Silvano had already shelved the books in the little library he and Giselle had started. He could not reorder them anymore, after the numerous times he had redone the organization. The books were in front of his face and the dust was swirling. Perhaps it was time for the outdoors. Any more printed letters on fading paper and Silvano might lose his eyesight entirely. Rubbing at his eyes, the Sadira male lopped from the hotel, his gait long. The Court was still so unfamiliar to him. But he had spent two years, from birth, with the Dreamers that the Courtiers seemed so different. His heart still continued to ache for his family but there was nothing that he could do anymore about it. They were gone. Maybe he'd write a letter to send to them with the next outbound ship from Freetown.

He chose to go to the stables, much like the ones that they had back home. Heritage was not the only stallion there, but he was still a colt. He could not compete with the older males, who clearly had more dominance and superiority. Much like how Silvano felt. There were older, much more competent men in the pack than he. His ambitions were higher than where he could aim for. What could he do except bite his tongue and keep on doing what he did? Perhaps his books and his mate would be enough. One day, his own kids would fill the void, too.

Heritage ambled up to the man as he approached. A large apple was offered to the growing colt, who was starting to fill out his withers more and more as the weeks went by. It felt silly, really, offering such a thing to the animal, but the horse ate the apple happily. Silvano rubbed the colt's face, cooing at him with all his worries. Leading the horse to the stables, the man wondered what to do with him. Perhaps he should do some more lead training, and vocal commands. But Heritage was a clever thing. What was he supposed to do? Silvano tied the colt to a post in the stables, deciding on brushing him down instead.

240

Cages rattled and it suddenly felt as though his heart was going to explode. Flesh rippled as he jumped, heart racing from the noise of birds. Wings fluttered, an angry pelting of feathers on the still air of the stable. A slew of birds poured from around a corner. The pigeons rushed out of the stable, leaving behind a trail of dandruff and feathers in the air. A light path of them settled onto the well trodden dirt of the stable floor. Silvano's emerald eyes followed the trail to the source.

Silvano stared at the man that came barreling, yelling at the birds. Heritage stared too, big brown eyes watching the stranger with something like amusement. The horse whinnied and stamped his foot, and the man knew that he was hiding his amusement. Silvano lowered his brush, which had been frozen in place at the outburst. He was recovering from the shock of it, but he was careful enough to hide his amusement. Smile forced off his lips, the Seigneur gently patted the colt's neck.

"Hello. I'm not interrupting your.. uh..?" he asked lightly, turning his head away from the man to his colt in an attempt to hide his growing grin. His lips kept twitching despite his efforts, and the lowly Courtier turned his smile of amusement to a smile of lighthearted.. well, amusement. "Is everything alright?" Heritage snorted at the mohawk'd man, flicking his head.

Silvano furrowed his brows at the strange man. His coloration was kind of strange for Silvano, who did not fiddle around with modifying his body. The most he had ever considered was piercings and tattoos. Though, what this man had was a lot less permanent than that, wasn't it? The Sadira patted the horse's neck with an open palm, glad that the brush left such a lovely shine on the creature's pelt. He moved the brush away from the horse and to the shelf with all the brushes and combs for the horses. Many were human made, but there were still a few handcrafted by fellow canines.

"It's a pleasure," he said as he smiled again at the man, wondering what journey it was that took him away. "I am Silvano Sadira. I was from Crimson Dreams until my.. my family left and Anu disbanded us." He pursed his lips together, shifting his glance from the man to his horse. Heritage lipped at the man's hem, pressing his triangular head against the former Dreamer's leg. "I don't know much about birds. I'm sorry. Horses I know best and even then I know only enough to get by. Books can only help so much, you know?" he said, returning his glance to the falconer. He put up his hand to gesture he needed a moment. Silvano led the colt back to his stall. When he returned, he asked, "Where did your journey take you?"

Silvano nodded at the other man, a little surprised. "I haven't seen any of those." He had remembered a few books on different species of animal, but he did not remember if there was any on birds. He had not taken any of them, except for the horse one. Maybe Giselle had taken the others, but he could not remember for the life of him. "We might have some books about that, but I'm afraid I only took the ones pertaining to horses. Crimson Dreams had a large library but I could only take a portion of it," he added rather sadly. He missed the library back home, with the comfortable chairs and couches. It was such a nice place, but the new library was almost as good. But it was not the Manor. It was just the hotel.

"Far west? Really?" he said, rather curious. He had never left the territory of Nova Scotia, and doubted that he would ever do so. If he ever left, he'd head out to Italy to live with his family. Only if Giselle came with, though. "I sincerely doubt that!" he said, laughing lightly at the man's absurdities. "I'm sure it couldn't have been like that,' added the Seigneur, shaking his head gently.

However, he shook his head again, looking at the horse. "No, I've not been anywhere but here. I was born a Dreamer and then came here. Now I'm a Courtier." But Silvano smiled at the comment about children. That was certainly something the two of them had wanted, Giselle and he. Maybe soon. "We're not quite ready for kids, I think. But I know my mate and I would love to have some. But I think we've got quite a few stories to tell. And some that perhaps ought not be told," he said, expression darkening some as he thought of the man he had killed.

If he ever had the time to travel on his own he would, but he knew that with Giselle and whatever children they had, Silvano would not see the rest of the world. But that was what books were for and he was well stocked with them. His world was full of books, and there was nothing he could do about. Giselle was not one to go far from this place, especially after her heartbreak with the disbanding of the Crimson Dreamers.

Silvano looked up in surprise at the man, wondering what stories he had to hide from his children. To be beaten for them? What could they possibly be to warrant being beaten. "Beaten for something, huh. Must have upset someone big enough to ruffle your feathers." Niro was a big guy, not nearly as tall as Silvano, but still tall, big and bulky. Who could possibly be bigger than him to beat him? "What did you do?" he asked, curiosity taking over his respectful side. He was interested, definitely but still trying to be cautious about it, since Niro was a stranger.

The Sadira truly did want to share his story, as it weight heavy on his heart. Giselle knew, but it had been for her and she had been part of the moment. "I feel guilty for what I have done, does it ever get easier?" It had been months ago, and he could hardly forget the look in the man's eyes, and in Giselle's eyes as the man lay dead before them.

Silvano felt his lips tighten at what the man had said. If any of the boys interested in his sisters had touched them in a way they didn't like or made them run off forever, he would have found them and attacked them much like that man had with Niro. Except he would have probably would have brought cutting weapons and slit the man's throat so that he could never touch another woman ever again. But then, Silvano knew he would have given himself more problems than just the knowledge a man had run off his family and hurt them. He desperately wanted to believe that he was not heartless enough to kill without remorse, but he knew that if such a thing happened, he might not have ever felt sorry for the man he hurt in revenge for his sibling's suffering.

The Sadira sighed, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. "I killed during the war, too. I was interested in a girl and things were rough between us.. but.. I saw her run off from the manor. And someone tried to take her. So I killed him without thinking." It was only the partial truth, as he had not seen Giselle taken, but had Tux come and get him. At least this made him seem a little more heroic and Giselle a little less silly. It would have been out of place to explain who Tux was and what the deal was with him. "Must have done something right? She's my mate now," he added, a goofy smile popping up on his face like some lovestruck pup. "Keeping her safe is.. it's really important to me."

Silvano almost breathed a sigh of relief to know that Niro had not forced himself on the woman. He had no love for that kind of man, especially if one hid that so well. Niro seemed like a fairly decent guy, for all that he startled the crap out of him and his horse. But who cared about pidgins? They were rats with wings. Silvano turned away from the man, looking at the horse who peered back at him curiously. Silvano ran his fingers through the colt's mane, separating the knots gently. Heritage did not much like it, and shook his head, annoyed at the intimate attention. He stepped away from the man, ready to be led out of the stable. He was tired of this conversation and was eager to eat.

"It's not easy though. I don't know his story. I don't know what I took when I ended his life. Did he have a family? Children?" He swallowed hard, turning to lead the growing stallion back into his stall. He came back moments later, the horse safely locked into his stall. He had even filled up the feeding trough with feed for the colt. Heritage had given him a wistful look as the man retreated back to the other Courtier. "Sorry, he was getting antsy and.. he's not very pleasant when antsy." He shrugged his shoulders, then leaned against the support pillar. "I still feel a little bad. I mean, Giselle is safe but.. what if it was the wrong choice and she would have been fine at the end?"

Silvano kept his mouth shut for a moment, eyes screwed up in thought. They looked toward a direction by the other man's foot, though he did not see anything at all as he peered. Would he risk sacrificing Giselle on such a question? Would he have paused to think about what the man's story was, on what was at stake? No, he would never dare risk her health and safety on such a silly question, on such an unimportant thing. He saw she was in trouble, saw she was terrified. And he saw the knives he had pressed against his white mate's spotless neck. That black obsidian had stuck out against her white neck, even in the dark. She always seemed to glow in the dark, so pale was she. "No," he said slowly, looking up from the nameless spot to the man's feature. "I don't think I would. It was a matter of 'she's in danger, do something now." He clapped his hands together for extra emphasis, shaking his head slightly, regardless.

The Sadira suddenly laughed, smiling and shrugging his shoulders apologetically. "No, I daresay I didn't enjoy it at all," he said, raising his hands up to show the other man. "I swear my hands were shaking afterwards. I always wanted to be a knight but I guess I never realized the blood cost," he added, crossing his arms over his chest. He really had not been ready for how it felt to kill a man, but at least he had not voided his stomach. He had been so preoccupied with keeping Giselle safe that it had only really dawned on him later what had happened. But it was in self-defense of Giselle, and the rest of the pack. Such a trespass would not go unpunished.

The man revealed his secret and the Sadira could hardly blame him for clamping his mouth shut after. He looked almost started to be talking about it, but how could he blame him? Silvano had been so damn lucky to have kept his stomach still afterwards, but Giselle had been the focus of his worries and he had to make sure she was safe and sane. Perhaps not sane, since she was always a little bit off sometimes, lost in her princess world. But how could Silvano fault anyone for vomiting and crying? He had wanted to cry but knew he couldn't. He was sure his mother never cried when she killed; not that she ever talked about those who met their end with her.

"I guess that's something to be thankful for." The Sadira laughed at the thought of a teary love confession that was preceded by a round of vomiting. "I don't think Giselle would have much appreciated having to comfort me after she was almost taken off to be..," he paused, brows furrowed and eyes confused. What on earth was the man going to do with her? He certainly did not seem interested in sleeping with her, so what was the purpose of his attempted abduction? "I don't know what. I certainly did not have good nights for weeks though. I still have nightmares sometimes and it wasn't like I killed a child or someone helpless."

"That's what my mother said." His family had been captured and it had been hard. Anu had been taken and she was like one of his aunts; he cared about her and it had stressed everyone out after she was taken. He had not been happy with the situation, and he knew that if it was Giselle, he would have done something rash and stupid. So, perhaps it was both a blessing and a curse, what he had done to that man. And he had gotten himself some side arms, to fight with if he ever lost his sword. But, that was only after he would get a sword; they were stupidly tricky to come by, for whatever reason. The humans had apparently outgrown them and no longer used them. Though, for the life of him, Silvano didn't know what a gun was and how it was used.

Silvano knew what this man had said made sense. It was not his place to worry about what ifs. It was not his place to worry about what could have been or would have been or even what should have been. It had happened and that was that, he had to deal with it, but not let it take over his mind and cloud it with dark thoughts. But since he had come here, he had kept himself busy with both sorting his things, cleaning up, making a home for Giselle and him, and working in the stables with his horse. That was surely a good thing, and it was definitely keeping him working. And a lot of it was helping with his muscular work, giving him more bulk.

Silvano sighed, shaking his head. "Well, that's what I'm doing here. Working with my horse while I can. Probably be more work when I can ride him next winter and he needs to get used to carrying my heavy bum around."