Riding Lessons
"Where have you been?!" my brother demanded when he finally found me.
"On the balcony," I answered. "I was listening to the servants talk in the garden."
"Was it interesting?" he asked.
"Beau," I began, "do you think Loup still needs to be punished for what he did to Maman and Papa years ago?"
"Was he talking about that again?!" Beau rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry they're still injured, but the servants who work in the forest need to get over it!"
"They're not all still injured," I pointed out. "Only two of them are." After a pause, I added, "Could you get over it?"
"We wouldn't have to worry about something like that, Amandine. If you or I were to have some kind of problem, Maman and Papa would have the royal physicians tend us, and we'd be fine. I feel sorry for the servants too, but there's nothing anyone can do about it. Besides, what was Maman supposed to do, bring all the wolves back to the castle and have Papa reset their limbs after he got his arm bandaged?"
I started laughing at the idea of the Beast taking care of the wolves.
One of the stablemen approached us and bowed. "Good afternoon, children. Your parents are waiting by the royal stable. They commanded me to summon you for a riding lesson."
We walked to the stable as slowly as possible.
Maman smiled. "Philippe's waiting for you."
"J'ai peur!" Beau confessed. "The horse is huge!"
Papa tousled his hair. "No reason to be afraid, mon fils. I won't let you fall."
"Besides, Philippe is a gentle horse," Maman added.
"Ladies first." Papa lifted me onto Philippe's back.
I'd never realized how strong Papa's arms were. I'd never seen him harm anyone or break anything, but I could feel the strength in his hands when he set me on the horse. Were these really the paws of the Beast who had destroyed nearly every piece of furniture in his own castle and broken the bones of wolves?
"I'm going to hold onto the reins," Papa was saying, "and I'll walk right beside the horse."
"Oui, Papa."
After we had walked around the castle grounds, Maman lifted me off Philippe, and it was my brother's turn to ride.
"See? It's not as bad as you imagined." Maman kissed the top of my head. "You two will be riding horses on your own before you know it!"