“It looks like we’re almost there,” said Alyssa, noticing that the carriage was gradually slowing down. She started getting their things together and, before long, they arrived at the royal riding grounds.
Scott opened the carriage door for them. Behind him Amy could see that Marvin, the stable master, and Derek, a caretaker, had come to greet her.
“Hello!” Amy said. “Is everyone doing well?”
“Welcome back, Lady Amy. By ‘everyone,’ I assume you mean the horses?” Marvin teased.
“Everyone means everyone! You, Derek, and Fente, of course!”
Fente, whose sharp eyes had spotted Amy getting off the carriage, happily galloped over to her from the other side of the fenced-in exercise grounds.
Amy extended both of her hands out to the beautiful bay mare, whom she had become very close to. Fente impatiently extended her neck over the fence toward her and rubbed her cheeks against Amy’s outstretched hands.
Amy’s entire face lit up in a smile at their long-awaited reunion, and she responded by petting the base of Fente’s neck. After all this time, she was still enthralled by the magnificently glossy feel of her hair.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit at all lately.”
“It’s all right, Lady Amy. We’ve heard you’ve had your hands quite full getting ready for the combat tournament at the end of the month.”
“I have! I was a little surprised. I had assumed they would only need my help during the actual tournament… Oh, Fente! You’re as beautiful as ever today! I wish I could have seen Ventus, too…”
Fente happily closed her eyes and nuzzled Amy with her nose again. Amy put her arms around her in a hug.
When Amy was asked to be a member of the medical team for the tournament, she thought she’d only be needed the days it was held. Now that they were approaching the final stages of preparation, however, she had been running around with Sir Dion every day, going to meetings, traveling to the venue, and so on…
Healing magicians were scattered far and wide throughout the kingdom. They all had their own patients to care for, so even though the athletic tournament was a huge event sponsored by the kingdom itself, it was difficult for them to drop everything to focus solely on the tournament.
During the event, the healers would be stationed in the tournament venue and work in shifts. The advanced preparations, however, were to be done by “experienced healing magicians living in the royal capital who were not engaged in active service but could take on the responsibility.” For this year’s athletic tournament, that meant the preparations were left entirely to Sir Dion.
No one could say he wasn’t competent enough for the job.
The problem was—perhaps because he used his own extraordinary abilities as a baseline—he was prone to overestimate the abilities of the typical healing magician. Additionally, many of the healing magicians with whom he dealt with were his former students. With that history, they would often cower away or be overly conciliatory, which sometimes made things go awry.
One of Sir Dion’s apprentices had come back from training abroad and become a coordinator, but he had been away from the royal capital for a while to take care of some delicate preparations.
It had been at this time when Amy, who occasionally happened to be at the venue where these meetings were held, had offered to help out. The other volunteers begged her to continue working with Sir Dion, which was how she began helping with preparations.
Much of Amy’s work consisted of conferencing and mingling with adults and checking medical equipment and flow lines. The memories of her previous life stopped in high school, and as her only work experience then had been working part-time at a supermarket, this was the first time Amy had ever experienced duties like this.
The work had made her very busy, even forcing her to take some time off from school, but when the other volunteers looked at her with such gratitude in their eyes, Amy felt good knowing that she was helping others.
“Sir Dion had something else to do today, so he’s taking the day off, too. I can stay until the evening, so let’s go on a walk later, Fente!”
Fente tapped her front hoof against the ground like she understood exactly what Amy said. The horse caretakers smiled as Amy walked down to pet the other horses that had gathered by the fence, chattering away at them.
Nobles often came to the stables at the royal palace, either for a tour or to observe. But they would often make excessive demands, try to pick fights with the staff, or act haughtily toward the caretakers. Their children would also play pranks on the horses.
On the other hand, Amy was very fond of animals, which was rare for aristocratic women, and she never acted condescending toward the caretakers, whether they were lower-ranking aristocrats or commoners.
Amy was aware of status differences and acted appropriately, but she always remained even-tempered, never giving way to bouts of sudden anger or anything like that. That alone made her very popular among the commoner employees and assistants.
And unlike his older brothers, Prince Edward had been a frequent visitor to the stables since he was a young boy, so Marvin and the workers knew his personality and mannerisms very well. In accordance with the policy of the royal palace and the wishes of the king and queen, they couldn’t openly show their support for him, but everyone working at the stables was incredibly partial to the Third Prince.
Whichever way you looked at it, Amy, the Third Prince’s chosen fiancée candidate, could always expect a warm welcome at the stables.