by Trisha Lynn
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The stables were grander then she'd ever thought. Something you would see prized derby winning horses in back in the human realm. With post and beam ceilings, fine huge wood stalls, carvings of horses and leaves etched into each stall. Fancy wooden name plates on each individual sliding stall gate. Absolutely stunning.
They did a walk through the aisles, and then went down to the huge pastures. Vivid green grass, giant maples and willow trees adorned each fenced area. They made their way across the pastures, the dirt paths shaded and even. They moved towards the land bridge towards the huge willow that loomed on the hillside.
As they made their way past the final pasture, lilacs bloomed along its corner fence line, a large bay horse trotted closer. He had one white sock on his front left leg and a small snip of white on his muzzle. He let out a little whinny and trotted up to the fence line, extending his head over. He had soft brown eyes, and an ebony mane. Adeila couldn't help herself she walked over and tentatively ran a hand along the bays muzzle.
Sorryn walked up and petted the horses' neck. “This is Gulliver. He's one of the King's Kesmeldian geldings. He uses him for hunting now and again, but he's mainly just a companion horse for the mares. He's a feisty guy, but smart as a whip and bomb proof. You can do absolutely anything with him, and he'll go for it. Jumping, water, hunting, whatever. Loki and I have hunted a time or two with him, and he's quite impressive.” Sorryn cocked his head at her. “I know you've bonded with a Unicorn and all, but are the equestrian type, Princess?”
Adeila shrugged a shoulder. “I've ridden a few times if that is what you’re asking, but I've never really been given the chance to ride much. My parents were pretty much against animals. I only know how to ride because my best friends Mom taught me.”
Sorryn made a grimace, and shook his head. “Pity, you seem like the animal loving type. You should know that your father absolutely loves to ride, and you are more than welcome to take any of the horses out.”
She smiled politely but knew that most likely after her little display this morning, she'd be kept on a bit of a tighter leash from here on out whilst in the Faerie realm.
Her eyes sought Loki who stood apart from them; his eyes were distant and unfocused. The gelding nudged at her, and she laid her cheek against his, running her hand up into his long, coarse mane. She loved the smell of horse, hay, and the earthy scent that swirled around them. The horses' calm demeanor gave her some peace. Sorryn gave him one final pat, touched her shoulder and walked away. Adeila sighed, gave the horse a kiss on his velvety muzzle. He nickered a soft goodbye and trotted away, coal black tail held high. She rejoined the group, listening to the geldings hoof beats pound along the grass to meet back with his lady friends.
The walk back through the village was magical. They'd walked all throughout the rivers and waterfalls and gardens when they left the pastures. They decided not to show her the Grandmother willow. They felt, and Loki agreed, it was something that her parents should be showing her.
They'd shown her the raw natural beauty of the surrounding lands around the village but now as darkness stretched across Faerie, lights began fluttering to life. Night within the Faerie realm, she decided, was something to be hold on a whole different level. The harmonious and haunting sound of flutes, possibly banjos, harps, mixed with a piano like sound floated across the village. The music drifted from the branches, as if they themselves were singing. Adeila couldn't help but feel the pull of the gentle beat. She had to resist the urge to twirl to the slow, throaty, haunting sound.
The lights in the gardens that morning, as she'd made her window escape, had been pretty amazing, but this was something entirely different. Magical in every sense of the word. Shop lights winked to life, market stalls had strings of glowing orbs hanging off them, lanterns graced the cobblestone roads, their magical flames alight inside, and strings of all different sized glass, each infused with a tiny magical glow, were strung up across the bridges that led from one tree top home to the other. It was a cascade of lights and fluttering glow bugs. Once she almost would have bet money that she saw a tiny little person with fluttery wings, but refused to ask about it.
Luckily she didn't have to. Kami put out her hand and one perched on her palm. When they both stopped and looked, it was definitely male with very sharp cheekbones, tipped ears, no shirt and beautiful blue tinged wings. His glowing made it hard to make out intricate features, other than he was male and some blurred facial features.
“Pixies.” Kami said it to Adeila. The pixie in question made a perverted gesture with his hips to Kami's thumb and she burst out laughing. “They are mischievous and pervy little buggers.”
Sorryn scoffed at the little man and the girls laughs, but a beautiful pixie perched herself on his shoulder, and captured his attention. Loki continued to walk a few feet ahead, and turned back towards them, arms over his chest. The pixies must have picked up on his mood because they did not even attempt to land on him.
One landed on Adeila and she watched her for several moments, before moving and causing her to flutter away. Adeila walked to Loki, his eyes drifted to hers and she could see their golden coloring had yet to return to normal.
“Is everything okay?”
He let out a very long breath. “It will be.” He gave her a very thin smile, as the other two caught up to them.
They made the rest of the trip to the castle grounds in useless chatter. Primarily Sorryn and Kami chattering about trials, classes and missions. Adeila would pop a question in now and again, Loki was completely silent.
.~.
“Could we invite Kami and Sorryn to have dinner with us?” Adeila asked her father upon seeing her parents when they entered the castle.
The King looked taken aback, but recovered quickly and nodded. “If that is what you wish, my dearest, then so be it.”
Surprised at his agreement, she simply said, “Thank you.”
“Meet us in the dining hall in half of an hour, you can tell us all about your tour.”
She only nodded. Well, tell him about most of the tour, anyway, she thought. She'd certainly be leaving out the Marla part, as she was quite sure the rest of them would as well.
Loki bowed briefly to her. “I will meet you back in the dining hall in half an hour's time.”
She swallowed. “Where are you going to be?” She had no clue why, but she really didn't want to leave him alone. Nor did she want to be alone.
He cocked his head. “I'm going to check in on some of my team, as a group are leaving tomorrow morning for a mission and then to my rooms. Is everything okay, Princess?”
She pursed her lips. No, I'm worried that psycho put some weird voodoo curse on you or something and it's freaking me out!
“Why don't you show me your room? I bet it's so cool!” Kami came to her rescue of the awkward encounter. Adeila smiled to the girl, but her eyes remained on Loki's for several moments.
She turned to Kami. “Yes, that would be great.” She turned again to Loki who was still watching her. “Um, okay, see you at dinner.” She nodded her head to Loki, and after another moment of studying her he turned on his heel and fled in the opposite direction. Sorryn gave her a bow, a silly grin and went after Loki.
“Thanks, Kami.”
“No problem, I'll see you at dinner.”
“Wait, don't you want to see my room?”
“I mean, yeah, but... I was just...”
Adeila rolled her eyes, and grabbed the girls arm. “Let's go.”
