Chapter twenty two- Horseback Riding

"H-Hakuryuu! What are you doing here?!" Princess Hakuei exclaimed. Hakuryuu smiled and folded his hands, while Ashlyn bowed.

"I've come to be with you, elder sister Hakuei." Hakuryuu spoke. "This is my companion, Ashlyn." He gestured to the brunette.

"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Hakuei." Ashlyn smiled.

"It's good to meet you as well." Hakuei nodded and smiled back. "Well...Shall I show the two of you around, then?"

"That'd be great." Hakuryuu smiled.

Hakuryuu and Ashlyn spent roughly a few weeks to a month traveling to where Princess Hakuei was, in the Tenzan Plateau. During that time, they talked some more, Ashlyn telling Hakuryuu what she'd remembered about her mother, and him more about his own past. She still hadn't explained her special 'power', but she never felt it necessary.

Now, a few months after their arrival at the Tenzan Plateau, Hakuryuu and Ashlyn were dealing with the nearby ethnic groups. Both Ashlyn and Hakuei were a bit unsettled by Hakuryuu's methods, though.

Ashlyn jumped back as another member of a resistance faction swung at her. She teleported behind him and quickly slit his throat, then took several steps away. "This is messed up..." She searched the area for Hakuryuu and his sister.

She could see Hakuryuu finishing off the last of the survivors, and Hakuei questioning his way of dealing with everything. "Hakuryuu! Princess Hakuei!" Ashlyn ran over to meet them.

"Did you get the last of them?" Hakuryuu asked.

"Yeah..." Ashlyn nodded. She was still in her djinn equip, which she'd recently been trying to get better at. Hakuryuu was in his half-equip, while Hakuei looked between them in shock.

"Come on, then. That's all of them." Hakuryuu deactivated his djinn and began walking away.

"Ok." Ashlyn also deactivated her djinn.

"Wait, Ashlyn, I'd like to talk with you on the way back." Hakuei stopped her. "Will you ride back with me?"

"Ah, sure." Ashlyn gave the princess a weird look. What could she need to talk about? They rode on horseback, Hakuryuu much farther ahead of them, "What did you need to talk about, Princess Hakuei?"

"Why are you so loyal to my brother?" Hakuei asked. "Do you really agree with his methods?"

Ashlyn was surprised. She looked at Hakuei, who was completely serious, and a bit worried. "Well...no. I don't really agree with his methods, but..." She sighed. "I don't know."

"Is there something you're not telling me, Ashlyn?"

"I'm sure Hakuryuu will explain to you in the future." Ashlyn said. She knew Hakuei didn't know the truth about Gyokuen. "He just wants to protect you, you know."

Hakuei frowned, but didn't say more. Instead, she sighed and commanded her horse to move faster. Ashlyn did the same, although she wasn't exactly sure how to 'work' a horse. She'd never really done it. On the way to the faction they'd just subdued, she'd rode with Hakuryuu. "C'mon idiot, move." She pulled on the reins some. The horse stopped moving. "Hey!" Ashlyn pulled on the reins more. "The hell?! Move!" She began panicking as Hakuryuu and Hakuei horses grew farther away. "Umm..." Ashlyn tried to think of a command.  "Walk? Run? Do something besides make me look like an idiot?!" The horse neighed and shook it's head. "Please?" She pulled back on the reins more. The horse neighed again and reared up, sending Ashlyn flying off him.

She landed on the ground, hitting her head, hard. "Ow..." Ashlyn complained. She sat up and glared at the horse. Her head began throbbing. She began trying to stand up, but stopped as a memory came back to her, causing her head to ache more.

~

"Woah! Slow down, girl." A purple haired girl spoke calmly to a black and white dapple horse. "See, Ash? It's easy!"

"Easy for you." Ashlyn mumbled.  

"Come on, try it!" Hannah brought the horse over to Ashlyn. "There's another horse in the stable over there." She pointed to the stables that rested several feet away. "His name is Buddy."

"Ok, ok. I'll try it." Ashlyn sighed. The only reason she'd agreed to do this was to get out of the house for once. Hannah had been getting horse riding lessons for years now, and had always wanted Ashlyn to join. Like Ashlyn's mom would ever let that happen.

Ashlyn walked into the stable and looked around for the other horse. She found him in the last stall. He was completely black. "Hello, Buddy." She pulled open the stall door and walked inside. He was already saddled and ready to go. "Alright...Don't kill me, now, ok?" Ashlyn climbed up and braced herself. "Ok...Walk." She commanded, making sure her voice was calm.

Buddy shook his head and listened, walking out of the stall. "Um...Turn?" Ashlyn tried pulling the reins to the left, hoping he'd go right. He did. "Cool..."

"Hey, look at you!" Hannah smiled as Ashlyn came out of the stables. "I told you it was easy!"

"This is wicked cool." Ashlyn said.

"Wanna go faster?" Hannah offered.

"You always want to go faster." Ashlyn rolled her eyes. "It's going to be the death of you."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, there's a race track over here." Hannah waved her off and headed for the track. Ashlyn followed. "You're lucky, Buddy is a real tame horse." Hannah spoke as they rode over. "Horses can tell when you don't know what you're doing. Most horses will take advantage of that, but Buddy's real chill about it."

"What, are you the horse whisperer now?" Ashlyn teased.

"What if I am?"

"What's yours saying now, then?"

"Lady? She says you're an idiot."

"Wow, Lady's a b-"

"No swearing, missy." Hannah scolded, waggling her finger in the brunette's face.

"Yeah, ok, Mom." Ashlyn rolled her eyes again.

"Heh. Alright, we're here. Catch me if you can!" Hannah commanded the horse to run and sped off.

"Hey, wait! You didn't tell me how to make him go faster!" Ashlyn yelled after her.

"You'll figure it out!" Hannah called back.

"Gee, thanks." Ashlyn sighed.

~

"Wow...That one was before Hannah died, huh?" Ashlyn commented as she came back from her memory. "Well then..." She looked up at the brown horse before her. "You're not nearly as nice as Buddy was."

"Ashlyn-dono!" Ashlyn looked up at the familiar voice calling her name.

"Are you alright?" Hakuei asked as her and Hakuryuu stopped their horses beside her.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." Ashlyn stood and brushed herself off. She was completely embarrassed. Stupid memories. Who knows how long I was out.

Hakuryuu jumped off his horse and grabbed Ashlyn's. "Ashlyn-dono," He looked amused, "do you know how to ride a horse?"

"Uhm...no..." Ashlyn admitted quietly. Hakuryuu smirked a bit while Hakuei raised and eyebrow.

"Have you never ridden a horse?" Hakuei asked.

"Apparently I have." Ashlyn climbed back onto the horse. "Didn't remember until now." This only made Hakuei more confused.

Hakuryuu handed her the horse's reins, "You had another flashback? Is that why you fell off?"

"Falling off caused the flashback." Ashlyn corrected. Hakuryuu nodded slightly. "I think I know what I'm doing now, though."

"You sure?" Hakuryuu smirked again.

"Yes." Ashlyn pouted angrily.

"Alright then, let's go." Hakuryuu climbed onto his horse.

"Hakuryuu, where did you find this girl?" Hakuei whispered as they headed back. "She's very strange."

~