Alternate EB Intro - Part 2

And now for the second half of that alternate opening of my book Emperor's Blood in which we meet Syke. This half was the part that really killed this opening and not only because of the way I did the accent on Syke, though I did enjoy the idea of Hunter feeling drab next to him, but that is an idea older than this piece. Anyway, this is unedited, unfinished and here we gooo!


In northern Escavia the heat of summer faded swiftly as autumn came, the season of the harvest and gather. In the forests and wilds animals sought out food from the land so as to build a life sustaining layer of fat for the cold winter ahead. Beyond the forest, on the coastline where for the summer children had been idle they now helped their parents and neighbours in the harvest. The weather was temperate, perfect for the hard work which took place in the fields. Horses and oxen pulled against harnesses, digging hooves deeper into the crisp sod for a better grip. On the seashore the teams of fishermen worked hard to bring in one last good winter store of fish to be salted and dried. Potatoes were forcibly dug from their hiding places in the earth and thrown into wooden storage bins. Squash and pumpkins were hacked free from confining vines, collected in carts then carefully stored away.

The climate of hard preparation was everywhere and Hunter couldn’t help feeling a little guilty as he rode his horse along the coast road beside Ki away from Seamist. This year Eva and Mattie would have to deal with the harsh labour without their precious boys, helped by neighbours instead. It felt quite off-putting to Hunter, being exempt from such important work. He gathered the leather reins in his hand tighter and tried not to watch field after field go by, in nearly all of them waving farmers. Hunter tried to concentrate on his horse’s ground covering amble and the warmth which radiated up from her body. She was a good horse, this one. A few scars here and there from where harness had chafed too much, marring her dark brown hide, but nothing Hunter really cared about. Like Ki’s horse Griffin, Sprite had been a present from Hunter’s uncle Cen who bred morgans for use as stagecoach pullers. Sprite was an old girl, past her prime, but with just enough spunk to still be a good saddle horse in her retirement. Cen had told Hunter that Sprite was infertile, which was why he had been so willing to give her away.

Looking across the gap between their horses, Hunter studied Griffin, a mare who was barely five years old. She should have been perfect for the stagecoach, young and strong as she was, a perfect bay morgan with a single drop of white between her eyes. But something had gone wrong somewhere along the path of her training and Griffin had learned to fear the full harness of a stagecoach horse. Cen had fired his trainer instantly when he found out and realizing that there was nothing he could do with Griffin, he had given her to Ki, thinking that perhaps Ki might make something of her where he could not. At first, Griffin had been nervous of Ki, but Ki had soon earned her trust, so much that most of the time, Ki didn’t even need to hold onto the reins when he rode her.

Like now. Seated comfortably in the english saddle with one leg propped over Griffin’s withers in what looked to Hunter as rather precarious, Ki was simply watching the scenery go by, his arms crossed as Griffin moved amiably along. Feeling a pang of jealousy, Hunter looked away and was just in time to see a road marker go by.

“Only another k’ to Serenity.” Hunter reported.

“Then we get the highly awkward and terribly exciting experience of meeting four random people who for the next four years we’ll live with.” said Ki dryly, finally sitting properly astride and bending to check his saddle bags.

“Sounds good to me.” grinned Hunter. “No more parents getting in our way.”

Ki grinned and nodded back, then in a tone of long term suffering under his breath. “No more damn salad.”

Hunter broke out laughing. “You really hate it, huh Ki?”

“Makes me feel like I’m going to puke my guts out whenever I eat it. I swear it gives me food poisoning.” grimaced Ki, making a silly face by sticking out his tongue. Hunter sniggered appreciatively at it.

“You’re the only person I know who actually does get sick whenever they eat a lot of veggies Ki.” joked Hunter, though it wasn’t really a joke at all. He had seen Ki dump tablespoons of salt into his own water cup before, then run off to the outhouse after drinking it. Eva and Mattie had always complained that for people who lived so close to the ocean, there wasn’t nearly enough salt available. Hunter could never bring himself to tell them that Ki was using it. At first it had disgusted him, but once when there had been nothing but salad for dinner and Hunter had hidden the salt, Ki had ended up reeling in bed hours later, so nauseous that he couldn’t even get up. Hunter had regretted hiding the salt then and afterwards had always tried to make sure the container was full.

Because Ki didn’t use the salt to make himself puke because he was starving himself. He did it because for whatever strange reason, eating too much plant matter made him sick. By using the salt, Ki was actually helping himself.

It made absolutely no sense to Hunter. ‘Eat your vegetables! They make you strong!’ But all they did to Ki was make him weaker. Once, he had mentioned Ki’s reaction to large amounts of vegetation to Doctor Winsor, but the man had laughed in his face. ‘Impossible!’ he had said, but things that were supposedly so were always possible when it came to Ki.

At not even the age of one, before Hunter could even properly stand up, Ki had made headlines in the local newspaper. It was Christmas when it happened; Hunter and Ki had been put to bed already, warm against the winter cold while downstairs their guardians had celebrated. Though Hunter could not remember the event, Ki had told Hunter about it in crisp detail, which Hunter had been unable to believe until he had asked his mother. Wafting up from the fireplace on the first floor had been the smell of roasting turkey on a spit, fat dripping off of it to sizzle in the flames. Ki, like a modern day Houdini, had slipped out of his cradle, toddled resolutely down the stairs. Nobody had taken notice of him when he walked right into the fireplace, to stare contemplatively up at the oh-so-tempting piece of bird above his head.

Ki’s infantine but already high speed mind had just been working out a solution to the dilemma of retrieving some meat for himself when behind him had come a startling shriek of horror. Confused about what the fuss was and a bit annoyed at getting distracted, Ki had turned to see what was wrong.

Hunter still wasn’t quite sure he entirely believed what Ki said happened next.

Rather belatedly, Ki had looked down, following the direction of Mattie’s pointing finger and realized that his socks were on fire. What followed was several hours of being fussed over which Ki had of course hated, until at long last he had been able to get his point across. Very politely, he had asked if he could have some turkey, please and his shocked benefactors had proclaimed it a Christmas miracle. Hunter still wasn’t completely sure if the tale was true, though he couldn’t get past the fact that all three of his family members said it was.

“How do you remember so far back?” Hunter had demanded of Ki one Christmas, before they went to school.

“I don’t know. I just do. Can’t you?”

Those words had become tattooed in Hunter’s memories as what would soon turn into a collection of very strange recollections regarding his brother. A few years later, Hunter would begin to believe the Christmas story when left alone in the kitchen for a few moments, Ki had pressed his bare hand to the red hot cast iron top of the brick stove.

Nothing had happened.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Hunter had asked, flinching at the sight. He had touched hot metal enough times to know that even a second of contact was agonizing. Ki, still with his hand against the stove, had cocked his head, regarding the stove curious.

“Is it supposed to hurt?” Ki had asked.

“Well yes, it’s hot metal… aren’t you burnt?” a baffled Hunter had asked.

Ki had lifted his hand from the stove and poked at it with his other.

“No. I’m fine.” Ki had said and a moment later he had shown Hunter his hand, smooth and uninjured, without even the slightest sheen of burn. “See?”

It made no sense.

Then, when they were ten years old there came a great winter storm. Temperatures had dropped so low that they had had to bring their animals into the house in order to keep warm. While everyone else had been huddling and shivering for heat, Ki had quite casually walked outside without a jacket on, vanishing for several hours before coming back, a half-frozen Bird in his hands. Eva and Mattie had yelled at him for being such a fool. Everyone had been so sure that he would develop at least hypothermia, but Ki had not. The tabby cat Bird had soon woken up and recovered, becoming rather attached to his saviour for the rest of his life. Ki cried for days when Bird died of old age, years later.

Over the years, Ki had eventually learned to don more clothing, even though he obviously found it rather constraining. Hunter knew it was just his brother trying to ward off conversation from strangers and nagging from their parents, but he was grateful nonetheless, because no matter how often one saw their brother running around in only a pair of pants in winter, they never really got used to it. Also, Ki had learned to wear more clothing for the simple reason that he was sick of hearing people remark about how ghastly thin he was.

Hunter could count his brother’s ribs.

“Oi, we’re entering traffic soon, you gonna run Sprite into a stage or something?” Ki barked, breaking Hunter out of his thoughts. Too soon, Hunter realized that they were on the ridge above Serenity, overlooking the city which claimed the title of being the place where human kind had began on Rimer. It was here, over three hundred years before that humanity’s ancestors had made landfall in a place which would be known as the species’ salvation. This was the international capital of the world, common ground for all, where no matter the ethnicity or species, creatures could deal freely without feeling the bite of speciesism or nationalism. More than that, it was here where cultures collided, mixing sometimes and becoming a mosaic of art and literature.

Nestled tight against its deep bay and surrounded by a rim of farmland then forest in which no development was allowed, the old city was glorious. Squinting, Hunter thought he could pick out the towers of the International Parliament Buildings and a splash of green lawn that could have been their university. Other large and no doubt famous buildings were visible, buildings which Hunter was almost wetting himself to see. Looking almost like toys were sailing vessels, aboard them trade goods and people from distant lands, their colossal sails like clouds, their flags like colourful fliers. Dispersed throughout the massive city were splashes of green; parks and common grazing areas for the inhabitants of the place. Tiny white dots like biting parasites crawled across one which common, creatures which Hunter knew to actually be sheep.

Though Serenity was comparatively close to Seamist, Hunter had never been there and had in fact never even left Seamist. Seeing it for the first time, Hunter was certain that he would never find anything more spectacular in his life, no matter where he travelled. This was it; the apex of human civilization as Hunter knew it. He was humbled by the sight of it and pulled up his horse to drink it in more.
“Isn’t it glorious?” he sighed.

“Sure.” said Ki, turning his head about in his usual peculiar manner, which he did every time he encountered something knew. Suddenly Ki stiffened, quirking his head and then he relaxed, smiling.

“After we find the university we should explore.” said Ki. “The market smells rather interesting…”

“How can you smell something which we can’t even see?” asked Hunter incredulously. All he could smell was the sea and some wood smoke.

“I dunno.” shrugged Ki. “Just can. Let’s go.”

Hunter gave Serenity one more lingering look, like he would a girl he was crushing on.

“Okay. Walk on.” he told his horse and he enjoyed the view all the way until they entered the city, where he had to pay more attention because of the busy traffic. Here even Ki had to keep a steady hold of his horse, as there was jingling harness a-plenty for Griffin to spook over. Somewhere distant, Hunter could hear the cry of a keep trading fresh bread and felt his stomach growl, then forced himself to ignore the call, concentrating on the police officer ahead who made hand signals for the safety of intersection he stood in. They rode through the intersection easily, passing onto a street which was lined with livery stables and smithies. Crossing a arched stone bridge, they continued their slow journey through the thoroughfares of the city, which got progressively busier as they rode deeper.

In the rush of the noon traffic, Hunter and Ki had to be particularly careful as they rode their horses. Griffin and Sprite were used to the less congested port capital Seamist and all the people pressing about them could easily make them spook. Besides the people, there were also unseen disasters just waiting to happen, like children and small animals playing in the street as well as shiny things flickering from windows. Even more lethal were the falla, for the most part unnoticed, but not unseen. Horses who were not used to the sight of a very large, wolfish, striped and winged falcolf were sometimes keen to bolt. Wisely, the two brothers kept their horses on a short rein and whispered reassuringly to their mounts as they went.

At Hunter’s side, Griffin was in difficulty. The sight of a hynorse - a dandy coloured canine-like omnivorous falla the same size as her with a ridiculously shaggy black mane and tail was making her nervous, the whites of her eyes visible as a ring around her brown irises. By all reports hynorses were quite amiable, friendly sentients, but nobody had ever told that to Griffin. To her the big gentle beast with its broad head marked with dark fur looked terrifying and as she skittered by, the hynorse looked around in patient curiosity, long ears pricked. Twitching its long tail, the hynorse turned to get a better look, staring after them as they went by, sniffing the air quizzically. Looking back a few minutes later, Hunter saw it lowering its head to talk to another fallan individual, a biped kiri dressed in an insulating long coat and traditional skirt-like white skit.

Kiri were rather rangy, tall creatures which from head to tail to paw were covered in reddish gold to pale tawny fur. Scientists said that they were Rimer’s natural version of the human, sentient animals which had evolved to survive as omnivorous opportunists much like humans, using their creative mental capabilities and prehensile forepaws to their full advantage. When Hunter had been a kid, he had found them a little frightening at first, since they were so tall compared to his own kind. Now, almost an adult, he found them to be rather noble looking with the eye kohl they painted on their faces to make themselves look fierce like fire cats and their soul-piercing double-lidded golden eyes. Their short ears could pan, unlike a humans and they had tails, allowing for better balance, their longer limbs as well as deeper chests giving them speed. Together with their blunt, powerful jaws, teeth and claws, kiri were superior to humans in almost every way.

The kiri and the hynorse both stared after them, looking strangely worried and Hunter wondered what was wrong. Looking ahead, he was just in time to realize that Sprite was walking into an intersection with no intention of stopping. Yanking hard on the reins, he pulled hard on her head, leaning back until at last she halted with a rather disgusted sounding snort. Several wagons trundled past, their drivers glaring at Hunter, unforgiving. Remembering his manners, Hunter made an apologetic gesture to show his mistake had not been intentional and the drivers shook their heads in exasperation. A lady walked by leading a monstrous german shepherd dog pulling a cart, then they were free to go again, streaming single file into what a large overhead sign proclaimed as being the market district.

Immediately they heard streams of music playing and singing, as well as the excited chattering of people at trade. Eager despite the painfully slow going, Hunter gaped about as they were surrounded by people dressed in more colours than he had ever seen in his life. Overhead sailing flags twitched in the wind, which blew the fragrances of the market all about. It was a very noisy, very congested area and Hunter soon realized that they were not getting anywhere fast. A little frustrated now, mainly because of his snarling stomach, Hunter halted Sprite to peer around for a helpful road sign, but there did not seem to be any at all in the market labrynthe.

“Hey, you bos lost? This is the market, you shouldn’t be here.”

Hunter looked around for the helpful sounding voice, but decided that it was impossible to find his foot much less some obscure person in the crowd. Abruptly Sprite jigged, startled by something and leaning carefully, Hunter caught sight of a smiling face almost completely obscured by long framing bangs, belonging to a head of black hair.

“Hey! You from out of town?” said the person. Hunter couldn’t decide whether it was male or female.

“Hi and uh yeah!” said Hunter, gleeful to find a friend amidst all the mayhem.

“Figures!” said the person cheerfully. “I can get you two outta here, just hold on - I’ll lead your horse. Tell your urra to follow.”

“Right.” said Hunter gratefully, twisting in the saddle to tell Ki, but Ki tapped his ear, shaking his head. Ki had heard, even over the crowd. “Typical.” Hunter muttered. Their new friend tugged on Sprite’s reins and though a little confused, she followed him through the crowd, Griffin’s nose almost touching her rump as Ki made her follow closely. They were led down an alley way, then out onto an amazingly clear thoroughfare, where their friend finally let go of Sprite, feeding her something out of a gloved hand. Griffin, sensing she was missing out, pricked her ears and clattered forwards as fast as she could, nosing at their saviour hopefully.

“Hey ladies.” joked their friend as he petted their horses, rationing out whatever was in his pockets. He pushed the mares’ heads out of the way so he could get a better look at Hunter and Ki. Without all the people, Hunter could now see their friend easier too and grinned at him. The person before them looked about their age, dressed in clothes which looked rather too prim to be for everyday wear, though on closer inspection Hunter realized that the bo was wearing riding boots. Most shocking of all was the realization that their saviour wore rectangular glasses, a clear sign that he was from a well-to-do family. Taken aback and suddenly feeling drabber than an ox, Hunter very dearly wished that he was dressed in something nicer.

“Hi there, I’m Ki Chard.” said Ki, surprisingly taking the initiative and reaching out his left hand to shake hands with their acquaintance.

“Well nice sight you are! You’re to be on the polo team right? I’m on it too! Call me Syke!” said Syke cheerfully, nearly wrenching Ki off of Griffin’s back as he shook Ki’s hand. Ki had to grab hold of Griffin’s mane in order to stay aboard. “Who’s your pretty lady? She’s a morgan right? It’s the ears. My little girl is a parliamentary guard reject. She turned out bay instead of black. I call her Bright. I’ll introduce you to her later.”

Ki managed to retrieve his hand from Syke’s grasp, shaking it a little and wincing. “Her name is Griffin. Stagecoach reject.”

“Crisp, us rejects and stick together then. If you’re Ki Chard, then this big guy here is your brother Hunter Chard right?” said Syke, beaming up at Hunter and snatching his hand to shake it.

“Uh yeah - er, how do you know who we are?” asked Hunter uncertainly.

“’cus you’re my roomies.” said Syke brightly, pulling out a slip of paper and waving it in Hunter’s face. Catching it, Hunter peered at it curiously. They had gotten a piece of paper like this, but it was currently packed away in Griffin’s saddle bags with Ki’s stuff.

DORM:
Mongolia, MF5R12

STABLE BLOCK:
Tibet S13

PREMIER:
Morwen Avery

OCCUPANTS:
Hunter F. Chard
Ki Chard
Shane J. Garrison
Percival Skye
Kane Smith
Marcus D. Yale

“We’re rooming with a Chartani?” asked Hunter, surprised. “I don’t see you here Syke.”

“Where?” Ki nearly fell off Griffin again in an attempt to look at the precious paper.

“’Yale.’ That’s a Chartani sur.” said Hunter, pointing it out.

“I’m there.” said Syke patiently, reaching back up for the paper. “I’m right below Ki, see? ‘Shane J. Garrison.’ That just sounds bloody pompous though, which is why I call myself ‘Syke’ instead. Oh and don’t worry about the Chartani bo. If he starts acting all ‘greater-than-thou’ I can probably find a way to get him deported.”

Though Syke was only joking, Hunter took another look at the guy’s name and flinched. The surname ‘Garrison’ was no joke at all and was in fact extremely famous, almost as famous as the surname Fletch. If members of the Fletch family were often thought of the Rimarian equivalent of royalty, then Syke’s family were like high ranking lords in the imaginary court hierarchy, loyal supporters of the Fletch. Along with the Harms family, the Garrisons had been backing up the Fletches in all their conquests for centuries and descended from two very distinct police officers who in their time, had helped the Fletch work out the governing system of the first colony. It was whispered by many that the Fletch and their closest supporters knew things about Rimer which were completely unknown to the rest of the world’s human inhabitants.

Perhaps the proof in this was that despite the fact that both Escavia and the international parliament had democratic systems of governing, there had never been a single ruler who had not carried the surname Fletch.

Hunter stared at Syke curiously, wondering what strange state secrets were shifting within the bo’s mind.

“Whatcha staring at? Hey, what are you in anyway Hunter? Are you a horsemen too? Your lady looks a lil’ old, pardon my saying.” said Syke. “What’s her name again?”

“Sprite.” said Hunter, snapping out of it. “I’m entering anthropology.”

At these words Syke made a face at Ki, as if the notion of rooming with a scientist was a little disgusting. Hunter was a little off put when Ki sniggered.

“Your brother’s a traitor.” Syke informed Ki, turning and taking the reins of both of their horses. Syke looked back at Hunter and winked as he started leading their horses along the boulevard. “Just kidding. But since you’re so smart, you have to promise to help us intelligence-challenged folks get through the academic stuff ‘kay?”

“Sure.” said Hunter, smiling. How could somebody carrying the surname ‘Garrison’ be so normal?

“Hey relax kids. I’m no copper or ‘nothing. That’s just my folks. I’m the odd member of the family.” Syke reassured them. “I’m here because I’m no good at fighting so I’m worthless as a cop or a soldier or a guard. Anyway, how about I give you guys the grand tour? This is Fletch Street by the way - pretty crisp part of town - note the ungodly amounts of leather polish on the locals…”

Sure enough, strolling or trotting by were some of the nicest dressed people Hunter had ever seen. Horses here had coats so shiny that they almost sparkled, their tack oiled up so shiny that it shown like a mirror in the fall sunshine. Instead of wearing pale or drab colours, many of the people here wore harder-to-acquire prestigious brights, in shades of eye-popping scarlet, deep purple, butternut squash orange and even a glorious blue which Hunter had only ever seen in paint, a colour acquired through crushing up pieces of precious lapis lazuli into a fine powder. Difficult to make lace rimmed collars and necklines, accenting outfits which already looked ridiculously rich.

I’m not even a humble ox here. I’m a scruffy old stray mutt. thought Hunter, uncomfortably aware of his own attire again.

“Hey, don’t worry Hunter.” said Syke, seeing his face. “At S.I.R.U. they make us wear uniforms so we all look equal.”

“Yeah but I feel awful now.” grumbled Hunter.

“Don’t sweat it, these jerks are all politicians anyway, they only care about each other.” said Syke, sounding not very reassuring at all. “Hmmm, sights - well, up ahead is the international hospital! But you probably won’t ever have to go there. There’s a whole dorm full of wannabe healers on campus after all…”

Hunter was just in time to see Ki pointedly avert his gaze as they road past the massive stone complex, in front of which stood several teams of giant white grey percherons harnessed to ambulance carts, on call in case of emergency. Next they rode past the conveniently next door International Sports complex, a truly massive facility built out of more stone to fit thousands. In front of it was a massive bronze sculpture of a full four member hynorse chariot team, the hynorses depicted in stunning detail as they ran full out, the female kiri in their chariot pulling hard on the leads of the lead edger hynorse. Since the statue was quite famous, Syke led them up to it for a better look, then they continued on their way.

They passed a library, a museum, a lot of other buildings Syke said were important and finally the International Parliament itself before they even got close to their university. Hunter was rather disappointed by parliament, considering what he had heard about it and hadn’t even quite realized that they were beside it until they passed the main gates, which were barred against traffic with wrought iron gates and guarded by two black uniformed men who scowled at them. Craning his head, Hunter thought he could see the famous green stained copper roof of the main building, but all too soon all he could see was lengths and lengths of fifty-foot high wall again.

“Horrible bastards.” growled Syke, making a rude hand gesture in the direction of the guards. “Barring me out, I’ll see about that -”

“Syke, what are you talking about?” asked Hunter.

Syke seemed a little embarrassed. “Um, well… my girlfriend lives at parliament. She’s the daughter of one of the people who works there, but we’re not really supposed to be going out so I have to sneak in in order to see her ‘cus the captain of the guard really hates me. He thinks it’s fun to send his lackeys to hunt me down like prey. Pretty rude really.”

“This is why girls are trouble.” muttered Ki. Hunter shook his head, as always completely unable to comprehend his brother.

“Girls aren’t trouble.” said Syke, aghast. “Girls are great! Have you ever had a girlfriend Ki?”

“No and I never will.” said Ki, a little shortly.

“Tch, you don’t know anything yet…” said Syke, but Hunter was fairly sure that Ki had already tuned out of the conversation. Syke had been leading them alongside a long brick wall for some time and finally they came upon a set of wide open iron gates, elegant and very heavy things which must have been made by some master. Vines had crawled up the walls of the complex, their purple flowers still blooming strong in the autumn cool. Reminded of the cold, Hunter started pleasantly contemplating settling in for the night. Casting a careful eye on Ki, he could tell his brother was getting tired, which meant soon he would be getting snappier. Ki was one of those people who became more temperamental the more exhausted they became, which, since, Ki was tired nearly all the time, was not a very good thing.

They passed through the gates, past a slick brass plate reading SERENITY INTERNATIONAL RIMARIAN UNIVERSITY and into grounds so expansive that Hunter couldn’t see the back wall of the place. Rare Gaian oak trees dotted the campus, shading the cobblestone pathways and manicured shadow striped lawns. Here and there, students were sprawled, all of them wearing the light purple and white of the university. Many of them read from books and scrolls and looked up to wave as they went past. Stone buildings were everywhere, none of them over five stories, but all of them as impressive as castles. Syke said that they were all named after different countries of ancient Earth and that buildings were named in honour of countries which contained the attributes which the students who studied in the building sought.

Their stable block, home to the polo team, was named for the ancient country of Tibet, where polo had been originally invented. According to Syke, it had been in ancient Asia where horsemanship had really been born, so all the buildings associated with the equestrian arts were typically named for countries which had played a part in the development of the horse. Indeed, the dormitory where they would live for the next four years was named for Mongolia, since the ancient Mongolians had been a culture that had revolved around the horse. Since most of the students living in the Mongolian dorm were being groomed to be the master equestrians of the future, the idea of the students seeking to revolve their lives around horses made sense.

Hunter wasn’t so sure he fancied living with a bunch of horse-obsessed jocks, figuring that having one was bad enough, but he also hated the idea of not being close enough to look after his brother. Once, when Hunter was eleven he had gone to work for their uncle Cen for a few days, leaving Ki behind at home. When he had returned, he had not been able to get rid of Ki for a full month. Luckily, Ki was not the irritating sort, so Hunter hadn’t really minded.

Again, Hunter had become so engrossed in the scenery and thinking that he hadn’t really been paying attention to where they were. Almost too soon they were being introduced to a friendly senior named Jaro Jenks (who was also majoring in equestrian) and untacking their tired horses. Much like Syke, Jaro was a slightly nosy sort of person and used the excuse of putting away their tack for them as an excuse to question them about their riding skills mercilously. He lost interest in Hunter completely when he learned that Hunter was bound for anthropology, but unlike Syke did not seem to care that Hunter was smart. All Jaro cared about was figuring out what type of rider Ki was.

It did not matter what field you were in. No matter what, your peers would always find a way to assess your work, thus discovering where you sat in the social hierarchy. So it was that Jaro was quite disappointed to realize that Ki could possibly outride him, when Hunter got sick of Ki’s meek replies and told Jaro that Ki could trick ride.

There wasn’t much in the equestrian field which could beat trick riding.

All the way up to their dorm Jaro and Syke excitedly quizzed Ki about it, until finally Hunter had to step in, telling them that if they were lucky, another day Ki would show them.

“Fat chance.” Hunter distinctly heard Ki whisper in his ear as they approached their dorm building.


And that's it. Also, for anyone that's confused, 'bo' is basically the EB era slang word for 'guy.'