Their children will learn to hope for a Caesar.


Something in the combination of words works; silent thanks are sent along the wind to the mother who’d taught me the art of such things. Still, her silence until she does speak leaves me feeling a bit nervous, because of all the emotional disturbances likely to be coursing through her female body, and so my smile is much more genuine when she thanks me.

It’s the sort of combination of words and emotion that mean she means it, and maybe that I’ve made up for taunting her all those whiles ago, when I’d run into her, wide as a bear. Despite my impish, jealous, and morally lack luster life style, I do have certain honorable characteristics within me, including the concern for those who had been a part of my life for as long as Glacia has. I’d have spent the afternoon talking with just about anyone who I considered to be part of the family, the family that had mostly unraveled in the passing of time.

So I’ll hold the end of her trailing tethers; I’ll try to tuck them up neatly in a row. I think hope she’d do the same for me.

Her lips kiss my shoulder again in time with her thanks, and I meet her gaze with my own rather than returning a physical embrace, not the sort to be overly touchy feely like mother, or so many others I’ve met. She’s wearing a smile for the first time, and I feel a swelling of pride in my chest (that is quickly doused when she talks about going to the Edge).

I’d been twice, though I hadn’t seen dad. The first time, some angry lady with throwing knives had chased me away, and the next, I’d almost been skewered by a mare before d’Arcy had spared me their violence. The thought of Tembovu’s face as I walked through the Edge with yet another of the young ladies of his herd brings a genuine, near laughing grin to my face, the smile of doing something devious, and daring. I think I’ll tell Glacia about all my adventures on the way, do some catching up that doesn’t involve sad things like dead foals, or abandoned sons.

"Sure," I say, lion’s tail playfully swaying behind me in a wide, eager arc, "I’ve snuck in a couple of times… unsuccessfully, of course. Having an escort is certainly a change of pace."

Taking a few cheerful steps forward, I glance back at her with some of my impish cheer faded. I’ve been much less brazen about my adventures since Gaucho had nearly put me down like a wormy dog, and the sudden memory of the behemoth man who guards those lands comes to mind.

"That Tembovu guy won’t mind so long as you’re with me, right?"