The next three days went much the same as Zephyr's first day travelling with the Carnival. The only change was that Dalin had begun to wake her a half hour earlier than the rest of the camp would rise, and the two of them would jog or run. Zephyr assumed it was an attempt to build her endurance, and she knew it would only benefit her, but she quickly came to hate mornings, more than she already had.
She noticed that Jasper also ran each morning, though he had yet to join her and Dalin. Zephyr assumed this was a habit that spilled over from his being a soldier. Bennet did not seem to feel the need to rise early enough to join Jasper.
The caravan had been travelling at a steady, if slow, pace. Nakomi had told Zephyr their first day on the road together that they should reach Faron in about two weeks. Despite the fact that they were progressing much slower than Zephyr and her companions would have if they had struck out on their own, the days were passing quickly. Each day was filled with with interesting conversations, lots of riding, fires and dancing and brilliant music each night, more riding, and of course, her training with Nakomi and Dalin after they stopped for lunch. Zephyr knew that she was already getting better, and was somewhat happy with her progress, since she had started out knowing absolutely nothing about fighting of any kind. Zephyr knew it wasn't natural skill that was causing the progress though. Each day Nakomi was pushing her harder and harder, expecting her to show improvement each time they met to practice. During their lessons this irritated Zephyr to no end, and she felt herself fuming each time Nakomi yelled at her to give more or to stop tripping over her own feet. Afterwards though, Zephyr's irritation would wane and deep down she felt immense appreciation for how hard Nakomi pressed her and for the importance the woman placed on what they were doing. Zephyr would just never admit it out loud, at least, not until she was able to land a hit on the woman.
Usually Zephyr was too exhausted after her lessons to practice using her Gift, so she had begun trying to do so each morning as she rode with the others. She started out small, just trying to create tiny breezes that would blow through the mane of her horse. After an entire morning of practicing that, Zephyr found that she could do so on command, without needing to feel frustrated to pull forth her power. She could slightly summon it within her, and each time she did so that now familiar tingling began in her core, working it's way to her extremities. She found that the more power and control she used, the more she could feel that power within her, and she liked the way it made her feel, the strength it bolstered her with.
By the third day of practicing with her Gift Zephyr was able to shoot small bursts of air away from herself. She hadn't mastered the ability to control the direction of the flows, so to practice that she kept trying to hit Bennet in the back of the head with the bursts of air. He was riding directly in front of her and still hadn't noticed what Zephyr was trying to do after ten minutes of her efforts failing. Jasper pulled his horse up next to her own and leaned over so that only she would hear him speak.
"Try making everything else around you go out of focus," he whispered to her, his eyes alight with mischief. Zephyr felt her cheeks flush as she realized she'd been caught, but decided to try Jasper's suggestion. She turned forward to face the back of Bennet's head once more. She stared hard, until her eyes began to prickle and water, until everything else around her was blurry, her only focus those blonde curls. As she stared, Zephyr called upon the power flowing through her and felt that welcome tingle. She released it in a rush and much to her delight, as the burst of air pushed Bennet's hair forward, he jumped in surprise and let out a yelp, looking around him to see what had hit him. As his hand reached up to pat the back of his own head and a mask of confusion settled over his features, Zephyr couldn't contain herself. A laugh escaped her, and she heard Jasper's deep chuckle mix with her own.
Bennet whirled around in his saddle to face the two of them. He looked back and forth, from Zephyr to Jasper and back, several times before realization finally replaced his look of confusion. His eye's widened as his gaze settled on Zephyr.
"Did you do that?" he exclaimed. Zephyr nodded as she continued to laugh, and Bennet grinned wide. "That's amazing!" Zephyr's face flushed with embarrassment and happiness all at once. She turned to Jasper, who was still smiling in amusement.
"Thanks for the tip, it worked really well," she said to him, causing his grin to widen.
"It's what I do when I shoot a bow," Jasper said. "I can't aim worth a copper if I don't block absolutely everything else out but my target. I thought maybe it would be the same for you." His smile turned wry as he continued. "It was pretty amusing to watch you trying though, I almost didn't want to say anything." Zephyr reached over to flick his arm and he pulled away, laughing in earnest at her. Annoyed and amused at the same time, Zephyr pushed her horse toward him once more in an attempt to reach him. Jasper kicked his horse in the sides and took off as quickly as he could through crowd around them. Zephyr, never one to give up the last word, began to follow him through the maze of horses and wagons surrounding them.
Jasper reached the front of the caravan before her and once he broke free of the group, he broke into a canter. Zephyr huffed in amusement and pressed her horse forward. Just as she broke free of the crowd, she leaned closer to her mount's ears.
"Let's show those boys just how fast you are, girl," she said to her horse and flicked the reins hard. The horse seemed to know what Zephyr wanted and shot forward faster than expected. She raced after Jasper on his stallion and, to Zephyr's immense delight, quickly began to gain on the other horse. Jasper cast a glance over his shoulder, saw that Zephyr was gaining on him and let out a, "Hya!," as he urged his horse onward. Despite his efforts, Zephyr's horse continued to outrun his and within moments she was running even with him. She looked over to him and gave him a smirk, then flicked her reins again and began to pass him up.
Once she was far enough ahead to surely put a dent in his ego, Zephyr pulled on the reins and her mare began to slow, allowing Jasper to catch up. He was laughing, a deep, unchecked laughter that delighted Zephyr. Once he had himself under control, Jasper spoke to her with a wide smile and eyes bright with energy.
"Well, I won't do that again," he said, "can't have everyone seeing you outride me all the time." Zephyr sat up straight in her saddle and feigned arrogance, a small pursed smile on her lips, but she soon found herself laughing as well.
"I actually didn't expect her to catch up to you," Zephyr responded, patting her night black mare on the neck. The horse let out a happy sort of snort in response.
"You know," Jasper said, a little more serious now, "She wanted nothing to do with me when I stole the horses." He nodded toward the horse as he spoke. "But when you showed up, even though you were a bundle of nerves and most animals would have shied away from you, she acted like a different creature. I couldn't believe she let you ride her so suddenly." Zephyr didn't know what to say in response, she hadn't had any problems at all with the animal and had grown attached to the mare. They rode side by side in silence for several seconds before Jasper spoke once more.
"You should name her," he said as he glanced from the mare to Zephyr.
"She's not mine though," Zephyr responded.
"She doesn't seem to think that," Jasper said with a smile, and Zephyr looked to the horse. She pondered the notion for a moment.
"Bells," Zephyr suddenly said, and Jasper looked at her quizzically.
"Belle? For the horse's name?," he asked, and Zephyr nodded with a smile. "But that's a people name, you can't give animals people names," he continued with another chuckle.
"Yes I can, according to you she's my horse, so I can name her whatever I see fit to," Zephyr said teasingly. "Besides, I said Bells, not Belle. I think it suits her, when she neighs it almost sounds musical. Like chiming bells." Jasper only smiled and nodded at what she said.
"Bells it is," he responded, his voice tinged with laughter. Zephyr felt a smile play across her own lips as he turned to face the road ahead.
They rode on for a while, saying nothing. Zephyr didn't find the silence uncomfortable, rather, she was continually surprised by how at ease she felt with Jasper. She glanced over at him and saw that he was again watching her. She blushed under his gaze and lowered her eyes, but not before she noticed a bit of color appearing on his own face.
"Sorry," he said, his eyes quickly flitting to anywhere but her face, and Zephyr offered him a slight smile. Now the air between them felt awkward and Zephyr regretted her reaction. She decided to offer up some conversation in an effort to diffuse the tension.
"Thank you," she said to Jasper with a more serious tone to her voice. He looked up from his intense gaze at his own horse's left ear and gave her a questioning look, so she continued. "For everything you've done. I can't say it enough, and I don't even feel like saying it really means much compared to what all you and Bennet have done for me, but I hope you both know I mean it. Thank you so much."
Now it was Jasper's turn to look embarrassed. He shook his head.
"You don't have to thank us, everything we've done is what we should have done," he responded, then a dark look passed over his features. "Besides, I owe it to you. If I'd just gotten to your shop a little earlier..." Zephyr quickly cut him off.
"What happened to Agitha wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault, or Bennet's fault, or even my fault, though it's easy for me to try and blame myself. But we both know that the order to kill her came from Lorelei." Zephyr's voice hitched on the word 'kill', and she took a deep breath to regain her composure before continuing. "I only blame her in all of this, everyone else is either ignorant, innocent, or just another one of her pawns."
"Still," Jasper said, giving her an earnest look that hit her deep inside, his dark eyes shining with empathy, "I won't leave you to be hurt by her, not after what she had done to Agitha. I would blame myself if the same thing happened to you," Zephyr began to protest again, but he spoke over her and continued on quickly, "No, it would be my fault if anything happened to you now, because I know what she is capable of, I know that she is looking for you, and it's in my power to at least try to protect you."
Zephyr was finally speechless. Jasper had only known her for about a week, but she could see in his eyes and on his face that he meant every word he said. She was touched by the goodness she saw reflected there, and had to take a moment to fight back tears that were prickling the edges of her vision. She sniffled slightly and Jasper let out a small laugh.
"Oh, don't go crying on me," he said, pulling his horse closer and putting a hand over hers where she was grasping the reins. He gave it a light squeeze and she returned his laugh with one of her own that was equally small and thick with emotion.
"Crying is all I seem to do anymore," Zephyr's voice hitched on something that could have been a laugh or a sob. "I just...I don't usually let people in, I've always been amazing at pushing everyone away, holding them at arm's length so I won't get hurt, won't have to invest in the relationship," she said, her voice steadying with each word. "It's been kind of great to see that there are some people it's ok to let in." Jasper nodded at her knowingly. Feeling like she was finally in control of her emotions, Zephyr squeezed her eyes shut to clear them of tears.
When she opened her eyes to continue their conversation, she stopped short of saying anything. Jasper's face had drained of all colour and she saw fear in his eyes, which were now facing forward. She looked in that direction and her breath caught in her throat, her chest growing tight with fear that mirrored the look on Jasper's face. The road was laid out flat ahead of them, and about a half a mile up Zephyr could see a wagon being stopped and searched by a patrol of soldiers on the side of the road.