How Does One Become Friends?

Heron struggled with the carriage. Well, not the carriage so much as the horses. While he did know the basics of how to handle a carriage and horses, he was still only a beginner. He had no real idea how to handle a horse that was acting up.

Just as he felt the frustration sinking in, he felt Elswyth lean into him for a moment before her hands helped him to steady the horses using the reins.

"Yesterday you seemed to know what you were doing…" Her voice had an almost teasing quality.

"They were behaving yesterday." He managed, as his cheeks flushed in some embarrassment. He turned away, "I barely have any training with horses though."

"Really? What do they teach you rich kids?" There was no hiding the derision in her voice. But it was different than it had been when he had first met her. It was the small half-smile that she was not hiding all that well. She was teasing him.

Heron was not used to being teased by people other than his sister and Asrar, mostly his sister. But he did not mind to much, so he just rolled his eyes, "I'm hardly the best example. My father was way too overprotective of me due to my physical health not being the greatest."

"Hence you rebelled and learned magic."

"If you saw into my memories you know that that was not the reason. I just wanted to… why am I explaining to you?"

"Why indeed? After all, I know your reasons better than anyone now."

The teasing seemed goodnatured and Heron found it relaxing to just lean back and engage in the light banter.

What he had seen of Elwsyth's memory had left him with a fairly good impression of her. He found himself wondering if they might be able to possibly become friends.

But he was not sure how to even pose such a question. He was sure Hazel would have been able to easily ask a person if they wanted to be friends but he did not have that self-assurance.

So, he left it for now. Perhaps it was better to wait until they had become more acquainted.

"I find it hard to believe that you are actually shy." She giggled, "You did not leave me with that impression yesterday."

"Us rich folk can suffer from shyness too, you know." He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Perhaps, but you seemed so confident yesterday."

"I had some adrenaline at the moment, and what better way to get acquainted with someone than for them to rescue you from danger?"

She laughed, a cheerful sound. Then she held out her hand, "Here, let me. You'll pick it up better, I'm sure. But it's okay to take a break for a while."

He gave her the reins and sat back to watch her.

Elswyth was confident as she took the reins. And it was obvious she knew what she was doing, even if he had not been aware that she did from what he had seen from her memories.

As she set the horses to a trot, she looked rather vibrant, leaning forward as if excited about getting going.

He reached into his bag and brought out one of his magic books. It was nice having someone already know about his interest. He had not been able to ever confide in someone before and now he had been forced into.

And she had accepted it. Well, difference in cultures. No taboos were here.

Heron absorbed himself in his studies. He felt rather happy knowing that he seemed to have made a friend, but he really needed to focus on learning how to better use magic, though from what he understood his biggest block was that he lacked a familiar.

It made it really hard to be able to put anything into practice when he was not equipped properly.