Horeseback Honeymoon
“So he talked to you?” Hadassah said to her Maid as they hurried alone up the steps, her heart beating wildly.
“Yes, Miss. I’m sorry Miss, but he said not to tell you until after the ceremony. He said he didn’t want you to be worried.”
“And then I am to go riding with him?”
“That is what he said, Miss.”
“Are you coming?”
“No, Miss. I’m sorry, no, Ma’am. He said I wasn’t to, that there would be other lasses to take care of you.”
“Well, this is very odd,” Hadassah said. “Extremely odd.” They had reached her room and she was standing still as the Maid detached her skirt. “I have never heard of anyone doing something like this.”
Note: The AI and I could not agree as to how these pictures should look. So please don’t think that the pictures represent any actual scene, dress, landscape in the story.
Warning: This scene includes the first part of a honeymoon. It involves nothing graphic, but sexual interest etc is implied. It involves immodest dress (or, at least, Hadassah thinks so!) but no graphic description.
It also includes an attempt at describing the process of language learning, with foreign language set off //like this//. It is awkward but, as I am sure anyone who has learned a foreign language (and culture) by immersion will tell you, not as awkward as the real thing.
She lifted her arms as the Maid removed her blouse. Then she felt her Maid working with her underskirts. “He wants me to change those too?” she asked, as more and more came off.
“Everything, Ma’am,” the Maid said, working busily.
“Everything?!” Hadassah said, shocked. “You can’t mean that!”
“He was very, very explicit, Ma’am,” the Maid said.
“Well I never!” Hadassah said, fuming as the Maid finished. “Now what?”
The Maid didn’t say anything, but went to the wardrobe, got a bag out, opened it, and held up what it contained.
“That?” Hadassah said, shocked, staring at it. It was a Horsegirl’s outfit! One almost never saw Horsegirls, only occasionally on long trips. What they wore was nothing that a Farmer’s Daughter would even consider wearing.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
But when she started forward Hadassah said, “Not just that, surely?!”
The Maid attached the garment and stood back, “Yes, Ma’am. He was quite explicit. Just that − and that alone − absolutely nothing else. He was very, very clear. I think he knew you would be surprised.”
Hadassah wasn’t ‘surprised’, she was appalled! She followed the Maid numbly down the stairs, flushing brilliantly and hoping that they would meet no one, absolutely no one, on the way to the stable. And no one on the ride, either! The wildest imaginations of the women during The Talk had not imagined this! Not outside! They reached the bottom of the stairs and her Maid walked out in front of her. Hadassah picked up her step, trying to keep the Maid directly in front of her. She looked around, carefully, but didn’t see anyone. Trying her best to bring down her flush, she followed her out toward the stables.
Coming around the corner, she saw Seth waiting for her, with the groom and three horses. The horses had no saddles, or blankets; just saddlebags; extremely full. Seth himself was dressed as a Horseman. Under any other circumstances she would have been rather attracted by the look, and would have hoped that he enjoyed how she looked. But as his eyes played over her as she came forward, all she could think of was her own humiliation.
The groom, his eyes carefully averted, left as soon as Hadassah and her Maid approached. The Maid left with him, and Hadassah was sure that the two of them would be gossiping furiously the second they were out of earshot.
She looked nervously around, but no one else seemed to be in sight, so she relaxed slightly, and looked at Seth.
“Mount, my love, and the delight of my eyes,” he said. Hadassah shot a glance at his face, but, seeing no hint of sarcasm, she looked at the horse. It had no saddle, just a plain bridle. She had ridden bareback before, but not often. She reached out, grabbed at the mane, pulling herself up. She tried to move the skirt under her, to form a sort of saddle, but Seth, who had held her horse’s reins while she mounted, pulled it back out. She glared at him. “It needs to sit like this,” he said, without further explanation.
She opened her mouth to challenge this bizarre assertion but her natural modesty, her Father’s instructions, and her own determination to be obedient, checked her. Instead she turned, and stared straight ahead, away from him.
“The next several days are going to be very difficult,” he said, reaching for and taking her hands, “and I am sorry for that. I am most sorry that I cannot yet tell you, my beloved Wife, what is going on. What I can tell you is that it will eventually be over, and we will become Man and Wife in all of the senses of that phrase.”
She ventured a glance toward Seth, felt herself blushing, and her anger increased. He ignored her, mounted, and started down the path toward the fields, and she reluctantly guided her horse beside his. “You will be learning Kelii,” he continued. “It is very important that you do that well. To help you I have asked my friend, Bodipot, to help me. This will be a difficult task for him, as it goes against his culture.”
Hadassah looked ahead, and there, sure enough, several fields away, was the Horseman that she had noticed around the compound, sitting on his horse and watching them come up. And − she stared in shock − his three Wives! One almost never saw Aviovamen around Human compounds. Indeed, one almost never saw them at all.
“I will be travelling ahead with Bodipot,” Seth continued. “You will travel with his Wives. This is the last time I will speak to you in Farmer until you have learned Kelii, their language. Then we will speak that tongue for a while together. Once you can speak Kelii, I will be able to tell you all of my plans.”
They rode on in silence until, when they were a half a field from the waiting Horseman, Seth quickened his pace and the three girls came over to Hadassah.
//Hello,// one of the Horsewives said, and then, when Hadassah shook her head to indicate that she didn’t understand, continued, //Yes, we know. You don’t speak our language. But we are supposed to talk to you anyway. A strange thing our new Husband has us doing, but he is rich enough, and will be richer as a result of this, so whatever. Anyway, my name is Aviovamimo, of course, and this is Avustaa and Terssi. We were all taken at almost the same time, our Husband is so rich!//
//Well, you didn’t understand that. We will start with something simple.//
//‘Arm’,// she said, reaching out and grabbing Hadassah’s arm, //Arm.//
Hadassah jumped at the touch, and the Aviovamimo looked annoyed.
//Arm!// she said again, grabbing her own arm and then that of Avustaa, //Arm!//
The girl kept looking at her as if she expected her to say something, so Hadassah repeated, //Ahm//.
//Well, that’s the best that could be expected, I suppose. //Hand,// she said, gripping Hadassah’s hand and then her own. //Hand.//
//’And// Hadassah said.
‘Foot’, ‘thigh’, ‘stomach’ and even, to Hadassah’s mortification, ‘breast’ were all grabbed and taught, and then the Aviovamimo grabbed her own arm and said, //What is this?//
Hadassah’s heart stopped for a second, and then suddenly she understood, //Ahm//, she said.
//Arm, arm, arm, you silly Farmer girl, ‘Arm’//
//Arum,// Hadassah tried again, tears beginning to run down her cheeks.
//Aviovamimo, with all respect, you are scaring her,// Avustaa said.
//You try, then,// Aviovamimo said, and rode off toward the men, but well on the side of her Husband, who quickly left Seth, and, taking her on his own horse, rode off with her for a while.
//She is actually very nice, but she is very nervous,// Avustaa said.
//Now, you are doing fine. Let us try again. What is this?// she asked, reaching out and gently touching Hadassah’s thigh.
Hadassah cried, more freely now; the gentleness of this new girl, and seeing Seth now riding alone, having unlocked something. But she answered through her tears, and soon this set of words was reviewed, and another set was added, this one having to do with the horse: mane, shoulder, back, rump, tail.
By this time Aviovamimo was back, and Avustaa rode off to spend some time with the Husband. The Aviovamimo had watched Avustaa as she finished. //You try for a while,// she said to Terssi. //She seems to be learning better now.//
//Yes, Aviovamimo,// Terssi said, and rode up close to Hadassah.
This girl looked, if anything, younger than the other two, and very shy.
But she rode over very, very close, until her own leg was up against Hadassah’s horse, and vice versa.
//You have a very nice face,// Terssi said. //I think I will start there.//
//Nose// she said, awkwardly reaching out to Hadassah.
Hadassah suddenly found some of her intimidation evaporating with this girl, and she reached out herself to tweak the girl’s nose. //Nohs// she answered, grinning.
The Horsegirl grinned back and poked a finger at, and into, Hadassah’s mouth //Mouth!// A few very entertaining minutes later Hadassah knew ‘nose’, ‘mouth’, ‘lips’ (and that had taken a bit of work to separate from ‘mouth’), ‘hair’, and ‘cheeks’.
//Good work, Terssi// Aviovamimo said, //the silly girl seems to really take to you. You will do the introductions from now on, you and Avustaa, and I will test. Now, silly girl,// she said to Hadassah, //where is your thigh? Good, and your arm? Good. And your breasts? Yes, and humungous things those are, too, they are going to get very sore riding. ‘Mouth’? Well, you do seem to have learned something. Go ahead, Terssi and teach her, I don’t know − something to do. ‘Eat’, perhaps − she will be needing to do that a lot, or so the Husband says. He says that the Farmlad ate like a Grendol the last time he ‘transformed’.//
Hadassah watched this exchange, and hoped she wasn’t supposed to have understood it. She was relieved when Terssi came back to her. //Eat!// Terssi said, after pulling some bread from her saddle bags.
But as Hadassah reached for the bread, Terssi pulled it back slightly and said, //Eat!// again.
//Eat// Hadassah said, and was rewarded with a morsel of bread.
//Good,// Terssi said //now, swallow!// she added, making gulping motions and sounds.
//Swallow// said Hadassah, grinning and swallowing.
//Eat?// she said, holding her hand out to Terssi for more. It had been a long time since lunch − and she had expected to eat with Seth, alone in their suite, for dinner. She was hungry, and afraid, and lonely − and cold! Since they had left the house, a light rain had started and the sun had gone down.
But Terssi shook her head, and instead of giving her more said, //Bread. I want to eat bread.//
It took Hadassah a minute to get that right, but eventually the words were said, and the bread eaten and swallowed.
With three of the Aviovamen, two of which now taught her and one which reviewed, Hadassah didn’t have a free moment alone. And she was, bizarrely, jealous of the girls getting to ride off with their Husband… and at the same time she was nervous every time she glanced at Seth. She had been worried about bedding him, and now she was worried that she hadn’t bedded him.
The dreary afternoon moved into a dreary evening, and still the girls badgered her with one word after another, rotating between riding with her, each other, and the husband. She was cold, wet, miserable, and wished they would leave her alone. And then they did. One after another they ceased talking, riding with glazed eyes, riding in a set position in the ‘herd’. The men dropped back nearer to them, although Seth said nothing to her at all. And they didn’t stop! She got more and more tired, and her head nodded down more and more often until, finally, she leant forward, grabbed the horse’s mane with both hands and leant down to try to sleep.
Dimly, in the fog that was her mental state, and the fog that was the weather, she heard a voice speaking, and felt two horses come along side her, two legs pressing up against her own. Dimly, dimly she knew that it was Seth on one side, and Terssi on the other. Feeling safer, she allowed her mind to finally drift off, and, tired, cold, and as lonely as she had ever been in her life, she fell asleep.
The next morning she felt better, as she woke to a bright sunrise. The girls resumed teaching her, and she found, to her joy, that she was learning faster than she could have imagined was possible. By noon they were well past simple items like ‘arm’, and had moved into simple phrases and sentences, actions and not merely ‘things’.
Encouraged by this, she was upset when, the next day around noon, she began to be rather ill. Or at least, she thought she must be ill. Her thighs hurt abominably, which could be explained by the constant riding, but she kept getting dizzy. Her vision was blurry. Except for her thighs, which hurt constantly, these feelings never lasted long. However after one half-hour spell, she galloped her horse up to Seth.
“I am feeling sick,” she said.
//What?// he responded in Kelii.
She got rather angry. How could he insist on her speaking Kelii at a time like this and with her husband? Forcing her anger down she responded, //I sick.//
//I am sick,// he replied. //How are you sick? What are you feeling?//
//I hurt, my thighs hurt,// (She remembered those very first sessions where the Wives had taught her the parts of the body.) //My head is…// She didn’t know the word for dizzy so she pointed a spinning finger at her head.
//And my eyes,// she repeated the work with her finger.
She was not at all prepared for his answer. //All of those feelings are good. They are what you are supposed to be feeling. As you talk more and more Horseman they will get worse and worse. And then I will tell you how to make them better, and they will go away. But they must get worse for a while first. You must learn more Kelli. And you need to stop getting down from the horse so much.//
She rode slowly back to the Horsewives. Her Aunt had told her that obedience to a new Husband would be difficult. Her Father had told her that the Prince was working on some new plans, and she would need to help with them all she could. But she hadn’t, in her wildest imagination, imagined anything as insane as this! She was faced with a choice; luckily her upbringing had prepared her for it. She had been taught to be obedient through difficulty and confusion. She had been taught clearly her relationship to her authorities. And so she rode back to the Horsewives, confused but committed. Her Husband might be insane, but his instructions were clear enough! And so, instead of fighting the feelings, she embraced them. She pushed herself forward in every area that increased the dizziness. She avoided getting down from the horse except when dramatically necessary.
She started questioning the Horsewives more and more about their lives, their history, and their people, and not just listening passively to their stories. She learned that all three of them were pregnant, which surprised her.
‘The Talk’ had led her to believe that it usually took longer than that, as these Horsewives had all been married in the last few weeks.
Up to now she had shied away socially; talking to the girls, but not really relating to them. Now she plunged into relationship with them. She found herself eating constantly. And now the bursts of dizziness came more and more frequently. Often, she seemed to be rambling. But each time, the periods ceased after a half hour or so.
//So, you have talked and talked about all of your life, but never told me how you came to be with this Husband,// she said the next day, after a bout of dizziness, and as an excuse to cover the fact that she was extraordinarily hungry and stuffing herself rudely.
//Ah,// said Terssi, //I cannot start that story; it must be Aviovamimo.//
Hadassah looked at Aviovamimo, who, now that Hadassah could speak better, had become almost human toward her.
//Well,// Aviovamimo said, //Tis not normally a tale one tells outside of family, but these are strange circumstances.//
//It was most awkward for me, as I am older than these other two.//
//When this Husband came I was already riding edge, and had been for several weeks, several very hard weeks.//
//My Father, with our herd, had ridden far from the normal track, and so there were fewer young men to visit me and tempt me. I had only had four offers, and they were each very poor − one Horseboy, indeed, had had nothing − you can believe I sent him off with a fly in his ear.//
//Another Horseboy was perhaps acceptable. He had metal enough for twenty children, and some nice cloth,// she reached up to her head, where her hair was tied and covered with a beautiful cloth that then flowed, with her hair, down her back.
//He could perhaps have given some as a gift to my Father, and then had enough for us to have some of our own. But I knew he could never get an Avustaa, being so poor, except by kidnapping, and that is a poor way to get an Avustaa.//
//So I was teasing him on, and considering him − talking through my Brothers but always riding toward my Father when he tried to catch me, when this Husband came by.//
//Oh, you should have seen him! He came up, saw me, and whistled for my Brother.//
Hadassah had learned that a good portion of the Horseman language could also be translated into whistles, and had learned some words. She knew this ‘come hither Horseboy’ whistle as it had been, incongruously, the very first whistle that the Horsegirls had taught her in the whistle talk.
//He then handed my Brother, who had come at the whistle, enough in gold to outfit twenty children, and had said, //Give this to your Father as my gift// and then had trotted over toward me.//
//Well, I had no idea what he had done, of course, and when he started to come close I edged over toward my Father. Not that I could go over to him, you understand, being too old, but if I had gotten close my Brothers would have helped me. But even as I started moving, my Father whistled to my herd to turn, away from me.//
//And my Brother came out to me, just the one, so I knew that Father was more than satisfied with the gift, whatever it had been.//
//I knew that, for my Father to be satisfied so quickly, with no negotiation, this Horseboy must be rich indeed, so I stopped heading toward my Father’s herd and just started away from the new Horseboy.//
//Away?// Hadassah asked, confused.
//Of course!// Aviovamimo said. //There must be a chase!//
//As I left the edge of the herd the other Horseboys nearby started to go after me. It wouldn’t have been the first time that a poorer Horseboy had gotten himself a Wife in that way. But my Brother interfered, and the Husband sent his horse flat out in the seconds they dealt with my Brother.//
//Oh, it was a glorious ride, Sister. His horse was tired and mine was fresh, so it took him a long, long time to catch up with me.//
Aviovamimo stopped there, and Hadassah looked at Avustaa.
//Oh, my tale is not so interesting, although it was perhaps more comfortable. The Husband and Aviovamimo came near our herd, and one of my Brothers rode out to them, as they do, to see if, perhaps, another Wife is wanted.//
//My Brother told me how it went: “I stopped away, of course, my Sister, on the male side. I am not near changing, but it is always best to be careful, when approaching an Alpha male himself instead of one of his Horseboys. He knew of my fear and rode slowly up to me.”
“Yes, Horseboy?” he asked me. “I have no Daughters for you.”
This was very polite of him, as I am not near changing, and so I did my best to be polite back, “No, sir, but I have Sisters, some older, although none changed,” I said.
“Are they beautiful?” he asked me.
“Sir, I cannot tell,” I said, because I am not changed yet, my Sister, and cannot tell any more than you can.
“My Father says they will be,” I added, (which was true, but…) “All Fathers say this,” the man responded. (Which is also true, Sister.
Always I have heard this.) I waited, for I did not know what to do next. He and I walked together for a while, with his Aviovamimo coming up on his far side, and whispering into his ear. He nodded and turned to me, “Bring them to this side of your herd,” he said, “that my Aviovamimo might tell me if any look like they are submissive enough for her taste.”
“What shall I tell my Father?” I asked him, meaning of payment. For our Father would not want you to parade before this one merely for his enjoyment.
My Sister! He brought out and gave to me, right into my hand, enough metal for three children! “For this I can see them?” he asked, and I galloped off to see Father.
Avustaa turned to Hadassah, her voice excited, //I saw my Brother go out, get close… and perhaps you don’t know, my Sister, how rare that is.
Horseboys may do it, of course, and even Horsegirls may at the right time, but it is rare for us to ever touch one not of our herd. That is why…// she glanced at Aviovamimo.
//Tell her,// she said, sharply.
//That is why an Aviovamimo will often pressure her Husband to take an Avustaa or even a Terssi. Men, Alpha males, they are happy with just a Wife, or more than one Wife. But a Wife wants someone else she can talk to, and touch, other than just her Husband.//
//So, I watched my Brother go out to this new male, and I watched him gallop back. But I wasn’t too excited. My Father is rich, and had produced good seed, and there were five of us Horsegirls that were old enough to have breasts, and two older than me.//
//Soon my Brother came over to us, where we walked together ( which we always did whenever another male came by,) and he told us to ride out, in a line, toward the other male and his Wife.//
//Well, we were excited, of course, and lined up. We went out on that side, and the Wife came over to us, several times, riding up and down the line, and even talking to us. I don’t remember what she said…// Avustaa glanced at Aviovamimo, who shook her head, //Nor do I. Go on.//
//But I must have answered well. Brother, who was walking over with the male, came back to us and told us to get back in the herd.//
//Two days went by, two days in which one Brother or another rode back and forth, sometimes with several of them almost joining the small herd for a time. We do that, when we ride close, especially the Brothers. It was during this time that my Brother told us the story.
And then, one day, my Brother came up to me, and said, //‘Father says that you have been an excellent Daughter, and that he wishes you well,’ and I knew I had been chosen, and the gift had been paid.//
Avustaa stopped there, but Aviovamimo urged her horse against her flank, and she continued, //I took a day to leave my herd, I was so scared. I would ride over a bit, and then ride back a bit. I was young, you understand, and didn’t feel any pressure to mate.//
//But when I would get closer, the smell from the male …well…I can’t describe it. I had only smelled my Father before and, well, he was my Father. But this was an actual male.//
//She is telling this badly,// Aviovamimo said sharply, but not unkindly, a smile on her face. // She could not come out to the Husband until she had changed. By coming over and smelling him, she was forcing her change, forcing herself to become ready to mate. Even the second day, when she ‘left’ her herd, she still rode a ways off from us for another three days.//
Again the story stopped abruptly, and Hadassah turned to Terssi. //My Father,// she said, //was very poor, and his Wives were very fertile. He had gotten three Wives after a great hunt, and they had all been blessed. So I had many Brothers, but I was the first and oldest Daughter. Many of my Brothers had no metal at all.//
Hadassah knew enough by now to know how important metal was to Horsemen. They didn’t have much metal, usually, just a few metal rings which they used to tie their clothes together. But metal was a mark of status, and no Horseman wanted his Sons to go out into the world with no metal at all.
//So my Father had Brothers ranging far out, seeking a match for me.//
Terssi fell silent, and Aviovamimo continued the story. //We were already at your Father’s estate, when one of her Brothers came up to us. I hadn’t really wanted another Wife, just yet − I haven’t even brought forth my first and it isn’t usual to take a Terssi until then. But the Husband is rich, and your Husband-to-be heard of the request. And he said that three Wives might be even better for helping you to learn.//
She stopped. //He was right, too. How odd!// Aviovamimo continued the story, //And so he offered to buy the Wife for the Husband. But the Husband could NOT allow that − another male buying a Wife for him! I saw that, now, we must get her, or the Husband would be shamed, and so I encouraged him to take her.//
Terssi took up her story again, //My Brother came galloping, absolutely galloping, back, he was so excited. Usually, there would have been negotiations, but the price offered was so high…// she smiled, bashfully.
Hadassah imagined that it had been very encouraging, to command such a high price.
//And then, and then the Brother brought me back himself.// She shook her head, //It was very scary, and he waited with me. It took me five days,// she said, //before I would come close. And − and I entered the herd as Terssi just one day before you came.//
//Oh!// Hadassah said, a good deal about her behavior and the other Aviovamen, becoming clearer.
//So,// Aviovamimo said to Hadassah, //It is now your turn,// and the Aviovamen all rode close up to Hadassah. //Not that he is your Husband yet, we notice,// she said with a smirk.
//It is different with us,// Hadassah said, nervously. But the Aviovamen crowded in closely, encouraging her. //Very well,// Hadassah said, //I will try.//
//My Father is… as a hunt leader amongst your people. Many other males look to him for leadership. So when it was time for my marriage, well, it was a very, very important thing. Unlike you, we live together, and each marriage binds families and groups. So my marriage, our marriage, will bind many, many families together.//
The Horsewives’ eyes widened, but they didn’t say anything. //And so the negotiations go on and on. Unlike you, they do not start our negotiations until we have changed, so I was already ready. My Father sent his − Horseboys to negotiate with the Father of my Husband-to-be.//
She paused, deciding that she wasn’t ready to try to translate the whole ‘treason’ thing. //So they agreed, and then his family came to where we live, and other families came, to watch. And then, in front of these families, my Father gave me to the Husband.//
Terssi looked at her, //So then why do you not ride together?// she asked.
//I do not know,// Hadassah said. //It is the Husband’s decision when and how we first come together. He has not told me when that will be. But he has told me instead to ride with you, and to learn to speak Horseman.//
Aviovamimo looked at her, and rode off toward her Husband. She did this so often that no one remarked on it or even paid attention. So they were all shocked when they suddenly heard the ‘come hither’ whistle from the Husband, with the ‘all my Wives’ addition. The Avusta and Terssi both looked up and rode off, and Hadassah saw Seth riding back to her.
//Greetings, my Aviovamimo,// he said. //You have done marvellously and have learned much, or so I have been told.//
//Are you ready to tell me what is going on now?// Hadassah challenged him, riding over until the two touched thigh to thigh. Her time with the Aviovamen had made her very possessive of her Husband, and her most recent story had made her − frustrated as well.
//Yes, the first part, anyway. I am going to ask you to do something difficult now. Something you have never done before.//
Hadassah pushed her horse even harder against him, but he responded laughingly, //No, not that, not yet,// and he began to change.
From the outside there wasn’t much to see, but she was riding right next to him. As she watched his face changed, and the way he rode changed, and the way the horse walked changed. Toward the end he broke into a run, and she urged her horse next to him.
They had run for quite a while when his horse dropped back to a walk.
She was very dizzy now, and her vision was blurry. Her breath came rasping from her throat, //What are you?!// she cried, staring at him as he was now, a full Horseman.
//It is your turn,// he said, turning to face her. //You need to change as well.//
“But I can’t!” she replied, in Farmer.
//Yes, you can,// he replied, pressing himself up against her so hard that the horses began to ride in a circle //and you will! I call you to your oath.//
She stared at him, and then began to think. Stories from her youth, stories of babies stolen away by Trolls, stories of young women running away with Visser or Horsemen-- they came back to her.
And she had seen it! She had just seen Seth transform from Human to Horseboy, or − to Horseman. It could be done.
And she would do it! He had called her to obedience, and if she knew nothing else, she knew that. Her life had been turned upside down, but on this everyone she loved was agreed: that she was to obey her new Husband. Even the Bishop, in his longwinded sermon, had made that clear. All of marriage was dependent on these two things: that the Husband led well, and the Wife obeyed in all things.
This was the turning point in her marriage; and she would be obedient.
//How do I do it?// she asked.
His horse went into a little jig; reflecting, she knew, Seth's own emotions. //You must talk about what you see, what it is like. Then you will get dizzy, and then you will go to sleep.//
And that is what she did, and that is what happened. She talked and she talked. She described everything she saw, she talked about the horses, she talked about Seth; saying things which would have embarrassed her, except nothing embarrassed her now, and she talked and she talked, and she got dizzier, and her vision got blurrier, and her legs stopped hurting so much… And she fell asleep.
While she slept, Hadassah’s body finished a process it had been performing over the last several days, a transformation that it had never performed before. From the inside of her thighs, skin meshed with skin, nerves with nerves. An intricate system of exchange was finalised, a system that was able, at a moment’s notice, to detach from the horse; but that would normally allow for the exchange of a myriad of bodily functions between her and her horse. Their nervous systems were welded into an integrated whole. What the horse saw, Hadassah could see, what Hadassah wanted, the horse would want, and vice-versa. Not one as the human body is one, but far more one than any mere ‘horse and rider’. Hadassah slept on, and her body worked on… at first using resources from Hadassah’s scant reserve, and then from the much vaster reserves of the horse, building Hadassah into her new form.
None of the contacts were visible from the outside, at least not while her clothes were on. Since the Horsemen and Farmers were the most similar physically anyway, the minor changes that Hadassah’s body made in her face and limbs could not be noticed in the darkness. Horsemen sleep little, or perhaps it is better to say that they sleep differently. While never undergoing the unconsciousness of Farmers, their bodies have their own resting cycle, with parts of the mind and body awake while other parts rested. So Seth was awake, but his conscious mind slept, waiting for the dawn, and awaiting her change.
As dawn drew near, Seth began to notice some of the changes, some changes he had been anticipating. Ever aware of his surroundings in a herd, he first noticed small things about the way the horse was moving. A normal horse, with a Farmer on its back, moves with a certain stiffness, a certain awkwardness. An Horsewife and her horse move with a unitary grace. The small changes in the sounds of the steps the horse was making brought Seth to full awakening. Glancing over, he noticed as well a difference in the way Hadassah was sitting. Farmers, even the best riders, sit ‘separate’ from their horses, two, not one. But Hadassah now, even in her unconscious state, was sitting differently.
And then, even more powerfully, came the smell. Horses are alive to smell. They use it to warn them of danger, to inform them of the presence and nature of other horses. The Horsemen also shared the sense of smell, and its meanings, with his horse. Before today, before right now, the smell from the horse and the Farmwife had been just that: ‘a’ horse, and ‘a’ Farmwife; a mare of course, and a Farmer female. But now the smell was that of ‘mate’. Each Horseman male/horse unit was constantly aware of females, ‘mates’.
And now his Wife and her horse had that smell. And it was evident from the behavior of the other horse that it, too, sensed the difference. The glances that it sent their way, before relatively docile, were now actively… interested.
Hadassah awoke, and realized to her joy that she had succeeded. She was alive to a million different feelings, feelings she had never felt before, but had been dreaming of recently. She was alive to something else, too.
She glanced over. Seth was gazing at her. And he had a question for her, “Who am I?” he asked, his horse prancing, almost dancing.
“You are my Husband!” she responded, her horse as well dancing, facing Seth's. “You I will serve, you I will obey, as long as I live − if you can catch me,” she added, and galloped off.
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links
Island People
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.