Neko Shorts - 8. Prompt #376: Dagger of Ignorance

Prompt #376--First Line: "But I never said that!"

Dagger of Ignorance

"But I never said that!" the groom exclaimed as the stable master stared down at him.

Lance Cessel glanced up pointedly at the pasture extending behind the barn where he could see his lord, the Duke of Marsten, leaning against the fence, smiling at the young man gracefully riding the pearl gray mare.

"The boy is still learning, Finn. He is actually doing very well," Lance Cessel, the stable master, stated, his auburn hair curling around his ears.

"I know," the young groom stated, abashedly, conceding to the fact that his master's young lover was managing to master control of his new horse rather easily. "I didn't mean it to sound that way."

"It sounded like you were disparaging the master's boy," Lance glared down at the groom who had been overheard making comments about the young, abused neko that their lord adored. There was no way that Cessel would tolerate anyone criticizing the boy, or anyone for that matter. He wondered briefly if the kid was one of those that was biased against nekos in general.

"This attitude seems to have been going on for a while, ever since the kid has started coming to the stables everyday to ride. If you have a problem with nekos..." he began sternly, knowing he'd have no problem dismissing the kid if he did.

"No!" Finn cried out, his eyes wide with fear. "It's not that at all. It's just not natural how easily he's taken to riding Arabella," the boy grumbled. "I was just implying that Master Kayden, well, has a unique bond with Bella."

Lance Cessel stared hard at the groom, who fidgeted under his piercing gaze.

"So because the boy is a natural rider, you think it's okay to slur how well he's riding and getting along with his horse?" Lance chastised.

Finn stared down at his feet, his face flushed from embarrassment. "No, sir. It's not."

"Sounds to me like you might be a little jealous of the boy," Lance continued, as he eyed the young man's chastened demeanor.

Finn's head shot up, instinctively opening his mouth to deny the accusation. Jealous? No, he wasn't jealous. He was--

But then he realized that maybe that's exactly what he was. The petite neko had been so skittish of all the horses at first. He could barely offer the dappled mare a slice of apple a month ago, and now he was riding like he'd been doing it all his life. It had taken Finn months to learn to ride that well when he was younger.

"I guess maybe I am," Finn finally admitted.

"You know, my father used to say, that jealousy and envy are the dagger of ignorance," Lance stated.

Finn looked at his boss hard, trying to decipher the metaphor. Maybe the man was right, his ignorance had fed his envy of the boy, which he, in turn, had then used to stab at the boy's confidence, just for the sake of his idiotic jealousy.

Lance dropped his heavy hand on the young lad's shoulder. "You know, maybe you could remember what the kid has been through, what it's taken for him to be able to trust Arabella like that."

Lance jerked his chin in the direction of the figure of the young neko, leaning easily into the large mare's neck as they galloped across the field. The slight form of the neko seemed so small on the large animal, but they moved together with such grace and ease, it was hard not to admit that the two were practically born to ride together.

Finn eyed the easy grace with which Kayden maneuvered the mare in a tight turn to race back toward their lord. The duke had spent hours out here with Kayden and Arabella working with the kid to learn to ride. Finn knew that Lance had worked just as hard with the feline hybrid when their lord wasn't able to be there. As he watched the lean figure skillfully guide the horse, his sleek black tail sinuously trailing behind him for balance, Finn had to admit that the boy was a natural.

Fuck. Finn dropped his head in shame. He knew that Kayden had been terrified of the horse biting him when their lord had tried to get the boy to feed her an apple, and ever since that first day the kid had basically vaulted onto Arabella overcoming his fears, he and Marcus hadn't been very welcoming to the hybrid. Everyone knew a little of the boy's background, but Finn had to admit that he probably didn't know as much as others. He knew that the duke's brother had bought the boy as a slave for the lord's birthday, and he'd heard from Nickolaus and Ellis that their master had been growing rather fond of the neko.

He winced as he remembered watching the Marquis, Roman Whitmore, whip the boy bloody. He remembered wondering just what the hell the boy had done to earn such a punishment. No one had ever been punished like that at the Duke's manor. The rumor that Kayden had attacked their lord was quickly dispelled when the duke himself carried the boy's bloody body back to his own room--the boy had actually saved their lord from poisoning. And, Finn thought, from being killed by his own brother. As much as he hadn't really liked the Marquis very much, he had been shocked to learn that the duke's own brother was responsible for the assassination attempts.

That had been months ago, and Finn had let himself forget all that in his jealousy of watching the feline hybrid take so easily to riding, something he, himself, had had to work so hard to do. It hadn't seemed fair.

But then, being whipped like that hadn't been fair either. The Marquis had seemed so angry, so hateful, that Finn had been scared to death that the man would find fault with him and do the same thing.

Watching the ebony-haired neko slide gracefully from the saddle of his horse, Finn had to concede that he had let his jealousy run away with him. Arabella nuzzled against her master's hand affectionately, and Finn could see the pride and love shining in the boy's eyes for the beautiful mare.

He watched as his lord leaned down, cupping the back of the hybrid's neck and kissed him easily. He felt his shame wash over him again as he remembered Ellis talking about how skittish the poor boy was when he'd first arrived. There had been talk that Kayden had actually been forced into slavery--that he hadn't chosen it like all the others at the manor, which just made Finn's ignorance all the worse. How could he begrudge this boy the joy of riding, just because Finn felt jealous of the boy's natural skills with Arabella?

He turned to his boss, feeling the man's disappointment wash over him. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I wasn't really thinking."

"Sometimes, boy, you need to think of others. Treat them like you want them to treat you," the stable master said. "Don't you remember how Kayden always watched you and Marcus handling Gemini, Arabella, and all the other horses, watching you both flying across the fields, playing with them so easily?"

Finn looked up in surprise. "No. Really? He did?"

Finn hadn't really paid much attention to the neko until Damien had started bringing him down to the stables regularly last month. Probably why he'd forgotten the boy's past so easily. Had the kid been watching him?

Lance chuckled. "He'd sit up in that tree," he said, pointing to a tall oak near the stables, "and watch you and Marcus, and of course Lord Whitmore when he came out with Gemini. The kid was in awe of you. I could tell just by watching his face--at least, when I could see it through the branches. There was this wishful sadness, but also a kind of admiration. He loved to watch you all handled the horses, but he was intimidated by them, by their size."

"Shit," Finn cursed, "so you're saying he like looked up to us? Admired us or something?"

A knowing smile quirked the edge of his mouth. "Yes, he did. Still does, but you boys brush him off like he's nothing, you keep laughing when he make any little mistake, and make snide remarks that, even though he can't always hear them, I have. And I don't appreciate it."

Oh, God, had he screwed up. He'd not only earned the disappointment of his boss, but he'd been practically bullying the poor neko since he'd been learning to ride, just because the boy had been better than Finn had wanted him to be. All those times that Kayden had come in from riding with a smile, a hopeful look toward Finn or Marcus, and all he'd done was ignore the boy. He'd offered no encouragement, no help or congratulations when Kayden had mastered a skill. No wonder the boy now avoided him.

The boy had been looking for his approval, his seal of acceptance, but had only gotten condemnation. Shit, he had royally screwed up.

"I'm so sorry, sir," Finn ducked his head, watching the small neko easily lead his horse through the gate that Lord Whitmore was holding open. The boy was beaming up at the duke, obviously proud of himself. And the smile and strong pats on the back that the duke offered told them that Kayden had done quite well.

"I promise, sir," Finn stated. "It won't happen again. I just don't think that I really understood what I was doing. It wasn't right, and I'm sorry."

Lance Cessel smiled down fondly at the groom, hoping maybe the young man had figured some things out. He had not been pleased with the way he'd seen his grooms ignoring the new neko and chastising every little mistake he'd made. He had thought the grooms would get better as they realized how hard Kayden was trying, but they hadn't--and he now thought maybe he should have come down harder on Finn and Marcus earlier. But he'd truly thought that they'd come around on their own. Kayden had been resilient considering all that he'd been through, and Lance didn't want some jealous stable hands to ruin Kayden's progress. He had specifically handled things himself if Damien hadn't been present, because even if Kayden admired Finn and Marcus's horsemanship, he wasn't sure how his grooms would have treated him.

Maybe now Finn had realized what he'd been doing, and maybe now he understood that Kayden hadn't been trying to outshow them, he'd only been trying to make the stable hands proud of him. To know that he could take care of one of the beautiful horses. That he loved the mare.

Lance looked up and smiled at his lord striding over towards them. The duke was smiling broadly, obviously proud of Kayden's riding skills now.

"I think maybe he's ready to go out on some short rides with me. Maybe even ride over to the southern plantation next week," Damien announced, his hand spread protectively on the boy's back, love glimmering in the depths of his blue eyes as he stared down at the neko.

Kayden, for his part, soaked in the obvious pride and love emanating from his master. His small hand was wrapped in Arabella's reins, the other stroking her gently.

"I'd think so," Lance smiled, pulling Kayden's attention away from his master.

Finn grimaced when he saw the boy's happy smile fade a little as the neko spotted him next to the stable master. Kayden's eyes instinctively duck away, obviously not wanting a confrontation with the groom or to have some fault picked on at the moment.

Finn knew he had to fix this. "Come on, Master Kayden. I'll help you brush her down," he offered with a smile.

Kayden responded by tightening his hold on the reigns. "It's okay. I can do it. Thank you."

Finn shrugged, "A little help won't hurt, will it?"

The feline hybrid cocked his head curiously, apparently unsure of what to make of the offer. "You told me before that to learn I needed to do it yourself."

Finn's breath caught in his throat as he remembered making that statement a few weeks ago. Lance had been teaching him how to brush down and take care of Arabella after a ride, but he hadn't been around that day to help, and Kayden had reluctantly turned to Finn for help. But Finn had essentially thrown the boy off the cliff, expecting him to land on his feet, by telling him he would only learn if he did it himself.

Of course, Finn had watched--to make sure it got done right as he didn't want Bella to suffer if the boy screwed it up. But he had, stupidly, relished the nervousness in which the boy went about handling it by himself. He had even been able to see the boy's hands shaking when he brushed her down. Fortunately, Arabella was very patient. Finn had called out a few tips (rather harsher than necessary, he now realized), but otherwise he had been secretly surprised that the boy had actually done rather well--of course, he hadn't told Kayden that. It was probably one of the first moments, he'd started feeling jealous of how easily the kid picked up things.

"I know," Finn grinned, "And you've learned very well. I'm proud of how well you have picked up on handling and grooming Arabella." He wasn't surprised to see the look of shock and wonder on the boy's face at his statement.

"But--" Kayden stammered, confused by the change in attitude of the stable hand.

"I'd love to help you brush her down," Finn offered again. "You can tell me how it felt making that near hair-pin turn back there. It was pretty awesome."

"Really?" Kayden's voice nearly squeaked, a small smile lighting his face, black ears pricking forward, as he hoped the man was being sincere, and not setting him up for some snide comment.

"Yeah, really." Finn smiled, as he felt Lance pat him on the back, obviously a little proud of his change in attitude.

"O-okay," Kayden stated, glancing back up at Damien. His master graced him with a quick kiss on the forehead before he turned to head back into the manor to get some work done.

"Come on, then," Finn said, leading the way into the barn.

He looked back at the smaller teen, again feeling stupid for having been such a jerk toward the boy lately.

"Have you ever ridden bareback?" Finn asked, knowing the answer.

"Like with no saddle?" he asked, and Finn nodded. "No," Kayden said, starting to feel more at ease, sensing that maybe the groom wasn't going to chastise him today.

Finn felt Kayden hesitate behind him, and he turned to see the boy biting his bottom lip, obviously unsure if he should say what he was thinking.

"You don't want to learn?" Finn asked. "It's okay if you don't, but if you do, I can teach you. When I first learned to ride, I learned bareback. It's a different feel, but you are so good, you'd pick it up pretty quickly."

"Me?" Kayden whispered. "I'm not that good. I just--"

"Master Kayden," Finn bowed his head, "you are so much better than you think. And I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren't. I might have been ... well, a bit jealous--"

Kayden's head shot up. "Of me? But you are so good. I used to watch--" he stopped quickly, biting his lip, worried the man might be upset that Kayden had been sneaking around watching him with the horses.

Finn smiled, slowly stepping closer to the boy. "It's no problem. I'm flattered you watched Marcus and me. So now maybe you won't mind if we watch you. Maybe pick up some pointers or something."

Kayden scoffed. "Not from me you won't."

"Oh, don't be too sure about that," Finn smiled as the two led the mare into her stall and started removing the saddle. Finn pierced Kayden with a smile, his heart lurching when he received one back. "I'm sure you'll be doing things soon on that horse that will have the rest of us wondering just how you did it."