"Charlotte!" She exclaimed and ran past Taffi immediately. She recognized her favorite horse anywhere and ran to it with an expression of delight.
"You brought her?" She turned and asked Taffi after stroking the horse's hair and robbing its face as though she hadn't seen her in a year.
With a straight face, Taffi said,
"Let's begin your training shall we?"
Sania was quite excited that she hoped on the horse immediately, and with a smile she said,
"I'll race you if that's what you want."
Taffi sighed heavily, it wasn't quite what he had in mind, but he played along. He hadn't seen that genuine smile on her face since they got to the castle so the last thing he wanted to do was to make them fade away.
"Do you even know your way around the Kingdom, of course that's if I agree to race you," he inquired with a raised brow and Sania sighed in frustration.
"Is he going to get a horse and take the lead or stand there looking majestic?" She thought to herself before replying.
"You can lead the way, my Lord, if you want to."
"I told you to call me Taffi," he sighed,
"Why can't she just do the simple things that I love?" He thought and walked towards her.
"I'll select a horse from the stable to race with you," he said,
"I'll be back."
He walked away in another direction that Sania assumed would lead him to the stable. And once he was gone, she gently massaged Charlotte's hair and said to it,
"I didn't expect to ever see you again for a very long time, I took your bow to remember you by, and that reminds me," she quickly jumped down from the horse.
"Let me get your bow, I'll be right back," she ran off and got back into the castle. She was determined to make it to her room and hoped that she wouldn't meet anyone along the way because the last thing she wanted was for an angry Tehila or mother-in-law to ruin her perfect morning.
While pacing through the hallway, she heard sounds coming from one of the diversions in the hallway. Usually, Sania would have ignored and focused on what she came for, but as she drew near the bend, it became audible.
It wasn't just any sound, but whispers from two maids conversing in the hallway so she slowed down a bit.
"Classic maid gossip," she chuckled but when she heard her name in the middle of their conversation, Sania paused.
She listened closely to understand what their conversation was about, and it looked like the universe wanted her to eavesdrop on them purposefully.
She overheard one of the maids tell the other that Tehila wasn't so worried that Sania was in the house.
"She said that Sania doesn't even like him, she barely talked to him, and in no time Sania would find a way to leave, thus she's not even a real competition," said the maid, and from their discussion, Sania deduced that she was a handmaid to Tehila.
"Mistress Sania is such a nice person, for all we know she may become harsh in no time, but for now she's about the nicest person I've met so far, if she doesn't like Taffi then I don't blame her because no one will love to be married into a family where the family members are against her." The others added. Their conversation got so interesting that Sania couldn't resist the urge to continue to listen.
"Mistress Tehila has sworn to make Mistress Sania leave, she claims that it'll be easy since Sania hated him, so all she has to do is befriend Sania and fool her into secretly giving up the marriage."
Sania's eyes widened in shock, if there was one thing she knew about gossip amongst maids, it was that they weren't just mere rumors, but the truth, and that she learned from Agatha.
"I hope mistress Sania doesn't leave, King Taffi truly loves her, so much that he fought to get her."
For some reason, Sania couldn't contain the information, she didn't want to hear anymore and walked away from there out of the castle. She walked fast but made sure that her footsteps were faint enough to not be heard by the maids.
She went to the back of the castle where Charlotte was, and gently rubbed the horse's hair while speaking to herself,
"Can you believe it, Charlotte?"
"I know I said I don't like Taffi, but Tehila..." She paused and stared directly into the horse's eyes as though it was listening to her.
"Does she think that I'm that easy to push over by the side? You are no match for my stature and might, young one," she mimicked Tehila's warning from two days ago and shook her head disdainfully.
"I don't like her, Taffi is bearable but Tehila... Tehila is ... What if she is truly a North witch? I don't know about witches but what if she is one of them, and has probably bewitched Taffi's mother into supporting her?" Sania wondered.
"Although that won't make sense, since Taffi's mother already liked her from birth... Argh Charlotte this makes my head hurt. I'm sorry I couldn't bring your bow, I'll give it to you some other time," she added. Looking away from the horse, Sania saw Taffi on a black horse staring at her.
"You talk to your horse?" He asked her with a quizzical expression.
"You barely even talk to me." He added.
"Charlotte is a good listener," Sania retorted and hopped back on her horse.
"You may take the lead, Taffi, I'll follow you."
Taffi smiled, for the first time, she called his name without being asked to, and it sounded so different in his ears, her lovely voice and pronunciation made Taffi wish to hear them again.
Without further ado, he took the lead while Sania followed him from behind, she knew he was happy and intended to do it more often. Within seconds, Sania had changed her original plans, all she wanted to do was to prove Tehila wrong, no matter what it would cost her.