Mars was always hard to read but he seemed to approve of the steer, and that made her beam with pride. She had put a lot of work into the cow, feeding her and caring for her, but she was often afraid that she could be caring for her better than she did. Ignorance made it hard to be confident in what she was doing. There was plenty of reference material in the book store… but she wasn’t going in there for her life. “Thank you. Sometimes it’s hard to know you’re doing the right thing.”
She did catch the lilt in his voice when he said Shawchert, too, but she was on to other things and didn’t address it. She didn’t know what Mars’s problem with her courted was, but she was starting to pick up on it, even if at her own slow Orin pace. There was a commotion then as she eased the cow back into her stall, but it looked like they had done this several times and that the act was well practice, not nearly as clumsy as when Orin first found the girl. Soraya was back in her stall and peering at them with her black eyes moments later, and Orin popped back out.
“Nope, no mount yet,” she made a motion towards one of the stalls. Spot, the mare she had been riding that day, was peeking out at her. “But I spoiled her so much she loves me all the same. She belongs to the pack. I’m starting to grow fond of them though. I wouldn’t mind having one to myself, I think.”
She smiled as she walked past Mars, her movement as easy as if she wasn’t even wearing the armor at all, and patted the mare’s snout. After a moment of silence her smile faded, and when her amber eyes turned to Mars again they were shadowed with worry. “I know you’re not really like everybody else,” she said, her voice gentle. “But I know you better and I can tell when something’s wrong. We hadn’t seen each other for months and when I finally found you you acted like you hated me. You still do, a little, but I don’t believe it because you’re still here. You made me the armor, you went to all the trouble to bring it to me… but… you’re still not the Mars I danced with in the costume shop… not the Mars that followed me from the Court all the way here to live next door. What’s up with you?”
.orinfruitloops p {margin:0px 0px 10px 0px; padding:0px 10px 0px 10px; text-indent:25px; }
.orinfruitloops b {color:#fff; font-size:12px;}
.orinfruitloops {font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#FFA8C2; text-shadow:1px 1px 0px #680621; word-spacing:1px; line-height:12px; width:350px; background-color:#E51851; border:1px solid #FFFFFF; outline:1px solid #372b1b; line-height:15px; text-align:justify; background-image:url(http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/ ... /orin3.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-bottom:5px; padding-top:210px; text-align:justify; }
