#evaleigh

We took a boat from Kugane to Shirogane and waded the shallows to shore before it docked to await us near the ferry. It would return for us at a cove further along the beach. We sent Taryn ahead to scout, and I placed Trint in charge tactically. She spotted four guards around the large estate, which sat as a looming shadow, all lights extinguished, on a cliff overlooking the sea. The plan was for her to take two guards from stealth while S’ira would take one by the door and Trint would take the other on the far side of the estate. Their surprise attacks failed, and the alarm was raised at the estate, though not to alert the authorities.

Luckily, Taryn was able to take the one by the door from surprise with her bow while the other was dispatched. Once the alarm had been raised, I used the card up my sleeve and contacted the woman presumably held captive inside. I told her a rescue was in progress. She and her husband were able to break from their bonds and violently kill two guards inside, hastening their own rescue. 

What we didn’t realize was that the woman was so pregnant, she looked like she would pop any moment. They’d been heavily tortured to the point that they were barely clinging to life, especially the male au ra, who even had a chipped horn that had to be excruciating. We helped them to the cover where the boats were. Mitsu and Evaleigh had come along and offered help, but Mitsu seemed confused we weren’t taking them back to the Rosethorn for expert medical treatment. There was no way we could do so, as we cannot risk associating the rescue with us.

Evaleigh took them to the Compass Rose, a luxury ship that serves as a neutral site for the underworld. They will sail from Kugane to Limsa Lominsa and then be taken to a safehouse. Hopefully the woman’s child survived their hardships. Evaleigh didn’t think they would have lasted but days longer.

My brain tells me we were sloppy, our directives to our operatives indecisive. We’ll have to work on that. I also worry that the slavers we rescued the pair from can somehow ties us to the deed. Having proof would be another matter, but would they even need proof to act?

My heart felt good that for once in this ruthless business, we did something of which to be proud. I worry about Taryn’s reaction to aspects of the mission. We seem to be drifint further apart even as Evaleigh praised the rescue effort and doted on the rescued pair. Soon, I can debrief them on what they know.

Their living situation didn’t seem to deter Annleigh from the hopeful expression she was still wearing. Nothing realistic ever seemed to deter her. Eva was used to being the practical one in the relationship. That’s was how the two of them worked best. The brunette would come up with these incredible concepts and she would somehow figure out how to fit them to reality. 

But sometimes... Eva thought as Annleigh scooted closer to rest her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder... Some dreams were a little too big for the current budget. 

“I don’t think our landlord would be happy if we kept a horse in here.” The climatologist deadpanned. 

Annleigh swatted Eva’s arm playfully. “I didn’t mean in the house, dummy! How would the horse even get up the stairs?” 

Her girlfriend rolled her eyes. “That’s the only problem you see with that plan?” 

Another swat. The brunette collapsed besides her, burying her face into the fabric of Eva’s jacket. This was always amusing to watch, since her partner was at least two or three inches taller than her. Annleigh had always had a flare for theatrics, though, even when the two of them had been in high school. If you were supposed to grow out of it in college, she certainly hadn’t yet. 

(... Eva was secretly glad. She found her girlfriend’s dramatic performances incredibly endearing. Not, of course, that the flier would ever admit this to the other girl.) 

Muffled by the jacket’s fabric, Annleigh heaved a sigh and then rolled back over so she was reclining back into the couch. She turned her head to look at Eva, trademark pout in place. “Oh, no!” The climatologist laughed, tossing the nearest cushion she could grab at her. “Don’t you start that with me!” 

The pout increased. God, she’s good at puppy dog eyes. 

“Annleigh!” Eva was laughing as she set her book down. “We cannot be responsible for a horse right now and you know this.” 

Another dramatic sigh. “You’re right...” The brunette groaned, tone akin to if she’d just watched someone kick a puppy. “I was just thinking that it would be fun to have one again. I could teach you how to ride dressage!” The idea seemed to bring her back to life. Annleigh was very rarely “sad” for long. 

Eva snorted imaging that. “I’m down to try, babe, but I can’t imagine that I’m gonna be very good. I think the only time I’ve ever been on a horse was when I was, like, six at one of those carnivals. And all we did was go around in circles with someone leading me.”  

Annleigh waved her hand, as if to say that didn’t matter. “Don’t worry! If I could get Farrah on a horse when we were kids, I can totally teach you. She was terrified of them, did you know? She screamed at me for hours after I made her. Something about trying to kill her.” 

“Your sister? The one I watched punch some dude on the street for asking for directions because she thought he was trying to mug her? That sister?” Eva was stunned. “Afraid of horses?” 

It was Annleigh’s turn to giggle. “Yeah! Well, to be fair, she was only like nine at the time. I’m not sure if she still would be. I wouldn’t put it past her, though.” 

“Well,” Eva teased, stretching and wrapping an arm around her girlfriend. Annleigh leaned back into her side. “Now we have to get a horse, I suppose. Just to see.” 

Her girlfriend elbowed her playfully. “Oh, so you’ll get Farrah a horse, but not me? That’s very impolite of you, Miss Sanchez.” 

“Babe, I’ll promise that someday I will get you every horse you could ever want. But doing so requires me finishing up this chapter and actually passing my classes.” Eva teased, picking up her book again with the arm that wasn’t around Annleigh. “Deal?” 

“That’s an awful lot of horses, love~!” The brunette was smiling, her eyes sparkling. “Don’t you know it’s bad to keep promises you can’t keep?” 

Eva nudged her girlfriend’s foot with her own. “Too late. It’s been done. You might have to wait like thirty years for them, of course, but I always keep my word.” 

The two of them burst out laughing at the same time, the image of them both surrounded by dozens of different colored horses at the age of fifty too much to handle. After their laughter finally ceased, the two of them settled back into a comfortable silence. The only sound came from the rustle of Eva’s textbook as she flipped the pages and an occasional chime from Annleigh’s phone to indicate she was getting a text. 

After a few moments, Eva broke the silence. She was still smiling. “Just... uh... for the record, though...” The flier ran a hand through her brown hair. She was due for a haircut, soon. It was going to end up almost as long as Annleigh’s at this rate.  

“It’s gonna be fine!” The taller girl gave her girlfriend’s hand a squeeze as the two of them approached the large, wooden structure. Annleigh’s boots clomped along loudly, walking the familiar path. She’d attempted to offer Eva a pair, too, but the flier’s feet were much smaller than her own. Her girlfriend had just settled on her sneakers. Well, had “settled” on them after at least a forty-five minute freak out session about whether she should buy boots for the occasion. Annleigh had assured her that it wouldn’t be necessary.

“I already called Kathy and set everything up over the phone. I used to practically live here, so she trusts me to not kill you or anything. Plus, you already signed the release waiver. All we have to do is put this under the door to her office and we’ll be good to go!” Annleigh led the climatologist through the large doors, inhaling the familiar scent as she did so. Nothing like the smell of hay and manure to send you into nostalgia. 

Next to her, Eva was wide-eyed. She gazed around at all the stalls with fascination, taking in all the horses. It was unfairly cute, but Annleigh had to force herself to focus. She couldn’t be distracted by her girlfriend was right now. Not when she was the one who was supposed to know what to do for once. 

As they reached the office, the taller girl retrieved Eva’s waver that she’d signed last night from her pocket and slid it under the door. It was nice Kathy still trusted her so much. It had been two years since college had started, and she only got to come back to ride over the holidays. Annleigh was grateful for how hands-off her trainer was in this respect. Not that she didn’t love the woman, of course. It was just... her instructor was practically like family, after as long as she’d ridden here. The thought of introducing her to her girlfriend was almost as scary as when she’d introduced Eva to her parents. 

(Of course, Eva had never made a bad impression in her life. More than anything, it would have been another ‘how’d you land such a catch’ kind of thing. Not that Annleigh didn’t think that to herself every day already.) 

Beside her, her girlfriend let out a low whistle. “It’s so much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many horses in one place...!” 

Annleigh giggled, retaking Eva’s hand to lead her through the aisle. It was pretty early in the day, but the barn wasn’t too busy. A few younger kids here and there who must have been homeschooled waved in greeting to the two of them, but the arenas were both empty. That was good. Really good, actually. 

As much as she tried not to show it, the equestrian was probably just as nervous as her girlfriend was. Maybe more nervous, actually. She really, really, really wanted this to go well. Eva’s interest in horses had been what the two of them had initially bonded over, back in high school. Although she’d never gotten a chance to ride growing up like Annleigh had, she was pretty sure the flier would have loved to if there’d been the option.

“And... here we are...!” Annleigh stopped in front of a stall, releasing Eva’s hand to open the feeding latch so the horse could stick his head out. The gelding, who’d been dozing towards the back wall, perked an ear up at the sound of her voice. Blinking lazily, the animal wandered over and poked his nose out, pushing Annleigh’s hand as she reached up to pet him. “Hi, buddy!” She chuckled, allowing him to sniff her hair. His breath was warm. “Okay, okay. I missed you too!” 

Eva was hanging back, gazing at the horse and her girlfriend in awe. “This is your horse?” 

The brunette nodded. “Mostly mine, anyway. He’s leased out right now to a few kids since we’re at college, but otherwise. Yep! This is the one!” 

The gelding snorted, kicking the stall once to indicate that he was very much not receiving the ideal amount of attention. Eva jumped a bit at the loud sound. Annleigh snorted at her horse’s antics. “Goodness! Sorryyy, Mister~!” She scratched his blaze. “Where are my manners? Pegasus, this is Eva! Eva, this is Pegasus.” 

Eva looked unsure of what to do, so she did a little wave in greeting. “Uhh... nice to meet you, Pegasus?” She was still gazing at him in wonder. Annleigh had to resist the urge to smile. The two of them were going to get along just fine, she could tell. The gelding loved attention, especially from people who would talk to him. It was a match made in Heaven, really. 

“Here, you can come closer, if you want.” Annleigh opened the gate a little further so Pegasus could crane his neck out. She swatted him lightly as he tried to paw at the stall again. “He’s assured me that he’s going to be on his best behavior. Right, Gus?” 

Pegasus gave a snort. Annleigh decided to take that as a ‘yes, Mom, of course I’ll be perfect with your girlfriend! Why would you ever worry about this?’ sort of noise. Rather than a ‘Mom, I’m going to absolutely wreck your relationship’ snort. 

Please let it be the first one. Oh Lord, please let it be the first one. 

The shorter girl approached cautiously, hands tucked into the pockets of the jacket she always wore. The buttons jingled a bit, metal catching the rays of light steeping in from the roof and making them sparkle. “Uhh... hey there, boy?” Eva phrased it more as a question, glancing at Annleigh for confirmation that she was approaching him correctly. The brunette had to keep herself from giggling. The whole thing was so sweet. She really didn’t deserve to know Eva Sanchez. 

Pegasus, apparently, thought that he certainly did, however. He thrust his head out further, bracing his neck against the door and turning it at a ninety degree angle. It made him look like an undercooked giraffe. Eva snorted and looked at Annleigh questioningly, with a look that clearly read ‘uhhhhh.... is he supposed to be doing that?’ 

The rider nodded, motioning her to continue to approach him. “He’s just being silly! Keep going, you’re doing great!” With her other hand, she was digging through her pocket for her phone. She had to get a photo of this. Pegasus had always hated her Polaroid, but she’d take iPhone evidence if it meant she could film this moment. Annleigh flashed a thumbs up to Eva as the other girl reached out to pet the horse’s head. 

“Oh!” The climatologist’s grin grew even larger as she stroked his nose. “He’s super soft!” She gasped lightly as he nudged her, stepping backwards a bit while Pegasus moved his lips down to nibble at her pocket. “Uhh. Whatcha doing?” 

Annleigh rolled her eyes. “Gus, that is very rude.” She stopped snapping photos long enough to push his nose more forcefully away from her girlfriend’s jacket. Please, if you rip that, I will be in so much trouble— 

“He thinks you might have a cookie for him. Even though he knows,” Annleigh said the second part directly to the bay, who was blinking his brown eyes innocently at her. “That he doesn’t get any until after he goes for a ride.”  

The horse snorted. Pegasus had always been a little too intelligent for his own good. Annleigh could never tell exactly how much of any conversation he could understand, but it was more than enough to be a little unnerving. She glared at him to ensure another round of ‘do not mess this up for us’ was communicated. He blinked back. 

... it was hard to tell if he’d gotten the message or not. Horses were hard to read. 

Her girlfriend laughed, reaching up to scratch his blaze again. “Sorry, boy. I didn’t bring any treats. Plus, your mom said no.” 

This did not seem to deter the gelding. Almost as soon as Annleigh had gone back to trying to film, he’d returned to his interest in Eva’s jacket. The horse seemed enchanted by her pins. As they watched, he fumbled the rainbow heart one and attempted to pull it away from her jacket, almost sending Eva toppling forward if Annie hadn’t moved forward to catch her. 

“Pegasus!” She swatted him back, the bay looking entirely too pleased with himself for his own good, and moved to relatch the door. “That’s it. Five minute time out. We do not attempt to steal pins in this family!” When she closed the door, she turned back to Eva, dusting her breeches off. “Jeez, sorry about him. You go away for a few months to school and somebody forgets all their manners. I don’t know what’s up with him... he’s not usually so naughty!” 

“...” 

“...” 

“Uh, babe, I think your horse might be homophobic.” Eva was barely containing her smile.