A Long Road Chapter 16 Ficbit – Making it Work

Wrapped up against the frosty morning, Mina leaned against one of Rabbit Hole’s new paddock fences, offering a dried apple slice to entice one particularly canny buckskin mare over for a good look. She might have been Haven-raised but she was an Ashkevron. You didn’t survive family get-togethers without knowing something about good horses. “I like your brother already. He picked solid horses.”

“Da-ge likes to do things right.” Nie Huaisang radiated warmth as he rested one arm on the fence beside her, looking over this part of the Wen’s small herd. “But I’m curious. Solid?”

“Your mare’s got a temper. That’s fine, because you can handle her. She’s meant for speed, and enough endurance to get you through a battle or run from it. The horses he sent with the Wen… they can run, but they’re built for keeping a steady pace as long as it takes.” Canny lips and teeth finally plucked the apple from Mina’s fingers; she felt at the mind behind them. “They’re calm, and they’re smart. They know what’s really dangerous, and what’s not, and they like people. If a little wanders underfoot, or some poor rider panics and tries to yank their reins wrong, they’re just going to put their ears back and do what they think is the right thing. Wei Wuxian knows horses, and Wen Ning, and some of the others – but the elders, and the others they picked up? If they had to have horses, these are the best.” Lips ghosted across her palm again, searching for any crumb of apple left behind, and Mina grinned. “They’re not as burly as Ashkevron warhorses, but people trying to sneak out and settle down somewhere no one will notice them don’t need warhorses. They need horses who can pack out skins and forest gleanings, haul a fair size load of wood, and pull a plow for a small field. Your brother’s the sect leader, he probably picked horses who wouldn’t help your sect in another big battle – but when he offered to provision the Wens in trade for a rescue, he held up his end of the bargain all the way.” She breathed out, looking at the familiar half-stone, half-timbered houses of Valdemar, thinking of how different Qinghe had looked in Nie Huaisang’s paintings. Stone fortresses, and bamboo, and tiled roofs with fantastic monsters guarding the ridgeline. “He keeps his word, Wei Wuxian keeps his, and I know the Queen keeps hers. We can make this work.”

Nie Huaisang’s presence seemed to cool, though he didn’t withdraw. “Even with the… risks of our magic?”