At Your Service

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 24th February 2007

Characters: Penryn, Thalia
Description: Penryn comes to Thalia's rescue after her runner, Nipper, goes lame
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 2, day 16 of Turn 4

Nipper's gait changed the moment they hit the road. Thalia frowned and reined the mare in from a trot to a walk and it became more pronounced - Nipper was limping. Thalia looked over her shoulder: the road stretched back and around a corner, disappearing behind thick green trees and thorny underbrush as it headed down the mountain to the next nearest Holding. She looked on ahead: the road wound its way toward the cleft in the mountains that held Garnet Valley Hold. By runner, it would take another candlemark and a half to get back. On foot... Thalia sighed. "Oh Nipper, why couldn't you have waited until we were closer?!"

The mare snorted and shifted her weight off her sore leg as Thalia dismounted. The Lady suppressed a sneeze at the dust she kicked up as she hit the gravel and brought the reins over her runner's head. It was an indication of how sore Nipper was that she didn't try to bite her rider as she did so. It was the left hind leg that she seemed to be favouring, so Thalia bent over to pick it up and peer at the hoof. It was packed with black mud and she couldn't see a problem, but it obviously bothered Nipper-- "Ouch!"

Nipper shied away at the sound as Thalia lost her balance and went crashing ignominiously onto the road. The stupid runner had _bit_
her!
On the bottom! "I hate you!" Thalia hissed, then scrambled to her feet to chase after the wayward mare. Her hands throbbed and when she caught the reins she left a small smear of blood behind. She had already started walking in the direction of the Hold when a small buggy turned the bend and came into sight behind her. The driver spurred his runner on when he caught sight of the pair. He recognized them instantly. "Lady Thalia, are you all right?" Penryn reigned in his runner as he come up along side.

"I must look a sight, don't I?" Thalia said, a little sheepishly.
Nipper was still limping but she'd stopped trying to take a chunk out of Thalia's arm. Of all the people to find her while she was such a wreck... **He's married!** "I'm fine, thank you, but my runner's limping."

The Steward stepped down beside her. "Can I help? You know you really shouldn't be walking out here alone like this."

"I _was_ riding!" Thalia snapped, then stopped. She raised a hand to her forehead and chided herself for being rude. "I apologies. My nerves are a little- frayed. Nipper's gone lame and then when I tried to check her foot, she _bit_ me."

"Hence the name?" Penryn asked with an amused smile. It faltered a little as she dropped her hand. "Lady Thalia, are you bleeding?" He reached out touch the red mark left on her forehead.

"Oh, just a little. Nothing to be concerned about." Although her hands hurt like Threadscore...

The Steward reached for her hands and inspected them carefully. "Did you fall?"

Thalia sighed. "Nipper knocked me over when she bit me. It's nothing."

"Hold on a moment." He stepped up on the running board of the buggy and pulled a jug of water from the back. "Let me wash them for you."

Thalia hesitated, biting her lip, then held her hands out. She winced as Penryn poured water over them - shards, but that stung! "Ouch!"

"I know, I'm sorry." Penryn brought her hands close to his lips to blow the on the small cuts and scraps. He didn't know why, but that always seemed to help. Starting in on the other hand he asked, "So how long ago did this happen?"

Whether it was Penryn's touch or the cool air against her palms, the stinging slowly abated, much to Thalia's relief. "Not long. I'm surprised you didn't see me topple over."

"I'm sorry I missed it. I'm sure it would have been quite entertaining." He gave her a teasing smile. "Now what happened to Nipper? Can I take a look?"

"Please, be my guest," Thalia said, and stepped away from the mare.
She did take up the reins, though, and gave them a light warning tug.

"Which leg was it?"

"Her left hind leg. Oh- you don't think I've lamed her?" Perhaps she ought not to have ridden over such rough terrain... even though men did it all the time. It served her right for being so daring!

"Well, let's take a look." He gently coaxed the runner to lifting her leg. "Ah, I see it. No, she's not lame. It's just a stone. Let me see if I have anything to get it out with."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Thalia patted Nipper's neck and the runner put her ears back in annoyance. Penryn went to the buggy and searched around for something he could use as a pick. "Don't worry. I'll get it out." He finally pulled his small pocket knife out of his pack. "All right Nipper. Now don't do anything tricky on me."

The Lady and the runner eyed each other for a moment. "I'll hold her head," Thalia said, and moved her hands to Nipper's bridle's chinstraps. The runner laid her ears back in annoyance, but stood relatively still as Penryn picked up her foot and carefully knocked out the stone. "Got it," Penryn said, gently rubbing the runner's rump to sooth her.
"It might be bruised, but I don't think there's any permanent damage done. Just to be safe, why don't you ride in the cart with me?"

"Oh, _thank you_!" Thalia said, relieved. She gave Nipper a final pat before handing the reins over to Penryn so he could attach them to the cart. "I was so frightened when she started limping that I'd have to walk all the way back. It would have taken me all day!" Never mind all the trouble she'd have gotten into if she'd arrived back at the Hold late... Lord Ishek would have her head.

"Well, we can't have that," Penryn smiled as he lead the runner to the back of the cart to tie her off. He quickly returned to help her into the cart. "We'll take it slowly, though, for poor Nipper's sake. There are blankets in the back if you'd like."

"I'm fine." Although the moment the cart started to move, she debated folding one up to sit on. Her bottom hurt. There were probably indents were Nipper's teeth had been. She sighed, and to distract herself tried to make small talk. "How is Ryalane?"

"Miserable, I think, though she doesn't complain. I think she is just ready to have the baby already," he said with a small smile, knowing as a mother Thalia probably could relate even better than he.
"It won't be long now. In fact I wouldn't have even left today except the healers said the baby had not turned, so I had a little time."

"Well, I hope for your sake that nothing's changed. She'll want you around when it happens," Thalia said. She'd wanted Aswic, if only to smack him for knocking her up in the first place. And to share Aslian's first candlemarks... for a moment, she missed her husband, not just for her own sake but for her son's.

"And I want to be there. Offer what support I can." Perhaps then it would all feel real.

Thalia was silent for a while, watching the trees slip past. The wind tossed the leaves and made interesting patterns with the sunlight on the brush beneath them. She didn't want to talk about Ryalane or her baby. She didn't want to think about them at all, but she couldn't stop. "Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?"

"I haven't the slightest guess. I suppose I hope its a boy, just because I know more about them. Ryalane probably wants a girl for the same reason." And a boy just might remind her of his father... "Do you want to have more children one day?" "Oh, I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it, one way or the other. And I'd need to remarry, first." And therein lay the problem.

Well, yes, that much was obvious. He had no desire to ask if she wanted to be remarried or not. "I could see you with more children. Maybe a daughter. A little girl you could get all dolled up with. Have tea parties and the like. I think you'd enjoy that."

"Tea parties? Is that what you think of me?" Thalia pretended to pout to hide a smile. "Whose to say that I wouldn't take her galloping over the mountaintops and exploring caverns?"

"Whose to say you couldn't do both?" he asked with a teasing grin. Penryn could see that in Thalia too, though she probably would be shocked to know it. The Steward had learned she was much more than she seemed. She wrinkled her nose at him. "Maybe I will!"

Her expression made his smile soften slightly. Shards but she was lovely sometimes. As any wife of a Lord Holder should be. "And maybe I'll attend a tea party or two."

"Really? You know, I don't think I've ever seen you holding a teacup before." It would look dwarfed in his hands.

Tea had never really been his thing. A good cup of klah had always seemed more appealing. Or mug of ale. "Well, I am pretty sure you just hold it by the handle."

"And you stick your pinky finger out."

"Why do you do that?" Penryn asked curiously. "It certainly seems to have no practical purpose."

"Because it's elegant." There didn't have to be more of a reason than that. She was silent a moment, watching Nipper limp beside the wagon.
The runner saw that she was watching and made her limp more pronounced. "I'm glad you came along and found me, Penryn. I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't."

"Well, I'm... glad I found you too," he nodded. They had seen each other so rarely since his marriage. And rightfully so. But still, he had missed her. "I'm always at your service, m'Lady."

Thalia smiled and let the countryside slip by in silence. He wasn't at her service, not anymore. And they both knew it.

Last updated on the February 24th 2007

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At Your Service