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[gypsy_merrique]

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After much thought, Merrique went to the stable in Umbra and purchased a fine and expensive horse from the stable-master.

She'd been wanting to do something new and exciting; Walter was always off doing whatever it was he did, the boys were grown. Her husband refused to humor the idea of more children.

Learning to ride a horse seemed like a wonderful thing to do. It didn't seem so difficult, and look how many fighters used them with ease and grace! It also seemed to be a wonderful form of exercise. Having walked almost everywhere she'd ever been, this was an exciting prospect.

An exciting prospect, that is, until she was standing in the stable with the horse's lead-line in her hand, looking up what seemed an incredible distance to its eyes.

Feeling rather intimidated and silly, she requested the stable-master to tend the animal and went home.
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. . . But the dark is very trustworthy.
It's always as dark as you thought it was.
And you don't have to work at staying there.
All you have to do is survive it.
And I've been doing that forever.
from the novel "Dark Debts" by Karen Hall

[gypsy_merrique]

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A few days later, Merrique stopped in the Umbran stable to look at the horse she'd purchased.

The thing was big. Too big. She wondered, 'What was I thinking?' as she looked up at the huge beast.

Standing there in silence as the stable master held the animal by its lead, Merri bit her lip and realized she'd yet to tell Walter about his latest expense on her behalf. It occurred to her that perhaps she may have thought things out a little better; maybe a riding lesson or two, or maybe having gotten some idea on how to actually care for and manage one of these animals.

Perhaps Shalcross could use such an animal. What she'd mistaken for determination was rapidly turning into uncertainty.
_________________


. . . But the dark is very trustworthy.
It's always as dark as you thought it was.
And you don't have to work at staying there.
All you have to do is survive it.
And I've been doing that forever.
from the novel "Dark Debts" by Karen Hall