“I’m sorry, I can’t pronounce that.” A vague idea drifted through his mind – not his own idea, but the vreki’s. “You want me to… turn it into a salas word?” he guessed dubiously. The vreki nodded again.
“Mersshhhht?” Koradan tried.
The vreki gave a growl.Allriad called vreki Tss. Wrong. So wrong. He said his name again, and Koradan listened closely. How the hell was he supposed to turn that into a proper word? The moan came first, then the sneeze and then a faint clicking sound at the end.
“Aashhd?” he tried again, emphasising the ‘d’ at the end a little. He caught a faint glimmer of satisfaction from the vreki. “Ashd?” Koradan said, shortening the word slightly and making it a little easier to pronounce. “Is that good enough?”
The vreki nodded. Not perfect, but good enough. And certainly better than Tss.
“So you told Allriad not to go climbing and he went anyway? Is that it?”
The newly named Ashd nodded.Knew danger. Difficult climb. No caution.
“And he knew that if anything happened to him, you’d be left alone?” Ashd nodded again. “Well, that’s shit,” Koradan said. “If I had a vreki, I’d take a whole lot better care of him than that. And better care of myself, as well.”
Partner, Ashd said.Cooperate. Together.
“Exactly,” Koradan agreed. “Too bad I wasn’t born into a higher family. I’d have loved to be a vreki rider.”
Fly, Ashd said, and this time, Koradan caught a hint of impatience in the word.
“What? What do you mean, ‘fly’?”
Ashd. Salas. Fly. Now.There was an undertone of something else, something bigger and more meaningful, but Koradan couldn’t quite grasp what Ashd was saying. Interpreting his broken sentences and fleeting emotions was still an effort. He’d only known the vreki for a few days, after all.
“I can’t ride a vreki,” Koradan said, feeling poleaxed by the invitation. It was something he’d fantasised about, dreamed about, but never imagined he would actually do.
Teach. Learn.
“No, I mean I’m not allowed to. I’m just a stable hand. The guards would have a fit.”
Saddle. Teach. Fly.
“You’re a decommissioned vreki,” Koradan said, hoping he wasn’t being too rude. “You’re not supposed to-”
Curl up in corner and die? Stupid. Vreki fly.
Well, when he put it like that… “Okay, um… Seriously? You want me to put your saddle on and ride you?”
Yes.
“And you’re not going to throw me off at a hundred metres up and kill me?”
No. Ride. Strap keep salas safe.
“Okay. We’d better head over to the tack room, then.” Koradan opened the door of the stall and stood back, letting Ashd lead the way. The vreki knew the layout of the stables perfectly, having lived there for the majority of his life.
Koradan found Ashd’s saddle easily enough. It was one of only a few still sitting in the tack room, and it hadTssinscribed in the side, in neat lettering. Well, he’d have to get that fixed at some point. For now, though, he hefted the saddle off its rack and lumbered over to where Ashd was waiting. The vreki lowered himself to the ground, allowing Koradan to heave the saddle up and onto his back.
“Okay, now what? How do I do up these straps?”
Ashd sent him a mental picture, showing him where each of the straps was supposed to go. When he was finished tightening the last one, he stood back. “How does that feel?”
Need more tight. Do again. Listen.
“Yeah, I am listening, but I’ve never done this before.” He tightened one of the straps, then reached for another, only to have Ashd jerk out of his reach.
“What? I’m sorry, what am I doing wrong?”
