"You ate two hours ago. How can you be hungry again?" she asked, leaving the question of the laughter in her head for another time.
She got another face full of tail for that comment.
"Fine, you win," she told him. "I should refuse you since you're getting a bit of a belly, but I don't feel like riding with a hungry, grumpy Kyren all afternoon."
A hungry Kyren made for an unpredictable companion. Eva could already hear the laughter of everyone if she ended up as the meal for the very creature she was supposed to protect.
*
Eva unlatched Sebastianand stepped back as he stretched his wings, first one and then the other.
When he was done, she stepped close and ran her hands along them, testing for any tender spots or wounds she might have missed the last dozen times she'd done this.
Sebastian patiently waited, keeping her in view as she moved along the wings. He knew the routine by now. The first couple times they'd done this Eva had received a few bruises when he fought or jerked out of the way when she touched something sensitive.
With one last pat she left the wings to feel along his legs.
She hadn’t finished before he got impatient and launched into the sky, circling high overhead. Eva stepped out of the wagon, not paying attention as she watched Sebastian’s antics and nearly bumping into Jason as a result. She stopped right before she ran him over.
Like her, he was preoccupied with staring at the Kyren above them, the same wonder that she’d felt written all over his features. The sight made her like him just a little bit.
Noticing her, his expression closed down.
And there he was. The pain in her ass.
"You speak to him like he's one of us," Jason said abruptly.
Eva moved past him.
Jason paced beside her, not so easily thwarted. "Why is that?"
He rounded her and stopped in front of her, leaving Eva no choice but to stop too. It was that or run him over.
"Do you really want to know or are you going to stay locked up in your own narrow view?" Eva finally asked.
The apprentice hadn't gone out of his way to be kind to her. Around the other Trateri he ignored her or gave one-word answers to her questions.
"Truly, I want to know." His expression was earnest and open, leaving Eva hard-pressed to find any hint of deception or derision.
"Yes, then. I talk to him like he's a person. Because he is. Treating him as anything else would be a disservice to him and me." What she didn't say, was she did the same for all of her charges. Mythological and equine alike.
He licked his lips, his attention going back to the Kyren.
Eva pushed past him, restraining her huff as he hurried after her. "Can you speak to him for me? I've tried to feed him and take care of him. He won't let me near."
"Then perhaps you should listen to what he’s saying," Eva said softly, not trying to be mean. "How would you like it if someone constantly pestered you?"
Jason needed to think before he acted, not rely so much on blind emotion. He had the makings of a good herd master, until he inevitably did something stupid and wiped away all the goodwill he’d earned.
"If I do that, he'll let me close?" Jason asked eagerly.
Probably not.
"Ask yourself—why do you feel this pressing need to be near him? Perhaps the answer will tell you why he refuses to let you," Eva said. "Improve yourself. Be a better person. Maybe then the Kyren will see something in you worth being around."
Ajari hadn't indicated as much but Eva had a theory. The Kyren seemed to be attracted to a certain type of person. Shea, the warriors who accompanied her, Eva. All had one thing in common. A noble spirit. Shea, at least, had a soul that shone with a light that had changed a nation.
Eva wasn't sure if she was correct, but it felt right. That would have to be enough.
