, made sense.
Zyanna's eyes flickered to my sword the next second I touched it, and she shook her head. "Don't do that. You're only going to scare him more. He is already in pain, Prince Elijah." Her hands were resting on my horse's stomach, as she kneeled down and started to brush her fingers along the skin on his stomach.
"What happened, Zyanna?"
"Remove the rope, he needs to stretch." Though she was evidently knowledgeable when it came to animals, I still gave her a doubtful look.
"Are you sure? He's already moving around quite excessively with the rope tied to him, what if he tries to run off somewhere?"
"He won't. I assure you on this one, Prince Elijah. Remove the rope." I did as she said, untying the rope and leaving it near the branches.
"It's fine, boy. We're all good now. Now, would you do me a tiny little favour? Just trust me." She slowly lifted one of his legs, simultaneously watching how he responded, and drew the limb forward.
"You can snatch your leg back if it's too much, boy. Just don't hurt me like before, in the process." She quietly giggled, holding his limb in the exact stretched position for quite a few seconds, and it was absolutely mesmerising to see how my horse gradually settled down. It was almost as if he stopped his screams to listen to what she was saying.
She did the same to each of his other three legs, maintaining the number of seconds she held his leg in that stretch with every limb.
"There. You can stretch all you want now." She patted his stomach after putting his last leg down, but the predicament didn't seem to be entirely solved, as he still voiced his complaints through disgruntled sounds, fortunately much more toned down than his screams.
"Is he fine now? What's wrong with him?" I shifted my worried glance to Zyanna.
"He'll be better soon. It's just a simple case of indigestion, Prince Elijah. I just stretched his limbs out for a bit to ease the process of passing dung or urination. It's partly why he's struggling to stay calm. It may take a while before he can properly start moving around again."
