A/N: So, now that I've scared you all with my description that makes it sound like I'm dying, let it be known that I'm not. As far as I know, of course; I suppose I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. But I moved to the mountains a few years ago, and the thin air is doing a number on me and my ability to think and write. Have no fear, dear reader; I'm moving later this spring, almost certainly to a lower altitude, and I'll be back to normal in no time. For now, enjoy this little collection of super-short fics, featuring characters of all races/species, which I'm writing to keep myself in the habit of writing, until I can go back to novels.
oOoOo
Éomer cast his keen gaze over the yearlings as they trotted here and there in their paddock. The youngsters had been brought for his inspection, now that they'd survived their first winter, and he would pick out the best of them, to be trained for his own use as warhorses.
In truth, he only needed one or perhaps two new horses. Already he had Dragon, who, at four, was nearly ready for the battlefield; Starlight, who was seven and in his prime; and good old Blizzard, who was ten and had a few more years in him before he was ready to retire.
But uncertain times called for extraordinary measures, so he was searching for another horse.
One of the colts took exception to the others and broke away from the little herd, kicking and bucking playfully, his hooves throwing up clouds of pale dust like smoke. Éomer pointed to the colt. "Let me see that one," he instructed the groom hovering at his side.
The colt was haltered and brought to him. Éomer checked its teeth and eyes, picked up each hoof, and examined every inch of its gray hide for defects. He found none, and he liked how the colt eyed him curiously, interested but not frightened. A lazy or unresponsive horse was a dead horse, and this one looked to be neither.
"I'll take him," he finally said.
He couldn't know it at the time, but the colt would save his life many times on the battlefield, and its name would be remembered in story and song as one of the greatest horses in history.
Firefoot.