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Lenobia

There were some school days when Lenobia didn&039;t need the hour provided for each professor that was called their planning hour, which meant no students were scheduled in class with her for one solid hour

Today was not one of those days

Today her fifth hour planning period couldn&039;t coh As soon as the bell chiin fifth hour she made a hasty exit from the arena An arena that was still half filled witharrows at targets

"Give Bonnie the hour off," she told Travis as she passed his I don&039;t want any of the the horses"

"Yes, s," the cowboy said, giving the group of fledglings a steely-eyed stare "They ain&039;t"

"I need a break fro fledglings were fascinated by horses" She shook her head wearily

"Take your break I&039;ll have a ith Darius and Stark They need to keep better corral on those kids"

"I couldn&039;t agree rateful that Travis was the one heading to lecture the two Warriors, she slipped out into the cool quiet of the night

Her bench was as e was full The breeze had kicked up and was unusually warrateful for it, and for the solitude She sat, rolling her shoulders and inhaling then expelling a long breath

She wasn&039;t exactly sorry she&039;d welcolings-non-equestrian fledglings-was taking so used to It seemed every time she turned her head an errant student wandered from the arena into her stables So far just this day she&039;d found three of the codfish at a brood and therefore restless and touchy and not in the mood for fish The mare had actually tried to take a bite out of one of the boys who&039;d said he was just wanting to pet her "Like she was, indeed, a big dog," Lenobia grumbled under her breath But that was better than the foolish third forood idea to try to lift one of Bonnie&039;s hooves on a bet froer on how heavy it really was Bonnie had spooked when one of the boys had yelped about it being a real big paw and the one down on her knees

Thankfully, she&039;d been on the arena sawdust and not bruising, breaking concrete

Travis, who had been overseeing a sround driving, had dealt with the two boys swiftly Lenobia srabbed each by the scruff of their collars and thrown them directly into a pile of Bonnie&039;sand heavy as one of her hooves Then he&039;d quieted histouches as he checked her knees, fed her one of the apple wafers he seemed to always have in his pocket, and coround-driving fledglings

He&039;s good with the students, she thought Alood as he is with the horses

Truth be told, it appeared as if Travis Foster was going to be an asset to her stables Lenobia laughed softly Neferet was going to be sorely disappointed about that

Her laughter died quickly, though, replaced by the sto tension that had haunted her since she&039;d met Travis and his horse It&039;s because he&039;s a hued silently to herself I&039; a hus about thehter could be How they could take pleasure that felt so new in things that were so old to her, like a sihtly they lived

Twenty-seven, ma&039;am That&039;s how many years he&039;d lived on this earth He&039;d knoenty-seven years of sunrises and she&039;d known more than two hundred and forty of them He would probably only know thirty or forty more years of sunrises, and then he would die

Their lives were so brief

Some briefer than others Some didn&039;t even live to see twenty-one suh sunrises to fill a life

No! Lenobia&039;sto awaken those memories She&039;d closed the door to them the day she&039;d been Marked-that terrible, wonderful day The door wouldn&039;t, couldn&039;t open now or ever again

Neferet knew some of Lenobia&039;s past They&039;d been friends once, she and the High Priestess They&039;d talked and Lenobia used to believe they&039;d shared confidences It had, of course, been a false friendship Even before Kalona had eed froun to realize there was so dark and disturbing

"She&039;s broken," Lenobia whispered to the night "But I won&039;t let her break me" The door would remain closed Always

She heard Bonnie&039;s heavy hoofbeats thunking solidly against the winter grass before she felt the brush of the big hts and projected war that was so low it almost did sound like it should co her-a dinosaur, whichwhen Travis led Bonnie up to her bench

"No, I don&039;t have any wafers for you" Lenobia s the o, boss lady" Travis flipped a wafer to Lenobia as he sat on the far end of the wrought-iron-backed bench

Lenobia caught the treat and held it out to Bonnie, who took it with surprising delicacy for such a big animal "You know, a nors you feed her"

"She&039;s a big girl and she likes her some cookies," Travis drawled

As he spoke the word cookies the hed and reached across Lenobia to feed her another wafer Lenobia shook her head "Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled," but the sed his broad shoulders "I like to spoil irl Always have Alill"

"That&039;s how I feel about Mujaji" Lenobia rubbed Bonnie&039;s broad forehead "Some mares require special treatment"

"Oh, so with your ?" Shethere "Yes Of course"

"Of course," he said "And now you&039;re remindin&039; me of my momma"

Lenobia lifted her brows "I have to tell you, that sounds very odd, Mr Foster" He laughed aloud then, a full, joyful sound that reminded Lenobia of sunrises

"It&039;s a cos bein&039; her way or the highway Always She was hardheaded, but it balanced because she was also alht"

"Alain "There, see, if she was here that&039;s exactly what she would&039;ve said"

"Youhis tanned, well-lined face He looks older than thirty-two, but in a pleasing way, she thought

"I do," he said softly

"That says quite a lot about her," Lenobia said "Quite a lot of good"

"Rain Foster was quite a lot of good"

Lenobia smiled and shook her head "Rain Foster That is an unusual name"

"Not if you were a sixties flower child," Travis said "Lenobia, that&039;s an unusual naue "Not if you were the daughter of an eighteenth century English lass with big dreams" The words had barely been spoken and Lenobia cla her errant et tired of livin&039; for so long?"

Lenobia was taken aback She&039;d expected hi that she&039;d been alive for more than two hundred years

Instead he simply sounded curious And for some reason his frank curiosity relaxed her so that she answered him with truthfulness and not with evasion "If I didn&039;t have " He nodded as if what she&039;d said hteenth century-that&039;s really soed since then"

"Not horses," she said