"Hyaaa!" Lexa yelled.
"You're not even moving, Lexa," Anya said. In fact, Lexa was not even on her horse yet. She was standing on the stump, staring up at the brown mare, who stood there quietly, flicking her tail back and forth.
"Sorry," Lexa said, turning to Anya. "I got a little carried away."
"That's ok, this is your first time on a horse. I understand," Anya said. "Now. Let's try this again. Right foot in the stirrup, swing your left foot over. Ok?"
Lexa nodded. It was hard - she was getting on a horse that she had never ridden before, on a saddle that wasn't hers, wearing shoes with heels that were borrowed from one of the other geda. Her pants were borrowed from Anya. In fact, the only thing she had with her that was hers was her bow and her shirt.
Lexa stood on the stump. The mare was so large they had to pull her up to a stump or a fallen log to get Lexa on top of the horse. She took a deep breath, then put her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over. Suddenly she was looking down at Anya.
"See? That wasn't so bad," Anya said, smiling. "Now. You know the drill. Sit back in the saddle to stop your horse, and pull back on the reign, tap your heels on her sides to get her moving. Grip with your knees, not your hands. Remember, you only start out using the reigns. After awhile you don't get to use them - you'll be too busy with weapons in your hands."
Lexa nodded, and watched Anya smoothly mount her own horse. Lexa's mare stood still. At the very least Lexa could tell the training on her horse had been impeccable. The stable hands, after all, were one of the most respected members of the community...well, everyone was, but everyone looked up to the stable hands.
"We're going to start out nice and slow with a walk," Anya said, tapping her horse smartly with her heels. Levi started up immediately, and Anya spun him in a wide circle. Lexa watched - her first was using the reigns to show Lexa what to do, but Lexa could tell Anya was guiding her horse with her hips and her legs.
"Now it's your turn," Anya said. "Walk your mare in a circle."
Lexa nodded, and tapped her heels gently against her mare's sides. The mare started walking. Lexa threw out her arms to keep her balance as the horse moved forward.
"Let your hips move with her," Anya said. "Don't sit so stiff. You're just an extension of her."
Lexa settled into the saddle as she felt her center of gravity shift to the horse. She kept her heels down, just like Lexa told her, and felt her hips sway back and forth with the gentle amble of the mare. Her heart was racing, but she tried to keep her breath even. Lexa knew horses could sense when people were nervous and weren't in control. She pulled out the reigns to the left, walking her horse in a large counterclockwise circle, and getting back to where Anya was.
"That wasn't so hard, was it," Anya said. Lexa nodded. "Now. Follow me." Anya started walking her stallion forwards, and Lexa tapped her mare to follow. They ambled past the paddock fence and back into the forest. The grounders had cleared the large field back when they had first settled the area so the horses could have a large area to graze and exercise. The whole field was surrounded by a short wooden fence, and then opened back into the woods. It was a little ways from the village itself.
Lexa rode her horse as she plodded along behind Anya's. It got kind of boring after awhile, but Lexa didn't speak up, instead just slumping on the horse until -
"Bored?" Anya said.
Lexa sighed. Anya was not only aware enough to pick up on her energy, she would know instantly if she lied as well. "A little."
Anya nodded from up front. "It's boring at first, just walking. But we have to master the basics before we can get to the good stuff. Like swordwork, like strategy, like anything. You just have to be patient. Don't you remember your first month with me?"
"Yeah," Lexa said. "You never spoke to me."
"And you were forced to teach yourself and learn yourself and entertain yourself," Anya said. "That's why I did that. There will be days we spend together where it will feel like we barely had enough time to do everything, and perhaps we didn't it was so jam-packed with things. There will be some days when we'll have to fight, and it won't be pretty. But there will also be days, like this one, where there isn't a whole lot to do. And those are the days you have to remember the first thing that I taught you. Teach yourself. Find what you can use in that moment and make it your own."
Lexa nodded. But it still didn't change the fact that the ride was long and kind of boring. But luckily they got back to camp and practiced archery for a while, which got Lexa's blood flowing again. And then they practiced tree climbing, and Anya even let Lexa smear ash over her face for fake warpaint to camouflage into the trees better. All in all, when they walked back into the village that night as night began to fall, Lexa was feeling a lot better than that morning, and she bragged about it to all the other seconds.
"You got to ride a horse?" Ophus and Alana said together, while Reed chimed in with "No fair, you barely started archery!" at the same time that Gabe and Yunto said a variation of "She hasn't even started swordwork yet!" and Costia sat wide-eyed and asked, "Does it have a name? Is it a he or a she? Did you feel the connection?"
Lexa laughed. "She doesn't have a name yet, but yes, she was the last horse in the stable and I felt it. She's eleven years old!"
"What did it feel like?" Costia asked in a hushed voice.
"It was..." Lexa trailed off as she remembered picking out the mare, the intuition of knowing that it was the right choice, the warm feeling she got when she looked into the mare's eyes. "Well...you'll know it when you feel it."
"So how was riding?" asked Yontu from the stump across the log circle.
"Actually, it's not too interesting yet," Lexa admitted. The seconds' faces fell. "But only because you start at a walk. I'm sure when we start to canter and gallop, that's gonna get interesting. And I can't wait to start archery from horseback." Lexa mimed shooting a bow and arrow.
The other seconds laughed, and then the fights started. Lexa was called to fight Yontu, and barely lost, only just because she blinked at the exact wrong moment and he caught her in an uppercut that sent her careening to the ground, but then got her pebble back against Reed by knocking him over with a foot sweep. She and Costia sat next to each other and watched Alana and Sanse fight it out.
"I can't wait until I get a horse, if I even make a connection," Costia said with her chin on her hands, looking up at the stars but not really seeing anything, too busy imagining riding a horse.
"I think you will," Lexa said. "There are quite a few horses.
"You have no idea how jealous I am of you," Costia said with a sigh, and turned to look at Lexa. Their eyes met for a moment, and Lexa felt a warm feeling not unlike how she felt with her horse spread just below her stomach. She laughed nervously, and looked away.
"I mean, I haven't started any melee combat. At this rate I probably won't even pick up a spear until I reach ten and five, much less a sword...
"Well, how old are you now?" Costia said. "We're all about the same age."
"I'm ten," Lexa said. "But I'll be ten and one at the next moon."
"I'm ten and one," Costia said with a grin. "I turned a year a few weeks ago."
"Well, welll now," Lexa said and the two girls giggled. "I'll catch up soon enough."
"Can you even imagine being as old as our firsts?" asked Costia. "They're so old...like, twenty and three and twenty and four..."
"Well, the heda is even older, he must be at least sixty..." Lexa said. "We'll be there soon enough. We're gonna start growing so fast we'll be taller than our firsts. And stronger."
"I'd like to see that," Costia said with a smirk. "We'll be there soon." Then Sanse, who had just knocked over Alana with a punch to the ribs, called Costia over to fight Janus.