Reborn

The Village

As we enter the stables I watch as Tamlin goes and readies his horse. I look at him curiously, with such a grand house – if you could even call it that – and the cleanliness of everything you would have thought that he would have someone to ready his horse for him.

"Do you not have staff?" I ask. It's not that I think he should have them, in fact I prefer that there is no one here, despite the fact that I want someone else there so that they would hear me scream if anything happens – again, not that it will, and not that I'll scream. I'm more of an attack first kinda person now.

"They all left." He says in a morose tone. Touchy subject. Noted.

"This one should be fine for you" He continues, pulling a horse from the other side of the stable toward me. I approach the horse, my hand stretched out in front of me reaching to stroke it's face. A smile makes its way onto my face as the horse whinnies in response to me.

"What's its name?" I say, not taking my eyes off of the large Friesian horse.

"He doesn't have one."

I look over to him in shock, "You have a horse with no name?" I ask astounded. Why in the Cauldron would he not name his own horse?

"I thought he would suit you"

"Why? Because of his curly mane?" I ask sarcastically, keeping a straight face.

"What would you like to name him?" He continues, as though I never answered his previous comment.

I stop and think about it for a second. "Orpheus." I say confidently, with a nod. His head tilts down and pushes against me, making me smile once again, my attention reverting back to the horse in question as opposed to the man. "Orpheus" I say again.

I see Tamlin nod as he leads his own horse outside, leaving me to lead Orpheus. Once we are out of the stables Tamlin swings onto his horse and looks at me expectantly. I give him a blank stare and take a breath. I stand next to Orpheus, readying myself to attempt to just onto him. I do actually know how to get on a horse, what I can't do is get on one this large. I mean, not without a step or log or something. After a minute of thinking I lift my leg up into the stirrup, despite it probably looking like I've lunged mid-air, and try and lift myself up and over Orpheus. As I try and lift my leg up and over the saddle I realise that my small leg is not going to make it. I move my leg back down to the floor and without looking at Tamlin hide my embarrassed face behind Orpheus. "Can you please give me a bit of a boost?" I ask awkwardly keeping my voice quiet but knowing that he could hear me.

Without looking I hear him dismount and walk up behind me. I tense, still not comfortable with the idea of him touching me. He lightly grabs onto my hips and lifts me up enough for my legs to straddle the saddle. I sit up tall, grabbing the reigns, and with as much dignity as I can muster I nod my head, "Thank you."

"Of course." He says as he remounts his horse.

I make a hand motion for him to lead the way and avoid eye contact, still tense from when he touched me. As I have Orpheus trail behind Tamlin and his mount for a minute or two I suddenly have this odd feeling. Looking down at my wrists I see shadows encircling them. I look around in confusion not seeing the Shadow singer but knowing that these were sent by him. I send my thanks to the shadows through a small whisper, knowing that Azriel would have heard it. My shoulders ease and I catch up with the High Lord in front of me.

I can do this.

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I guide Orpheus to ride alongside Tamlin as we make our way through the Spring Court towards a nearby village.