Why is he waiting for me?

The next day, Mary was excited to go down to the stables. She had gone riding with Sinhera a couple of times, but it wasn’t the same.

She arrived in the stables and got Fizz ready. When she was done, there was still no sign of Tenac or Addon. Mary took Fizz and led him to the stable where Addon was. She could hear cursing before entering. She tied Fizz outside and headed in.

Tenac was trying to get the bridle on Addon. Addon just raised his head straight up and refused. Tenac swore loudly and Mary laughed. Tenac turned towards her and looked defeated.

“Is he acting up?” Mary asked.

“I’m guessing you have been giving him apples?” Tenac asked.

“Oh no, don’t try to blame this on me. He is upset that you have been away,” Mary said.

“Let me do it,” she then said.

“I don’t know Mary, when he is cranky, he can be mean,” Tenac objected.

“Don’t be silly, he isn’t upset with me,” Mary told Tenac and took the bridle from him.

She walked up to Addon; he stood perfectly still and opened his mouth without objections and let her put it on. He was looking at Tenac the whole time.

“You might want to bribe him with an apple,” Mary suggested.

“I’m not going to bribe my horse,” Tenac told her.

“Fine, it was just a suggestion,” she said, handing the rains to him.

“Do you have an apple?” Tenac sighed.

Mary smiled and took one out of the pocket of her cloak and handed it to him.

“Thank you,” he said, giving the apple to Addon.

Addon sniffed the apple and then took it and ate it. As Mary and Tenac watched him eat the apple one of the riders came walking into the stable. Mary had talked to him before as he was part of Sinhera’s and Jontak’s unit.

“Hey, Mary,” he said, looking worried.

“Hey, Carman,” she smiled.

“Do you know a trainee that has blond hair, blue eyes, are a little shorter than me and are about our age?” he asked.

“Um, it sounds like Kornen, why?” Mary asked.

“I notice him standing just outside the headquarters when I left to do an errand about half an hour ago. He was still standing at the same spot when I just came back. I saw you and thought he might be waiting for you,” the rider said.

“Thank you for letting me know,” Mary said, faking a smile.

As the rider walked away, Tenac looked at her.

“What’s it about?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I can’t understand why he would be waiting for me, or how he knew I was here,” Mary said.

“Were you followed?” Tenac asked.

“How should I know? I don’t think about things like that when I’m walking from the sanctum to the riders’ headquarters,” she told him. He nodded.

“It makes you uncomfortable,” he said. It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway.

“I’ll make sure he leaves,” Tenac said.

“No, wait. I’ll talk to Furnlow when I get back to the sanctum,” Mary said.

“Why do you need to talk to Furnlow? Has he done something like this before?” Tenac asked.

“Not that I know of, but then again, I haven’t looked for the signs. But there was an incident about two months ago. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But maybe I shouldn’t have,” she told him.

“Did he hurt you?” Tenac asked.

“No, not really. He just prevented me from leaving after I turned him down,” Mary told him. She could see the anger flashing in Tenac’s eyes.

“That does it, I’m going to talk to him,” Tenac said, walking toward the door.

“Tenac, don’t. I will handle it,” Mary said.

Tenac stopped and looked at her, he didn’t look happy.

“Fine. But if I hear anything about this again, I’m having a talk with him and then I’m letting you father know,” Tenac said. Mary nodded.

Mary got Fizz, and they rode out of the city to let the horses stretch out. There was some uncomfortable tension in the air at first. But soon they were talking as usual. Tenac told her about his travel, as much as he could. Mary filled him in what had happened when he was away.

They got back four hours later and when Mary had finished grooming and feeding Fizz, Tenac was waiting for her.

“I have something for you,” he said.

“For me?” she asked.

“Yes,” he smiled.

Mary walked up to him, and he held out a leather pouch, Mary opened it and it contained smaller pouches.

“It’s not from me, but from every grey rider that was on the mission,” he said. She looked at him.

“You saved most of them either with your seasickness remedy or the one for sunburn. They wanted to say thank you. So, we collected some money and bought a bunch of exotic spices that are hard to find here,” he explained.

“That is so sweet of you. You really didn’t have to, but tell them thank you,” Mary said. Tenac nodded.

“This is from me, for watching out for Addon,” he said, holding out something small wrapped in fabric.

Mary took it and unwrapped it. It was a bracelet made of some sort of metal and had inlays of green and blue glass in it.

“It’s beautiful, thank you,” Mary said, she was stunned by it.

“I’m happy that you like it,” he smiled.

“I really do. Can you help put it on?” she asked. He obliged and clasped it around her wrist.

“It suits you,” he said.

“I love it,” she smiled.

“Good. Now, I’ll walk you home,” he told her.

“It’s okay, I can manage,” she said.

“No, today I’ll walk you home,” he insisted. Mary realised he was thinking about Kornen, so she just nodded.

“I’m not going home, I’m going to the sanctum,” she told him.

They walked through the city, chatting, and Tenac insisted he would row her to the sanctum. They said goodbye on the docs in the sanctum and Mary went to her room to put away the spices.

She wrote a quick note to her mother, saying she wouldn’t be home for dinner, and found a prospect to deliver it for her. Then she headed toward Furnlow’s office.

She knocked and hoped he would be in. When she got no response, she needed to think what the next step would be. Usually, she would have talked to her father, but he was away with Tariana. She could go to Furlow’s private quarters, but that seemed too invasive. Instead, she knocked on Procecsa’s office door.

“Yes,” Procecsa called.

Mary opened the door and stepped inside.

“Hi Mary. Isn’t it your day off?” Procecsa asked.

“Hi. It is. I’ve been out with Tenac all morning. But I have a problem and I wanted to ask for your opinion on how to handle it,” Mary said.

“I’m intrigued. Come in and tell me,” her mentor said.

Mary sat down in her usual chair and started telling Procecsa everything. From the first interaction with Kornen to what had happened this morning. Before she was completely done, her mentor was writing a note.

“Come with me, we are talking to Furnlow about this,” Procecsa said.

“I tried, but he isn’t in his office,” Mary told her.

“He will be shortly,” she told Mary as they both left her office.

Procecsa found the first prospect she could, gave her the note and told her it was urgent and where to find Furnlow. Procecsa and Mary then made their way to Furnlow’s office, and they hadn’t waited for more than two minutes when he came walking.

“What’s this about Sesca?” he asked.

“Let us inside and Mary will tell you,” she told him.

As they sat down in Furnlow’s office, Mary told her story for the second time and Furnlow’s face grew darker with each sentence.

“At the marketplace, did he hurt you?” he asked Mary.

“He grabbed my wrist, and it left a mark, but it was gone a couple of hours later,” Mary said.

“Have you told your father about this?” he then asked. Mary shook her head.

“He is away with the Lady,” she said.

“At least we will find Kornen alive,” Furlow nodded.

“Thank you for bringing this to me. I ensure you I will take care of it. I will talk to Kornen and also some others involved. You need to let me know if you see him again. I’m going to tell him to stay away from you until this is sorted out,” Furnlow then told her. Mary nodded.

“Do you feel safe, or do you want me to arrange for a rider to escort you?” he asked.

“Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” Mary said.

When Mary got back to her room, Hinat was already back. She looked depressed after saying goodbye to the merchant. He would be gone for two months to restock.

Two days later, her father was back, and Mary knew she had to tell him. He would hear it from some place. It might as well be from her. She sent her mother a note telling her she would be home for dinner.

Her parents were happy to see her, and her father told them about the clan meeting. Dinner was like usual. It wasn’t until they had finished eating Mary took a deep breath.

“Dad, I need to tell you something. But I need you not to get too upset or do something stupid. And I need you to know that it’s been handled,” Mary told him.

“You know you can tell me anything,” her father said, taking her hand. She nodded. Her mother was also listening to her.

She told them what had happened and what Furnlow has said. Her father looked like a storm cloud but didn’t look like he was going to do anything stupid.

“Kopa, you will bring that boy back here and I will show him what happens when he harasses my little girl,” Bettina hissed. Mary looked at her in surprise, and her father chuckled.

“I know people are afraid of what I would do to anyone that hurts you. But to be honest, it’s your mother they need to worry about. She is ten times scarier than I am,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t do anything. That boy will be surveilled around the clock from now on. If he so much as looks at you, I will make him wish that he never was born,” he then said, looking grim.

“Get in line,” Mary’s mother said.

“Okay, so happy no one is overreacting,” Mary said.

“I love you both, and I appreciate that you look after me. But I think Furnlow has this covered,” Mary told them.

As she was leaving, her mother insisted that her father followed her to the sanctum.

“You don’t have to do this, dad. You have just come home. You should be resting,” Mary said as they were walking.

“I’m fine. It was a short and eventless trip. I needed to do some things at the sanctum anyway,” he told her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“You are going to tell the grey riders to watch Kornen, aren’t you?” she asked.

“I am,” he nodded. Mary didn’t object. She knew it was useless.