“His haunches look strong, indeed,” said Alderic, “But I would like to look at his teeth for myself. I suppose he is broken to the saddle?”
“Yes, though father was at first intending to make a draft-horse of him; he is too big for most riders,” she said, “But you are tall, you would need a large horse. Ruyven broke him to the bridle, but I myself have ridden him – although,” she said, with a mischievous smile, “Father does not know it, and you need not tell him.”
“And you can handle him, damisela?” Alderic looked incredulous.
“I will not ride him before all these people to prove it,” she said, “but I would not stoop to lie about it to you, and-” she met his eyes briefly, “I think perhaps you would know if I did.”
“That I would, Romilly,” he said gravely.
“I give you my word, the horse is good-tempered enough, but he wants firm handling,” she said, “I think perhaps he has a sense of humor – if a horse can laugh, I would swear I have seen him laugh at people who think they need only clamber on a horse and let him do all the work, and he had Darren off in two minutes; but my father can ride him without even a bridle, only a saddle and halter; because The MacAran knows how to make him, or any horse, behave.”
“Aye, and I am told you have the same gift,” he said. “Well, I will make your father an offer for him; would he take my horse in trade, do you think?”
“Oh, yes, he has always need of cheaply-priced horseflesh, to sell to farmers and such,” she said, “Men who will use their horses well, but cannot afford much in the way of stables. One of our old mares, no longer young enough to carry active young folk who would be in the saddle all day, he gave for almost nothing to an elderly man who lives nearby, who was too poor to buy a good horse, just so that the old horse might live out her life in a good home and have only light work. No doubt he would do the same for your horse – is she very old?”
“No,” Alderic said, “but I must be into the Hellers when summer comes, and even in summertime it takes a strong horse to ride such trails.”
“Into the far Hellers?” She wondered what would take him into the almost-impassable mountain ranges in the summer, but he turned the subject deftly before she could ask.
“I had not expected to find a young woman such a judge of horseflesh – how came you to know so much?”
“I am a MacAran, sir; I have worked at my father’s side since I was old enough to follow him about the stables, and when Ruyven left-” she broke off, unable to say to anyone outside the family that her oldest brother’s defection had left her father with no one but paid help to share his love of the animals he bred and trained. Yet she sensed that he understood her, for he smiled in sympathy.
“I like your father,” Alderic said, “He is harsh, yes, but he is just, and he speaks freely to his children.”
“Does not your father?”
Alderic shook his head. “I have hardly had speech with my father half a dozen times since I was out of short dresses. My mother was wedded to him in a dynastic marriage, and there was little love to lose between them; I doubt they have said a civil word to one another since my sister was conceived, and now they dwell in separate houses and meet formally a few times a year, no more. My father is a kindly man, I suppose, but I think he cannot look on my face without seeing my mother’s features, and so he has always been ill at ease with me. Even as a babe I called him sir, and have hardly spoken with him since I was grown to man’s size.”
“That cannot have been so long ago,” Romilly teased, but he said, with a poignancy that stopped her teasing cold, “Still, I envy you; I have seen Rael climb without fear into his father’s lap – I cannot remember that I ever did so with my father, but you can go to your father, speak with him freely, he treats you almost as a friend and listens when you speak. Even though my father is high in-” Alderic stopped himself short, and there was a moment of awkward silence before he finished weakly, “High in station and honor, I wish I need not always address him as My Lord. I swear I would trade fathers with you at any moment.”