Ostra: Avid and Horses

“It took Avid until he was five years old to conquer his fear of horses.

While the other Achare were drawn to them like the moon draws water, Avid had a uniquely hard time with them. What’s stranger is that it wasn’t the size of the animals that frightened him, but their mobility. As I spent those days encouraging him and investigating his vague worries, I finally learned that Avid harbored a strong anxiety about moving away from his home. He put down roots like a tree, and liked to move as much as your average birch: with a comfortable tendency to sway in the wind, and never any farther.

He would watch me mount one of Ikoda’s geldings and leave the village at a canter, and he’d cry out so loud I could hear him over the horse’s determined push through the grasses. It’d be embarrassing for some, I suppose, but I’ve found that when you have a child to raise, the opinions of others tend to mean little.

When most children were daydreaming of riding their own horse, Avid was building little structures and tools. He’d rather mold a clay horse than feed a real one. At his eventual acquiescence to the Achare tradition, he would ride a horse only occasionally, and usually just to visit the river nearby. But more often, he’d make the journey on foot with friends, collecting sticks and stones to turn into tiny, unmoving homes.”

-Rennik