200) The Salvation of Eden, Chapter 33 -- Shameless flirting, and a great idea

It was a new day, the air bright with possibility. Coraanyan’s stables were easy to find, following Juanita’s directions. The barn nestled in a stand of tall evergreens beside a pond, just a few laneways down from the Inn but over enough of a rise that you couldn’t see one from the other. The house itself sat further back, right on the bank of a winding ribbon of creek. Kohra could see a little dock and rowboat.

         Listening to the birdsong and gurgling creek serenading their little party, gazing over the wind-rippled grasses of the fields, she felt warm. And sad. That bittersweet nostalgia feeling.

         Coraanyan must really love this place.

         The farmhouse looked well-kept, freshly painted, forest green with white trim. The barn was painted the same. Sheep and goats grazed in the yard, and black and brown chickens wandered around freely, pecking in the dirt. Behind the barn, she could see a large corral, with two horses, a brown mare and a black and white speckled pony, ambling around together.

         The musky comfort of pipe smoke wafted over as they approached the front door, before they noticed the farmer, reclining on his porch, legs wide-open in a laid-back sprawl, simple working clothes, dirty boots.

         He cracked a fetchingly handsome grin. “Howdy!” His friendliness was disarming.   

         “Howdy back!” Kohra found herself replying, adopting his accent without even meaning to. Kohra! What are you doing?

         “Ah dun see lotta Elves ‘roun here.” His laughter bounced as warmly as his eyes. “That’s a joke, silly. Ah dun see ANY Elves ‘round here!” He chuckled while Kohra turned a deep shade of crimson, and Lenny and Dev exchanged eye-rolls at Kohra’s predictability. “What brings you fine ladies to mah humble ‘stablishment?”

         He met them at the bottom of the wooden steps, tall and confident, extending his callused hand. Lenny shook it first, vigorously. “Hi Mister! We heard you have horses!”

         He drawled, like he had all day to say each sentence, “Ya heard right. But please, call me Coraanyan.”

         “Hi Coraanyan!” Lenny again shook his hand vigorously, just like the first time. “We heard you have horses!”

         He laughed, a slow, easy laugh while he hiked his thumbs into his suspenders, leaning back like a Lord surveying his lands.

         “Finest ones ’round. You like horses?”

         “Yep,” Lenny replied, hooking her own thumbs into pockets, and leaning back.

         “And you are…” he asked politely.

         Devona offered her hand, which he shook more gently. “This is Lenny; I’m Devona and —”

“I’m Reilly!” Reilly interrupted enthusiastically. “I love horses!”

         “I, I’m K–Kohra,” Kohra stammered, blushing.

         He shook each of their hands in turn. His felt like iron, covered with a fine layer of velvet. Soft iron, Kohra mused, noticing he had the same colour of eyes as hers, green, with honey-brown flecks, like a corn-field in mid-summer. “Very nice to meet y’all,” he drawled, tipping his straw hat. “Lenny, Reilly, Devona, and K-Kohra.”

         She stared at the ground, hoping it would open up and swallow her.

         “So what brings y’all to mah stables?”

         “You, your eyes,” Kohra began, then stopped abruptly, her own widening in surprise. She hadn’t meant to say that.

         Lenny and Reilly giggled. Devona’s glance would’ve peeled paint.

         “Mah eyes brought y’here?” He grinned, tipping his hat. “Ah’d like to say that’s the first time Ah’ve heard that.”

         They laughed again, Lenny actually falling on the ground and beating her hands and feet against the soil, followed by Reilly, laughing far harder than was warranted, always happy to be the center of attention. Beads of sweat formed on Kohra’s forehead as she turned as red as a ripe tomato. Coraanyan was looking at her with faux innocence, trying to hide the devilish grin creeping into the corners of his mouth.

         “I, I’ve never seen eyes the same as mine before,” she managed.

         “Ahhh, yes.” He looked at her more closely. “You’re from the Sun Tribe!”

         “How do you —” she began, but he interrupted with a casual wave of his hand.

          “Mah mum was too.” He paused, looking down as a sudden pang of sadness darkened his countenenace. “Ah haven’t seen another of our people since she passed. Been more’n thirty years now.”

         “Thirty years, wow…. But why?” She was too astonished and intrigued to care whether she was being appropriate or not. “I mean, I’ve always wondered, where did we all go? Do you know?”

         “Oh,” he sighed. “It’s a long, dark history. Come over sometime and ah’ll tell you ‘bout it. Ah do know the story of our people. But the ‘sun’? No, that part Ah can’t help you with. Wondered ‘bout it mah whole life.” He paused. “Someday Ah thought Ah’d travel all th’way past the Green Wall and find ‘em, our people. But then Ah got old.” He grinned, spreading his hands in a “what can you do” gesture. “Ah dun even know they still exist.”

         He winked. “But Ah believe they do. Our people’re out there, somewhere.” Then he brightened, hitching his thumbs back into his suspenders and smiling around at the rest of them. “But now! Didn’t y’all say somethin’ ‘bout horses?”

         Kohra didn’t know what to say; her mind was reeling. He knew about her people! He….

         Lenny answered, still sitting on the ground. “Yep, we love horses!”

         Devona caught his eye, her smile radiant. “Everybody says you have the finest horses.”

“Yep, they’re some beauties,” he drawled, motioning toward the barn, chit-chatting as they ambled over, describing his herd, naming each horse individually and talking about their different personality quirks.

         Devona jumped right in, evidently knowing a great deal about horses, and soon the two of them were deep in conversation about the finer points of training show horses, as they all leaned against the fence of one of his corrals and watched some of his herd milling about.  “Most o’the real money,” he confided, “is jumpin’. Competitive jumpers, that’s a whole other level.”

         His boyish grin melted away the years between them. Kohra watched in silence, feeling kind of…small. How did Devona always know just what to say?

         They entered the barn. Most of the stalls were empty, the horses outside, but one held a pregnant mare resting on a bed of straw. He pointed as they passed her, finger on his lips. “She’s due any day now.”

         In the last stall, contentedly munching some oats, there he was, the black stallion from the caravan, his harnesses, blankets and assorted rigging hanging on pegs on the wall. Kohra noticed the Zhaalmohhrian symbol on the gear immediately.

         “Ooooh, what a beauty,” Devona breathed, putting on a totally believable act, the stereotypical horse-crazed girl, with a rather sizeable dose of flirtatiousness added for good measure. Kohra stood there, content to gaze, while Dev cozied up to the horse.

         “He’s gorgeous,” she gushed. “Is he friendly?”

         “Oh yeah, he’s a real sucker fer ‘ttention.” He smiled. “Here, give ‘im an apple. You’ll have a friend forever.” He smiled again, and Devona responded in kind. Kohra began wondering just how much of this was an act, after all. 

         They watched the horse munch the apple, Reilly giggling off to the side, Lenny standing behind her, whispering things in her ear, which made Reilly giggle even more obviously.

         Finally, Kohra broke into the repartee between Dev and Coraanyan. “Um, is he yours?”

         “No,” he replied, evenly. “A customer’s.”

         “Oh! He has wonderful taste in horses,” Lenny suddenly cooed, mimicking Devona’s gushing.

         It helped; Kohra smiled, gaining a bit of confidence. “Does he have any others? Maybe some he’d be willing to sell?”

         For a brief moment, Coraanyan looked uncomfortable, shifting his feet and touching his face. “Ya see, Ah have a policy, Kohra,” he explained. “Ah always respect the privacy of mah clients. Ah’m sorry, Ah can’t tell ya.”

         “Oh of course!” she said quickly.

         “We just love him so much!” Lenny cooed again, in an even more deliberate mimicking of Devona.

         Kohra reached out to pet the stallion’s neck, and he nuzzled her, brushing his tickly, furry nose against her hand.            

         Mmmmm, so soft. She smiled, looking into his eye, black and shining. She hoped he could feel her feelings.

         They moved on, heading back outside, Devona still chatting up Coraanyan effortlessly. As they stepped back into the sunlight, Lenny interrupted. “Well, we’d best be gittin’ back now.”

         Coraanyan laughed. “Listen to y’all! Spend a bit more time here, ya’ll be talkin’ like me before yuh know it!”

         Reilly piped up, “Gee, can we come back! I wanna see your horseys again!”

         He laughed, actually getting down on one knee to address the little girl eye-to-eye. “Y’all are welcome here anytime. ‘Specially you!” He tweaked her nose, then extended a hand as though they were settling a deal. Reilly grabbed it immediately, shaking vigorously.

         Kohra marvelled. Between Lenny, Dev, and Reilly, we can talk anybody into anything. Well, they can anyway.

         As they returned down the laneway, Kohra and Dev walking on opposite sides of Lenny, he waved once, then turned back into the house, leaving them alone, under the wide sky.

         Kohra was silent, focusing intently on the ripples of wind waving across the dry grasses of the fields. 

* * * * *

            Later that afternoon, Devona and Lenny invited Kohra to come with them down to the Juanita’s pond. Reilly and the others had all gone into the market (probably the bath-house, Kohra suspected).

            She resisted for a moment or two, kind of wanting to have some space from Dev for a little while, but she also appreciated that they invited her, and found herself nodding.

            She was happy that she did, her resistance melting into dreamy imagination as soon as they stepped down the little stone-lined pathway and caught side of the pond. It was quaint and charming, replete with a little wooden dock and rowboat, reminiscent of Coraanyan’s. The pond was a decent size; Kohra estimated that she could barely throw a stone across it (certainly not a coconut). Three turtles sat together on a log close to shore, basking in the daylight. Kohra loved turtles. Turtles and bears.

            Someday, the worlds should be run by an ancient, wise Turtle and an enormous Spirit Bear. Devona was saying something about the Flux. She sounded serious. Kohra listened more closely.

            “Actually train. With lessons and regular practice sessions. Like we’re in school. We need to find a teacher. Maybe that’s what we should be doing in this town. What do you think Kohra?” (Kohra was glad she’d tuned in just at that moment.) “You learned a lot from Gorb back in the caravan, remember?”

            Kohra tried to stifle her surprise. She didn’t remember saying anything about her lessons to Dev back in the caravan. How did Dev know whether she’d learned much or not? Maybe Kohra had mentioned it to her, and forgot? Maybe Dev was just guessing?

            “Uh, sure, yeah.”

            “Right!” Devona nodded. “Even a little bit of practice could make a big difference! We’re walking blind here. And you know, we’re not getting very far with Shaping.”

            “I am!” Lenny noted cheerfully.

            Devona smiled. “Yeah, thanks.”

            “Hey, maybe we can use that!” Kohra exclaimed in a burst of inspiration. “I mean, use Lenny. I mean, hahaha, that’s not what I meant. ‘Use Lenny.’ But, let’s teach each other! If we teach each other what we know, then…who knows?”

            Devona looked excited; Kohra felt a little thrill run through her body. It wasn’t often that one of her ideas gained such immediate traction with her friend.“Yes! I like it. We can kind of translate between our different approaches. Know what I mean?”

She looked at Kohra, and Kohra felt, for the briefest moment, uncomfortable. Devona’s behaviour was subtly off, somehow. A memory flashed, of something she had said to Gorb. When was that? Was it in that night in the field? The night she never wanted to think about again. She felt suddenly queasy.

            Devona continued. “You know, I do really like this idea.” She looked down for a moment, taking a deep breath, before looking back up. “I realized back, you know, after the cave, I realized I’m, I’m really not very powerful. I mean, I can do things with the Flux, sure, but,” she half-smiled, “one scrawny old man and a cat, and I almost, you know.… It if hadn’t been for Reilly —”

            “Or if she’d still been a squirrel!” Lenny interrupted. Then added, “Although I liked her better as a squirrel.”

            Kohra put a hand on Devona’s shoulder. “We’re not going to let anything like that happen again. Not ever.” She tried to sound confident, reassuring. But she wondered, if something like that did happen again, how were they going to be able to stop it any better now, than then?

            “What I’m trying to say,” Devona let out a long sigh, “is that we’re on our own out here. There HAS to be some way we can speed up our learning together.”

            Lenny picked a mushroom out of the weeds and popped it into her mouth. “I’m in!” She stuck out a hand, palm down, looking at them expectantly. Devona was last, stacking hers on top of Kohra’s.

            Kohra laughed, feeling giddy. “We need a chant or something. Like a sports team!”

            “Master Blasters!” yelled Lenny instantly.

            “That’s terrible!” Devona exclaimed. “No way!”

            Kohra shook her head, groaning. “Yeah, that’s so lame, Lenny. I mean, no offence. But it is!”

            “You’re welcome to come up with something better!” Lenny retorted, cheerfully. “I have all the time in all the worrrrrllldddsssss!!” She staggered a little, then spun around randomly. “I’m a seeeeeeeeeed!”

            They watched her for a minute, laughing. Finally Dev shrugged. “Master Blasters…Gods, Lenny. It’s so corny. Reilly and Dom will love it, no doubt. Oh gods, I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

            Kohra nodded, feeling silly, like she was an 8-year-old again. “Let’s do it! Lenny! Come back!” Lenny zoomed back, thrusting her hands a little-too-emphatically back in the center. Her eyes looked weird; the pupils were much larger than they should have been, black circles swallowing most of the white. “Lenny, what exactly did you eat?”

            Lenny shrugged. “Snacks!” Then she poked at Devona’s cheek, curiously, with one finger, like she’d never really noticed it before. “Squishy….”

            “C’mon Lenny! Let’s do this!” Kohra encouraged. “1, 2, 3 —”

            “Master Blasters!” They threw their hands into the air, cheering, then laughing at how stupid it sounded.

Let the training begin.