Children of Rima

Skiar, help the poor bastard who’s marrying that one. 
A neigh stopped him. Elene was having trouble grabbing Fior’s 
reign. He stepped back, resisting her attempts to catch him.
“Elene.” 
“I got him.” 
Fior stepped sideways toward the end of the road, forcing Elene 
to grab the reins. Before she could lead him, his left foot dipped into 

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the slanted slope. The draft horse marched downward, dragging her 
as he trotted towards the open field. 
“Let go of the reins!” Lucan shouted. His feet slid down the slope 
just as Fior had done. “Elene!”
She let go that very second.
Lucan fled into the field, nearly slipping himself from the dip, 
heart thudding that perhaps she got trampled. She crawled to her 
knees in a panic, got up, and ran after Fior. That second, she plopped 
back down.
“What happened?” he exclaimed, leaping over the pothole that 
took her down. 
“I… I don’t know.” She wiped the tears from her eyes.
Lucan pushed through the tall grass, following the uneven 
vegetation Fior left. After some distance, the black stallion stopped, 
tail wagging left and right.
“Hey,” he said, calmly approaching him. “What’s gotten into 
you?” Fior snorted, shifting back, and for a moment, he thought he 
would take off. “It’s okay. It’s just me.” He patted his side and gently 
took the reins. Fior snorted and resisted, pulling from him. “Come 
on, you worried Elene to death.”
He neighed and shuffled back, but Lucan held on tight, showing 
him he was no pushover. He hummed, slow and steady, luring Fior’s 
ears to shift forward and listen to his tune. The tight hold on the 
reigns loosened. Lucan rewarded him by petting his head.
“This isn’t the first time.” Elene came to them, rubbing her arm 
where she must have landed from her fall. “Father thinks Fior has 
grown some fear of the night. I think after what happened on Vine 
Road, he’s unable to forget what we witnessed, the Fallen, the 
Vinolean soldiers...” 
“Is that why he’s been wearing blinders recently?” 
“That’s it.” 
Lucan took a deep breath. He petted Fior’s shoulder, slowly 
grazing his fingers up. He seemed to calm down, though it was 
probably because he hummed. His focus shifted to Elene, who was 
head down, staring at her hands. “Elene, I don’t want to fight with 
you, and I don’t want us to go back to how we were.” 
She lowered her arm and tucked them behind her. Some of the 
moisture from the cheeks gleamed from the moon’s light. “I don’t 

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either.” She glanced at his chest, eyes slowly drawing down to his 
abs. She grabbed Matias’s shirt and opened it for him to slip in. “I 
don’t want you to get sick. Father won’t mind if you keep it longer.” 
He slowly released Fior and slipped his arm in it, then the other. 
Just as he grabbed the bottom end of the button, Elene took it 
instead. She remained head down, slowly buttoning the shirt for him.
Before she reached the last button, he took both of her hands 
and lowered them down. “How do you do that?” 
Her soft fingers curled over his skin. “Do what?” 
“Worry me to the point I might need an exchange of new 
trousers?” 
Elene spilled a laugh. She planted her forehead against him, 
shoulders shaking from the hilarity. “That was quite scary, I’ll 
admit.” There was a nameless need to pull her closer, to feel the 
shape of her waist, but he overcame it by releasing her hands.
Once she relaxed, she remained there, head pressed against his 
chest but a safe distance from the wound. Out of nowhere, she 
whispered those words. “I saw you embrace her.” 
“It was nothing special.” He wrapped his arms around her. “See? 
I can embrace you just the same and feel nothing.” 
“Just like Zerin then.” Her words pinched at him.
“Don’t compare me to that coward.” He spun her and hugged 
her from behind. She chirped, shoulders squeezing in but not pulling 
away or giving him a slap for daring himself. “Did he… did he hold 
you like this?” 
She mumbled some words, but he didn’t pick them up. It was 
even harder to read her face with her back against him. When she 
turned, her breath brushed his face. Realizing how close he got, she 
looked down. “Why are you asking?” 
“He didn’t…” Lucan gulped, knowingly going out of boundaries 
to ask. “He didn’t caress you?” 
“Zerin was using me, remember?” 
“Did he kiss you?” 
“Please, I’ve never seen my father kiss my mother.” She tensed 
up a bit but didn’t look away, but her stare found him briefly. “When 
it happened, our clothes were still on, and he didn’t touch me since.”