The horse that wasn't Buttercup

The next day, Mary headed to the rider’s headquarters first thing in the morning. She had invited Tenac to have lunch with her and her family. He had reluctantly accepted. The previous times he had lunch at her home, it had just been her and Bettina. Mary knew he was hesitant because of her father.

As she arrived at the stables, Tenac was waiting for her. They greeted each other and headed into the stables.

“I have had words from my grandfather,” Tenac said as they walked.

“Really. Are they headed this way?” Mary asked.

“Yes, they should be here by next week and will stay for about a month, or until they need new grazing for the horses. It's difficult to predict these things in wintertime,” he said.

“You must be looking forward to it.”

“I am. I thought that you might want to come along and visit them when you have your break. What do you think?” he asked.

“I would love to,” Mary said, looking at him. “But I don’t want to take time away from you seeing your family. I know you don’t get to see them that often,” she said. Tenac shrugged.

“I will visit them as often as I can while they are here. It’s okay, I wouldn’t have asked if it weren’t,” he said.

“Okay, then I would love to come.”

“Good. Now let’s get you a new horse,” he smiled.

“No, Tenac. I have told you, Buttercup will do,” Mary objected.

“I’m not letting you anywhere near my grandfather whilst you are riding Buttercup, Mary. If you are going to visit a Che’hul camp, you can’t be on a horse like her,” he said.

Mary looked at him. She really wanted to go with him to visit his family. Her curiosity and thirst for new things was going crazy at the thought of getting to see this whole new culture. At the same time, it felt like she was betraying Buttercup. The horse had been patient with her from the start.

Mary recognized that Tenac was dangling the visit to the Che’hul camp as an incentive for her to try a new horse. She wasn’t clueless. But she wasn’t upset by it. He didn’t do it to manipulate her into it. He most likely knew that she would see it for what it was, bait.

“Okay, let’s see this new horse. But if Buttercup gets upset, you have to deal with it,” Mary finally said.

“Mary, horses aren’t like people. Buttercup won’t care, but if it makes you feel better. I promise I will take care of it,” he smiled and showed her further into the stables.

“If you say so,” Mary simply said.

“This is Fizz,” Tenac said, patting a horse on its neck.

Fizz looked like a copy of Buttercup, but was a couple of sizes larger and while Buttercup had a calm and happy gaze. Fizz had an alert and energetic look at him. Mary reached out her hand and he sniffed it, and his lips nibbled a little over her palm.

“Hello, Fizz, you look like you're awake,” Mary smiled.

“Let’s get him groomed and saddled,” Tenac said, taking a step back and letting Mary do the work.

Mary soon noticed the difference between the two horses. Not only was Fizz taller and more muscular than Buttercup. But he was more curious. Buttercup had happily stood still and let Mary do what she needed to do. Fizz wanted to look and see what she was doing. He wanted to taste most things she found out as he nibbled on anything she let come close to him.

“You are a curious boy, aren’t you?” she said, and rubbed him on the forehead. That had always done the trick with Buttercup. Even though Fizz seemed to enjoy it, it wasn’t that big of a hit.

That got Mary curious, and she rubbed and scratch different parts of Fizz until she rubbed his ears and his eyes rolled back and a slight shiver ran through his body.

“You like that?” she asked and rubbed his other ear. It had the same effect on him. Tenac laughed, from where he was leaning against the wall.

“I think you have found his weakness,” he said. “Reddy to mount?” he then asked.

“Sure,” she said nodding.

Tenac took her out into the paddock. Mary was nervous as Fizz wasn’t as easy-going as Buttercup.

“It will be fine,” Tenac said calmly, as if he felt how nervous she was. “Just do what you always do. You have been ready for this for a long time,” he added.

Mary nodded and mounted Fizz. It was a bit more difficult since he was taller than she was used to. She had to use more force to jump up than she usually did. Fizz moved about some when she was correcting her stirrups. But to Mary’s surprise, it didn’t make her feel scared or off balance. She just asked him to stand still and continued.

Mary spent the morning getting to know Fizz. She rode in the paddock the whole time, which made her feel safe. Even though Fizz was nervier than Buttercup, he also had more energy and responded quicker on her commands. Mary found she could decrease the pressure she used in her legs, feet, and hands.

“You figured it out by yourself,” Tenac said, sounding pleased, the first time he saw it.

“It seemed unnecessary to use as much pressure on him,” Mary responded.

“That’s right. When you have a great horse, your commands will almost be invisible. After working together with such a horse for a while. The horse will feel your muscles shifting and respond before your actual command,” Tenac told her.

When Mary eventually dismounted, she felt comfortable that she could handle Fizz. She groomed him and fed him before heading over to Buttercup to say hi. Buttercup usually always perked up as Mary came walking. But this time, the horse looked at her and turned around. No matter how much Mary tried to coax her, Buttercup wouldn’t turn around.

“I expect you to fix this,” Mary told Tenac. He was just looking at Buttercup in disbelief.

“I have never heard of this happening,” he said, sounding like he still couldn’t believe it.

“The next time I come, you’ll have fixed this,” Mary said. It had clearly been more of an order than a request.

“Okay” Tenac nodded as they walked towards Mary’s home.

They spent the walk talking about their week and what was coming. Tenac would be responsible for a group of riders accompanying two aari to the west. They wouldn’t be able to train until Mary’s break.

They decided they would meet up on the first Tuesday of Mary’s break. They would go to the market and have lunch and by then Tenac would know more about when his grandfather and his clan would be there.

As they walked into the house, Bettina came walking and gave Mary a hug and greeted Tenac. They walked with her into the kitchen, where Kopa sat at the table. Tenac greeted him and Mary gave her father a kiss on the cheek before walking over to Bettina to help her with the last things for lunch.

Tenac and Kopa sat silent for a while, but soon they found their way to a conversation regarding some new routine the riders were thinking of implementing. They seemed to share the opinion that it was unnecessary.

Mary and Bettina smiled at each other and started serving lunch. As they sat and ate, Mary told her parents that Tenac had invited her to go to visit the Che’hul when they arrived.

“Ceran is coming this way?” Tenac asked.

“Yes, I got word from grandfather the other day,” Tenac said. “I thought it would give Mary some incentive to move on from Buttercup,” he added.

“You got her to try another horse?” Kopa sounded pleased.

“Yes, I rode Fizz today. It went really well. Now Tenac just has to fix things with Buttercup, and then I can start using Fizz regularly,” Mary said.

“What’s wrong with Buttercup?” Bettina asked.

“She is hurt that I rode another horse,” Mary said.

“Horses don’t think like that, little one,” Kopa chuckled.

“Actually, I think I agree with Mary on this one,” Tenac said. Kopa gave him a disbelieving look, to which Tenac raised his hands. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it either. But that horse was upset,” he said.

“Tenac promised he would fix it if it happened,” Mary said, smiling. Kopa turned to Tenac.

“How?” he asked.

“I do not know, when I made the promise I didn’t think it would actually happen,” Tenac sighed and looked perturbed.
Bettina laughed and looked at Mary.

“How did you know she would be upset?” she asked her. Mary shrugged.

“I could feel it and I tried to tell him,” Mary just said.

“She will be dangerous that one when she gets more control,” Kopa smiled proudly at his daughter.

Overall, the lunch was a success and Mary was happy that her father seemed to relax some around Tenac. She knew they had known each other for a long time. It had been Mary’s appearance that had caused Kopa to keep Tenac at a distance. Mary felt she needed to get things back to how they used to be. And she was making progress.