Chapter 393: Horses And Cake.

Chapter 393: Chapter 393: Horses And Cake.

And it turns out that when Binny said they were going to the stables, what he really meant was that they were going to the corrals just beyond the stables.

There, the princess has already been set up at a little parlour table on a makeshift dais overlooking the one of the corrals where Montrel looks to be giving his mare a stern talking to.

When he sees them coming though he gives her a firm look and hurdles the fence to intercept them.

​"Great, you’re here," Montrel grins, and gives Khobi such a hefty clap on the shoulder that to his alarm he almost drops the plate.

Thankfully, Montrel takes them off his hands and he can finally relax. It had been the longest trip to the stables in his life, and he did not appreciate Binny and Loac’s repeated threats of tripping him.

"Thanks," he makes sure to say, lifting the plate out of harm’s way as the princess comes barreling down the dais –skirts in hand –to greet them.

​"Loac!" she exclaims, one hand on Montrel’s arm and the other on Loac’s. Neither look too thrilled about being tugged into each other’s personal space, but they take care not to let the princess see. "And Khobi! How good to see you!"

​"...You were here yesterday," Loac points out flatly as she latches onto his elbow looking delighted.

​"That was yesterday ," she reminds him insistently, "We didn’t have tea yesterday."

​"Who said we were having tea today?" he frowns, as she starts to wheel him towards the dais, where there’s already an extra chair waiting for him.

As is Vogrid; looking about as thrilled to be there as he usually does. That is to say, not . "Aren’t you going out for a ride?"

​"I am," she tells him lightly, "Later."

​"Later?"

​"Mhmm~"

​" –Uh, what’s going on?" Khobi frowns, as the two servants trailing after them head over to start laying out the princess’ table with treats and tea.

Clearly Binny didn’t need his help at all because he fishes the honeycakes right out of Montrel’s hands and starts carting them up with the rest of it.

He even throws a wink back over his shoulder at him. One that Montrel returns with a grin.

​"...I pay my debts," Montrel states evenly, heading back towards the corral and gesturing for him to follow. His mare lets out an excited whinny at seeing one of her favourite people.

"And Loac’s horse is a strong one and all but next time you guys wanna sneak out for a date –"

​"A date – " Khobi chokes out in horror. Has Montrel been talking to Rogard, or something?

​" –It’d be better for him if you could ride your own."

​"It wasn –wait, what?" Unable to quite process what exactly he’s just said, Khobi gawks at him. Montrel grins back and holds up his mare’s reins invitingly.

​"You ready to learn?"

​"What, you’re gonna teach me?" It comes out probably a little unfairly incredulous.

​"Hey, fuck you, kid," Montrel grumbles, giving him an affectionate shove to get him moving, "I know what I’m doing."

​" Only coz your horse does !" that’d be Gandy. Khobi’s not entirely sure why he and Rogard –both of them in uniform –are loitering on the other side of the corral pretending to look busy with their own horses and a third that he doesn’t recognise –but clearly he’s been one of the last to find out about this.

​" Fuck you, too !" Montrel makes sure to holler too, sending a rude gesture across the corral.

"Jump on in," he adds, gesturing for Khobi to hurry up and get his ass on in after him. And despite Gandy’s clear apprehension, Khobi eagerly obliges, heaving himself over the fence and landing next to him.

The mare immediately pushes her nose up into his chest and then his sleeves, nosing for treats until Montrel reminds her sharply that this is serious business and they’ve talked about this .

​"...It wasn’t a date," Khobi feels the need to tell him again, since clearly it didn’t register the first time.

He didn’t know it was possible to exchange looks with a horse but that’s exactly what Montrel does. Then he claps him on the shoulder.

​"Sure it wasn’t," he says, although Khobi gets the distinct impression that he still doesn’t get it.

But now’s not the time to press the issue, because Montrel’s suddenly got an uncharacteristic and kind of scarily serious expression on his face. It looks like he means business.

​"Welcome to your first lesson."

...

Xena hums to herself as she settles down into her chair, fluffing out her skirts and pouring over the lovely sweets selection that the servants are laying out.

They’ve managed to make such a delightful spread at such short notice –she hadn’t planned for afternoon tea at all, being too excited about her promised ride this afternoon, but then Montrel had mentioned that he had a bit of a surprise planned for Khobi, and he knows she loves an excuse for sweets.

​" Honeycakes !" she squeals in delights, as the pretty paper gets peeled back and they get laid out in pride of place on the table.

​"Montrel made sure they made em for you," Loac remarks offhandedly, immediately taking one of the chocolate tarts for himself, and then a second to absent-mindedly hand off to the servant pottering around beside him.

​(He knows the sweets she loves most, too.)

​Xena thought she was being so sneaky, but somehow he sees her looking, and it’s testament to how accustomed she and Binny have become at seeing each other at the training grounds that he feels safe flashing her a little wink –so discreet that if she wasn’t looking for it she wouldn’t have even noticed it was there.

He was always sneaky like that when they were children, too. It’s quite exciting to be able to smile secretively back, and she’s delighted with how at ease her cousin seems to be around him.

​Vogrid too, for that matter, and it’s cute that he thinks she hasn’t noticed.

​"Would you like one, too?" Xena offers Vogrid, gesturing towards the treats that the young servant girl is busying herself with.

While she keeps her head dipped as servants often do, she definitely sees a resemblance to Binny. If she remembers correctly, he did have a sister. Younger, maybe?

​"I don’t like sweets."

​" –I’ll have his," Loac says quickly, leaning in to snatch them and Xena surprises herself –and him –by immediately reaching out and lightly smacking his hand.

He looks so offended that a small, slightly hysterical giggle makes it out past her lips, and makes both of the servants abruptly avert their eyes so that they don’t do exactly the same thing.

​"Not those ones," she insists, because he was about to take one of the honeycakes, and if Montrel asked for them specifically for her then she’s not going to share them.

They’ve even been wrapped up all pretty.

"Those are mine –oh look, there’s custard puddings, too!"

​" –Those’re mine ," Loac immediately insists childishly, frowning at the servants like he’s not sure quite how they ended up in there.

The frown deepens as he starts pulling them out of the basket and stockpiling them on his plate where it would be rude for her to reach, "...Khobi made them for me."

​" Did he now ?" Xena says, taking care to keep her voice light and to not sound too interested as she peers down to where a very serious looking Montrel is lecturing a very impatient looking Khobi.

That would just get Loac’s back up, after all.

​She’s sure she sees Khobi look their way.

​No, not their way. He’s not looking at her .

​"...Yeah, he did," Loac replies, not a litte petulantly, and then after a moment of intense deliberation reluctantly relents, "...You can have one ."

​"One it is, then," she assures him, and while she makes a point of very obviously taking one and only one of the remaining puddings from the basket, it hardly matters as he’s already not paying her any attention.

And why would he be, when there’s clearly someone so much more interesting down in the corrals? She could probably take all of his puddings right now without him noticing but there’s no way she could eat them all and he would just get cross with her.

​"Loac? Is there –" Xena cuts short and immediately scolds herself for being too hasty. Loac doesn’t look like he’s ready to tell her, and she doesn’t want to push him.

​"Huh? Did you say something?"

​"It’s nothing," she assures him hurriedly, popping a piece of honeycake into her mouth to conceal a smile.

​She can wait.