"You ride side-saddle?" Charlotte teased as she watched Edmund with his horse.

Edmund had been standing on the other side of Kashmir, but at Miss Kingston's good-natured jibe, he straightened quickly to look at her over Kashmir's back. "You're a most terrible tease, madam."

"First I'm a bore and now I'm a tease. What next?" She leaned against a pillar of one of the horse stalls, her eyes playful.

"Hopefully a normal lady," Edmund teased right back, putting a saddle on Kashmir and using his shoulder to help him get the girth buckled with only one hand.

"Heaven forbid!" She laughed. Then she became a little more serious. "Do you want me to help you with that?"

"No," Edmund grunted, Kashmir putting its ears back as his shoulder dug into the poor beast's belly. "I have this under - control."

With a sigh, Charlotte walked around the horse and crouched down bside Edmund, pushing his hands away. "You're going to hurt yourself again," she said.

"'Tis my arm hurt, not my shoulder," Edmund said, affronted. "Really, Miss Kingston, I can manage quite well on my own!"

Charlotte looked him in the face seriously. "You're going to hurt yourself. Then the doctor will have to come again and you won't be able to go riding at all and Mrs. Brinton will banish me from the house for encouraging your naughtiness. Is that what you want?"

She really was rather close, wasn't she? Edmund cleared his throat. "Well, no, of course not, but..."

The groom led Arabia out, all tacked up.

Charlotte glanced up at the sound of her horse being led back and then lowered her voice. "Let the groom do it if you find it so degrading for a woman to help you. But don't hurt yourself again." She stood, then, and walked over to Arabia with a smile, thanking the groom as she ran her hand along the horse's neck.

"Let me help you, sir," said Flagel, and Edmund reluctantly stepped aside, watching Miss Kingston. She was standing right in the block of sunshine streaming in from outside, and it lit up her hair until it glowed.

Charlotte checked her cast to reassure herself of its sturdiness before pulling herself up into the saddle. Of course it felt different from what she was used to, but it wasn't uncomfortable. She urged the horse forward and walked it around the stable a bit to get a feel for how he moved, her lips pursed on one side in concentration.

Flagel did up Kashmir, and Edmund had a bit of trouble getting into the saddle, but managed in the end.

Charlotte brought her horse to stand beside Edmund's. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"I think so," Edmund said, wobbling once or twice before finding his balance. "I suppose we must get Henry, eh?"

"Hmm, Henry." She'd almost forgotten about him. "Where is he?"

"I don't know. Flagel, do you know where Henry is?"

"No, sir."

Edmund shrugged. "That's a shame."

Charlotte barely stifled a smile. "Perhaps he's busy."

"We oughtn't bother him," Edmund said. "He might be doing something important."

"What a pitty." With a small sigh, Charlotte looked forward brightly out the stable doors. "Shall we go, then?"

((They're so bad! XD))

"Absolutely," Edmund replied, rather relieved. "After you."

((I know!!! Sneaky, naughty little characters. *Shakes head at them*))

Arabia trotted out of the stables lightly. Charlotte did feel a little guilty behind all the relief, at going out with Mr. Edmund unchaperoned. But she'd just been alone with him in his study, hadn't she? And they were both on horses now- what could possibly happen that a chaperone would be necissary? Besides, she thought, it was practically the same as going riding with Wiliam. ...Sort of....

Edmund guided Kashmir out of the door slowly, feeling a bit precariously balanced atop the Irish hunter. "Does it look like rain to you, Miss Kingston?" he asked, looking up at the cloudy sky. He desperately hoped not.

((When in doubt...count on English weather. XD))

Charlotte bit her lip as she looked up as well. It could just be overcast without rain.... "I don't know." If it did rain, she didn't think it would do so for a while, but she was wary. "Perhaps we shouldn't go out...."

"Don't back out on me now," Edmund said, looking at her. "It's always cloudy."

Charlotte squinted an eye at him. "If we get rained on, I hope you realize that I will blame you entirely. ...I suppose that would make us even." She smiled playfully before urging her horse into a canter.

"I almost died for you, you know," Edmund called after her, resigned to a walk. He didn't think he could stay on if Kashmir broke into a faster pace.

Charlotte reigned up her horse and turned it around so that she could look at Edmund. "Hmm, you're right. Do you mean that you wish me to repay you?"

"It depends. Do you have something I desire or need?"

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