I rather not

Tenac had just returned from a shorter trip to one of the smaller towns nearby. He and another rider had been escorting an aari. It had been a standard mission, nothing had happened and all together the two days had been rather boring in his view.

Tomorrow on the other hand promised to be more eventful. He was meeting up with Mary and taking her to the marketplace again.

As he was putting away his horse’s gear, he wondered when and why he decided he enjoyed his lessons with Mary. He admitted that she was a beautiful woman, but that didn’t automatically mean she would be good company.

She was shy and sometimes seemed so uncertain about herself. When he thought he knew what to expect from her, she did something, or said something, that caught him of guard and made him realise he knew so little about her.

Like the knife she carried, he had not expected the shy and timid woman to be carrying a weapon. She was Kopas daughter, so it made sense in a way. But still.

The riddle that was Mary had him wanting to learn more. He wanted to understand her, he had always found it easy to read people, to see what they were hiding bellow the surface. But with Mary, he didn’t have a clue.

Tenac concluded that that was probably why he was so fascinated with her, and why he was looking forward to spending the day with her tomorrow.

That reminded him that he should find Sinhera and let her know he was meeting Mary tomorrow. He had promised, so he would do it. But he would rather not.

He found her near the barracks. She was sitting in the gras in the spring sun, talking to Jontak. Tenac sighed quietly. If he were to talk to Sinhera now, Jontak would probably want to go along as well. But he didn’t know when he would have the time to talk with her before tomorrow. He was just going to hope for Jontak to be on duty.

“Hi Sinhera, Jontak” he called out and both riders acknowledged him.

“Sinhera, I’m meeting Mary tomorrow to go to the marketplace, you wanted to tag along” Tenac said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, that sounds great, I’m free for three days so it works out perfect” she smiled at him.

“Good. We’ll meet you by the west entrance after lunch?” he asked, and she nodded. He hadn’t planed at not telling her that he was meeting Mary in the morning. But this way he could spend some time with her one on one. Somehow that was important.

“Hay, isn’t Mary that pretty girl we saw you with at the market last time?” Jontak asked.

“Yes, sir Teeran’s daughter” Tenac confirmed, hooping Kopas name would act as a deterrent.

“Can I come along? I have the afternoon off” Jontak asked with a wide grin. Tenac looked at Sinhera and she shrugged her shoulders to let him know she didn’t care either way. Tenac couldn’t find a good reason to say no.

“Sure, just remember who her father is. He is trusting me to keep her safe and if you to tag along, you have to do the same”

“No problem”

“No, really. I know you think you have seen sir Teeran being intimidating, but when it comes to Mary…” Tenac let his sentence trail off. “Let’s jus say that I have known him my whole life and the only time I have been scared of him was when he made me promise to look after her”

Both Sinhera and Jontak laughed, Tenac realised that they didn’t take him seriously. He had warned them at least.

“I’ll see you two tomorrow after lunch, I’m heading off to get some food” Tenac ended the conversation.

He headed off towards the mess hall. He was still looking forward to tomorrow. He would have the morning to talk to Mary on his own and then they would meet up with the two others.

He reminded himself that part of his mission was to introduce Mary to people her own age. He knew he could trust both Sinhera and Jontak. Sure, Jontak could be childish. But he was a good man and when it came down to it, he was a good rider. And Sinhera would be there to help Tenac rain in Jontak from going too far of track.

---

The following morning Mary got ready to go out on the town with Tenac before she went down for breakfast. Unlike most days, Kopa didn’t leave as soon as he had eaten.

“Is there something wrong?” Mary asked him.

“No” he just answered and just sat at the table. Mary looked at him quizzical.

“He’s not going to work until Tenac comes to pic you up. I think he needs to intimidate the poor boy some more” Bettina laughed, being able to read her husband like a book.

“Surly you are not going to do that?” Mary asked.

“I’m not saying I will, but I might”

“Kopa, why?” Mary asked looking at him. He just shrugged and kept sitting on his chair, staring out into nothing. Mary looked to Bettina for guidance.

“Oh let him be. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go overboard. A small bit of intimidation won’t hurt Tenac”

“Bettina!” Mary said in chock. Kopa had a smile playing on his lips but did his best not to show it. The only reply Mary got was a shrug from both her parents.

Just as Mary was about to argue with them, someone knocked on the door. Kopa stood up and headed to the door.

“I can get it” Mary said and tried to make a dash towards the door. A look from Kopa made her give up on that idea. He opened the door and greeted Tenac.

“Good morning sir” Tenac responded. “I’m here to pic up Mary for today lesson” he added just as Mary and Bettina came walking.

“Mhm. What are your plans for today?” Kopa asked, sounding less then thrilled.

“We will try to look at the rest of the marketplace today. Sinhera and Jontak will be joining us after lunch” Tenac remain calm and smiled at Mary and Bettina.

“Sinhera, she’s a good rider” Tenac commented.

“Yes sir” Tenac agreed.

“I may be in that vicinity today, I may drop by the marketplace” Kopa said as an afterthought. Mary rolled her eyes at him and grabbed her cloak and stepped past Kopa.

“We’ll be going now. Bye Kopa, bye Bettina. I’ll see you later” she said, placing a quick peck on his cheek as she passed him by. Tenac said goodbye to them both as well and followed her.

“I’m sorry about Kopa” Mary said when they had gone down a couple of blocks in silence.

“Don’t be, he’s protecting you. I get it. I haven’t seen him like that, not even when he is protecting my mother” Tenac told her, sounding amused.

“He has always been protective of me” Mary confessed. “He has always made me feel safe”

“I can understand that. So, did you have a good couple of days?” he asked her.

“Oh yes, it was amazing being able to follow along with Bettina” Mary answered and started to tell him about all the things she had learnt.