Prompt 20 -Good Tidings to You and Your Kin

Cassandra walked down the stone hallway of Thorn Rose Stables, her riding boots making a soft click against the stone as she went. It was quiet tonight, all her staff either celebrating the holiday together or with their families. She’d given them the night off and taken the night watch of the stables, just as she had for years. The holiday meant something to them, and nothing to her. 

Most of the horses were in their stalls and sleeping, or munching on their feed, the air thick with the warmth from so many animals and the grassy smell of the feed. It was one of the few places she felt at ease and even more so in these last few years than she had before. 

A dark black nose with a sliver of pink along its white marking stuck its head out the opening of its stall door, blue eyes meeting Cassandra’s yellow ones. 

“Hello, Porsche.” Cassandra stopped to pet the unique horse's nose, the white markings running up the mare's face and over her eyes in delicate tracts. 

The mare nibbled gently at Cassandra’s fingers, their dark black tail swishing back and forth at the offering. 

Cassandra smiled. A genuine smile reserved almost exclusively for her horses, and only really displayed because she knew she was alone for the night. She fished an apple slice from her pocket and offered it to the mare, the chimera horse snatching it from her with gentle precision. Though when the demonkin went to move on, the mare snagged the edge of her red tunic and pulled her back towards the stall, kicking at the door. 

“What? You plan on walking with me?” Cassandra inquired in amusement. 

The half sabino marked, half snowflake appaloosa marked nodded and once again tugged at Cassandra’s sleeve. 

Cassandra blinked and then shrugged, opening the stall and letting the sixteen hand tall mare join her on the walk. She didn’t really mind the company and the mare was usually well behaved. 

As they got a little further down the hallway, a pale colored horse stuck their head out and nickered at Cass for attention, which the demonkin happily provided. “Hello, Lady. How are you tonight?” She brushed the cremello horse’s nose, smiling even though she knew the blind horse wouldn't see it, the darker rift markings near the mare’s eyes showing precisely why the horse was blind. 

Lady bumped against Cassandra’s hand and then nudged at her stall door. “You too, huh?” Cass asked as she opened the door and let Lady out with Porsche. The two mares were of height with each other and had been turned out together several times in one of the larger fields. They sniffed at each other and brushed noses in greeting before bumping gently against Cass. 

“Seems I get two companions for tonight, huh?” Cass brushed each of their noses and offered treats from her pocket before continuing her walk along the halls of the stables. A few other horses stuck their noses out, but they were mostly the boarded ones at this point and few paid the trio any mind. 

Porsche stopped at the door to the outside and gently nipped at Lady to get her attention, pawing at the ground with her dark and white front legs. Lady seemed to agree and joined in with her darker, rift marked legs. 

“It’s cold out.” Cassandra regarded the pair and then headed for the tack room. “Let me at least get your blankets and then we can see about a stroll outside.” The cold didn’t bother her, but she’d be damned before she’d risk her horses to it, and she could already hear the biting wind howling past the doors. 

Porsche tossed her head and Lady lipped Cassandra’s tunic, but both waited patiently for the demonkin to return with the thick, quilted black blankets. Each one was embroidered with the horse’s name and a single red rose. 

Porsche pranced as Cassandra put the blanket over her and secured it, taking her time as she brushed the mare affectionately. “You like the cold, I know. But I think tonight is a little cold even for you.” 

Porsche swiped their white splashed back leg on the floor but didn’t fight about the blanket, their ears turning in the direction of the door and the cold night air as they sniffed at the small draft that managed to get by the well built doors. 

Lady was more enthusiastic about the blanket, continuously turning their head as if to admire it, which made putting it on a bit more of a challenge. 

“I know you’ve had this on before.” Cassandra laughed as she gently pushed the mare’s nose away from the fabric, which didn’t last long as the mare once again turned towards where Cass was working and tried to rub up against something. 

After a moment it dawned on Cassandra what Lady was wanting, and she removed the blanket enough to bring the embroidery closer to the blind horse’s sensitive nose. The mare, in turn, ran her nose along the embroidery as if verifying it was in fact hers before giving a satisfied huff and allowing Cassandra to put the blanket on without further interruption. 

Cassandra leaned into each horse, coming as close as she was likely to to hugging them, before opening the stable doors and glancing at them to see if going outside was really what they wanted now that the biting cold of the wind was hitting them. 

Lady seemed unsure, her ears flattening back, but Porsche nudged first Cassandra and the Lady towards the lantern lit walkways just outside the stables. The sky was clear and the moon bright, but the wind carried with it clouds that Cassandra could already see moving quickly across the sky. 

The three walked in silence for a time, only the mare's hooves making a soft click against the cobblestone walkways. Finally, Porsche and Lady both turned Cassandra towards the staff housing on grounds, their large forms making it impossible for her to do anything but go along with their directions for the moment. Not that she minded. There was a kind of calm that came with walking with her horses. In many ways she was and had always been more comfortable with them than people anyway. Oh, you’d have to watch yourself with the particularly spicy ones, but they weren’t likely to betray you with deliberate forethought. 

The clouds had just started to really cover the sky when Lady stopped and bumped Cassandra into Porsche, the other horse lipping Cassandra’s tunic and then nudging the demonkin towards the staff housing. 

Most of the cottages had lights on and she could see the people inside celebrating. “What? I’m aware there’s a holiday tonight. That’s why they’re all there and I’m with all of you.” Cassandra leaned against Porsche’s side as she stroked Lady’s neck. 

Lady turned and nipped at Cassandra, almost pulling the demonkin in the direction of the houses, but not putting enough force into the bite to do more than give the woman a hint. 

“No, Lady, my place isn’t there.” Cassandra smiled, her fangs showing for the briefest of moments. “It’s here.” 

This time it was Porsche who nudged her, the mare’s long black tail clipping Cassandra in a gentle but insistent way. 

“No.” Cassandra pushed back gently, moving a bit away from the chimera horse and stepping towards the houses before turning to face the pair of insistent mares. “They are with their families, and I am where I wish to be as well.”

Porsche and Lady looked at each other and something seemed to pass between them as Lady stepped up and nuzzled against Cass. This time there was no push towards the houses and other people. Porsche moved and got behind Cassandra, leaning her white marked nose over the demonkin’s shoulder before pushing her back in the direction of the stables. 

“There, now you’ve got it.” Cass smiled, once again the truly genuine smile reserved strictly for her animals. 

If Lady still seemed a bit skeptical, she leaned lightly up against Cassandra for a moment and then joined Porsche in urging the demonkin back towards the stables. 

They’d just reached the door when the first flakes of snow began to fall from the sky. Small ones at first, but soon it was larger white flakes that began to blanket the world in a quiet layer of snow. Cass stopped, her hand on the handle, and turned to look up at the snow. 

Porsche and Lady both joined her, blue eyes and sightless eyes joining Cass’s golden gaze, as snow fell in cold dots on all their faces. And for a moment the world was silent and still as the demonkin simply enjoyed the quiet and the warmth of the two mares alongside her. Perhaps it wasn’t traditional, but her family was more in the stables of Thorn Rose with her horses than it was in the houses of her workers. There was more than one reason she gave them the night off, not that she would ever say that outloud. 

Instead, she opened the doors to the stables and went back inside with Porsche and Lady to decorate the stalls as a surprise for her staff in the morning, and spend time with her family in the stables.