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Mary has never been a skilled rider. During her disastrous one and only lesson, the family pony had left her in a heap on the ground and she had steadfastly refused to go near a saddle again, content to either ride in a rig or walk.

But now there’s Milliways. A brave new world full of opportunities, a stable of horses, and an acquaintance with a certain Queen of Ambergeldar who happened to have a well-trained, proper lady’s mount stabled at the End of the Universe, and who had bade Mary to make use of her if she wished.

So, Mary is, at this moment, standing in the aisle of the Milliways stables having a serious conversation with a pretty brown mare.

“Now, Dar, I trust you’ll not attempt to throw me off. Or run away with me on your back. Or step on me. Or shy and jump. Or sweep me under a tree branch. Or do anything that will cause me to break a limb….”

Dar, fully tacked up in bridle and side saddle, is listening patiently. Any minute now, Mary will work up the courage to take her outside to the mounting block and actually get on.

Any minute now.

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William's come into the barn to make sure everything's well and spots Mary, he keeps quiet until she's done talking,

"Miss Bennet, would you like me to go ridin' with you? It's always more pleasant with company."

Mary looks up and blushes at the thought that she was overheard.

(Talking to a horse, after all? How nonsensical.)

But this is a situation in which trepidation is easily going to win out over pride.

"Perhaps, if it's not an inconvenience to you? Company would be welcome."

So that when the horse leaves her as a crumpled pile of injured humanity there will be someone handy to run for help.

There are times that William's talked to his horse, its not that odd,

"Not at all. Let me just saddle Les up, won't take a moment."

Mary takes a deep breath, trying hard not to betray her nerves.

"Of course. We'll wait right here for you, then."

A few minutes reprieve from the mounting block!

And at least if she's going to make an utter fool of herself, she'd rather Mr. Evans be the one to see it than a stranger.

He digs in his pocket before finding some sugar cubes to hand to her before going into the tack room and getting his saddle and bridle,

"Here, give some of these to Dar, she'll like it."

It's not unlike making sacrifice to the heathen gods before battle.

Not that Dar had seemed unappeased, but she also seems to appreciate the sugar.

"You've had a great deal of practice riding, I take it?" Mary calls back to William.

That will be good, to have an experienced person looking on.

"Yeah, been ridin' every day since I was pretty little,"

He saddles Les up fairly quickly and leads him out beside Dar.

"They tried to teach me once. It....didn't go well."

That saddle you're supposed to get right back into? This would be Mary doing that now.

"But Miss Amy said that Dar is very well trained. And for side saddle riding, no less. She bade me to ride her if I wished."

"It seemed to be a somewhat providential opportunity."

Even if she is eying the distant mounting block like it's something that she's about the be beheaded on instead of using to get herself onto Dar's back.

"Then we'll just have to make sure this time goes better. Let's go outside and get you up. Hey Dar, you goin' to be good for Miss Bennet?"

As he passes, he gives Dar a pat before tying Les to the post near the block.

"We would be hard pressed to make it go worse. I don't think I lasted more than two minutes last time."

Mary follows William dutifully.

"I take some comfort in the notion that there's an infirmary nearby. In case I break my leg."

"Long as I'm here you ain't goin' to do that, I promise. Now do you want some help gettin' up?"

Sidesaddles have always seemed like strange creations to William, he gets what they're meant to do but they seem trickier than they need to be.

"Perhaps just a bit?"

If she'd practiced any time in the last ten years she might not need a boost, but as it is it might be helpful. The saddle, at least, is familiar to Mary. She's not sure what she'd do with an astride saddle.

Skirts hiked up past her knees? It wouldn't be ladylike at all.

"Right, you just stand on the block and I'll lift you up. I promise that I won't let you fall,"

He's glad he has his new gloves as they're cleaner and won't get anything on her.

"I believe you."

Though she's a bit less trusting of the horse and of gravity. Still, in due course, she's seated on Dar. Right knee hooked securely, legs arranged on the horse's left side, crop in her right hand.

So far, so good.

"How old were you when you learned to ride?" Babbling keeps fear rather at bay. "Quite small, I know you said."

"Yeah, can't recall exactly how old it was. Just somethin' I learned to do. You all set?"

He's not going to leave her side until she tells him to.

Mary gently tests her grip in the reins. Dar, as promised, is standing nicely at ease.

"I believe so, yes."

"You probably grew up knowing how to ride like I grew up knowing how to sew."

"Think that's about right," Once he gives one more look over, he quickly mounts up Les and rides towards the paddock, which is empty at the moment.

"We'll go around the paddock to start and then around the lake later, there's a good path.'

Mary taps Dar lightly with the crop and the mare trots along after William and Les.

She moves quite smoothly, but Mary still has to correct her own balance every few steps.

"Well. Thus far, this is the best I've ridden."

Small accomplishments.

"Is Les your own?" she asks. "Or do you borrow him from someone?"

Once there's space, William moves Les to be beside Dar and Mary so he can watch her,

"Yeah, he's my own. You're lookin' fine. Don't let yourself get all stiff, try and figure out how to keep movin' with her."

Mary tries to comply. Whether or not she's immediately succeeding is debatable.

"I never was sure how one was supposed to maintain proper posture and not be stiff."

Perhaps it just comes with practice.

"Do you not need him on your ranch? Does he live here all the time?"

"I rode in today, I do sometimes. Well, think about it like maybe when you're dancin' or playin' the piano. You have to be able to move while still sittin' or standin' a certain way,"

It's also true of shooting but that's not a good example for her.

"I'm not terribly good at dancing either."

She'll try to envision the piano playing instead and see if that will help.

"I must say, she's agreeable."

Mary nods down at the little mare.

"The pony they tried to teach me on the first time was rather stubborn."

"That probably didn't help. Yeah, she's a real beauty. All the horses here are and all well trained just for different things. At least one of 'em's trained for havin' a knight on 'im."

"Dar belongs to Miss Amy of Ambergeldar. Who, I learned after some acquaintance, is actually Queen Amy of Ambergeldar."

"Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, caused me a fair amount of consternation."

The current crop of English royals might be a bit of a mockery, but still, royalty carries a lot of weight for Mary.

"She's extremely kind. And it's to be expected, I suppose, that her horse would be very well mannered."

"Yeah, you never know what someone'll end up bein' here. Some folks say you don't have to be so polite but if you ain't then someone else'll tell you that you should be,"

It's confusing and he's never sure he'd saying the right thing.