Page 53 of Wind Rider

She’s a smart girl,Dawn sent to Echo.

Filly is sound and a lovely color,Echo replied, and then added,but not as lovely as our River’s Anjo.

Dawn was agreeing with her mare when she heard a gasp, and her attention went to her daughter, whose large, dark eyes were open wide in a face that had suddenly gone slack with either shock or surprise. She motioned for River to join her.

Anjo trotted to her, rubbing her head against Echo’s neck affectionately in greeting, but Dawn only had eyes for her daughter.

“Did your crystal not awaken?” she whispered to her daughter.

“No, it did. Easily,” River said.

“Did you find an answer to your question?”

River sighed and Anjo snorted and tossed her head restlessly. “Yes.”

“Why do you look as if someone just docked Anjo’s tail?”

“Because you’re not going to like the answer I got,” River said reluctantly.

“Would you like to share it with me? We can talk about it—maybe you’re wrong. Maybe I’ll just be surprised and not unhappy.”

River chewed her cheek. “Mare Rider, I would like to keep my own counsel, please, and figure this out myself.”

Dawn suppressed a frustrated sigh. “Then I give you leave to go. Return tomorrow with your quartz crystal.”

“Thank you, Mare Rider.” Her daughter crossed her wrists over her heart and bowed formally before Anjo turned and they cantered away.

Dawn looked after her eldest and, truth be told, her favorite child.Well, we did this,she shared her thoughts with Echo.We encouraged her to be strong-willed and self-reliant. Whatever were we thinking?

Echo snorted and flooded her Rider with silent amusement.

***

“Going out by yourself? Again?”

River finished tying the saddle pack onto Anjo before turning to face Clayton. “Yep. Today’s Seer class instigated a mission, so Anjo and I are off to complete it.”

“I’d love to help—if you’d like,” Clayton said. His arm was drapedaround his stud colt, Bard. The horse, though only two years older than Anjo, was already filling out with a thickened neck and powerful chest and rump. His solid black coat, relieved only by a white blaze on his face and four white socks, shone with health.

“Bard is really looking good.” River avoided the question. “He’s going to be a tough contender at the Stallion Run.”

“I believe he’s going towinthe Stallion Run.” Clayton patted his colt’s neck affectionately. “I also believe you and Anjo are going to win the Mare Test.”

“Well, thank you, but that is far from a sure thing. I’m just glad we have a year and a half more to prepare. The Stallion Run and the Mare Test are being held the same year—aren’t you glad for more time as well?”

Clayton shrugged his broad shoulders. “I don’t know, sometimes I’m glad—because preparing is good. The Run is tough, and no telling how many incredible stallions and Riders will enter, but there’s something to be said for getting it over with, too.”

“I definitely know what you mean,” River said.

“So, what’s this mission you and Anjo are on?”

“It’s about communication. We awakened quartz crystals today. You know they’re a stone of communication, right?”

He nodded and smiled. “I do. I’ve been studying crystals. I figured understanding them will help me when I’m Rider of our Herd Stallion.”

His eyes seemed to burn into River at the unsaid rest of his thought, which she guessed had something to do with mating with the Rider of the Lead Mare—though that was absolutelynota given, even should he and Bard win the Run. Sure, some Lead Riders of the Herd’s Mare and Stallion did become mates, but definitely not all of them. River’s father was Rider of Herd Cinnabar’s Lead Stallion, and different men had fathered each of her three sisters—with only her youngest sister being the offspring of their current Herd Stallion Rider, Jasper. Dawn often said that she liked to change her men with the seasons, which was more than fine with her daughters.

“That’s a good idea,” River said, motioning for Anjo to kneel so she could mount her. “I think more males should understand the properties of crystals. It doesn’t matter that they can’t awaken them—it’s good knowledge to have, especially in a Herd of Crystal Seers.”