Traveling
Blog entry

01/28/06

Today Torlinque is off delivering a package to another village for his father. He didn't know he'd be doing this until this morning. Kharie'l gave him a direct order, and he wasn't too happy about it as he was packing up and getting dressed in his patrol uniform. "It's because of the horse, isn't it?" I asked. Torlinque is generally not fond of horses, even though he's an excellent rider. He gave me a look that told me I was right. "Why don't you try communicating with it as you would with anything else that cannot speak?" I asked. Torlinque thought a moment, then swooped me up and kissed me. "You are brilliant." he said, "I didn't think to look at it that way." Then he said, "I'm still not too fond of the smell of them though." and we laughed.

Before all the end-time trouble that brought me here and changed the realm to what it is now, there were many more unicorn in Sarna than there are now. There were no horses. Unicorn worked with us, not for us, in the roles horses take today, but they lived as sentient members of the community who could communicate in Sends the way we can. They took care of themselves and were not kept in stables. They came to do their jobs every morning just as you or I would, and went home to their families in the evenings. In exchange, we provided them with grooming, healing and winter food when they asked. Torlinque is used to that.

Horses must be dealt with differently. The Send must be different, more empathic than words, like one would use with plants or other livestock. Horses must be cared for differently, and Torlinque has lived a long time with the same habits. I understand why horses bother him. Their forms are similar to that of unicorn, but they are most definitely not.

Anyway, he's gone off to do that, but told me he is still available to me should I need him for anything.