her instruments 02 - rose point Read Online Free

beneath Kerayle’s brassy sun. They were all, to the last individual, beautiful.
    Sascha and Saul were both staring at him. The latter was grinning. “Ah… a man who understands a horse.”
    Sascha, more uncertain, asked, “Are you all right?”
    “Very much so,” Hirianthial said. “Can we come closer?”
    Saul grinned. “Even better… would you like to ride? If you’re interested. I could take you to see our prize.”
    “Something finer than this?” Hirianthial said, brows lifting.
    “Oh yes.”
    “Count me out!” Sascha exclaimed. “I’m not getting on one of those things. They look smart enough to pitch me off.”
    The Hinichi laughed. “If you recognize that, you have all the instincts of a budding horseman—“
    “—no,” Sascha said firmly. “I will stand at the fence and watch.”
    “They might come over and nibble you,” Saul said, grinning.
    “As long as they don’t bite—wait, how big are their mouths?” Sascha flicked his ears back. “Are you serious about the nibbling? You’re teasing, aren’t you.”
    “A little,” Saul said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the Lead Mare.”
    “They have titles,” Sascha muttered.
    “They have names too,” the wolfine said. “Like people.”
    Hirianthial hid his grin and followed.
     
    “You have a laboratory,” Reese said, staring down into the facility from the metal catwalk.
    Behind her the Kesh laughed. “Did you think we used magic to make the horses, Captain?”
    Reese folded her arms over her ribbed vest and tried not to scowl. At least he’d addressed her correctly. “No, of course not. It’s just that... you have all of a dozen buildings—”
    “More like thirty,” he said mildly.
    “It’s not much of a town,” Reese continued, ignoring him. “So finding a state of the art genetics facility in the middle of it is a bit of a surprise.”
    “It’s what we do,” the Kesh said, stepping up beside her. Beneath them a handful of people were working. They were mostly human, but she could see at least one Pelted: an Aera, from the length of the ears. Reese frowned. The Aera were nomads by inclination and finding one in a town was strange. Maybe the Aera had chosen the colony life because it was a little like wandering, to be so far from everything. “We are bringing something back to life here, Captain Eddings. Something that was left for dead—” He paused, shook his head. “No. Something that was neglected. Discarded until it came to ruin, but it was only sleeping until we returned for it. And we shall be proper stewards to it now. Do you see?” He rested his hands on the rail. “Some things are left in the past, and should be. Others are left behind, and should be retrieved.”
    “And... you’ve decided that horses needed retrieval,” Reese said, wondering why the conversation was making her uneasy. She had come to distrust passion, maybe. “I guess horses are harmless enough.” When he glanced at her, she said, “It’s not like you’re... I don’t know. Cloning ancient megalomaniacal human warlords or something.”
    He snorted. “You have an active imagination, captain.”
    “Or a paranoid disposition,” Reese muttered. She watched the activity below them. “You don’t seem to have many people.”
    “Many of them are with the horses.”
    Something in the way he said that... she glanced at him. “You’ve got so many already?”
    “We do,” he said. “Come, let us continue the tour.”
    Definitely something going on there, she thought, and followed him. “So, these horses... I’m guessing you ride them, since you talked about saddles and bridles.”
    “Of course.”
    “Is that where your missing people are?” she asked.
    He turned. “They’re not missing .”
    Holding up her hands, Reese said, “I wasn’t implying anything! Just... this doesn’t seem a big staff for an operation this size. You know. Repopulating the universe’s horse…