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“You’re welcome,” Garlahna told her, once their shared laughter had eased. Then she waved one hand in a small, dismissive gesture.
“Don’t worry about it too much, Leeana. All of us have had to survive it somehow. In some ways, it’s almost like a kind of ceremony—a trial by combat, I guess you might call it—before we’re really war maids. Actually,” she wrinkled her nose as she gave Leeana a critical, evaluating glance, “I kind of suspect you’ll do better than most of us. At least you’ve got the legs for speed, which is more than I ever did. And,” she gri
Leeana felt the very tips of her ears heat and was just as happy her hair covered them. There was, she noted, just a hint of complacency in Garlahna’s voice.
“I hope I won’t disappoint you,” she said after a heartbeat. “But, not wanting to change the subject, or anything, I do have one other question.”
“Ask away,” Garlahna invited.
“What do I do about my horse?”
“Your horse?” Garlahna sounded surprised.
“Yes,” Leeana said. “My horse.”
“You’ve got a horse?” Garlahna shook her head.
“What’s so surprising about that?” Leeana asked, her voice just a bit cautious.
“Is it really yours?” Garlahna countered, and for some reason, she sounded even more cautious than Leeana had.
“Of course he’s mine. Why?”
“I mean, does he belong to you, or to Baron Tellian?”
“He—” Leeana began, then paused. “He was a gift from my—from … Baron Tellian,” she said after a long moment. “On my twelfth birthday.”
“Did he actually give you its ownership papers?” Garlahna’s tone had taken on more than a hint of sympathy, and Leeana shook her head.
“No,” she admitted, feeling tears sting the backs of her eyes. “Boots has been my horse for over two years now. Everyone knew it. I guess … I guess the Baron never saw any reason why he had to formally present me with his papers.”
“Then he’s not legally yours, Leeana,” Garlahna said gently. She shook her head and reached out to lay a sympathetic hand on Leeana’s shoulder. “It happens, sometimes,” she went on quietly. “Most of the time when someone gets here with a horse, there’s someone chasing her who can hardly wait to take it away again. And it always turns out that legally, she never owned it at all.”
Leeana stared at her while she tried to cope with a sudden, vicious stab of pain. She’d known she would be giving up her entire life, everything she’d ever owned and everyone she’d ever known. Yet, somehow, she’d never thought about giving up Boots. He was … he was part of her life. Her friend, not “just” her horse. And … and …
And part of all she’d left behind, she thought wretchedly. She’d managed somehow to overlook that. But perhaps she hadn’t overlooked it. Perhaps she’d just pretended that she had. Because deep inside, she’d known—she’d always known. It was just the sudde
“I—” She shook herself. “I never thought about that,” she said in a valiantly normal tone which fooled neither her nor Garlahna. “Do you think I could have a few minutes to tell him goodbye before they take him away?”
“We can ask,” Garlahna promised her. “But I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. Your fa—” It was her turn to stop herself short. Her eyes met Leeana’s, and she smiled apologetically. “Baron Tellian will probably be in a hurry to head home, Leeana.”
She paused again, then looked around, as if to make certain no one was within earshot, before she leaned closer to Leeana.
“I really shouldn’t tell you this,” she said conspiratorially, “but Baron Tellian was furious when the Mayor told him he couldn’t see you because of your probationary status. We’re not supposed to know about anything that went on between them, but one of my friends had an errand to run to Sharral for Hundred Erlis. She was in Sharral’s office when the Baron got here, and she could hear him through the door.”
She grimaced and rolled her eyes.
“Actually, I think everyone in the building could probably hear him! That happens pretty often in a case like this. In fact, when someone from a new war maid’s family turns up, they’re usually spitting lightning and farting thunder—” her eyes twinkled at something in Leeana’s expression “—as Hundred Erlis would put it,” she finished the sentence demurely. Then she shook her head.
“But that’s normally because they’re so pissed off that she’s run away from them and gotten to one of our towns before they could catch up with her. And that wasn’t why the Baron was mad. He was mad because they wouldn’t let the two of you say goodbye to each other. Or, that’s what my friend Tarisha said, anyway.”
Tears flooded Leeana’s eyes, and Garlahna squeezed her shoulder.
“The thing is,” she continued gently, “that I don’t think he’s going to stay even overnight. I don’t think he’ll want to be this close to you when you can’t even speak to each other. So I’m afraid he’ll be gone before you could say goodbye to your horse, either.”
“I see,” Leeana half-whispered. Then she wiped her eyes with her hand, quickly, almost angrily. “I see,” she repeated more normally. “And … thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome,” Garlahna said. “Just don’t tell Hundred Erlis I did!” She gri
“Oh, we couldn’t have that!” Leeana reassured her with a watery giggle.
“Thanks. And, I know it may not make you feel any better about your horse—Boots?—but it’s probably actually for the best, you know. I never had a horse of my own, but I know how much work they take. And how much they cost to feed!” Garlahna grimaced. “If you got to keep him, you’d have to take care of him yourself.”
Leeana felt herself stiffen slightly, and Garlahna shook her head quickly.
“I’m not saying you didn’t already do that at home. Although, I’d be willing to bet you probably didn’t have to muck out his stall yourself, did you?” she added shrewdly, and Leeana felt herself forced to shake her head.
“Well, you’d have to do that, too, here,” Garlahna told her. “And, believe me, you’re not going to have enough time to breathe, much less take care of horses, for the next couple of weeks! And even if you were, I’ll bet you don’t have any money with you. Or, at least, not enough to pay for a horse’s stable space and food.”
“No,” Leeana admitted, “I don’t. But,” she added gamely, “I’m sure I could find some way to earn it!”
“Welllll, I suppose it’s possible,” Garlahna allowed. “There’s always extra chores that need doing, and we can usually pick up the odd extra kormak for doing them. But like I say, it’s not like you’d have time to be doing them.”
“You’re probably right,” Leeana sighed.
“No ’probably’ about it,” Garlahna snorted. “I am right about it. But,” she continued more briskly, “we shouldn’t be standing here chattering away. Hundred Erlis will kick my backside if I don’t get you squared away before di