Little Bit
9 June 2006

Written for queenortart while waiting for other players in the Vorkosiverse RPG to catch up with us.  I play Gregor and she plays Laisa, and we've managed to get entirely too schmoopy in-character.  And I love horses, so...

"I'll give you a leg up," Gregor said. "Here, let me show you how. You bend your leg and I cup it in my hand." Laisa looked confused, and started by bending her leg back at the knee, so Gregor showed her what to do with his own leg -- bend at the knee and bring it forward. Thus he was able to cup her foot, but she didn't have much idea about what to do next. Oh. She was right about never having ridden before!

When Laisa reached for the saddle, Gregor stopped her, "No, no, if you use the saddle to help you get up, you'll probably just end up with the saddle underneath the horse."  And even this extremely placid horse might panic under such circumstances, although the little mare's previous -- and future?, he wondered -- career as a childrens' pony made this unlikely.  "Just rest your hand on her withers."  It was clear Laisa had no idea what "withers" were, so he took her hand and showed her the spot at the top of the mare's shoulder blades.  "Now, on the count of three, push off with your other leg and I'll give you a boost so you can swing it over her back. One, two, three..." Laisa pushed, but not very hard, so she just ended up back where she started, looking dubious. "OK, this isn't approved and don't you dare ever let a riding master see you doing it, but you can also grab her mane here..." Gregor took Laisa's hand again and curled it around the mare's mane. "Now you can pull with your left arm at the same time as you push with your right leg."

"But I'll be pulling her hair!" Laisa objected.

"It won't hurt; she's got almost no nerves there. So ... one, two, three..." This time Laisa ended up standing with most of her weight in Gregor's hand, clinging to the mare, who continued to stay perfectly still. At that moment, Gregor was very happy that he'd found this particular horse. Laisa's alarmed look clearly communicated, "OK, you got me this far, now what do I do?" "Back down you go," he said and slipped a hand onto her back to steady her as she landed. She turned and grinned at him, and then started giggling when he didn't remove his hand -- now at her waist -- right away.

Gregor felt himself flush as he set her foot down and stepped back. Each time he touched Laisa, he wished that he would never have to stop, because it gave him something -- undefinable as yet, but something he was starting to acknowledge as a need, after so many years of enforced mental neutering to keep himself safe from the Vor lady dragons and their eager daughters.

Laisa was now laughing openly, her eyes flashing with mirth. But how many times had Gregor given a leg up to someone with no trouble? Oh. "Someone" had always been a male friend, and soft, curvaceous Laisa was rather more distracting than, say, Miles or Ivan. But the humor in the situation started him chuckling. "OK," he said. "One more try, and this time use the momentum as you rise to throw your right leg over the horse." He mimicked the action, and Laisa nodded.

"One, two, three." And this time, it all worked -- and Gregor ran his hand down her back once again as she settled into the saddle. She looked pleased with herself, and eager to move off; on this they were in agreement, for in the relative privacy of this ride, he might have another chance to touch her glowing skin. He showed her how to hold the reins, with a stern warning not to use them to hang on if she felt like she might fall off. "But we'll just be walking, and it's difficult to fall off a walking horse unless you're really trying." This comment garnered him yet another smile. I could get used to this, he thought.

As he took the lead rein and started forward, out of the corner of his eye he caught Miles and Alys ... watching. Miles had a bemused expression on his face -- better than his bewilderment over lunch -- and Alys's lips quirked up in the slightest smile.