understood just how extraordinary this entire en-counter had been. For the pony to come back anywhere near the mountain cat was amazing, and for it to stop and then allow Brynn to climb atop its back was even more so.
Still, there were many stories about such encounters, such immediate bonding between rider and mount, scattered among the legends of the To-gai-ru, a people intimately tied to the marvelous horses of the steppes.
Finally, convinced that the mountain cat was long gone, Brynn shifted her weight back a bit and gave a gentle tug on the pony's mane, whispering into its ear, ?Ho."
The pony eased down to a stop and Brynn slid off. She came around the front, scratching the side of the pony's face, looking into its smooth blue eyes, and seeing intelligence there. ?Thank you," she said, and she kissed the pony on the nose. When she backed up a bit, the young stallion tossed his head a few times, up and down.
Brynn smiled and scratched its ears again. ?Where are your friends?" she asked quietly. ?Did they send you back to defend the rear?"
The pony nickered and lowered its head to the grass, munching content-edly. Truly, it seemed in no hurry to be off to rejoin the others.
Brynn knew that she couldn't push this budding relationship, though she dearly hoped that the pony would remain with her. She didn't have a rope, and even if she did, she wouldn't use it on the pony after it had just saved her from that difficult battle!
No, she wanted the pony to become her mount, her friend and ally - even more so, she understood, because she now felt so alone, with Belli'mar T raviel and Cazzira gone. But it would have to be a friendship of mutual agreement, and on that note, it was all up to the pony.
Brynn petted the pony again for a few moments, then sighed and turned about and began deliberately - if not too swiftly - walking away.
Her smile could not be contained when she realized that the little pony was walking behind her.
An hour later, Brynn came upon a small lea, sheltered by rocks and by trees and decided to make camp under the boughs of some thick pines, with plenty of grass about for the pony.
"Well, what am I to name you?" she asked, and the pinto looked at her as if it understood her every word. ?So clever and such a hero, and here I thought that you were the runt of the herd!"
She smiled as she finished and looked into the pinto's blue eyes know-ingly. When she was a young girl, she and her mother used to play many word games, nonsensical and simple fun, and one song in particular stood out to her as she looked upon the beautiful pony, a rhyme that she and her mother had made up about another smallish horse, the runt of the clan's herd. Brynn could not completely remember the rhyme, but she did re-member the word, ?runtly," that her mother had used to both describe the horse and fit lyrically into the song.
"Runtly, then," Brynn announced to the pony. ?I will call you Runtly!"
The pony threw its head up and down, several times.
Brynn knew that it had understood, and she couldn't have been more delighted.
The young ranger and her pony spent the next several days together, sometimes riding the lower trails, but more often just walking, with Brynn leading the way and Runtly plodding along, seemingly contentedly, behind. The weather remained mostly clear and chilly, for though they were moving lower in the foothills, the season was pushing on.
All the while, Brynn tried to get her bearings, looking for some landmark - the jagged, peculiar face of a mountain, perhaps, or a winding stream - that would jog her childhood memories and give her some idea of where a tribe of To-gai-ru might be encamped. She knew that the season was somewhat late for any of the tribes to be so close to the mountains, and so she was re-lieved indeed when she saw a line of thin smoke, marking a camp.
She climbed onto Runtly's strong back and urged the willing pony along at a swift pace. Goose bumps showed on her bare arms, and her mouth went dry, her hands damp, at the thought of seeing her people again for the nrst time in more than a decade, for the first time since becoming an adult. She grew more nervous with each passing