|
Athwen sat hunched in her saddle, shivering uncomfortably in the cold. She was without cape or cloak and the dress she wore had been donned on a warm day for Autumn. The wind teased her hair and she pushed it impatiently and rather snappishly out her face. She was tired and as much as she liked horses, she didn’t want to be riding on such a cold morning.
There’s really not much of a choice here, she reminded herself sternly. Her jaw clamped tighter as another soft gust of cold wind sent another shudder through her. Think of something else, why don’t you? . . . Not that there’s much else to think about.
Yes, there is. Her eyes darted in the direction of Dorran. He rode to her left, just a few feet ahead. Their conversation from the night before came back to her and she sat and considered it until her cold hands brought her back to the present.
‘Now, you be good, Parith,’ she muttered to the horse. He only deemed her worthy of one ear being turned in her direction. She didn’t even notice as she tied his reins together and looped them over the horn of the saddle. Once they were secure and not in danger of slipping off, she rocked first to one side and then to the other, slipping both her hands beneath her to sit on them. ‘If nothing else can be warm, at least my hands will,’ she told him. ‘It doesn’t do to ride with numb fingers.’
She looked around her at all the companions. Her eyes passed over all of them until they spotted Fion and then she looked twice. She hadn’t thought about it yet that morning - how did he feel? Was he doing alright? She certainly hoped so, and from her lack of knowledge of the sort of thing, she guessed that he would recover from the bump quite as easily as a child would from being cracked over the head with a stick by one of his siblings. She pulled one hand out and reined her horse about and came to Fion’s side.
‘Good morning, Fion,’ she said, as she approached him. ‘How are you doing today? Is your head hurting?’ She gave him a smile with her welcome, brief and small, and then dropped the rein once more and once more sat on her hand while he replied.
|