For a few long, fragile seconds, she remained where she had fallen. Her breaths shallow and lashes still against her cheeks, and her body slack in his arms. Then, slowly, a breath drew deeper into her lungs, catching midway as pain lanced sharply through her side. Her fingers twitched against the earth as a soft, strained inhale followed. Elsa’s brows knit together as awareness crept back in pieces and she felt the cold dampness of the ground beneath her and then the distant, anxious whinny of Havski circling nearby, and finally the ache everywhere.
“…mm…”
The sound barely left her lips, but it was enough to signal consciousness returning. Her hand shifted weakly, brushing against the grand as ishe tried [unsuccessfully] to push herself up. The effort sent another sharp jolt through her ribs, and she gasped, her blue eyes fluttering open.
At first, the world was a blur of light and shadow, the sky too bright and shapes indistinct. Then her vision steadied just enough to make out the unfamiliar figure beside her. For a brief instant, instinct to pull away surged, but it faltered just as quickly when she realized his hand was at her wrist carefully checking where it looked like she’d broken it, and her breathing steadied, though it remained shallow from the surging pain in her ribs. and she let her head fall slightly to the side rather than fight to rise again.
“I suppose that wasn’t the graceful dismount I intended.” Her gaze lifted more fully to him and there was a flicker of embarrassment before it softened into something more composed, more regal, even sprawled in the dirt. “My horse—” Her voice caught briefly as she glanced past him, relief relaxing her face when she spotted Havski pacing. “She didn’t mean to throw me—she was only… excited.” She took another shallow breath as she shifted slightly, testing her body, and immediately stilled again with a quiet, involuntary hiss. “…I may need a moment,” she admitted, her eyes returned to his. “I don’t usually greet people like this. Today is a special occasion.”
Artur let out a breath when the young woman in front of him took in a pained breath before opening her eyes, and then tried to stop her from moving, but the problem was that he was still very slowly learning the language she was speaking, "No." He managed as he gently kept her from moving too much. The former Roman soldier could understand more than he could speak, so he looked over at Havski and smiled softly. "She…" He stopped a moment as he tried to remember how to put a sentence together in that language. "Okay."
The man's gray/green eyes were full of embarrassment, and he hoped Elsa would understand he wasn't stupid or being rude. She was lovely, and the sound of her voice was quite calming. "Do you speak Latin?" He asked before looking at Alexander and Koyla for a moment, and ordering them in Sarmatian to go back to the castle and get his brother. "I'm Artur." He said as the two stallions took off.











