notes: this is what happens when the store i work at smells like a horse for some unexplained reason.
post-series. ahiru has already been turned back into a human.
i own nothing.

World Now Open

"F-Fakir! FakirIdon'tthinkthisisagoodidea!"

"It was your idea in the first place."

"Well—well it's not a good one anymore!"

"Idiot. He hasn't even started moving yet."

A few good feet above the teen's head, Ahiru whimpered. "I'm gonna fall…" Her eyes shifted back and forth between her companion and the horse upon which she was perched. And gave a wriggle, trying to inch back down over the saddle to get off.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't feel like doing this anymore!"

Fakir gave a flat glare, his head only coming up to her knee. Reaching out to hold her leg in place and prevent her from getting off, he replied, "You're the one who was so interested in trying this out, idiot. And I went through all the trouble of setting it up for you."

It was at that reminder when Ahiru paused, leg frozen in place by his grip. Her eyes went downcast, and she looked over the saddle and reins and all the equipment set up—just for the horse himself. It really did look like it took a while to put everything together—and even then it was all with a really big animal, not even going through her own preparations. It must have been a lot of work to go through, and Ahiru respected that, but…

She really was interested in riding his horse—enough to actually mention it to the teen the previous day. Ahiru remembered seeing him bursting through the church saddled upon it, and also when riding over to face the ghost knight. Looking past the fact that on both occasions Fakir looked kinda scary with his expression and mounted on a big intimidating horse, it otherwise looked a little…fun. And now, with her being back again in human form, the redhead had expressed an interest in trying it out.

But now, she was having second thoughts. It was…really really high up on the animal's back! She didn't feel like she had enough to hold on to when he moved! Just a couple of leather straps in her hands? Who was he kidding? That wasn't enough!

Shooting Fakir a pout, the girl wriggled her way back to her spot on the saddle. "…'M gonna fall," she repeated under her breath.

The teen closed his eyes, sighing. "You will not. You're a ballet dancer; so use your sense of balance."

Ahiru could have scoffed, but instead chose to intensify the jutting of her bottom lip. Sure, he says that, but he knew how bad at ballet she really was! How could he expect her to use a sense of balance on a horse when she could barely use it on her own two feet? It all must have been so funny to him—

It was then when the large animal suddenly decided to take a single step forward, and it was enough of a shift to make the girl yelp out loud and dart forward to grip at the mane with her fists, eyes pathetically clenched shut. She whimpered, hoping that he would just let her down already.

"Don't do that idiot, hold on to the reins!"

"The reins won't help me stay on here!" she shot back, cowlick hopping along with the intense shaking of her head.

Fakir only constricted his fingers around her leg, his frown deepening. "Pulling at his mane will only irritate him." But then he gave an exasperated sigh, pinching his nose. For a few moments he just stood there, feeling the idle movement and swishing tail of his horse. Then, when the girl made no indication of moving, he came to a decision.

And Ahiru could only squawk in surprise when she felt a sudden weight pulling against the side of the horse, and not one second later her friend had already situated himself comfortably on the lower half of the saddle. He pulled at the reins with his arms on either side of her, and he motioned for her to let go of the mane. She did so reluctantly, wondering why he had chosen to just get up and do everything himself.

"You put me through a lot of trouble," he said, hands gripping at the leather and giving it a jerk. Ahiru had her own rebuttal ready to shoot back, but yelped when the large animal began to move in a slow trot. Ahiru could only puff her cheeks out, hands now gripping tightly against the handle at the front. It was very much like the chiding tone he used to take with her back when Mytho was around, but this time she wasn't able to see his face taking on a deep redness as he sat behind her. But this way, he reasoned, she could at least do whatever the hell her intent was with wanting to ride the horse without having to worry about falling or any of those other bothersome concerns.

"…Where were you wanting to go, anyway?" he asked after they had set up a comfortable pace, the girl's hair bouncing rhythmically atop her head.

"I dunno…" she admitted. Her blue eyes trailed off in the distance, noticing the way the leaves of the surrounding trees had taken on a brown color. "I just wanted to see what it felt like." She doubted she looked nearly as intimidating as Fakir did whenever she saw him mounted on the creature, but she still had her curiosity about the experience.

Fakir almost snorted. "And you chose to freak out over the fear of falling, instead."

"Well what if he jumped and threw me off?" Ahiru said loudly, head turning slightly to furrow her brows at him.

Fakir gave another slight jerk with his hands, ordering the horse to turn to the right. "He would have only thrown you off because you were pulling on his mane so much, stupid." But now she didn't have to worry about that, with him right there.

And she realized it. Despite her consistent urge to throw back another defensive comment, Ahiru had to acknowledge that even after Fakir went through putting together the equipment on his horse so she could try out riding one, he still came to help her out by taking over while she could enjoy the sights. So it was with a little bashfulness that she lowered her head and muttered a small thank you.

Whether or not Fakir heard it, she didn't know. Instead, as they came up to the edge of town, he stated, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where did you want to go?"

"…Oh." Ahiru pursed her lips out, deep in thought as the horse continued trotting down the path, its hooves clanking loudly against the cobblestone. "I didn't…really have a place I wanted to go to, I just wanted to see what it was like to ride… Actually," she added in just before Fakir had the chance to grumble about her lack of destination, "d'you think maybe we could ride outside the town for a little bit?"

"What do you want to see out there?" he inquired, but all the same tugged at the reins in order to lead the horse's direction over to the nearest gate. Passing by a certain lively restaurant with many customers dining out in the nice fall breeze, they were able to make out one of the town entrance's a few hundred feet away.

Autumn leaves blew about around them, with one getting stuck against Ahiru's cowlick every once in a while. Brushing another one off, the girl had to smile, even though her friend wouldn't see it. "I just haven't had the chance to see anything that was out there yet! Aren't you a little curious, too? After being unable to leave all this time?"

In all honesty, the teen hadn't thought about it that much. His thoughts were always too occupied with other things—such as writing the town's ending, or dealing with having Ahiru back as a human and not a duck. But even so, now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen anything outside of Goldkrone. Now it was as if the whole world had opened up for them.

So it was with a little hesitation when Fakir answered her. "…I suppose." He then shifted on his seat, feeling her back against his torso.

And Ahiru couldn't stop herself from beaming. With Fakir there, not having to worry about the horse bucking her off, riding around like this was kind of nice! And he was even going to let her go look around outside the town. She didn't know if anything would be nearby enough to visit, but someday she'd like to explore more. Maybe sooner or later they could go on a trip? …She could ask him about that after they got back.

For now, though, Ahiru wanted to enjoy the little outing. And without thinking about it, she leaned back against him to look up into the clear blue sky, admiring the colorful leaves and birds flying about. Again, she was unaware of the sudden burst of heat flocking to her friend's face as she used him for support, though his arms did tense up a little around her sides.

Still smiling to herself, Ahiru absentmindedly began to hum under her breath while enjoying the simple scenery as they finally passed through one of the town gates. And this time, she didn't go through a weird mirror and come straight back into town like before. The entire world was open!

Fakir must have felt that sentimentality as well, because he didn't make any annoyed comments about her off-key humming. Instead, his arms gradually began to relax, hands still gripping into the leather. And he didn't make any move to get her to stop leaning on him. He was easing into this just as much as she was.

Now her little request to learn how to ride a horse was instead becoming a relaxing trip, thanks to that very support. She didn't think she could handle the controls all by herself, but having Fakir there made her feel a lot better—just like always. He was rude and annoying, but having him there for her to lean on felt really nice.

Ahiru liked that.

End