"I'm exhausted," Nerluce whined, throwing his weight onto an unsympathetic Aristide's shoulders.
And Nerluce really was exhausted. Not so exhausted he needed to support himself on Aristide, but exhausted enough he wasn't embarrassed by it. In all honesty, the odd relationship that the pair shared wasn't exactly one with excessive amounts of close contact, but Nerluce had recently broken through the thick layers of ice that surrounded Aristide and begun to initiate it more and more.
To be fair, it was mostly to embarrass Aristide.
As always, Aristide flinched, all the muscles in the shoulder Nerluce had landed on tensing. Aristide was well-muscled - even more so than he first appeared - and his entire body seemed stiff and hard. However, despite that, he never moved without grace and elegance and his figure was more befitting of a scholar than a soldier. He was slender with a thin waist and a relatively short frame.
And Aristide's facial features were also rather fine. He had sharp cheekbones that became more prominent as they'd both aged. His brows were high and arched; clearly defined and rather attractive. Aristide had full lips, usually set in a scowl, but occasionally capable of quirking upwards into a smile or smirk. His eyes - which were Nerluce's favorite feature on all people - were deep-set, making him look as though he was always a bit sad, with long lashes and irises rimmed with thick gold haloes.
Paired with his dark skin and curly hair... Aristide really was one of the most beautiful people Nerluce had ever laid eyes on. The only person more beautiful was...
Nerluce shook his head. He didn't want to think of the Wolf Woman. He also probably shouldn't be thinking of Aristide like this either. It wasn't as though Nerluce had intended to take in Aristide's features or realize how properly beautiful Aristide was but it was hard to help when you practiced in silence together for several days a week. When Nerluce wasn't talking he needed to find something to occupy his brain.
And that something turned out to be Aristide's heaven sculpted features.
"If you're tired, go sit down," Aristide said. "Stop distracting me."
"Why aren't you tired?" Nerluce asked as he was pushed off of Aristide's shoulder and onto a nearby stable door. "I can barely stand. That test was brutal."
Aristide scoffed.
"Not all of us are gifted, alright Aristide!" Nerluce said.
"The test was no different from any other Taayir has given. And it alone won't affect whether or not you stay in Ethera. There was no need to exert yourself as you did."
Nerluce just groaned in pain. He knew what Aristide was saying was true. Taayir had told them all as much before the test began. If there was potential, she wasn't going to let them go just because of one failed test. Thank the gods for that or Nerluce wouldn't have lasted past the first couple of weeks.
But this test was different. It was the final test they'd take as second years at Ethera. Taayir would look at their results and overall performance and then take it to the High Priestess and the other teachers and they'd all decide who moved on. One good test wouldn't save Nerluce and one failed test wouldn't damn him. His fate had already been written from the moment he walked into the classroom today.
Despite all of this, he'd given everything he had. And in reward, he was aching.
He'd already taken the medicine Taayir had given him, but it hadn't kicked in yet. The pain would most likely subside to a more manageable level by tomorrow morning but for now, Nerluce was going to whine.
With Aristide giving him no sympathy, Nerluce went over to Eden. He stroked the stallion's neck and slipped him a couple of apple slices that Nerluce had painstakingly taken the time to cut during his midday task where he'd been put on kitchen duty. After giving Eden one last pat, Nerluce went over to the next stall and offered Lilith an apple slice as well.
She snapped it up, almost taking Nerluce's fingers with it.
With a sharp cry, Nerluce withdrew his hand as Lilith snorted at him, almost as if she was demanding the same stroking affection that Eden had gotten. Right after she almost bit off his fingers!
"Moody mare," Nerluce grumbled. "I will not be petting you. I know it's a trap."
Lilith pawed at the ground.
"If you want someone to pet you, you should call for your master, not me. I don't think we've established that level of trust between us," Nerluce said, firmly. "You see, if it was up to me, I would be in the stall, cuddled up with you right now, however, since you would trample me to death if I tried that, I think both of us will have to make do with our current situation."
Again, Lilith pawed at the ground and snorted before looking at Nerluce with her big, black eyes that seemed just a sad as Aristide's. They truly were the perfect pair of rider and steed. And... Nerluce couldn't resist those wanting eyes.
He sighed and fished the last apple slice from his pocket, presenting it to Lilith. She took it more delicately than the first one and while she ate, she even let Nerluce stroke her head.
"Stop spoiling her," Aristide said, coming back around the corner, carrying a bale of hay.
"I'm not spoiling her," Nerluce said, whipping around. "I'm befriending her. There's a difference. One involves me risking my fingers."
Aristide scoffed.
Nerluce stepped out of his way as he carried the bale of hay into Lilith's box. She quickly turned her attention to the intruder, quickly forgetting about Nerluce. She was just as big as Eden but Aristide moved around without flinching. She followed, sniffing at the bale of hay that Aristide had brought her and then Aristide himself. Upon determining it was, in fact, her favorite person, she nuzzled his head and started to groom his curls.
"Lilith," Aristide mumbled beneath his breath.
"She loves you more than her own foal," Nerluce said. And then his eyes widened. "Hey, Angel, I think I know what happened to you after you hatched from your peach."
"Oh?" Aristide asked as he started to spread the hay around the box.
"You must've been raised by this horse."
Another scoff.
"No, no, it makes sense!" Nerluce protested. "I can't imagine any other way of how you tamed her! She's meaner than any demon I know."
"I didn't hatch from a peach and I wasn't raised by Lilith," Aristide said. "Me and Lilith understand one another. That's why we get along. And I saved her life shortly after she got here so I think that helps too."
"Oh?" Nerluce asked, cocking his head.
"Yes," Aristide said. "Lilith was originally the prized mare of the seventeenth son of the Emperor of Tilica."
Nerluce choked on air. "What?" The Seventeenth Prince of Tilica was well known on both sides of the border. He was one of the Emperor's younger children - only around Coam's age - but his remarkable horsemanship and magick had made him infamous in Itoroh. His horses though... well they were one of a kind. Each was more remarkable than the last and if Lilith's sire's sire was one Nerluce would be impressed.
Much less the prized mare of such an accomplished man...
"How did you get a hold of her?" Nerluce asked.
Aristide's long lashes shielded his honey eyes as almost embarrassed, he admitted, "I took part in the Battle for the Southern Palace. The Seventeenth Prince had many horses he was forced to abandon. Lilith was gifted to the High Priestess for our part in the battle but..." Aristide drew a bit closer to Lilith. "She was weakened incredibly. She starved herself and wouldn't let anyone near her. She was mourning her prince." He patted the mare. "I think I was too."
"So you tamed her?" Nerluce asked. "Got her out. Got her to eat."
With a slight hum, Aristide nodded.
Nerluce was baffled. "But... why would the Seventeenth Prince leave such a horse? Was she not his pride?"
"I wondered that for a long time too," Aristide said. "And then I rode into battle with the Seventeenth Prince. It was one of my last fights. He recognized Lilith, instantly, but didn't ask for her back. Lilith didn't want him back either." He gave a breathy laugh. "They left her because she wouldn't be bred. She kept rejecting their stallions. The Seventeenth Prince loved her but she served no purpose so she was discarded."
"That's awful," Nerluce said.
"It's also really damn ironic," a voice said from behind them. Both Nerluce and Aristide stiffened, as if they were pretending to be hard at work when a voice of authority echoed in their ears. However, upon seeing it was only Taayir, Nerluce relaxed again.
"Taayir! How long have you been there?" Nerluce asked.
"You have a lot of nerve to bitch at me about eavesdropping," Taayir said, flicking the side of his head.
It was then that Nerluce realized that Taayir wasn't actually alone. The Horse Man had come in after her. He was short and unimpressive compared to Taayir - his presence something easily overlooked - but knew his way around horses like he was one of them. He was a man of soft-spoken conversation and polite smiles but Nerluce liked him alright.
"Good evening Nerluce, Aristide," the Horse Man said, bowing to Aristide.
Both Nerluce and Aristide bowed in turn.
"Good evening, Elder Disciple," Aristide said, exiting Lilith's box. "Has something occurred? It's unusual that you are here this late."
"Only here to confirm a suspicion of one of the younger Disciples," the Horse Man said. When he smiled his wrinkles creased up and one could tell he'd spent a lot of his life smiling. "Would you mind if I looked over your mare?"
"Lilith isn't sick, is she?" Aristide asked.
"Oh no, no," the Horse Man said.
However, Aristide's remained creased with worry. The Horse Man entered Lilith's stall with less fear than anyone short on sanity could do. But whether it was Lilith's familiarity with the Horse Man or some trick that Nerluce couldn't decipher, Lilith only snorted before ignoring the Horse Man altogether. He came closer to her, inspecting her eyes and mouth before prodding at her stomach.
Taayir set a hand on Aristide's shoulder. "Calm down," she said, speaking lowly and in border slang. "Nothing's the matter."
"Then why is he looking Lilith over?" Aristide hissed, his words coming out in a hurried mess of border slang as well.
Before Taayir could respond, the Horse Man left the stall with the closest thing Nerluce had ever seen him wear to a frown before. "Just as I thought," the Horse Man said, solemnly. "Head Disciple Aristide, I must apologize on behalf of my disciples. They are young and make many mistakes, though this is their greatest yet. Unfortunately, it seems as though your mare escaped her enclosure and is now pregnant."
"What?" Aristide snapped. "Lilith has never-" He seemed baffled turning his head to the mare and then the older man. "When- how?"
The Horse Man shifted nervously. "It's just as I said. The younger disciples brought her out to the pastures to get some exercise but didn't watch her well enough. She scares them, you understand. She jumped the fence into the neighboring enclosure and..." He cleared his throat, "finally found a stallion she approved of?"
Nerluce snorted, finally understanding Taayir's comment. He patted Aristide on the back. "Well congratulations, do you suppose the prince will want his horse back now?"
Aristide shot him a glare.
After a moment, Aristide recomposed himself and turned to the Horse Man once more. "We will need to compensate the owner of the stallion. Have them name their price for the covering and take it from my funds."
Aristide had... funds? Maybe he wasn't born rich, but he sure seemed to be so now!
The Horse Man cleared his throat. "Ah, that is why I've come so late in the evening. It's better this way. Nerluce, your stallion is... impressive. Truly lives up to the legends."
Of course.
Nerluce should have seen this coming but when it hit him he found it utterly historical. Nerluce nearly fell over laughing only to have a chill crawl down his spine. Eden was a stallion - yes - but that was for the purposes of war. They'd never had him cover a mare, though Nerluce wasn't sure why. Perhaps he was too busy or perhaps they wanted to keep his genetics exclusive to the Hebikoti clan.
Whatever it was, Nerluce was certain if Lord Father or Coam found out about this, they would not be pleased. They might even blame it on Nerluce.
"This is... awkward," Nerluce mumbled.
"How much does your family want," Aristide said, "for their treasure's services."
Nerluce shook his head. "I don't want any money, I just want you to keep it off the books." He shook his head, frantically. "And if the foal is a male, I want you to castrate it."
"And if it's a female?" Aristide asked, arching a brow.
"Then we pray to the gods, it's like your Lilith and will only take the best stallion." He closed his eyes. "Because Lord Father will kill me if he finds out about this. And if he doesn't, Coam will."
Aristide nodded. "I accept your terms."
"It's a deal then."
"A deal."
[curator's note]
my research for this chapter was a skimmed wikipedia article about horses and a frantic facetime with my two most qualified friends
(a vet student and a recovering horse girl)