Labor's Love Lost 8

“What if they died, what would happen to us?” Asked Nal. “Would we be able to free ourselves, like those men and women in Myuar?”

“I think,” Tanirom said as she helped herself to another serving of soup, “that if our parents die, we will probably Inherit you, along with the others.”

Her sister nodded, mouth full so she wouldn't speak. She pointed with her spoon at Nal, then rolled her eyes, still chewing. The soup wasn't the only thing on their dinner table, and the chewey wramroot was taking up all Lharani's efforts. Finally though, she swallowed and said, “Nal, you and Dubik, Holsta and Munno are going to be well cared-for.” Though they were only thirteen, the twins had both passed their Animal Mastery testing and been tagged by Breeders already as potential material. They'd studied enough under their parents, and were now breaking out into the world of Steed care and training. Nal and Dubik were afforded time in their care, while they were traveling from one Steed farm to another.

Obviously they kept up on current events. A few years before, a wealthy and well-loved High Holder had passed on in the coastal township now known as Muyar, on the west coast of Kiran. A number of the Slaves that he Held remained on in the mansion holed up until they were granted a new look at High Master Pahrish's will. It turned out in their favor – and a Membayar with his eyes on that land was sent to prison for purposefully misreading an Inheritance will. Now that group of nearly a dozen Slaves were Land Holders, splitting their estate and the grounds into smaller portions.

“What would you do if you had the family estates?” Tanirom asked Nal. The dark-skinned young Slave shrugged at first, but then pondered while she helped clean up the dinner feast.

“I think that I'd make sure the Steeds were cared for by a proper Animal Master, like they're used to,” she said. “They've had the best care all their lives, why shouldn't it continue? And the north house,” she said of the Opál home, “I'd turn that into a race farm as well as a boarding station.”

“Boarding?” Lharani said, “would there be space?”

“If that one parcel of land was given a road,” Nal said with a smile. “People could get to it, it isn't directly in the way of anything else. Right now, that's just land doing nothing.”

“So you think it's a waste?” Tanirom asked.

“No – no, Lady, but,” Nal tried to backpedal.

“It's not an insult, I asked and you told me, don't worry.” Tanirom smiled and sipped her after-dinner wine.

“But she's right, too,” Lharani said, still picking at a roll. “That flat area is pretty much ideal for Steeds to come and land on, and if the trees were cleared you could even see making the stables out of them, keep the whole thing looking the same as before. Only,” she smiled, “profitable.”

The girls were clearly more intelligent than they were often given credit for.

Tanirom with her green-spotted skin, and her sister with that same grreen skin but with a coating of brown fur, looked at one another. Nal and Dubik who had come to help finish off the dinner rolls and soup, watched between them. Though their outward appearance was almost dichotomous, with Tanirom's hands tipped in hooflike ends which she tapped heavily on things, and her sister whose expressive ears and tail distracted more men than a thirteen year old should… They looked so much alike just then, it was spooky.

The Slaves picked up the dinner servings and made themselves scarce. If these two died it would be too soon, if their parents did, the world would be worse off.

“Put it there! Up on the roof so people can see us properly!” Lharani yelled.

“And so the wind catches it, they can see which way to aim!” Tanirom shouted beside her. A Worker had been summoned to help out making their new stables, after the initial rush of Bayaran and farmed-out work was done. Though there were wood and ground tuned people in their family, neither young woman had a touch of it, and knew they wouldn't be able to do that kind of assembly themselves.

The last of the Workers were putting paint on, applying signs along the new road, and this one was planting the stable's flag atop it. A bright red windsock showed that it was quite breezy up there. He was a bit tottery, clearly not the best choice to be alone on a roof. But soon enough he clambored down and clapped his hands clean on his overalls.

“Well that's that!” He said.

“It looks great,” Talrom said, coming up behind his daughters. “Thank you, your pay will be coming to you shortly.”

The Worker bowed graciously and left with his workmates, as Rahani took care of the money. Soon enough it would be Tanirom and Lharani doing that – they had a plan for this new portion of business, and when they'd turned twenty their parents sold off that portion of the estate – to them – so they could have it for themselves.

The stables were not huge, but large enough for four or perhaps five Steeds at a time. A small grazing patch under the open sky, an arched entrance to the stable itself, all painted in a bright red trim with clean white walls. Tack would hang on the front shed area, and the business of keeping a guest or two entertained would be done in the homestead just a few yards away. Hidden among the trees, the house could only be seen right from the stables. But the stables themselves, as the girls knew well, could be seen from Steedback easily.

The area was, and had always been, Steeding territory. So, now that the girls wanted to start their training facility and boarding, they would be able to house other people's Steeds while they were trained. It would prove to be lucrative business within just a few years.

The short walk up to the main estate was the gentle exersize that every Steed wanted before a good work out. They could stretch their wings out on the short journey, and get their heart rate up. Then, once there the facilities were set up to rein and lead training.

When one brightly-dressed and drab-skinned High Mistress came to them, she didn't even have a Steed. Instead, she had a handful of references and Steed breeders with her, that gathered and clung to the twins like hornets around a nest.

“But … what exactly do you wish to … do? Here?” Asked Lharani carefully. She had briefly warned the Slaves that this troupe was to be treated very carefully – and not to mention that Nal was fuming because they kept referring to her by her old Status, now that she was Bayaran. People like this, Lharani had said, just don't listen.

“I wish to train a show Steed. To display properly, to stand at attention and of course perform the tricks they do.” High Mistress Opthra waved her bejewled fingers in the air, as though they alone illustrated the sorts of performances and tricks that she meant. Honestly, neither twin had a clue what she meant. They were race trainers, teaching Steeds to fight their instincts and lead themselves to victory.

But it was a challenge that they wanted to at least try to meet.

The first thing they had to do was get the High Mistress out of their hair. The way she treated Nal was embarrassing, and Nal grumbled quite a lot after they'd gone. But the other Animal Masters and the Owner that stuck around were just as intense, only not as rude.

“She wants a silvery colored Steed, something with the white wings like that Pearl Fracture has,” said the Owner, “And I've got the wings on one mare, but not the body color.”

“Aaaandd, you think that Diamond Eyes would be right for her?” Tanirom said, and flashed a look to her sister that was correctly interpreted as ‘as though we didn't see that one coming'. People had been trying to breed Diamond Eyes for years, ever since Haick had won and kept winning on him. Haick himself was less than a year away from being Raised entirely, born a Slave he was quite happy about that, he'd be a Worker able to race and keep his own winnings before he was forty.

“Yes yes yes,” Lord Fandrol said. “But we also have two others in mind, they must have those perfectly long legs! And you know that breeding that particular feature into Steed lines is quite hard.”

“Right,” Lharani muttered. It had been ‘hard' to the extent that if you just look at a Steed that has long legs, find a female that also does…. right. Hard.

“So you're basically saying, you provide us with three mares, we breed them to Diamond Eyes and train their offspring to … prance about… Is that it?” Tanirom asked. She had expected the Lord to grumble or disagree but instead he nodded frantically.

“Yes! That's it! Show Steeds are quite in demand for those who just do not like them flying overhead so much.”

“But… that's what they do,” Lharani shrugged. “But whatever. Why not train grounded Steeds instead?”

That produced the gasping disbelief that they'd been expecting.

“Okay – okay,” she said, holding her hands up and pushing her burnt-orange hair behind her long ear. “Wings are important. Check.”

Eventually, the girls had to set the trio of visitors up for the evening, and then scampered back to the homestead where their parents resided.

Getting breeding rights from Diamond Eyes owners wouldn't be too hard for them – but for anyone else? Only one Animal Mistress had done it, and at quite a lot of coin. This triple breeding would run a lot more than that – since he was a prize racer and not a show Steed, he would have some interesting personality quirks to pass along.

“Do you think this is working?” Asked Lharani, when she flicked the delicate crop at the colt. He reared up, clacked his hooves together, and landed with an angry look in his eye.

“I think they'll love him, he's all the right colors.” Tanirom said, smiling. “You're not even really trying, are you?”

“What, with my powers? Are you kidding?” She laughed. “No way! They're not paying me to train a race Steed and what is it I know best?”

“Race Steeds,” Tanirom confirmed with a nod.

“But I guess I could try …”

“Do that,” Tanirom said. “I've got another client to entertain and those idiots will be back in the evening with the updates on their dams' conditions.”

“Goodie,” Lharani groaned.

The colt, just over three months old and still nursing with his dam, had exactly all the right combinations of colors that the High Mistress demanded. She had a good eye for that, at least, the mare she'd provided for this purpose was healthy and sound, with complimentary colors. The colt, Ivory Steel, was exactly that – in wing he was a shining white, while his body was a darker grey metallic. His mane and tail were a brilliant dark green that set off both colors. And he was every bit as ornery as his sire.

But he also took commands well, from an Animal Mistress like Lharani anyway. Soon enough he was trained with the bridle and lead. He learned to trot on command, and to hold his wings straight upright. It was not a natural posture for a walking Steed, but an expected one for the Show circuits.

He also had to learn how to be transported in a hover vehicle. The first time that the High Mistress came to visit in one, he almost escaped outright into the wolf-preserve valley below. But shortly he allowed the machines nearby. It was the High Mistress that really pissed him off.

Yet she remained entirely enamored of the idea that she would have this perfect show Steed in her stables. That of course meant that Lharani was going to have to travel to the shows, and do all the hard work for her.

“You understand that there will be a considerable fee for this, I've got other clients who require their Steeds trained as well,” she said, “and you know they're just as insistant as you are, that their perfectly good Steeds get our attention.”

“Of course, of course,” Opthra said, again as always waving her heavily-ringed fingers in the air. “Now, if you would make certain that the date I've sent you on the events calendar is free we can –”

“Well that's the thing, isn't it?” Tanirom said, sharply enough to get the High Mistress' attention. “We have already made it pretty clear that the dates are going to be interrupting a series of training events that were already on our calendar. Yours is, I'm afraid, not the first on our appointment list.”

The woman blinked away her disbelief. “… Ar- Are you telling me no ?” She said, incredulous.

“Yes, in a word, we're telling you no.” Tanirom put it flatly. “We've got two races to be at in three days, the Steeds in question are too young to be alone from us, and at their first race. It's our standard procedure,” she shrugged. Her tail tip was quivering, and she was making an effort not to let it wag in anger.

“Well this is Ivory's first show!” The High Mistress exclaimed. Several of the nearby Steeds jolted their heads from the pitch she hit. “How ever am I to begin the circuit properly this year if I'm not entering him in the ring?”

“Start him later,” Lharani said, holding on to her own tail with a subtle hand behind her back. “He's nowhere near ready to show yet. He's far too headstrong, and he'd bolt at the other Steeds if they were near enough. That's the last thing you-”

“He will be in that ring if I have to show him myself!” Opthra yelled, and stormed over to the colt. He had grown, but he was not an adult by a long shot, and still only stood just shorter than the round-faced High Mistress herself. When she approached him, his long ears shot back, pressing against his skull. “Oh and this mane will have to be cropped down, they're simply not in style,” she attempted to reach around to his neck, where his silken and perfectly smooth mane lay over his fur. He arched his neck and back, his wings shot up in the same upwards display that was not their proper configuration – tips of the flight feathers curling slightly and ready to snap hard onto the offending woman's head.

She was not deterred in the slightest. All the locals, Slaves, Nal, and the twins, backed away immediately from the young Steed. They recognized that he was angry, but this woman had no clue. She'd wanted to Show him – not understand him.

“And the tail should be bobbed immediately,” she finished, oblivious and perfectly content to ire the colt by walking under his raised wing and running a hard, metal-knobby hand over his flank and tail base. “He can't be swishing it around like this.”

“Bob?” Lharani asked, “what exactly do you mean, bob it?”

As though genuinely surprised that Lharani – a Steed professional – didn't know what that meant, Opthra said, “why, to cut it down to it's proper length, two handspans, no more no less!” She placed her hands together and indicated the top of the tail base.

“You mean – you want me to cut your Steed's tail off !?” Lharani blurted out, angry now. “High Mistress, there are some things we don't do to Steeds around here. We do not put a metal bit in their mouth, like some racers have done. We do not geld unless there is a good reason to, and we do not cut them up into pieces to satisfy your desires !”

To add to her voice, Ivory stamped his forehoof and gave a warning snort. His wings had folded back down, but he stared intently at the High Mistress as though he knew just exactly what was on her mind.

“I shall find another Beast Master to do it for me then,” Opthra growled, “and consider our contract overwith.”

But with that, Lharani and Tanirom both stepped in front of the steed and stood their ground.

“You'll do no such thing with this Steed,” Lharani said, uncharacteristically bold. “He is young, but not that young that a wound such as removing his tail would be ignored. It would be a permanent injury – not one that he'd ever get used to.”

“Then it should have been done months ago,” the woman continued unabated. Her impression of the two girls as naïve bumpkins wasn't fading, but it was no longer being reinforced by their quaint talk of races and slow training. “As I specified.”

“You said nothing about that,” Tanirom asserted, “and we've got the contracts in the office to prove that if you wish. They're not your contracts, High Mistress, they are ours , which you agreed to.”

Lharani was busy setting Ivory back into his stall, where he really did not wish to go, while Tanirom continued to talk. When Opthra noticed that her Steed was being removed from sight, she stamped her foot and sneered, loudly proclaiming, “I will have my Steed board my transport this instant , and he will accompany me to that show with or without you at it. If my money is not good enough for the likes of you, I shall find someone for whom it is. ”

Lharani gave Tanirom a look. Though they were not truly telepathic, their emotions said it all. Is she worth it? Will we ever see this perfectly good Steed again? Will she have hacked him up and mutilated him the way she wants to? Was what their eyes communicated.

They had no choice, though, because she did Hold the Steed. Tanirom approached her sister and muttered, “I'll stall her, try and buy us another day. He'll… need to be gelded in that time. I'm not going to let Diamond Eyes' genes go to waste with this woman.”

Lharani's eyebrows pushed together, but her lips remained firm – as she mulled over the consequences of all this. “Sister, perhaps … one of us should just go with her to this show of hers… You could do one race, I'll trade that day, and then we could switch…?”

Tanirom, having already made up her mind, turned again to Lharani, but then looked at the young Steed. He would be a tremendous animal when he was an adult. And if he would miss his tail, how badly would he be missed in the breeding circles, if he were gelded? Tanirom sighed, deeply, and nodded.

“All right,” she turned back to the High Mistress. “Look, I know you're angry – but as Animal Masters our duty is to the health, safety and happiness of the Steeds we train. It is not in our contract to injure or alter the animal in the slightest . Which means, his flight feathers are intact – he gets flight exersize every day. His tail will remain on him. We'll find a way to make his tail … prettier… if that's the problem. His mane can be shorn but only for Shows – there is a reason, after all, that the Steeds have such things. To keep flies and the sun from their skin, you know that don't you?”

The High Mistress was going to huff at her, but one of her aides stopped her by pulling on her elbow and whispering something frantic in her ear. She set her weak jaw, glared at the Lord and then back at the twins.

“You're going to do all that, and make this Steed a winner for me,” she asserted in a low, cold voice. “I have an emergency at one of my Holds, so you have bought yourself some time to get those things done. He will show in that circle, and if he does not win I will remove him from your care permanently.”

Though it was hardly the ideal situation, Tanirom nodded. “We have no signed contract for this, but I give you my verbal consent – we will try to make him win in the ring, High Mistress. That is all anyone can do.”

They all let out a sigh of relief – even Ivory Steel – when she boarded her hover and left for her Hold in a neighboring zone.

The weeks before the Show were filled with negotiations and study, as well as all the same hard work that the twins were used to. They had no real idea what would be required of Ivory Steel in the show ring. If he'd been a race Steed, they knew every move to make. But in his case they really needed to find out more. Lharani did the leg work, she traveled to the site where the show was to take place, and then brought back the many booklets on each move and prancy bit they were supposed to show off for best marks.

“This stuff is mindless,” she muttered. Her tail jolted back and forth, but it was Ivory himself who stopped it. He was apt to watch her tail, intently, while they worked. It had a somewhat hypnotic effect on him, or so she thought. What he was really doing was waiting for the right moment.

He bit down on her tail when she was distracted, having approached so quietly that even a wolf in the Preserve would have been surprised. Lharani let out such a yelp that her sister actually felt it, in her own tail! “That's it! No flatgrass for you!” Lharani bellowed.

“Oh, he's just playing!” Tanirom laughed, seeing what had happened. Her sister clutched her tail in her hands, and Ivory over there was looking quite smug. “Look at him. He just needs to be rewarded for doing the right moves. Maybe sucking on your tail is what he's wanted all along.”

“I can't say if I think that's silly or perverse or both,” Lharani laughed. Her tail smarted, but she began to use it as incentive to get the colt into the mood for learning.

Tanirom's energies were being spent on the other Racing Steeds they trained, and attending the show was the last thing on her mind. They had prior obligations, and those contracts in her opinion were far more important. But the young Steed stood high on her priority list too, and eventually they resolved the conflict by splitting their duties more strongly. Tanirom didn't work quite as well with the Steeds as her sister, but for that reason her command over verbal and motion issues was better developed. Every Steed they worked with responded to both of them, just in different ways.

Lharani sighed, one evening shortly before the show. “You know I'd give half my earnings just to be done with this, right now.”

“No kidding, but…” Tanirom said, tilting her head and scratching the end of her long ear with her hard fingertip, “if it works out, your earnings will practically double…”

“That's a point,” Lharani said. “I just hate the thought that we've been led to this by some blustery old High Mistress who hasn't a clue what Steeding is all about.”

“Just wait until you stand in the victory ring,” Tanirom assured her sister. “I'm positive you'll get there. I swear he's an entirely different Steed these days.”

“He's not, he still tries to nip my tail and he hates that woman, Opthra. I think if she comes too close during the show, he might screw everything up in favor of biting her .”

“That'd be the end of this, then,” Tanirom shrugged. “Less of a bad thing than being tied to her forever, right?”

Lharani considered that, but said nothing.

When they coaxed Ivory into the hover to be moved to the Show site, he was pretty docile. With Lharani there he felt comfortable, even though the High Mistress' scent was on everything. She was already there, having been partying or schmoozing or just annoying people, for the last few days. Lharani confirmed that she would merely be in the stands, in her high box with the other snooty holders, to watch as Ivory Steel competed.

And won, she would emphasize, every time they spoke. If the Steed didn't at least place, she swore up and down that they'd all be out on their ear, the Steed would be moved to a ‘better' facility and done with all the way she intended to from the start.

Lharani's studies indicated that the bobbed tail thing was a recent addition to the Show rings, and was not ‘required'. Relieved, she began to find things that would accent the beautiful color of his tail and mane (which had been shorn as was required), to braid into the lovely silken fur. She chose silver and onyx baubles, with bright green ribbon, which was also echoed in the short ties and bangles that went around his mane. They wore no tack save a fancy bridle, which Lharani trained him on for weeks before he would even set his ears straight in it. He hated it, he more enjoyed the long lead and soft muzzle bridle that they favored for racing Steed training.

He was a racer at heart of course. Every time a racing flock flew overhead he almost bolted to join them. His big wings would have put him in the lead, his long legs would have had him running to the finish before all.

What a waste, Lharani sighed to herself.

But at least he'd learned the steps, the commands that were required, and how to hold himself in front of a large number of people. They had practiced with the local population, almost everyone in the area would show up for these mock shows. They all had a hand in helping, but then again if Lharani succeeded, they also knew that she'd be shelling out more silver and gold in their businesses and for their work!

Ivory Steel was fourth up in the ring, and Lharani wanted to watch the others before stepping out. Her attention was divided, the colt was still jumpy around this many older Steeds. With other people using commands that were foreign to him, he could safely ignore the trainers barking out their orders, but there were a lot of people just wanting to come up to him and touch him.

That was something Lharani had to keep deterring. “Please don't do that,” she said about a dozen times in as many minutes. “He's not going to like you doing that,” or “Mistress could you kindly keep your child from running under his belly like that? He's likely to get kicked.”

So she was able to keep only half an eye on the ring itself. It seemed that the procedure was that the announcer and judges had come to some random list of items the Steeds needed to perform, in an order that only they knew. Each request was given over the loudspeakers, so everyone knew what was going to be done next. The first of the Steeds was an untried young female, who shivered a bit and seemed genuinely unable to do some of the requirements. The second and third though were seasoned vetrans, obviously. Their trainers barely needed to exert any control, or even make much show of their task. It was like they just heard the command on the speaker, and the Steeds knew what to do.

That both impressed and worried Lharani. Ivory was fourth out, but there were six more to come after. At least two of them looked as well-versed as the pair before their turn. But she couldn't worry about that. All she really needed to do was keep Ivory's mind and eyes focused, and make sure she herself didn't forget any of the commands. There were only twenty different things they could ask, and each of those was conquered with ease by the Steed.

“Welcome to the ring, BeastMistress Lharani, training Ivory Steel, Held by High Mistress Opthra,” said the announcer. There were three camera crews at the event too, no one had told Lharani to expect them. They were inobtrusive, but they would be carrying her image to vid screens all over the world.

But even so? Her nervous habit of moving her tail had the benefit of entrancing Ivory and keeping him docile. Lharani hoped that she'd worn the right outfit, a pale yellow suit with a low cut on the shoulder and short skirt over leggings of dark green. Everyone seemed to be overdressed, she noticed.

But that wasn't why she was here. She was here to listen and command – and to get the best performance she could out of a Steed who should have been used for racing.

Lharani took a deep breath and gave the traditional wave to the audience members, judges, and the Holder of her Steed, which was the part that galled her most. She didn't mind showing off to them. But that move brought her eyes to have to gaze upon Opthra and that just made her stomach hurt.

Show Steeds were not ridden, like racers. Rarely they were, but that was more in keeping with completing courses like an obstical or hunt event. Here, the lead was removed from Ivory's bridle, and he was to go by whatever commands worked inobtrusively – no one tolerated yelling or crop-motions, here. What were the racer's two favorite things to do to encourage their Steed to finish? Yes. Yelling, spirited bellowing or screaming, and nips with the soft end of a rider's crop.

Lharani was the more powerful BeastMistress, she was able to merely think a command and her racing Steeds did their work. But with Ivory he did like to hear her voice. As much as he enjoyed nipping at her tail, it seemed. She cooed at him and rubbed his muzzle for encouragement before they began, and then the announcer asked for everyone else to clear away.

Now that they were in the center of attention, Lharani realized that Ivory was almost entirely perfect for this event. The first request was the display posture of wings-high, which he did without a moment's hesitation. Lharani was sure that the little head toss he did was going to cost them points, but the crowd certainly seemed to enjoy seeing his huge white wings shimmer in the broad noonday sun.

Next was a prancing gait around the small ring, lifting his hooves high – almost high enough to smack against his belly, which was, Lharani thought, where the judges really wanted to take this. He did so with his neck arched properly, and his wings eased into a lower wedge shape. The bangles on his tail caught the sunlight, Lharani heard a young Mistress gleefully pointing it out to her mother in the audience nearby.

Standing on his hind legs and lifting his fore up, spreading his great wings – without beating them – was one of the hardest moves that Lharani had taught Ivory. His instinct was to balance himself using his wings. But that was forbidden, and points were alloted or removed for any motion on their part. Also, points were gained for length of time standing thus, which he could do for no more than two or three seconds before he had to set down. Perhaps the sheer size of his wings put him at a disadvantage for that move. Lharani worried again.

But the next movement, a spinning forehoof-on-the-ground, hindhooves-in-the-air turn, was one Ivory loved to do. It allowed him to put his head down and wings into a pre-race angle, and he had certainly practiced this enough on his own while trying to keep too many hands at bay. He landed and put his head into the air proudly, wings still down and mantled, and immediately the next move was called for. A low bowing posture, which was also one that the Steed enjoyed doing – because if Lharani turned around at all it offered him the chance to nip at her wonderous tail.

She gave him a little smile, and whispered, “we'll let you bite me all you want, when this is over, Ivory, you're doing so well!”

With a brief pause, then the announcer gave the last three commands – a switching gait back and forth across the ring, with wings alternately held up high and down low; a jump into the air and furling of the wings horizontally; and lastly another prancing high-step gait with no movement of the high-held wings.

Each time Lharani asked him to do these, he obliged rapidly. Perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, he almost exited the ring on the last few steps. The audience applauded and the ring was cleared for the next participant.

Lharani's hands shook, as she took the fancy bridle off and put on his favored cloth strap. The other trainers who had gone already congratulated her, though one of the experienced pair gave her a scathing review of that head toss she'd worried over early on.

Of the remaining six entries, one clearly stood out so well that Lharani's heart sank into her stomach. The Steed was as opposite Ivory Steel as she could be – she was tiny, with short, stiffly angular wings, a bobbed tail that Lharani had to admit looked visually pleasing if making her wince; she had midnight indigo fur, not a white hair on her, and shining red colored feathers, mane and hoof-feathers. Perhaps she'd won a dozen times before, she clearly knew what she was doing. Lharani had never even bothered to check whether people bet on Steed shows.

When all ten of the pairs had gone, the judges were isolated to discuss their opinions. Much speculation was being done while they were in their nicely appointed office, and during that time too, the reporters and camera crews came through the waiting stables.

“Do you think you've got a winner here?” Asked one, of Lharani. She jolted, turned around, and her ears went back on instinct, just like Ivory's did.

“I – well, he's still quite new at this, as I am too. But I feel we did fairly well. There are so many wonderful competitors today.”

“You're usually in racing, aren't you?” Asked another, “why the switch? Your instincts seem to be well-suited to this show ring, BeastMistress, are you making this a permanent change?”

Her only answer could be, “I am thinking about it,” and then she had to turn around and chastise Ivory for chewing on her tail.

Nervously, she scanned the High Holders box for Opthra and saw the woman's back – no one else wore that much jewlery, it was piled up on her like snow drifts. Her over-decked hands too wore almost every bauble that could fit. She struck Lharani as trying too hard to impress everyone. She was a High Holder, for goodness' sake. How much more could you impress anyone anyway?

Shortly, the judges returned and prepared their speeches. The announcer listed them off, as they exited the isolation chambers. Three High Holders, an Animal Master, and one Suzerinne. They announced in reverse order, the low scores to high. The tenth placer had been the one who went first – not surpsiring but with the competition involved it wasn't a shame. Most of the flock was listed off with their marks – and Lharani noted well that her name and Ivory's hadn't been called yet. Her heart was starting to race.

With fifth place announced, and not her name, Lharani's blood started to rise to her face. The worst thing she could hear next would be Ivory's name.

But it was Wing To Wing, a red and green colored mare who came in fourth.

Lharani's career with Ivory was not over yet. She would not have to relinquish the young Steed to that woman. Lharani was relieved just to have gotten a place at the winners circle at all, so she was ready to accept third eagerly. But third place went to Kiss Me Darling, the yellow-flame-blue patterned stallion whose trainer admonished Lharani earlier.

The trainer standing to her left, a tall blue-skinned man with bright yellow hair (almost opposite the Steed that just placed) smiled widely. “You're going to do well in this business,” he commented. Lharani jolted at the sound of her name and Ivory's, being called for second place.

The other trainer patted her on the shoulder and nudged her toward the winner's circle. Ivory came behind her, his head high and wings held up triumphantly. Obsidian's Embers won first place, of course, and the pair of them stood beside Kiss Me Darling in the prize ring.

Opthra came down to claim her part of the prize money, and almost seemed indignant when the trainers were awarded separate prizes. Apparently this was to prevent anyone from being cheated out of their honest due, it was rarely done in racing circles.

Afterwards, when the Steeds were all back in the boarding stables and the parties were in full swing, Lharani made a call to her sister, who had been busy collecting awards for third and fifth places in two large races elsewhere. Hers had taken place much earlier, and around the world, but they were both going to party until they reached home again.

“It's a shame that they're so bloody opposite one another,” said a deep voice behind Lharani as she disconnected from the vid, “Obsidian and Ivory are such good looking Steeds, it's almost a waste.”

“… Why would that … be?” Lharani was taken by surprise, it was the blue and yellow man again. “Oh – I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. Because they're opposite . They'd hardly compliment one another, would they?”

“No, they'd end up with one grey Steed.” It wasn't his mare, he could propose all he wanted and not mean a thing by it.

“With brown mane and tail,” Lharani said with a smile.

“And medium sized,” the man, whose name was Beast Lord Julma, “with average length legs.”

Lharani laughed out loud, and saluted the doomed union with her wine glass. “Well then here's to never breeding the two most beautiful Steeds in the world!”