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The man's gentle question stopped Neav as though he had been struck by lightning. Sheer Folly stopped obdiently with him and used the pause to rest her leg off the ground.
Neav bit his lips. How stupid he was not to have thought of money! He never had any money, unless you counted the coppers merchants sometimes tossed him for coaxing their stubborn mules to move. And he did not even have any of those with him.
The slight colour that was left in his face drained completly. So much for his marvellous idea. In his borrowed status of messanger he had been given saddle-bags with food, but no money. There was no way he could buy a stable for Folly.

"No," Neav whispered, so soft it could almost be heard. He felt like crying. "I have none, sir. I did not think of it..."
He gazed despairingly at his mare and she nuzzled him, worried by his emotions.
"I am so sorry..." he whispered to her. Then he lifted his chin and turned to face the stranger. Neav knew that he could not just stand here feeling miserable. It would do no good at all. He would just have to manage... somehow.

"I thank you for your kindness, sir," Neav said as politely as he could. "If it is true that no wolves come into this town, we shall be safe enough."
It was not worry for himself he felt, though the night was very cold. He worried for Folly and her swollen hoof and her need to lie down and feel safe so that he could work to ease her pain. It would be much harder to tend the swelling out here but Neav knew he had to try.


Notes: yes, that was magic though it was not a spell that Neav used. He does not yet know of his skills and Folly's need just kind of pulled the magic through him. Thank you for asking and I am sorry that I did not make that more clear.

The bushy eyebrows of Aaron Williams danced in surprise.
"You are related?" he repeated, as amazed as a bear-man could be. For Aaron had found Neav in the forest when he was the smallest of children and they had never heard of any living relatives. Perhaps they may have if the boy had known his own name, but he had not seemed to. They had called him 'Neav' which was more of a sound than a name and had brought him up to be useful in the stables. Aaron had stopped wondering about the boy's family a very long time ago.
And now this lady had turned up and claimed to be related! Then a thought struck him. If this lady was really related as she claimed to be... would she not know of Neav's parents? Would she not know his real name?

"'Neav' is our name for the boy," said Aaron slowly. "What is his birth-name? What happened to his parents and why was he left in the forest on his own?"
And then he thought of something else, something much more worrying. "If he truly is yours, my lady... Do you plan to take him from here and have him live with you?
Aaron Williams did not want that. The boy was so useful to him... though he hated to admit it, he could not find a better boy if he hunted a thousand years.

Though Neav tried to be calm, he was skittering like a nervous horse. It was well for him that this stranger spoke softly. The calmness was catching and some of the fear began to die from the boy's eyes.
You have to look after Folly, he reminded himself. You have to be calm for her. She needs to be out of the night...

Neav's heart sank when the man said he was not from this place either. Oh, it was bad luck! Neav glanced anxiously back at his mare. She could not afford to limp through the town looking for a place to stay. Neav was afraid if Sheer Folly walked much more on her leg, she might never heal...
"An Inn," Neav said softly, scanning the street. Inns always had stables and though Neav did not have the money to pay for one he did not think of that. All he thought of was a place for Folly.
Not far away ahead there was a torch blazing away the night. It lit the peeling paint of a wooden sign, showing a waltzing fox. The words over it named the Inn as 'The Dancing Fox' but no one had never taught Neav how to read.
However, he did reconside the kind of sign.

Neav raced back to Sheer Folly's side. He whispered in her ear and then crouched down to rest a hand on the lame leg. His touch was light and gentle and seemed to do some kind of good. For when Neav stood again she limped forward, seeming to be in less pain then she had a moment ago. Soon they were level with the stranger-man.
"She can walk as far as that dancing fox Inn," Neav murmured. "It is not traverlers season so there should be room..."

Neav had not known what he had expected from Maeve after his rudeness to her, but it had not been an apology. Nobles did not apologise to servants. Not ever.
Neav had thought perhaps she would be angry with him and more than a little afraid that she would turn and ride away... but she had done neither. And the way she asked him for his forgiveness made him feel guilty. Neav darted her a glance. Why did she sound like she understood so well? That she understood some feeling that he did not understand himself.
Neav chewed on his lips again.
He wanted to say that she did not need his forgiveness. She was a noble lady and should not even care what he thought of her! But a whole heavy part of Neav was glad that Lady Maeve had stopped asking her questions. And the shyness had come back to swallow him, and Neav could say no more on this subject.

He looked ahead over Comet's dark eyes, watching the city grow close. When they were almost at the gates he slowed the war-horse to a steady trot. Rising Sun copied their movements like a shadow.
"We are here, my lady" Neav said rather needlessly. "The stables are just by the castle... if you still wish to meet Master Williams, my lady, he will be there..." Neav bit his lip, remembering that he was late. His horses felt his urgency and wove through the streets as fast as was safe.

Neav stared, incredulous. That Merlin was repeating his words like a bewildered parrot! Surely he could not be as stupid as he sounded. Neav did not think Merlin could be so clever if he was riding Redberry while trying to lead a horse like Tempest, but he could not be a complete idiot. They never would have let him near the horses if he had been. Besides, he had used a spell! Idiots did not do magic either. Spells were very difficult things to learn.

Neav watched him drop his reins onto Redberry's neck. He had the sudden, wicked urge to ask the mare to throw him. She would have done it, and then Merlin would have been off with forest dirt on his stupid grinning face.
But Neav did not do it. Getting Redberry into trouble would only make him feel worse, after all. So he only glared, eyes like twin chits of ice.
"Don't pretend you don't know!" he cried. "You did magic and sank Tempest to make him move. You do that again and I will get Redberry to throw you and - and - and Tempest will bite you!" Neav finished triumphantly. He Normally he would never have dared to threaten such things. Not only was he being rude, he was also giving away the curious talents he had with the horses. But for someone to use a spell on his horses, even if it had not hurt them...! It made him flare with icy anger.

It did not cross his mind that he might be in danger. That he had seen the powers of a magician and could be killed out here for that knowledge. He did not think that Merlin might worry that Neav could betray him to the King.

Neav nodded his head. He was not certain and so he could not say that he was because he knew he was so bad at lying. So he lifted his spirits in the special way the Comet could sense and know meant to move forward and began to lead the way back to the city. Rising Sun followed him, needing no guidence or leading-rein. At least there was no need to skip around lies to answer the lady's next question.
"Aaron Williams is head-of-stables," Neav told her. Because he never even suspected this lady of magic, Neav had no idea of her intentions. But he did wonder what she could possibly want to show him. It was all so strange! It was like a story that could not be believed.

"I will not be scared if you are with me," Neav said simply. From any other lips these words must have sounded like false, honey-sweet flattery but for Neav it was the truth. For him Lady Maeve was all gentlness, all goodness and kindness. And as he was thinking this, Neav had a suddenly flash of remembering.
A dream he had had, months ago now. That terrible time when there had been the drought on all things people ate but nothing else. That time when he had dreamed the death of the unicorn over and over until he had dreamed that it was alive again.
He had been told by a gentle maidservant he must never speak of the unicorn creature because it was magic. So he had not. But Neav had thought of the creature so often and when Maeve said he would see things that were beyond the world he thought of the unicorn again. Neav sighed whistfully without knowing that he had done so. Of course he was not going to see unicorns. That creature was forbidden to be anywhere except in his dreams.

Neav chewed on his lip. It was a nervous habit of his and sometimes he got so worried that he actually made his lips bleed. He was trying to decide if he could let this lady talk with Master Williams... He did not think that he wanted her too. The head groom would never let him just go out at night, not even for the word of a noble lady. Perhaps if he thought that the lady had some need of a horse-boy in the night... but it did not sound like Maeve wanted Neav to work. She said she wanted to show him something.
Besides, he did not want this gentle lady knowing how Master Williams thought of him. Neav knew it was the right way, the way that all boys were treated but he was worried Lady Maeve would not see it as such. He remembered the trouble there had been when Kazria had seen Neav hit across the face. Even though it had been his own fault for forgetting his job, she had been very unhappy. Neav did not want this lady to feel the same.
Even if she only spoke to the head groom his attitude was so obvious that she might start to wonder where the boy's bruises had come from. Neav did not want that at all.

So he forced a smile onto his pale face and tried to chase the worry from his eyes.
"There is no need for you to talk to anyone, my Lady," Neav said. "I will not get in trouble."
It was not really a lie, his mind tried to excuse itself. If he was careful he would not be caught and then he would not get in trouble and his words would prove true.

Then Lady Maeve suggested he might right Mirshann back to the city. Neav felt a thrill of delight. But then he carefully pushed it away. He could not ride the lady's horse back to the city. Comet and Rising Sun were his charges - if he did not arrive back on them he really would be in trouble.
"Thank you," he said with a shake of his head. "But I should ride Comet, my lady."
Neav scrambled onto that stallion's back. He was so curious about what Lady Maeve wanted to show him... he really wanted to ask what it might be. Normally he would never had dared but Maeve had been nothing but kindness from the moment they met...
"What are you going to show me? My lady?" he added hurriedly, almost forgetting that politeness in his wanting to know.

Of course Neav thought that Lady Maeve meant the horses when she said that he was not alone. The boy had never truely trusted any human.
This was the first time he had ever been so open, so joyful in a person's presence and though he did wonder why Maeve might affect him so, he did not even consider that she might be Faerie. Or that he might be a hild of magic himself. But as for someone always being there for him... he supposed that she had to mean the horses again. It was they that comforted him when Master Williams grew angry and beat him, or the other grooms were merciless in their teasing. And so he did not answer Lady Maeve, gave only a soft smile. Of course someone as noble as her could not understand the life of a stable-boy. She must have had people caring adoringly for her since she was born.

He bit his lip when she asked if Neav might be able to come away that night. If he was caught, he would be beaten... but it was possible to get away. He was the only person who slept in the stables and he had sneaked out once before to ride under the moon.
Neav did not even consider saying 'no.' He felt that he would do anything in the world for Maeve.
"I can get away tonight," he said and tried not to think about what would happen if he was caught. "If Mirshann will wait for me outside the wall, I can get to him... what is it you want me to see?"
What could a noble lady possible want with a boy in the middle of the night?

((No, I cannot understand it. It is only based on Finnish; the grammer and the sounding of words is something the same, but the words are all different. Like you say 'mirshann' is angel but in Finnish it is 'enkeli'.))