'I am glad you caught on,' he said as he hopped off Tordag. He almost sounded… chipper. There was no need to sound chipper.
'You are glad I caught on? What were you doing, Ryce?'
'Remember the names,' he said. I stepped closer to him and looked up at him angrily. He seemed unfazed.
'You took the horses! And left me! Thinking you were murdered, or worse, taken! You scared me to death, Ryce!'
'The names, Odile. And being taken is worse than death? Interesting observation, I -' Ryce said before I interrupted him.
'I could not give two flying fences for the names, Raeza, now tell me what you were doing!' He swallowed.
'And you fight like this with him on a regular basis? I do not know how you two do it. Anyway, why do you think I did it?' I knew he meant Eomer and somehow that calmed me down a bit. Not enough to appreciate his answering my question with a question, though.
'Because you have a sick sense of humor is the only reason I can think of now,' he laughed.
'No. Because there was a lesson in there. And you did well, I might add, considering' he said. I must have looked confused, because he continued.
'You were a bit slow to realize I was taking too long, but you did handle well after that. Keeping an eye on your surroundings, not really shouting, keeping an eye on camp. But then you got distracted by that carcass and I could ride away. I cannot blame you for the way you responded for that and I needed to know how you would react. You should have stopped chasing me sooner. There was no way of catching up and you should have known that. You hail from the Mark,' he said. I sighed.
'I did realize that, and then I stopped. But then I got so angry and desperate I started running again. The thought of doing this alone… just-,'
'Might be a possibility, Dilly. You need to consider that as an option,' I swallowed and looked at my feet. He was right. Somehow, the knowledge that this journey could change for the worse at any moment had faded to the back of my mind. It was not a given that Ryce would accompany me on this journey, nor would it ever be. I should be thankful that we were still together, yet I should never forget that the uncertainty of the future and that I should be able to adapt to the changes. Always. It was only days ago when we were able to escape the orcs.
'You are right,' I said, 'I guess I was getting a bit too comfortable in our current situation. But as much as I appreciate you teaching me the ways of riding on a mission, it would be better if those lessons did not take up so much time! We have lost enough time already, Raeza,' to my utmost surprise and maybe even horror, he started laughing. Frantically.
'And now I have taught you all I know to teach. How long have we been gone, Dilly?' I thought for a bit, then remembered the note I made last night.
'Today marks our twenty-second day we have been gone,' I said confidently.
'No. It is only the fifteenth,' how in the…, 'I wish we would have a painter with us today so the look on your face could have been captured, for me to have the blessed canvas of that in my possession. For years to come on Yule I will bring it with me to tell everyone the story of how I became a master at deceive,' he chuckled. I had no idea what was happening. Had I made mistakes in my notes? Had I accidentally slept two days? Did I imagine some days that did not even happe-
'Remember when I told you it had been a fortnight since we had left? It had only been seven days,' Ryce said.
'I beg your pardon?' the smirk on his face stayed put.
'Time passes differently in Entwood. I told you that. I noticed the first five days you had asked me what day it was every day. I became aware you were not keeping track yourself. I realized I overestimated your knowledge of rides,' Well. Please do not spare my feelings, I thought while I felt the now familiar feeling of tears behind my eyes. At this point he looked at me and saw my expression. I remember him telling me once not to be such an open book, because that could be used to my disadvantage, so I quickly bit back the tears until I tasted blood.
'I realised,' he went on, 'that no one on any previous rides took the time to teach you the details. Everyone was so preoccupied in teaching you how to keep yourself safe, how they could keep you safe. But most of the time, the rides you went on were not even that dangerous. Maybe they - I am sorry, I keep saying they, but I must include myself in this, maybe we thought you would not care or would not learn, or maybe we did not want to bother. I realized that was a mistake, so I wanted to teach you in the only way I knew, the way I was taught - by making mistakes first and having someone else point them out, and -'
'That is not true. You chose to be a rider, so you went on a ride to be taught by your elders,' I intervened. It was the only thing I could think of to say, I was a bit in shock. He smiled.
'And that is how I learned. You know a different side of Háma than I do,' Another shock, I never knew his teacher was Háma! Then it hit me what he had said, that he had taught me everything he knew.
'So, you are saying there is nothing left for you to teach me?' I asked. He laughed.
'Well, I would not go so far as to say that. Your cooking skills leave much to be desired. But, I think I have taught you well in the ways of riding out,' he seemed content with that, so I was, too.
'Thank you,' I decided to let his comment on my cooking skills slip. He was actually right.
'You are welcome,' He said, still smirking.