Making her way along her hunting and patrolling route, the stocky redhead sighed, letting her horse slow to a walk again. "Well, we haven't seen much, have we Rika?" That got a flick of an ear as the addressed steed looked for succulent browse. "And here I am, tied up enough inside to be trying to talk to my horse instead of my friends, because I don't think they want to hear it."
She blew at her bangs and shook her head while Rika picked her way over to a patch of clover. "How long can I keep on with all this, though? Lady Haneth's too easy to talk to – I almost told her everything. And, well, that might be better than telling Dytha, but not by much. Not like I'd be admitting to something socially acceptable either way."
She looked out over the sward while Rika munched on the greener leaves. "Worse yet, it might call up questions as to just why I'm even with the company. And I'm not sure there's any good way to explain that, if anything, I'm along despite how I feel about Dytha, and not because of it."
The mare snorted and moved on to the next patch, drawing a chuckle from the rider. "So, you don't think I can get that explained, either? No, probably not. Not while being all twist-tongued about having to admit anything at all, especially."
Adriwyn pondered while Rika grazed more. "I reckon, if I show more of the pain, when it doesn't really hurt so much, so I'm more able to say it doesn't matter, or pain is just part of being alive, or whatever, maybe they'll get tired of asking. Maybe that's my best bet, to avoid getting trapped into saying what hurts so much. Because, really, saying it would just give her something more to worry on. It's not like it'll change how she's never going to be for me. I can't say I'd be any better for her, even – even if her heart did change. That… that's a big part of what keeps hurting, after all." She shook her head again as the mare lifted her own.
The rider looked where her steed seemed to have seen something. "Birds. Might mean something, might not, but probably better go look. Back to work. Sure hope it's not more slain crofters and missing children…." Knee and hand signals took care of getting them moving again.
