Opening up

Kopa was right. The day after Mary told Bettina that she wanted to try and become an aari, Bettina made sure they had a big family feast. When Kopa got home that day, the table in the dining room was already full of food and the three of them had a joyful evening eating, laughing, and talking.

Kopa and Mary played Kai as Bettina tried to talk Mary into going to the seamstress to get new dresses made for her. She would need them when she started studying to become an aari. Mary refused, it would be a waste of money if she didn’t make it.

The week passed by, and Mary was almost back to her new usual self. She still hadn’t responded to the letter, she kept putting it off. When Saturday came around Mary had decided that she probably owed Tenac an apology. He came and picked her up as usual and they started to walk along the street.

He led her along the river today. After a while Mary had gathered enough courage to talk about what she felt she had to.

“Tenac, I need to apologize to you” she started.

“For what?”

“The way I spoke to you last week. You were being considerate, and I did not appreciate it as I should have. I’m sorry for that”

“Mary, it’s fine, you don’t have to apologize for that” he told her.

“I do, you are doing me a favour by helping me and I was rude and not appreciative. I had a bad day that day and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry for it” she insisted.

“I still don’t think that you owe me one, but if you feel better by it, I accept your apology” he said.

“Thank you”

“So, I was right? Something was wrong that day?” he asked while he looked out over the river as they walked.

“Yes” she admitted, she took a minute to think about how much she wanted him to know.

“I got a letter from a person that I knew in Dermes. It put me in a bad mood and when you cancelled it brought back memories that I thought I had left behind me” she told him honestly.

“What in my cancellation triggered you?” he asked. “I only ask so I know what to avoid in the future” he added, and Mary smiled a weak smile at him.

“You don’t have to think about things like that” she said. “It’s me that need to learn how to handle it and let go of the past.”

“Maybe, but I would still like to know. I don’t mind it Mary, just let me help you”

This made Mary laugh and she felt a lot better after she stopped. Tenac looked at her quizzically.

“You already help me Tenac. You are showing me around the city, teaching me things I need to know. I think I let you help me plenty” she explained.
“That’s what friends do Mary. They help each other” he said with a shrug.

“That is what I’m trying to learn” Mary remarked, without thinking about it.

“You must have had friends before you came here”

“I did. But back in Dermes. It’s hard to explain without burdening you with a lot of depressing things. But back then I thought that I needed to do everything they asked of me to hold on to their friendship. I thought I needed it more than they did so I did everything in my power to keep them in my life” she tried to explain.

“And when they didn’t need me for something, they didn’t make time for me, and I was alone. Not everyone of my friends were like that. But I had the feeling that everyone looked at me in that way” she continued.

Tenac walked along side her in silence, listening to her trying to explain things to him, without exposing her biggest wounds.

“That must have made you feel very lonely” he said when she had stopped talking and they had been walking in silence for a while.

“It did. But things changed when I got here. Or I thought it did. But one letter from them and I was right back in the same frame of mind”

“And then I came and cancelled our walk and made it worse” Tenac stated.

“It’s not your fault. I know that things happen that you can’t control, and plans need to be rescheduled. It was just bad timing” Mary told him.

“Unfortunately, that is a part of being a rider” Tenac agreed. “But I want you to know that if I need to cancel in the future, it will never be because I choose so willingly, and it will not have anything to do with how you have acted or not acted. If I cancel one of our walks, it will all be because I get an order that I need to do, something that I can’t refuse. Okay?” he asked.

“Okay” she agreed.

“Good, and if anyone of us does something that makes the other uncomfortable, angry, or sad, we will tell each other and we will talk about it. We are friends and that is how friends act.”

“I would like that” she said.

“Then it is decided” he smiled at her.

They continued walking along the river until they came to the second bridge. Mary had been confused by the numbering of the bridges. She would have thought that the bridge furthers to the south would have been number one, the one second furthest to the south would be number two and so on. Or that they would have started counting from the north. But that wasn’t the way they had numbered the bridges.

It hadn’t been until Tenac had explained that they were numbered in the succession that you travelled over them when you went from the sanctuary to the western gate, that she got the logic behind it.

As they crossed the bridge the docks came into view. Mary was taken back by the ships that were anchored there. Tenac explained that they were, in fact, small ships. Specially made to travel up the river. If you went down the river to Archam, the harbour city by the sea, you could see the truly large ships.

As they walked along the docks, making sure not to be in the way of unloading and loading the ships. Tenac explained the system to Mary and as they started walking home, taking the long way back, he pointed out the warehouses in the eastern part of the city, just beyond the docks.

They stopped at a small restaurant near the first bridge and Tenac insisted on treating Mary to lunch. After eating they continued their walk home.

“Thank you for a lovely day, Tenac” Mary said as they got closer to her house.

“My pleasure as always Mary” he said.

“Can I ask you a favour?” she asked hesitantly.

“Always”

“The last bit of the way here, Kopa took me riding. I really enjoyed it and would like to learn how to ride. Do you think you can help find someone that can teach me?” Mary asked. She thought that since Tenac was a grey rider he ought to know someone. He chuckled as he looked at her.

“You want to learn how to ride a horse?” he asked.

“Yes”

“If I were to ask around I can’t imagine how many volunteers I would get” he said, shaking his head slightly. “How about I teach you?”

“You would do that?” she asked.

“Of course, I would. We have walked over the most important parts of the city for you to know. We can start using the time for riding lessons instead” he told her.

“Thank you Tenac” Mary said smiling at him.

“No problem, shall we start on Thursday?”

“That works for me. But after next week I will only be able to meet you on the weekend for two weeks” Mary told him.

“Has Bettina started you on regular patient meetings?” Tenac asked.

“No. I’m going to take part in the aari evaluations” Mary said looking down at her feet. She still felt insecure about her decision. She noticed that Tenac had stopped. She turned around and looked at him.

“That is amazing news Mary. I’m so happy for you”

“Thank you, but we don’t know if I will be accepted or not” she said.
“I have a feeling that won’t be an issue” he said giving her a big smile.

“Thank you Tenac”

“That means that we need to try and work the lessons in around both our schedules” he told her.

“We don’t know if I will have a schedule yet” she reminded him.

“Mhm, yeah, we do. But we will work it out” he told her.

Mary didn’t know why everyone was so sure she would make the cut. But it made her nervous and happy at the same time.