[i]I’m going to have to ride a horse…[/i] Melanie’s stomach turned at the idea as she fiddled with her helmet. This was a scary idea but at least she had a… friend? with her to help her through it. Dalton’s words that matched King Gabriel’s made her heart tighten, he really did care. She wasn’t his birth child and she was chosen for… some reason but he seemed to support her and want the best for her. What a kind man!

[i]Shank[/i]

The helmet slid onto her head as he pushed it on and buckled the strap into place. All Melanie could do was stare up at him with wide eyes, he was… really going to make her do this. “Always where your helmet… but…” She opened her mouth to protest, in a sad attempt to prolong the enablable. Instead he fired back at her with a playful smirk and a statement that he didn’t need one. A look of playful disapproval moved across her face as she pushed her brows together and gave him a very poor attempted at a grumpy look… which was quickly overshadowed by the fact that she was nearly laughing at him.

Wow he was being playful! Maybe she could actually call him her friend soon, especially since he’s lightened up more. Maybe the more time they spend together the more he will be able to open up to her. She loved talking to people; there was no doubt about that and to have someone so ‘close to home’ to joke and laugh with would make this whole transition much more relaxing for her.

Until… he brought over the horse. Any point of her that he relaxed instantly tensed up as the 15 hand horse was brought face to… nose with her. Her breathing halted in her chest and her eyes went wide as if she was ready to turn tail and run as fast as she could the other direction. But Dalton was too quick as he grabbed her hand and put it on the mare’s nose.

“Oh…” Her voice was filled with surprise as she touched the soft nose of the nuzzling mare. A small smile moved across her full lips as she continued the gentle stroking motion that he had begun for her. The horse was soft and seemed rather gentle but it was still something much larger than her and… well that was a bit scary. But… it wasn’t [i]that[/i] bad.

“Name her?” She questioned as her brow pushed together in thought. For her, it was the first decision she would ever make as a princess and… something about that was a bit stressful, even thought she was just naming an animal. “Uh… Um…” She continued to pet the horse as she attempted to find an answer and after a moment she finally spoke, a gentle smile moved across her face as she came to the decision. “Ellie. Ellie was the name of my dog that saved me from my house burning down. So if I’m going to have this horse as mine and I shouldn’t be scared of her, I’d like to think of her as someone I can rely on.”

Ellie seemed to agree with the name as she let out another whinny and nuzzled more into her hand. Then… Dalton said lesson three and her eyes expanded and shot to him. “What?” She questioned, a squeak of stress to her voice, “On… the horse?” More squeaks and even more nervousness went across her face as she realized that [i]yes[/i] this is part of riding the horse.

Despite her fear, or maybe he chose to ignore it, the lesson continued with knowledge about the saddle and how to climb up onto the horse. “Oh god, I hope I never had to do that in a dress…” She muttered to herself as she watched him gracefully climb on. She knew she would be anything but graceful as she did so and… well she was right. After flopping like a dead fish onto the back of the horse, she made it on and upright and even facing the right way! It only took seven tries but she did it!

“Okay…” She breathed to herself as she took in her new scenery. “Oh goodness I’m up high…” Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached down and took up the reins as Dalton had so politely demonstrated. Her focus was on her posture and how she held the rains… that was until something bothered Ellie’s ear and the horse shook its head to chase away the bother.

Panic filled Melanie and she dropped the rains, leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the horse’s neck. “No Ellie it’s okay!” She said in an attempt to calm the… well calm horse. There was no doubt that Melanie was afraid but her first thought was… “Are you okay? Are you alright? What happened?”

The horse didn’t respond… because it can’t talk. But it did whinny softly and snort lightly as if… laughing at her. “….” Melanie opened her eyes to realize exactly what she had done and… Dalton was right there holding the lead to the unmoving horse. Her cheeks turned red as she quickly and awkwardly sat upright and retrieved the rains. With a flush face and completely embarrassed at her reaction she straightened her posture and composed herself… to some degree. She was a princess now and needed to act as such…

This happened 3 more times.

After straightening herself up for the third time she was practically shaking. “Dalton I need a break…” She said in a small whimper, “… Um…” Her body shifted as she attempted to get down only to find herself more nervous about the height. “How… we didn’t go over the getting down part...”