Now or Never

[Kreios]

kreios don't you tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash I’d not meant to make her nervous with my observations, and I’m glad when she smiles, clearly unperturbed. Despite my impressive size, I know that I am not especially handsome. ‘You’re easy on the eyes’, my older sister had said when pressed, ‘but you’ll probably never make the ladies swoon.’ That was more than enough for me, especially since being some sort of Casanova had never appealed to me in the slightest. I’d only wanted to make my parents proud, and being handsome was not a trait valued by the King of the Desert and the Queen of the Dale. For them, I needed to be strong – a fighter – and I am still learning that despite their too-early deaths. Naira answers my question readily, and while I do spare another glance to the pinto stallion in the distance, he still seems disinterested, so I turn my attention back to the palomino mare. She’s not heard of kingdoms, as I might have guessed. The word that she uses - tame - is unfamiliar, at least in the context that she uses it. There have been no humans in Beqanna for over one hundred years and the idea of domestication has never even occurred to me. How would a horse belong to anything but itself, or to their herd or kingdom? Whatever ‘tame’ is, it does not appear to have made Naira happy, if her mumbled words and sigh were any clue. “You should be what you want,” I tell her, and it does not occur to me that perhaps I should make an attempt at following my own advice from time to time. I am still somewhat curious about her life before coming here, but I can tell that it is not a pleasant memory, and do not prove. Instead, I do my best to do as she has asked and tell her about my home. “The Dewdrop Desert is a mythical kingdom. It is ruled by two queens, Pevensie and Camrynn. There are two castes, one is the army and the other is diplomacy. I sort of grew up there, and though it is in a desert, there is plenty of water at the oases, and everyone is very kind.” That is true in my experience anyway, and I’ve never heard of anyone actually disliking the kingdom. “And my herdland, the Orange Country, is right on the edge of the Desert. It’s small – just myself and two other mares – but it’s beautiful there.” I want to give both places equal praise, since they are both my homes. I do spend most of my nights in the Country, but I serve the Desert and am there training and patrolling during the day. I am fortunate that it is a short climb up the canyon from one to the next. “If you’d like, I could show you them both?” As I ask, the other stallion decides to stand and begin running. At first I think that he is finally coming to converse, but then he simply gallops right past us and leaps over the river. I turn my gaze back to Naira, clearly bewildered at what he’s trying to do. He starts to graze again, this time a little closer than before, but with no sign that he intends to talk. “do you need some help?” I finally say, pitching my voice so that it carries across the distance between myself and the other stallion. Perhaps there is something the matter with him, and he needs assistance. I can’t imagine what it is though, and I look back at Naira, waiting to see what she has to say to my earlier offer.