After the debacle with Siscalus knocking over the Lady's china, and having to trek all the way to Palisade to retrieve it -- no horse for him to use -- it was time for a well-deserved rest. The way back had been hard, and though he was relatively certain Siscalus could have carried the china back in saddlebags, Siscalus, being a master of the sideways glance, had killed that idea before it had even started. Imagining the yearling with saddlebags bulging to either side of his flanks was ridiculous. It would have ruined his delicate gait, not to mention make him look like a pack-horse, something he most assuredly was not.So Ayle had come home with the china carefully packaged up in a box; Juhua had been more than accommodating with making sure nothing would slip around and break inside of the package. The Lady had been pleased with the replacements, though she still had not quite finished giving him the evil eye whenever he ventured too far into the kitchen. Even Siscalus was shooed out with head drooping and ears flat against his head.
A week later he found himself back in Palisade again: this time because he wanted to be there. He'd earned a little extra money by, of all things, delivering a foal. The mother was one of the prized horses, and the delivery had been a delicate procedure, but somehow Siscalus had calmed the dam enough to allow the foal to be born. He was whistling as he strolled down the bright, sunlit streets of Palisade, his bootheels clicking on the worn flagstones, and Siscalus gamboling (a rare display of such emotion) behind him.
