Chapter Twenty Five
Elrike took me outside to help me into my harness. The light was better there, and Daphne didn’t want her smoking in the barn. Uncrated, the harness looked like a deflated octopus. The center was a deep bowl of a saddle surrounded by a radial symmetry of straps. It was a puzzle Elrike refused to solve without herbal assistance. I had been stripped to my body rings and a pair of sandals for the process. She passed the joint to me as she studied the diagram that came with the saddle, squinting with concentration. “I have it now,” she announced at length.
It was like an ordinary saddle in many respects, except that the saddle had an odd tilt to the seat which was “U” shaped to support her thighs around my waist. It was high in the back. Unlike a horse saddle it had extra
