"Are you sure you won't be in too much trouble for coming with me?" Leal asked Jae once the two of them were out of the house, untethering Leal's mare from a tree at the end of the entrance path before turning towards the stables.
"Well," Jae bit her lip, "The colonel probably won't be too pleased with me, but I'm willing to take my chances."
Leal gave her a skeptical look, to which Jae responded with a scoff, rolling her eyes.
"Oh come now, you're the one who asked. Are you going to try to prevent me from having at least a somewhat eventful day as well?"
"No, of course not…" Leal gave her an apologetic smile. "Though I'd rather you not get into trouble because of me. I'm hardly worth it."
"Sir, if I get into trouble, it is by my own doing." Jae responded shaking her head, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth as she and Leal arrived at the stables where Morgana stood in her stall, munching on oats.
Looking up with a mouthful of food, the Friesian finished eating and gave a soft neigh to her mistress before eyeing Leal's mare in curiosity as the three approached her stall and Jae stepped inside, grabbing some brushes as she went for a quick grooming. As soon as the shine of Morgana's coat was to her liking, Jae saddled and bridled her with ease, leading the mare out of the stall, who turned towards Leal and snorted, moving her body in an attempt to stand between him and Jae, but the latter pulled her gently back.
"I believe your lovely mare here is a might bit protective of you." Leal chuckled before turning his attention back to the Friesian. "It's all right," He said coaxingly, "I won't hurt you, or your mistress."
Morgana continued to move back, pinning her ears as she looked at him with mistrust.
Leal frowned slightly and pulled back to dig around in his horse's saddlebags and pulled out a large red apple and a knife. Cutting off a small slice, he again, stepped towards Morgana, holding the apple out before him while his own mount snorted and looked at the apple slice longingly.
"Oh Raissa, you'll get yours later, I promise you."
Raissa relented though still stared at the apple in her master's hand as he continued to approach Morgana. The mare had ceased to retreat back but was still looking at him with dark, wary eyes.
"Come here… It's all right, girl..." Leal continued his coaxing.
Jae gave Morgana a gentle nudge.
"Go on, Morgana…" She patted the mare reassuringly. "He's not going to hurt us."
The Friesian hesitated, and then made a cautious step forward.
"Good girl, Morgana…" Leal smiled encouragingly at her but made no further steps forward; instead, he waited for her to come to him.
Morgana took another step and then another, the wariness leaving her eyes as she finally accepted the apple slice, munching on it happily while Leal gave her a gentle pat on the nose.
"There's a good girl." He smiled at her with warm brown eyes.
Jae watched the two of them with a smile that turned into a smirk when Raissa snorted, looking over at Morgana with jealous eyes but the other mare paid her no heed.
"Seems like you've finally managed to win someone over. Much to your mount's chagrin, I'm sure."
Leal chuckled, turning his gaze to Raissa, who snorted at him, stamping her front left foot.
"Oh hush, you nasty nag.." He shook his head smiling before holding out the rest of the apple for Raissa. "You can have yours too."
Mounting Morgana, Jae gave the mare an affectionate pat on the neck before asking Leal, "So, shall we begin?"
"I believe so." Leal nodded, giving her a boyish grin before mounting his mare and turning her towards the entrance of the stables. "Shall I pick the trail or would you rather choose where we go?"
Jae shrugged in response.
"I honestly don't mind, though just to make things easier, why don't you lead?"
"Very well. Though I can't promise I know where all of these trails end up. I only arrived here days ago and haven't had much time for scouting the terrain, so to speak."
Jae chuckled.
"Neither have I."
Guiding their horses out of the stable, Jae and Leal started for the main road at a walk.
"So, have you decided where to go?" Jae asked looking around to make sure the colonel wasn't anywhere near or on the road.
"Well, there are trails behind Edward's home, and I'm sure he won't mind if we do a bit of exploring." Leal turned Raissa to the left, heading further down the road with Jae following closely behind, looking every so often over her shoulder to be sure that no one was around. But the road remained peacefully desolate as they turned up a gravel path lined with trees that lead up to an elegant Georgian-style home.
"Impressive…" Jae paused momentarily to take in the appearance of her surroundings.
"Ah yes. He does do well for himself. But then again, would anything less be expected?" Leal asked with a grin.
Jae laughed at this and replied, "No. Not unless you're a fool. It seems all of them have done well for themselves. Though I've not met Thomas. All I've gathered about the second eldest is that he and Edward share a practice together and that while he's nowhere near as social as Peter and even slightly less so than Edward, he's not as cold and intimidating as the colonel either. So I guess that would put him in between on the scale of sociability."
"He can be a bit gruff and blunt about things when he's in a mood, but he's good company once he warms up. " Leal added. "But yes, you certainly could say he's in between the extremes when it comes to the brothers' social graces."
"Interesting… so, I take it you know the brothers quite well; but of course, you were neighbours." Jae spoke.
Leal nodded.
"I have. Our families were close, at least, for a while. Yet I believe I've worn out my welcome with some of them."
Leal fell silent, taking the two of them around the back of the Georgian home and into the woods behind it, guiding Raissa onto a path of firm, packed earth with Jae following closely behind, momentarily observing a squirrel skitter amongst the boughs of a tall, thick-trunked tree.
"So, how long will you be visiting the colonel?" Leal asked, pulling Jae away from the squirrel. "I mean, you are visiting, are you not?"
Jae bit her lip, feeling her ears begin to grow hot and red.
Wow, this is um, tricky…. Come on think of something!
"Well, Col. Tavington is…. He's my father."
"Oh…" Leal's eyebrows rose though he didn't elaborate on his thoughts to her. "Well then, it's no wonder why he was so eager to take you away from me when I brought you back after the incident in the woods. He wouldn't even allow me to carry you into the house." He finished with a chuckle, leading his mount along the path at an easy walk.
"Yes, he is…protective, isn't he?" Jae asked as she followed slightly behind him; he had been only partially correct on his reasoning. But of course, she wasn't about to elaborate on why her surrogate father felt the need to be so watchful of her every happening.
Leal nodded.
"Though I guess it's an old habit anyway. Not necessarily a military one though. This one stems deeper than that, though leading a militaristic life for so long certainly did nothing to relax it."
"Certainly not." Jae agreed before branching to a different subject.
"So, the colonel tells me that you were an old family friend."
"Yes, I suppose so. I spent quite a lot of time with the brothers when I was growing up, though I spent more of my time with Peter and Edward than the other two. Edward was always the calm one of the bunch and Peter was closest to me in age, though he is two years my senior. Our parents were all members of the aristocracy and were often away, attending parties, balls, and other social gatherings for members of the high class. Many times, we also attended the outings, though if we were lucky, we stayed home, getting into trouble and driving whatever servants who had been charged with our care, mad."
"Sounds like good fun."
Leal gave a light laugh.
"It most certainly was." He grinned, a nostalgic glint creeping into his dark eyes. "Those were probably some of my best years. Carefree, with endless adventure…"
"And then, of course, you all grew up." Jae couldn't help but grin impishly while Leal gave a quiet chuckle.
"Indeed, we did, however unfortunate that may have been. Though I still would like to believe all of us turned out to be at least halfway decent people. But it might just be wistful thinking." Leal chuckled. "Peter still seems ever the mischievous devil that he's always been and Col. Tavington? Well, he's still as standoffish as he's ever been. A bit less bite to him, perhaps, though it's more likely that he's managed to keep it under wraps when he needs to. Yet he's done quite well for himself, I must say. For a while, I doubt anyone back home thought he'd get anywhere other than six feet below the earth in some unceremonious grave for all of the nastiness he was brewing in the war. Thankfully, he ended up straightening out."
"He did." Jae agreed.
Leal nodded.
"Though even when he was younger, he was a mischief maker, and when paired with his brother, Peter…. Well, let's just say that they spent more time in trouble than out of it and that the servants charged with their care changed on a number of occasions. Ah yes, the two always did enjoy their escapades to the highest degree, and they delighted in pretending adventures of all sorts."
"Adventures…" Jae shook her head and smiled. "Are you saying that straight-laced, stiff, Col. Tavington was a dreamer?"
Leal smirked, looking back at her with laughing brown eyes.
"Perhaps. He spent at least one summer when he was about ten, dreaming that he was a wild gypsy, out to seek revenge on a witch who had cursed him and his brother, turning their fortunes to rubble. Unfortunately for my eldest sister, Ainsley, who was twelve at the time, our dear Tavington and Peter decided to make her their 'witch'. My other sister, Addison, who was the same age as Will, was lucky enough to never really be the target of any nasty games whenever the two were up to their antics. She spent most of her time locking herself in one of the many rooms in our family estate, her mind elsewhere in whatever book she decided to open. Meanwhile, Ainsley would end up in the most surly of moods when the brothers visited."
"Not surprisingly, I'm sure." Jae smirked while Morgana snorted before whinnying and shaking her head.
"No, not at all. In fact, I distinctly remember one afternoon when Ainsley had gone outside with Mother in the gardens while the brothers were over visiting. Will and Peter had run off someplace while I was playing with the family terrier, Dasher, leaving me alone in the back of the estate. So of course, I went looking for them with Dasher close behind, and found them in Ainsley's room, snickering while Will held a grey field mouse by the tail and dangled it between them." Leal shook his head, rolling his eyes though he still gave a small smile at the memory. "It was a horrid thing that they were planning to do, let the mouse run about in Ainsley's room with the door closed. And even if I might have enjoyed watching my already uptight sister wind herself up even more, I still didn't want to get into trouble, for I was already not in my mother's graces for an earlier incident that morning involving a healthily sized bullfrog."
"A bullfrog?" Jae's eyebrows rose slightly as she gave Leal an odd look. "So the brothers weren't the only sprites then…"
"Well no, but I had limits. I only held it up for Ainsley to see, but it jumped out of my hands and landed in her lap, eliciting a frightful scream from my sister, which landed me in my room for an hour."
"Are you sure you didn't just throw it at her?" Jae smirked.
"Of course I didn't!" Leal replied in an indignant tone, puffing his chest out the slightest bit. "I wouldn't have needed to throw it at her to receive a response; Ainsley loathed toads and frogs. But she hated mice worst of all. And I would have hated to be blamed for the little plan the two 'gypsies' had come up with to go into action. So, I told them that they weren't allowed in my sister's room and that they had to take the mouse outside. To my surprise, they agreed, however reluctantly and followed me out of the room, and down the stairs, where Peter collided with Ainsley on the way down when she was coming inside from the gardens. He quickly muttered an apology while his brother slipped the wriggling mouse into one of her dress pockets right in front of me, smirking all the while. I would have said something except for the fact that before I could, Ainsley let out a shriek so loud that I'm quite sure Father could hear it from all the way in his study, downstairs on the other end of the house."
Jae snorted with laughter, trying to cover it up to no avail. The mental image of two young Tavington boys terrorizing Leal's older sister was too amusing for her to keep silent about. And thankfully when she looked up, Leal was smirking and chuckling as well.
"Well at least you're laughing too, lest I become horribly embarrassed." Jae spoke, still laughing.
"There is no need for embarrassment; it was terribly amusing, even if I couldn't laugh at the time. But it only got funnier when Ainsley pulled the frightened little mouse from her pocket, grabbed Will, who was only a tiny bit smaller than she was, and stuffed the mouse down the back of his new white shirt."
Jae winced at the thought but smirked back at Leal who continued on with the story.
"Oh yes, my sister can most assuredly hold her own. And poor Will ended up with scratches all up and down his back and a bite on his left forefinger when he tried to pull the mouse out of his shirt. Though I'd be a fool to say he didn't deserve it." Leal finished, shaking his head while Jae grinned.
"That is some tale to tell. The mighty Butcher, defeated at age ten, by a young girl and a grey field mouse." She chortled at the visual the scene gave her.
"Most definitely." Leal agreed with a nod as he looked briefly behind him, beyond Jae and down the path, causing her to look as well.
"Something the matter?" Jae asked, knitting her brows together and pulling Morgana up to a stop.
"No, I don't believe so." Leal shook his head. "My apologies; I just sometimes get the feel as if I'm being watched in these woods. They're beautiful, really. I could wander around in them for days, but there are moments where there's just something a bit eerie about them. I know I've hardly had the time to go riding in them, but on the few times I have, there were moments where everything seemed to go quiet; the birds would stop chirping, the squirrels would stop chasing one another up trees… And then certain sounds would seem magnified. The rustling of the tree boughs would become loud and abrasive. I could hear Raissa chomping on her bit. Even her footsteps would seem like thunder. But of course, when I come to my senses, Raissa would still be calm, and nothing would be there. Besides, I'm sure the brothers have gone riding through these paths, and they seem safe enough. Nevermind, I shouldn't be worrying you about it. It is probably just my own paranoia, coupled with the fact that I'm not necessarily the most welcome guest…" Leal finished with a wry smile. "I'm sorry; I suppose the open dislike is beginning to wear on me. I don't receive it from Edward, obviously. I did expect tension from the colonel, but good lord, that man can make his disdain reverberate to near impossible lengths!" He said in an exasperated tone. "Peter is amiable enough, though I noticed that even he was watching with a mistrusting eye when we left. And now that they're completely out of sight, I still feel as if I'm being observed under a magnifier."
"Well at least it is just paranoia. Honestly, it's an effort for me just to get some alone time." Jae said with an edgy tone. "I'd love to simply have an hour on my own without getting into trouble."
Leal bit his lip, feeling the slightest bit of discomfort creep into him.
"Perhaps we should go back then." He suggested, the corners of his lips turned downward.
"Are you honestly that afraid of the colonel?" Jae asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"Miss Jae, that is not the point." Leal replied with a sigh, reining Raissa to a complete halt, looking down the path once more. "You speak of wanting to just be left alone for a while and here we are…."
"Well, you asked for company, did you not?" Jae narrowed her eyes in a scrutinizing manner at him.
"I did…" Leal conceded, averting his gaze. "But perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I shouldn't have simply let you come." He finished and added before Jae could protest, "Not that I didn't enjoy it. I know I was the one who did most of the talking, but it was a pleasure to have your company. Still, I'd rather not run the risk any further of getting you into a bind with Colonel Tavington if he was to find out. I'm sure your alone time would be the first thing to go."
Jae, ever the one to protest, opened her mouth to retort, but closed it, pursing her lips instead. All she had wanted was to get away from everyone in the house, and out of the spotlight for a while, even if it meant disobedience. But Leal did have a point; if her guardian were to find out that she'd gone riding with someone he'd deemed unwelcome in his home, she'd have significantly less time to herself.
"All right. Let's go home..." She said in a resigned voice.
"But what of your things? Aren't they still at Peter's?" Leal questioned.
"Yes…" Jae frowned, furrowing her brow before letting out a sigh. "I'll just tell him that I got distracted and forgot my bag. I don't have time to go back to get it; he's expecting us at noon, no later. We've already ridden a good deal into the woods on this path."
Leal wet his lower lip with his tongue, looking over and down at Jae uncertainly.
"If you say so…"
"I do." Jae replied firmly. "We'll just go from here..."
Instead of doubling back the way they came, Jae and Leal left only to find another path that Leal knew would take them to Col. Tavington's house without running the risk of being seen directly on the main road. It took more time and though Jae reasoned that they might be a little on the later side, she was still grateful for it.
"Ah yes," Leal pointed further ahead of them at an adjoining path, "I believe that is where you had your tumble…"
Jae's face turned bright red.
"Lovely." She managed through a tight-lipped grimace. "Now you'll just remember me as the girl who fell off her horse."
Leal sniggered.
"Well then on the positive end of things, at least I'd still remember you." He replied smugly. "You could have simply been the girl who rode along the trail somewhere in front of me and then where would we be? It's easily forgettable."
Jae shook her head, giving Leal something between a smirk and a smile.
"Are you trying to be charming?" She asked.
"Hardly… If I try to be charming, I can't take myself seriously." Replied Leal with a laugh.
Minutes later, the two were at the end of the path, facing the back end of the stables and pastures.
"I suppose you know how to find your way from here… I should probably be heading back."
"I do." Jae replied with a soft laugh. "Well, good bye, and good day to you…"
With that, she continued on towards the stables while Leal turned Raissa back on the path and disappeared into the trees.
"Well that was refreshing, wasn't it, Morgana?" Jae dismounted the Friesian as she reached the stables, taking the reins in her hand and leading Morgana to her stall. "Nice to just get away for a while, even if we did have to be careful of getting caught…"
"Caught? By whom?"
Jae's mouth went dry as Col. Tavington stepped out from a corner of Morgana's stall looking none too pleased with her.
"You're late… Where are your things?" He asked in the same cold and displeased tone he had used before while taking Morgana's reins.
Jae swallowed hard but no response came out.
"Ah, enjoying your little jaunt with Master Garrick so much that you left them at Peter's? Well thankfully for you, my dear, your sister brought them home. You know Jae, it's quite interesting how you seem willing enough to follow my orders, but as soon as you're away, it is as if nothing I said applies."
"That is not a fair remark." Jae spoke through clenched teeth, her grey eyes narrowed. "You know just as well as I do that if I hadn't disobeyed during certain past situations, it might have cost you your job, or worse."
"Perhaps, but even now, when I'm clearly not in danger of losing my job or having my status tarnished, you continue to disobey. Why is that? Do you find some amusement in going behind my back, riding around with someone whom I've made it clear, is not welcome in my home?"
"It was only a ride! A bit of fresh air!" Jae hissed.
"I didn't know where you were!" The colonel snapped, grabbing her arm. "The twins and your sister only said that you had gone out for a ride with Leal but didn't know where you had gone off to…We've more than ten trails behind my property alone, and more leading down towards Peter's. All of them go into deep parts of the woods. Tell me, where was I to begin looking?" He demanded, his voice rising.
"Maybe you shouldn't have bothered and just reasoned that I would be fine on my own!" Jae seethed.
"Oh yes, that worked out perfectly last time." Col. Tavington retorted, rolling his eyes. "To the house with you, and straight to your room."
"I'm not twelve!" Jae shot, her eyes glittering in anger.
"Really? Because this morning's events put you in a light that would say otherwise." The colonel responded, with a harsh glare. "Now, to the house, and to your room."