The Muse Errant
Disclaimer: All hail Tolkien!
Notes: Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. Had a little trouble getting this to come out the way I wanted, but I love you guys too much to give you something sub-par for the sake of updating. I'll be away this weekend, but hopefully this will get my brain moving again. For all you horse fans, here's a treat!
Part the Tenth
As it turned out, the Elf had more up his sleeve than just a trip to the sparring grounds. Still fuming from my confrontation with Amber, and feeling more than a bit sorry for Aragorn for having to put up with her, I didn't notice our detour until I felt straw crunching beneath my feet. We'd arrived at a section of fencing. Not a whole fence, just a section, about four feet high, which I found odd. Then I noticed the horses.
There were a dozen or so of them, happily grazing in a large clearing among the trees. Bays tossed their black manes and nickered at golden palominos with nodding white tails. Mind you, I've only ever ridden on trail horses: slow, plodding, patient things saddled with heavy tack and accustomed to inexperienced riders. These horses looked a few short steps away from wild. Not a stall or a picket rope was in sight. A few odd sections of fence stood scattered around the perimeter of the clearing, but the spaces between were more than large enough for the horses to walk between.
While I puzzled over this new mystery, Legolas nimbly scaled our section of the fence and whistled twice. I saw a forest of ears prick up and swivel in our direction. Most of the horses went back to their grazing, but one trotted toward the fence as if called. I scrambled up for a better look and caught my breath.
The mare was beautiful. Jet-black from nose to flanks with a mane and tail to match, with soft dark eyes and a graceful, if haughty, arch to her neck. Her hooves flashed like silver in the tall grass. My Muse chattered away to her in Elvish, of which I caught very little, but the horse seemed to understand perfectly. She pawed at the ground and snorted, then nosed him hard in the chest, nearly knocking him from his perch. This only made him laugh. It wasn't until she started snuffling insistently at his pockets that he relented and produced a treat that was gone so quickly that if I hadn't seen a flash of bright orange, I wouldn't have known it was a carrot.
As she stood there munching, the mare seemed to suddenly acknowledge my presence. Her eyes locked onto me and her ears flicked back and forth. She tilted her head inquisitively at the Elf, who responded with another string of Sindarin that had my name mixed up in it somewhere. She snorted again and he grinned.
"She's jealous," he said, finally letting me in on their little game. "She's not used to having to share me." He patted the railing next to him and I carefully scooted over, locking my feet around a lower rung to keep my balance.
"I would think she'd be used to your Charges by now."
"One of the first ones was afraid of horses. She ran screaming all the way back to the council hall. It did not go over particularly well with anybody. I haven't brought anyone back here since then." He gave a sidelong glance at my hands, which were firmly clenched on the wooden beam, gave a sigh, and pried one loose. "Here. Endear yourself." He dropped a chunk of carrot into my hand and forcibly stuck my arm out, ignoring my squawk of protest and desperate flail for balance. "Keep your palm flat."
The mare eyed my outstretched hand suspiciously, but the allure of the crunchy morsel won her over. I kept my palm as flat as I could as she sniffed my fingers, then with a great whuffling sound, buried her muzzle in my palm. I fought the urge to giggle as her lips scoured my hand and scooped up the carrot, crunching it between her teeth with a satisfied toss of her head. When an exploratory sniff failed to yield more munchables on my person, I received the same forceful nudge as the Elf, only in my case I toppled right off the fence.
"She likes you," Legolas grinned as the mare stood by, swishing her tail.
"You don't say," I replied sourly, climbing back up. "I shudder to think what she would do if she didn't."
"Her name is Avari," the Elf said, not-quite-successfully hiding a smirk at my utter-lack-of-grace-ful ascent.
"That's lovely." Finally settling myself, I dared to stretch out a hand to stroke her soft muzzle. Her nose felt like velvet and her breath whooshed over my fingers. I couldn't help giggling like a giddy schoolgirl; horses have that effect on me. (Actually, from what I've heard, horses have that effect on a LOT of women.) Legolas gave a snort.
"It means 'stubborn,'" he said. "And believe me, she earns it." Avari raised her head and whuffed in his face, blowing his hair every which way. I nearly made another fall from the fence as laughter overcame me. The horse whinnied and tossed her head, apparently just as amused with her antics as I was. Legolas just looked annoyed and disheveled. "So glad the two of you agree." Then his eyes gleamed wickedly. "Would you like to ride her?"
"Wait, what?" I spluttered. Seconds later, despite my protests, I found myself mounted bareback on the horse, with nary a saddle, strap, or rein to be seen. Legolas stood by, grinning in that irritatingly triumphant manner. "What do I hold onto!"
"Her mane!" I braced myself and gripped with my knees, praying to whatever deities might inhabit Middle Earth that I wouldn't break my neck, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. When I finally cracked one eye open, everything remained standing still, which prompted a glare.
"You did that on purpose."
"Of course I did." He swung up onto the horse behind me. "It's a long walk to the sparring grounds. I thought you might enjoy the ride."
"I hate you so much."
"Keep telling yourself that, wilwarin." And we were off.
(So for the next three days, I will be surrounded by lots of trees and beautiful blue skies. Hopefully, that will get the creative juices flowing properly. Review please!)