#theren

“Woah, woah, easy, easy,” he said, bringing the lead into one hand and gently stroking up and down her neck. He calmed them down once before from the bulettes, surely—

No. She tore the reigns from his hands and bucked. He managed to keep hold once, clenching his thighs and her hair, but she did it again with more kick and flung him from the saddle. He issued a short yelp before he gasped a breath and broke the water.

Fuck, it was cold. He surfaced and shook his hood and hair out of his face. Day-rilla, with complete and utter ease, scooped up a flailing horse in each hand and waded through the river to the opposite side to meet with Krusk. Krusk still had one beefy green arm wrapped around the ribs of his horse, almost like a side-hug. Day set each mount onto their hooves and they hit the ground running, bolting towards freedom from the chaos they were saddled with. Theren chased after them.

Kishore sprinted across the water past Cihro’s head, barely leaving any ripples in her wake. “Show-off,” he called after her, treading water.

Day returned before Cihro swum far, cupping him out of the water with both hands like he was about to drink. Cihro shivered as air rushed over him, but Day set him on his shoulder and carried him to shore. Cihro huddled closer to his head, grasping at neck fur with one hand and the edge of his cloak with the other. Over the next few minutes he adjusted to the height, Day’s bizarre gait, and tried to warm up with the help of Day’s new, natural coat.

Theren collected their horses and the group returned to traveling speed, Day shambling on four legs after everyone else. Cihro found himself enjoying riding on Day’s shoulder more than horseback and grinned.

It was chaos, sure, but it wasn’t the sort of chaos that made him think they wouldn’t be alive in a minute. This adventuring thing—something he thought he wasn’t cut out for all his life—maybe there was something to it after all.

Cihro kept a rough track of the time and after what he thought was about fifty minutes he slid down Day’s arm, the tree trunk that it was. Day stopped his trot and made an approximation of a confused noise, but within the next few minutes he blinked back into someone Cihro’s race and size.

“You really just let me be an ape for a whole hour?” Day asked once he was in his half-elf body, adjusting his hat. “Without saying anything?”

“Yeah?” Cihro said, shrugging. “You were keeping pace with the horses? You were having fun? Seemed fine to me.”

“Now I know what it’s like to be you for extended periods of time,” Day groused.

Cihro smacked him in the arm with the back of his hand, but his grin never faltered.