The Fateful Heart

Evaline giggled at his silliness. She wanted to playfully tell him to stop, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Tiberius Hemming, huh? Is that the same person as Yoen Kelley? I might have heard of the guy."

James let out a little sigh and looked back at her, still smiling with his eyes.

"You'd be surprised. I've got a lot of doppelgangers out there."

"Good grief," Evaline said, watching him from behind. "I can barely handle one."

James laughed a little at that, but let their conversation lull out into silence as they continued their journey.

The forest was a little damp, and some portions of the forest's undergrowth were a little slick, but they traveled with little trouble. Elliot was content and seemed a lot more relaxed than yesterday, which James was happy for.

They stopped again, this time under a large willow tree after finally finding some blueberries to fill their stomachs. James's fingers got stained a little by the pigment of the berries' juice, but he managed to keep it off his clothes.

They ate in silence, for the most part, and James didn't mind it. Evaline was a lot less mysterious than she was when he first found her - defensive, a little angry, and scared. He felt like now, even though their circumstances were strange, and they still didn't know how or why she got here, that he didn't mind her being around.

Though, he still did worry.

Butch was always on the back of his mind, a constant fear, and an inevitable fate. It wasn't impossible that Butch could lose James's trail, but - however metaphorically or not - James didn't feel he was out of the woods just yet.

He'd spent two weeks tiring both him and Elliot out just to keep up an impossible pace for Butch to follow. Now, he was traveling slower with Evaline around.

If Butch - or even someone else - showed up and followed him, he didn't know if she would be able to escape.

She'd never seen a horse before or ridden one, and Elliot was their quickest way away from any situations that might arise.

He walked up beside Evaline, who was sitting on the ground, plopping berries in her mouth one by one.

"So, I was thinking. You've never ridden a horse before," he started. "It might be helpful to know, in our travels. Would you be willing to learn the basics? I could teach you."

Evaline almost choked on a berry.

"You want me to learn how to ride a horse?" she asked bewilderedly, swiveling to face him before glancing back at Elliot. It was a good thing Elliot didn't know how to speak, because he may have very well been offended with the way she said horse out loud.

She never thought she'd ever have to learn how to ride a horse since, well, extinction. She also wasn't totally an animal person either, and although she was fine being in the presence of a big animal like Elliot, the thought of taming and controlling it made her nervous.

But James did have a good point; he didn't seem like someone who would want to teach her this for fun, but on the other hand, he did just spend some time pelting exploding berries at her. He was always on the run, so perhaps it wasn't uncommon for him to ride Elliot. Perhaps he was only walking on foot because of her—just so she wouldn't fall behind.

Evaline internally sighed. "I suppose I can learn the basics," she said, hoping she wouldn't come to regret these words.

"I promise you, it's not as scary as it sounds," James assured her. He looked over at Elliot, then back at Evaline.

"I've been working with horses all my life, and with Elliot for a few years. He's a very patient horse, and he will listen to me. You don't have to be afraid. I'll explain everything to you as we go."

Evaline nodded, appreciating his gentle words, but also hoped that the look of nervousness and skepticism on her face wasn't that obvious.

She quickly finished up the last of her berries then stood up, taking a deep breath. "Okay," she said, voice more confident. "Let's do this."

James appreciated her effort at confidence.

"Alright. The first thing you should know is you should never approach a horse from behind. It's best to come up at its shoulder, so it can see you and knows you're there. This way, you won't surprise them."

He started to walk slowly towards Elliot, gesturing for Evaline to follow, and motioning his hands towards Elliot's side.

Evaline nodded, following James's lead to approach Elliot's side. Elliot seemed to acknowledge she was there by the flick of his tail, and it was then that she fully realized how big horses can be when you stand right beside them.

She turned to look back at James, waiting for the next step.

"Alright," James said, staying by Evaline's side. He took Elliot's lead and held it loosely. Elliot reached his nose out to James for pets, and James did so.

"I just want you two to get better acquainted first. So don't worry about mounting today - that's what it's called when you get up in the saddle. Why don't you just pet him first? Let him know you're a friend."

Evaline turned to look back at Elliot, and he seemed to look at her back with beady eyes. Reluctantly, she reached out a hand started petting his mane. It was soft; a lot softer than she thought it'd be. And then she started inching down, petting the soft skin on his neck.

"You're really muscular," she said out loud, and for a minute she felt pretty dumb complimenting an animal like that. But Elliot didn't seem to react, and she looked back at James with a proud smile.

James couldn't help but grin. He could tell Evaline had probably not interacted with animals for most of her life, but Elliot was relaxed, and his ears turned towards her to hear her voice.

"When I talk to Elliot, I usually talk softly and calmly. It doesn't really matter what you say, it's more about your tone and your confidence. But I aim for reassuring."

Evaline pursed her lips and looked back at Elliot, her hand continuously inching towards his snout. "Elliot," she said, trying to keep her voice reassuring like James suggested. "I'm, uh... Evaline. You're extinct in my world, but not here. I never thought I'd pet or talk to a horse before, but..." Her hand hesitated before reaching next to his mouth, and she flinched when he briefly opened it, but only because he gave her hand a little lick.

She smiled. "But I'm glad I can do this here here with you. I guess."

She looked back at James again, fishing for confirmation because she felt foolish talking to an animal. "Like that? Do I keep talking so he knows my voice?"

James nodded with a small smile.

"I don't think it would hurt," he said. He also kind of liked seeing Evaline try to talk to Elliot. There was something about it that was endearing. He was glad she was trying.

If she could get a little more comfortable with Elliot, then she was one step closer to handling and riding him. James didn't expect it all to happen in one day, and he didn't really want it to. But he wanted to build Evaline's confidence so that she could, if necessary, run off without him.

Not that he wanted to part with Elliot, or Evaline, but he was ready for it, always, in the back of his mind.

He joined Evaline in brushing Elliot's snout. "See, Elliot?" he said. "She's not too bad after all, huh." Elliot pressed his nose into James's hand. "Yeah, she's good company. I think so too."

Evaline couldn't tell if James was teasing her or complimenting her, but either way, she didn't like it. And she definitely didn't like that it kept embarrassing her.

She petted the side of Elliot's head, fingers running along the muscular features. "Your owner is something else, isn't he?" she cooed. "Wild man with great tastes in shirts. It's probably nice to finally have someone else travel with you so you don't have to deal with him all day, isn't that right?"

She was about to give James the most smug look ever, but between her voice becoming less soft, her inattention given to Elliot, and a random fly buzzing around, Elliot abruptly shook his head.

Evaline gave off a little screech before jerking her hand and nearly falling backwards, catching herself just in time as she took a few more steps back. "Okay, I think that's enough of that," she said quickly, trying to pretend like that didn't just happen.