Ride

Heron and Elswyth were at the front of the castle ten minutes before Serendiah or Kuryzan.

They talked idly together as they waited. The conversation itself was fairly pointless, not really being about anything really. They were just talking.

Serendiah joined them and Elswyth went quiet. Heron knew that while Elswyth was respectful towards the queen, she still did not really want anything to do with royalty.

"Ready to ride," Serendiah smiled. "The horses will be brought out soon."

"I guess so…" Heron's own smile was a bit nervous. "It won't throw me off will it?"

She chuckled, "Probably not. Unless it gets spooked. We'll put you up on a gentle one though."

He nodded.

About then, Kuryzan finally arrived. He had a tall young woman with him. Slightly pointed ears peeked out of her dark hair.

A half-elf! Heron looked curiously at her. Serendiah smiled when seeing the woman, "Hello Tira. Come to join us? Your brother isn't coming?"

The half-elven girl, Tira, smiled, "I'm afraid not. Lowks is pre-occupied right now."

"Is he babysitting?" The queen asked.

"Vixen-sitting." Tira sighed, "It's even more tiring and difficult."

While they were talking Heron examined the half-elf. She was pretty. Not delicately so. Her features were sharp and well defined. She carried herself with a certain air of confidence that suffused her entire being. She was dressed similarly to Elswyth, the traditional hides that rangers wore. But unlike Elswyth she wore the pendant that marked her as one of the queen's rangers.

Then the queen turned and introduced the girl to him. "This is Tira, she is Kur's best friend. Tira these two are Prince Heron of Amriel and Elswyth, a rather good ranger."

Tira smiled, "A pleasure to meet you."

Heron nodded, "Likewise."

When the horses arrived, it was Elswyth who helped him mount a horse. She made sure he was all good before mounting one herself.

Other than him all the others, other than Kuryzan, seemed at ease on the horse. And Kuryzan was at least familiar with the concept. Just was a little stiff.

The started off at a walk which was fine with Heron. Elswyth rode next to him and gave him some encouraging words. He was glad of it.

He found himself enjoying the leisurely ride.

They went out of the city, up into a woodland trail. The sun throught the trees fell in scattered patterns of shadow and light. There was something rather relaxing about it.

Heron slowly found himself getting used to the rhythmic gait of the horse he was on. Though he had a feeling he would be sore later.

At first he was silent because he was a trifle scared and trying not to fall off. But he gradually relaxed as he felt safer. But he still remained silent.

He was enjoying the fresh air. There were definitely a lot more trees in Jarenkul than in Amriel. And the air really did seem fresher. He wondered why that was.

The air back home really seemed a whole lot more stifled. Hotter too. Jarenkul had soft breezes that seemed to kiss his skin. Amriel had very seldom ever had a breeze and even then it was a stiff breeze.

This was why his father thought Jarenkul would be good for him. It was more… fresh.

And the trees were so pretty to look at. They had great big oaks that had large branches that gave much shade. There were pine trees that reached for the sky. And others that Heron did not know the name of.

The pine gave the air a certain smell, somewhat woody – but clean. There were other scents as well, but the pine smell was very distinct. Though there was also just an overall earthy smell that Heron had never really smelled before.

Heron rather liked the smell. And it made the ride all the more pleasurable.

Though he was silent and more focused on the ride, the young queen of Jarenkul was not. She talked pretty much the whole time, pointing out different things – like where the trail branched off, or some tracks of different animals, she even pointed out where you could see some bird nests.

He did pay attention to some of it, as it was somewhat interesting, but he liked seeing what he could notice on his own.

He focused more on the trees than anything else. He saw holes where animals probably lived in more than one, actually quite a few of them had these hollows.

All in all, though, Heron was enjoying this ride.