Paperwings are cool things of science. =D It's my paperwing...of science! (Bill Nye the Science Guy).
"Yes, I know you're tired!" Ralliel snapped at her horse, Ilian. "As much as I care about your welfare, I am really eager to get home!"
"Neigh," the horse softly replied, burying its hoof in the ground reluctantly. Ralliel knew the black stallion well enough to sense it was too stubborn to keep going. It was tired from galloping all the way to Edge and back, and Ralliel could tell from the horse's reluctance to move that unless she obeyed the horse, he would throw her off and rest anyway. So Ralliel took her own advice and hopped off her horse, then found the nearest rock in the small forest to rest her head on.
"Useless horse," she grumbled under her breath, staring at the moon. If only there were something better, faster, something that didn't tire!
"Whoa, horsie!" yelled a good-humored male voice. "The night isn't scary...oh."
The now-visible man perched on a horse slowed to a stop the moment he saw Ralliel's stallion. Black stallions often meant trouble in Ancelstierre, and this man had obviously come from around there. He was missing a Charter Mark, which meant he was from deep Ancelstierre. So deep, he failed to recognize Ilian, the horse that the Abhorsen-In-Waiting had been riding since she learned the word "horse".
"Abhorsen," he mumbled quietly, bowing his head once he glimpsed her blue surcoat. "Sorry I mistook your horse."
"I get it a lot from your kind of folk," Ralliel dismissed it with a bored wave of her hand. "Ancelstierrans who flee at the sight of a black horse."
"He looks tired," observed the Ancelstierran, scrutinizing the horse.
"He is tired. He's also a pest."
"Well, horses are horses!" agreed the Ancelstierran with a good-humored laugh.
"But they have their uses," Ralliel commented absentmindedly. "Like eating half your food supply in a day, going in the wrong places, smelling like a skunk's behind, and sleeping when you want them to move!" At her last comment, she moved to give Ilian a good-humored nudge, to which he retaliated by kicking her.
"What if there was some kind of a flying thing that kept on going?" the Ancelstierran suggested lightly.
"Flying like a bird?" Ralliel inquired.
"Yes, but not as reserved."
"Interesting idea," Ralliel replied, beginning to take this man seriously. She felt like her friend Kahlien, who was a Wallmaker, who interested himself in building contraptions that nobody had ever suggested. He had a wealth of Charter magic at his disposal. With the right spells, he could build anything. Ralliel figured Kahlien would enjoy a project like the one the Ancelstierran was suggesting.
"Well, I ought to keep moving, since my horse hasn't started to complain," the Ancelstierran joked. "I'm Rinth, by the way."
"Goodbye, Rinth."
--
"It's simply much too large!" exclaimed Kahlien. "I could if I wanted to, but it's incredibly unnecessary!"
"Unnecessary! And overworking a horse is necessary!" Ralliel argued.
"More than this flying contraption you're suggesting!" retorted Kahlien.
"You're just jealous I've come up with something!" Ralliel concluded smugly. "You don't believe the Abhorsen-In-Waiting would ever be smarter than a Wallmaker!"
"This isn't a matter of who's smarter than the other, because I would far surpass you. It's just much too unrealistic. Something that flies?"
"You could build this if you wanted to?"
"For sure!"
"Teach me the spells. I'll make it."
"Why?"
"If you won't, I will."
"Alright."
One more chappie!