Selfless Love

Riding Lessons

"A monster?" Riftan asked worriedly, not liking the fact that his precious daughter even thought about monsters.

"Yeah, not a big scary one like the ones you've fought Daddy," she said sweetly. "I don't think Brownie's ready for one of those yet."

"Anyway," Victoria continued, "we are making our way through the forest but it spotted us and is now on the run so now we need to go faster."

She urged Brownie forward at a faster pace. Riftan did the same with Talon.

As she bounced slightly on her pony's back her voice sounded a little choppy.

"Oh no!," she shouted, "we've lost sight of it, better stop and get our bearings!"

She pulled back on the reins slowing down her small pony to a full stop. Riftan stopped as well and watched with an amused smile as her dark red curls whipped around behind her as Victoria pretended to look for the "monster."

"There!" she whispered loudly pointing towards the large meadow just beyond the trees. She kept her voice down, as if she were worried that yelling might alert the creature.

She kicked the pony's sides and urged Brownie forward, and continued to encourage him to move faster and faster until he was almost at a full gallop as she made her way across the meadow.

Riftan moved Talon at more of a canter speed as his horse didn't have to run as fast to keep up with the little pony. He rode with Victoria across the meadow and the two came to a stop at the top of a hill when she once again slowed down her pony to another stop.

"What happened?" Riftan asked, a little embarrassed to admit to himself that he invested in this "hunting" story she had created.

"It's gone." she replied simply as though the answer were obvious.

"Gone?! What ha-"

Riftan didn't finish asking about the location of the "monster" as the familiar cry of a horse rang out in the forest. A moment later Maxi and Andrew burst through the tree line and came riding up the hill.

"What are you up to out here?" Maxi asked, slightly breathless from Rem's quick gallop.

"Training," Riftan said simply. "We covered a lot of things actually, walking, trot, stopping, and galloping."

"Really!?" Maxi asked proudly, beaming at her daughter, who happily returned a bright smile to her mom.

"It was fun once we made it into a game Mommy," the young girl said joyfully.

"What kind of game?" Andrew asked curiously. There was a hint of jealousy in his tone at the thought of his sister playing a game with their dad without him.

"We practiced the riding techniques by pretending we were hunting down a monster!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Oh my goodness!" said Maxi, trying and failing to hide the bright, amused smile on her face. "Did you catch it?

"No, it got away." Victoria said sadly, pouting slightly in disappointment.

"May I ask what you were hunting?" Maxi inquired, trying to change the topic away from the "failed hunt" to lift her daughter's spirits.

"A bee!" Victoria shouted before shuddering at the thought of the creature as though the name alone made her uneasy.

"A bee?" Maxi, Andrew and Riftan asked together.

"Yep!" said Victoria, "We had to start with a small monster since Brownie's not big enough to face the big bad monster's yet."

"I don't think a-" Andrew started before his mother interrupted him.

"Oh how creative my little angel," Maxi exclaimed, silently warning her son with a stern look, to not be discouraging. The young man gave Victoria reassuring smiles.

"Nice work, sis!" said Andrew.

"Well done," said Riftan, "it was an honor to go hunting with you this afternoon."

Riftan bowed his head slightly to his daughter who beamed and blushed from the praise she was receiving from her family.

A calm silence fell over them before Andrew, being restless as usual, interjected, "Hey, since you can ride faster now, I'll race you back to the stables!"

"Okay!" Victoria yelled excitedly.

The two took off and their parents followed, close enough to provide help if needed but enough room to give their children some space.

Maxi couldn't resist this golden opportunity to tease her husband.

"So the Great Bee Hunt, huh?" she said, unable to hold in the laugh laced in her words as she spoke, "Good heavens, what will Hebaron say when he hears he missed all the fun?!"

Riftan gave her a warning look, don't you dare.

Maxi chuckled before speaking again, "I'm kidding, I won't tell a soul you spent the morning hunting imaginary bees with our daughter. I think the story is actually kind of sweet."

Riftan's face darkened for a moment.

"At first when she said that we were hunting monsters I was afraid she meant a real one." Riftan said sadly. "It made my heart ache to think our little girl was already thinking about having to fight monsters one day. I was relieved when she said it wasn't a monster at all."

"Hey," Maxi said, with a laugh still dancing in her voice. "Bees are dangerous! I'm not surprised a six year old would find them monstrous."

Riftan nodded, understanding his child's logic now seeing it from Victoria's point of view, through the mundane fears of a child.

"But real or not," Maxi said calmly. "She may have to face a monster or two someday."

She watched Riftan tense, his knuckles growing almost white with how hard he gripped the reins and his jaw clenching so hard she thought he would surely break a tooth.

"Try as we might, my love," Maxi continued. "We can't always be there, we will certainly always support them but they will grow up one day and will face the world head on with all its beauty and flaws and dangers. All we can do, is do our best to prepare them for it."

Riftan took some deep breaths, feeling his muscles in his upper back relax ever so slightly, something only Maxi could do just by speaking.

"We will do our best to prepare them," Riftan echoed, with a firm resolve in his tone.

"Our best is all we can do," Maxi said as they approached the castle gates, looking ahead as their children raced towards the stables, startling a few workers who had been in the way. "the rest is up to them."