Spring the 15th, 519 AV
A horse of a different color.
Oresnya hated horses. Perhaps it was because she had encountered so few of them. Perhaps she encountered so few of them because she hated them. The big creatures had had no place in the places Oresnya had inhabited. In Kalinor, the streets were nothing more than an interconnected web of ropes suspended above the maw of the cavernous earth. On the ocean, most creatures were confined to the limited deck of a ship. Horses thrived in neither of these. As far as she understood, horses didn’t tight rope walk well and the sort of open areas they desired were open plains, not endless oceans.
She wasn’t certain why, but Oresnya hated horses. Perhaps it was their sheer size. Perhaps it was just because they intimidated her. Perhaps it was that a Drykas, on those who had the deepest connections with their horses, had told her that horses had two frames of mind, suicidal and homicidal. They were fragile and, fed wrong, died easily. But they were deadly and, not treated with the right respect, could easily kill a person. One of the few times Oresnya had experienced a horse close up, the animal had kicked someone and broken their leg.
That wasn’t to say that all interactions she had with the big creatures were bad. She remembered one in Zeltiva she’d actually become a bit fond of, but still it had scared the Hai out of her.
Yes, Oresnya hated horses. She knew the saying had nothing to do with horses, but she didn’t like it much either. Maybe because it reminded her of horses. Maybe it was that, never having been around horses, she didn’t understand why the saying should make any sense. Still, she understood what it meant, so when it was used, it didn’t confuse her.
When a Dek named Tawn had come in to have his clothing repaired, the phrase had popped up. The caste system worked, in part, due to each caste supporting those within the caste. Endal helped Endal, bolstering the hunting and guardian forces of Wind Reach. Avora aided Avora to keep business running smoothly and production of goods and services up. Chiet kept the load light on other Chiet. Dek survived and helped other Dek do the same, figuring there was safety in numbers. Each caste needed to interact with the others in order for the whole city to function, but interacting and admiring were different things. Interacting only required tolerating others.
Each caste supported those within it and generally held some sort of grudge against other castes, whether it was in jealousy or in disdain. Those in lower classes always wanted to move up the rungs. No one could fault them for that. But they knew that while they were in their caste they needed the support of their compatriots. They tended to hate those above them for holding the power that they wanted but admired them as well. Those in the higher castes looked down on those beneath them as they were unworthy to rise above their station.
But as the apprentices working underneath Felicity had said, Tawn was a horse of a different color. He hated everyone equally, those in his caste and those above him. Those who were Dek like him, he thought beneath him. He saw them as dirty, as broken, as dull and stupid and barely fit for living, and he knew he didn’t belong among them. Those who were above him, he saw as unfit for their posts, as undeserving of the benefits and comforts their stations afforded them. Chiet were too weak to move themselves upward in standing. Avora were entitled just because they had fallen into a position where their skill sets were more important than others’.
And Endal, one shouldn’t get him started on the Endal. The only reason they were important was because a bird had chose them. Tawn had been stupid or stubborn enough to say as much directly to an Endal’s face. She had beat the Hai out of him, and when he had been idiotic enough to shout an insult at her back as she walked away, she returned and beat it out of him again, along with two of her flight friends. His nose was still bleeding profusely when he stumbled in through the door to get his shirt repaired. The shoulder had been torn, but looking at him, Oresnya was certain that was the least of his problems. One eye was already beginning to swell shut and got more and more so even over the couple of chimes he talked with Felicity. Oresnya could see the Avora’s frustration building as her employer continued to try to direct him toward the Symenestra.
Finally, seeing a chance to ingratiate herself with higher up, Oresnya stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Tawn’s elbow, drawing his attention. “I am Widow. I will help.”
A sneer of disgust came over Tawn’s face as he saw the outsider before him. He opened his mouth to say something, but before a word of Nari could escape his lips, Felicity lashed out with her open palm. Oresnya winced as the Avora’s open palm caught him full across his already battered face. He flinched, but a moment later, a defiant glare crossed his face. He knew better than to say anything.
Felicity pointed to Oresnya’s work station sitting in a secluded corner where they didn’t have to acknowledge her existence. “Go with her.”
He looked ready to protest, and not wanting to see a man beat worse than he already was, Oresnya dug her heavy black nails into his arm and pulled him away. He flinched again and looked at her nails in confusion as he let himself be led along.
