When I woke again, with morning sunlight shining down all around me, I saw Raneld was already up and grazing. I followed his example, filling my belly with the best of the grass around us. Summer had hardly begun, so the greenery was still tender and flavorful. We grazed for an hour or so, then Raneld gave a whinny and started moving, headed east once more. I followed.
I could still feel the spell-tug of the bond between us as we went. It carried a faint sense of his essence to me, of the calm that always seemed to fill him. I wondered at that again. How could he be so calm, so confident? How could he be so much better than I was?
Anger rose in me again as we ran. I’d once hoped that if I only succeeded often enough, I might be acknowledged by my probable father and raised to the princel
