The Elusive Prince

Chapter 13: Horses and Plans

Merideth

After we got dinner and the whole class basically telling me how envious they were about skipping class with no consequences, me and Cassian just laughed at their reaction and just enjoyed the rest of the day without worrying about anything.

It’s been over two days since that tour and I’ve been sleeping well and now it’s already Friday and we are currently in our special class or rather the free day/activity which for today was horseback riding so we are currently in the courtyard of the school. Thursdays were reserved for individual lessons that we chose and Fridays were more of the practical practice of lessons that we were taught but at the same time we were given freedom to do whatever we want.

I know that we use cars nowadays but there’s just something great about the feeling of the wind blowing in your face as you gallop into the sunset. Well it’s not that deep but I just really loved horses so yeah I’m making it seem great which it is by the way.

Currently, I am helping Cassian choose a new horse because he didn’t have one yet so I’m stuck with him due to duties, as I help him choose in the number of new horses present in the stables while the others were currently on their horses and riding already.

We all love this class because not only do we get to just ride for half a day but we also just get to relax so this is one of our fave subjects because we have the excuse to just stroll around. We also get to exercise the horses so that’s fun.

What’s not fun however is how I’m stuck in the stables and not out there enjoying the nice weather. Although it is fun to stroke the horses and give them apples and such but I just really need to ride!!

Cassian was still choosing a horse because you need a horse that you can trust not to throw you while you’re on its back. We already have that advantage because we had the same horse for years now so the amount of trust and bond with the animals that we already have is something he still needs to learn. What’s surprising is the fact that he never rode a horse before so he was a little fascinated and giddy when he learned that we have horseback riding classes. The look on his face when he saw the stables was adorable, like how a kid feels when he first goes inside a candy store.

“Hey, how’s it going? Found any of the horses you feel that connection with?” I asked as I approach him from where I was feeding my horse, Night, which is a black Arabian horse with a very beautiful coat. Cassian was currently eyeing one of the Friesian horses on the stables while gently offering her an apple.

“I don’t know yet but I guess this one will do.” He said while giving the horse a gentle stroke after it took the apple. Well he seems to know how to choose a horse, I guess.

“Great choice! Friesian horses are very good for beginners like you. They’re very calm and friendly so I’m sure she won’t throw you.” I said which made the caretaker of the horses, Marshall, approach us. I like Marshall because he often lets me take Night out for a run even when we don’t have this class thus I was quite close to him.

“Excellent choice Your Highness! Little Anisa was just recently trained so she’s going to be perfect. I see Her Highness’ Merideth helped you.” He said as came closer to us. I just snorted at him.

“The credits all on him Marsh. Anyways, drop the formalities already. We’ve known each other for a long time already and you still insist on calling me "Your Highness" every time I’m with someone else.” I rolled my eyes at him and he just chuckled. As I have said, we are quite close.

“Ahh then Miss Merideth it is. Anyways, do you want to test her out?” he said to Cassian who was still looking at Anisa. He just nodded and Marshall smiled and went to get the saddle and the reins so he can be comfortable and made sure that the saddle was tight enough so he won’t fall off.

He went and hooked on the saddle and gestured for Cassian to wear his helmet and to climb on Anisa’s back on the left side. He was quite hesitant at first but I just encouraged him to climb on because I also wanted to ride already. Although hesitant, he slowly and gently held the reins and climbed on with Anisa calming down through the gentle strokes Marshall was doing on her muzzle in which the horse just gave a soft neigh as Cassian mounted on her back.

Cassian was finally up on Anisa and I gave him a thumbs up before giving him to Marshall as I opened the stable Night was located and mounted the horse as I make Night go beside Cassian. My horse was a little taller because Friesian horses are quite short so I was peering down on him. Night gave a soft neigh as he noticed Anisa.

“See she’s very good yes? So how does riding a horse feel?” I asked and he just gave me a look which made me and Marshall laugh. Cassian just huffed cutely as he hesitantly pulled the reigns on Anisa and squeezed his foot lightly at the side as Anisa started to walk slowly at the gesture.

I just smiled as Cassian beamed when the horse moved and he looked expectantly at Marshall and me and I got the message as I gestured for Marshall to bring us outside. He just nodded and guided Anisa along with Cassian outside.

Once outside, Marshall just nodded at me, clearly knowing that I’ve been dying to ride so I just gave Cassian a look and he seems to have gotten it as he just beamed at me and made shooing noises. I just gave him a scoff and a smile before gently squeezing my legs on Night's side so he can began trotting. Once I made sure that Cassian was comfortable enough just sitting on the slowly walking Anisa that was being guided by Marshall, I proceeded to lean slightly forward and rose out of the saddle slightly and moved my hands on Night’s neck and squeezed my legs gently as Night started to gain speed and I let the wind hit my face as I make Night circle the courtyard.

I caught up with the others who was currently trotting around the courtyard and just chatting. They said hello to me as I chat with them about random stuff you talk about with your friends. After chatting for a short while I started to make Night speed up more as I let him take me around.

I always loved the feeling of riding, it just makes me feel free whenever I feel the rush and the speed of the air hitting me as I fully put my trust on my horse to take me around. Besides listening to music and just chilling on my private spot on the garden, I also make horseback riding my other stress reliever. It just feels nice to gallop around with Night as I calm down. That’s why Marshall and I are close because out of all the students in Irini, I was the only one who absolutely loved riding even during my spare time.

I held on Night tightly as I pass around my classmates on the courtyard and just let myself forget everything that wasn’t how the air hit me and the feel of riding the horse.

After a few rounds around the courtyard, I decided to let Night take a rest and led him to where the waters were and tied him there so he can rest and I can check up on how Cassian was doing. I’m sure Marshall was still just guiding the horse around because well, for beginners you can’t really do much besides trotting and stuff and you can’t do it alone so I’m checking on him.

As I approached them, I was right, seeing as they were still just trotting around with Marshall holding on the reins. When they saw me approach them, they both gave me a short wave. I just smiled as I stopped to look at them.

“So how’s it going? I see Anisa didn’t throw him off?” I teased as they came to a stop beside me. Cassian just scoffed and Marshall just laughed as he let Cassian dismount Anisa for today before saying they were done for today. Cassian then took of his helmet, letting his raven black hair free and looked at me.

“Well the prince is a natural. Anisa seems to have fallen in love already! Anyways, if you want to learn more Your Highness, just go here with Miss Merideth on Sundays. She’s usually here during that time so I’m willing to help you ride better and faster. I’m going to check on the others now. Bye Merideth and Cassian!” he waved before guiding Anisa back to the stables. I just laughed at Marshall’s enthusiastic nature as he took care of the horses. Cassian laughed beside me too as we look at him disappear on the stables.

“So riding is fun yeah?” I asked as I walked to one of the benches on the side where we can rest. He just sat beside me as we looked at our other classmates who were still fooling around, especially Kairo and Luna, who were trying to bump on the other as a joke.

“Are you perhaps trying to recruit me into riding with you?” he joked and I just gave him a light punch on the shoulders which made him laugh gently. We only knew each other not long ago but we were very close. Close enough for him to joke around with me. Cassian finally got comfortable in our class, which can be considered fast by others standard, but he just seems to fit right in with us. Although we were a lot closer than he is to the rest of the class but I guess that was understandable as I was the one responsible for him. He was also very close to Levine and Kairo who often than not are filling him in with information about our class and making him go with their shenanigans. If you look at him with us, he looks as if he was with us ever since the start and not just transferred last Monday.

“And what if I was? What are you going to do about it?” I teased as the others begin noticing us and deciding to rest for a while too, approached us on the benches.

“Yo! Is Mori recruiting you to her weekly rides?” Kairo, being the i***t that he was, came to tease me again. Ever since he noticed that I’ve been snapping at him, he seems to mellow down with the flirting and decided to tease me back just as much which was very much enjoyable for me and for the others.

“Yeah, Mori always makes us go with her during Sundays but she never really had anyone who came with her all the time so she’s always recruiting people to join her.” Ava also decided to add fuel to the fire. I just glared at them and they both just cackled like the witches that they were. Cassian just laughed along with them which made me pout internally.

“Ya’ll are just uncultured. I can’t blame you guys for not appreciating my hobby because you guys are not appreciative of the fine things in life.” I teased which made me laugh and them as well. Other than my crazy love for dancing I was also known to love horses and so they always tease me about them. It’s not like I mind that they do because I do the same to them so it’s all fair.

“Well, I guess I’m gonna keep coming back here for a few Sundays with Merideth. I need to keep up with you guys who has had years of experience ahead of me. Besides, I also want to be able to ride, it seems fun.” Cassian unexpectedly said which made me look at him as if he said the greatest thing ever, well maybe to me it was.

The two witches seems to notice that I was looking at him starry eyed because they began to tease me. I couldn’t care less because now I had someone to be with besides a very reluctant Hailey to go riding around the fields just outside the school. We were only allowed to ride in the courtyard for training but since I come every week, Marshall gives me a chance to give the other horses a ride through the grassy fields and forest behind Irini to exercise the horses. Nobody except Hailey really knows that I do that because well, they don’t come and when they do, Marshall makes sure they don’t know about the real reason why I come here.

“Are you really? I can teach you a few tricks and help you train!” I said with so much energy I only show when I talk about my hobbies and the things I love. Cassian just nodded and the two witches were trying to advise him not to go on with my whims so much but he just shrugged them off saying that he really needs to train and grab every opportunity offered to him. They just laughed and left us alone in favor of talking with the others.

“Umm Merideth, it is okay that I come to your private rides right?” he asked suddenly which took me off guard for a moment because nobody really knows what I do during my rides and did he just figure it out? But no he must just be referring to the rides I did earlier, yeah probably. I shouldn’t look to much into it and besides if he does come he will know by then so I guess if he did figure it out it was okay.

“I was the one that offered right? Don’t worry about disturbing anything. Besides it’s my duty to help you. But also because I want you to learn riding so you can hopefully appreciate it as much as I do.” I gave him a small smile as he eased up a little. He gave me a small smile again.

After our class with Marshall, well it wasn’t really a class but more of like a special activity for us royals, we went back to the dorms to relax. Everyone was currently in the living room, just discussing about the day and what they would do tomorrow. Some were in the kitchen, Helena, who was baking brownies to, I quote, “To let the lost prince of Trost taste what he has been missing all this time.” So now she was baking her delicious brownies in the kitchen for snacks because classes on Fridays always end early so we get an extra rest day and what better way to spend extra rest days than eating free brownies right?

As the others drift off into specific conversations about what should we do tomorrow, Luna as always, proposed an idea which made us all perk up from our different positions.

“Hey guys! How about we all go to the mall tomorrow? We can buy new stuff and also tour Cassian around!” she exclaimed which earned a few shouts and exclamations of ‘I’m in!’ and ‘Let’s do that!’ and ‘Perfect I needed to buy something anyways.’ Rang out the living room. I also needed to go outside, not only because I promised Cassian that we would be buying snacks but I also need to buy a few items so a trip with the whole class to the mall would be great! Ooh we can also drag Sir Hexford along!

“Hey guys, how about we drag Sir Hexford along and borrow a school bus or something? Since we are all going anyways. It can be like a personal field trip!” I offered which made Luna smile like crazy because she always likes the idea of annoying our adviser. My offer also got positive feedback as Amity got ready to get permission to drag Sir Hexford along to our little trip to the mall with Luna whispering to her. I just know she was suggesting something with the way she was grinning devilishly. Her suggestion may be along the lines of “You should use Cassian as the reason. That way they can’t refuse.”

Amity just nodded in affirmation and sent a message to the school principal to let us have a mini field trip. If you’re wondering how we spend our Saturdays usually, we go on with our private cars that was usually sent only during Saturdays to spend the day outside school. Granted, I did say we only got to go home once a month but other than me, some can’t really go home because that would take up time so others just decide to meet with their families in the city usually. Though seeing as they also have duties, especially to us within the royal family, they can’t really come to just meet and chat. So usually we just spend that time buying stuff and going to movies and etc. with our friends.

On rare occasions like this however where we go in big groups, we can borrow a school bus granted we stay within Wiyelt. We don’t bring our teachers with us because duh we’re teens and second, we have a guard with us when we go out though not usually because Irini aims to give us privacy and teach us independence. We usually go in two’s though just to make sure and we have an emergency button in the watches that we have to alert the school if something happened to us. So the security is still there but without the bulk of actual bodyguards.

As everybody was buzzing about the trip and more cheers when Amity just grinned at us and showed us that we had indeed permission to drag Sir Hexford along with us, which I think when he gets the news he wouldn’t be happy.

“I hope you don’t mind being used as the reason for this trip.” I turned around to Cassian and grinned. He just smiled back as if to say not really which made those around us grin. See he really is one of us!