One of the primary reasons that only the "sapient," as in human and verdora, head count was taken was because of the large numbers of quasi-sapients that the vanguard dragged along in its wake. Not just squirrels, Bath thought, but also quasies like the horses being led over now.

Bath joined the surrounding verdora in looking perplexed by the approaching horse quasi-sapients. Luckily, Illudis has a species of wild, lightly-scaled grazer that bears a marked resemblance to the horses of Earth. Although the unnamed Illudian equine look-alike reminded Bath more of an okapi or long-necked zebra, he thought that the verdorans ought not to be as shocked as they seemed at the arrival of the horses.

"What are these things?" Erzey muttered, recoiling back from an Arabian horse quasi walking her way. "They smell terrible."

The horse quasi, whatever her name was, snorted, then kicked up the sand into Erzey's face. The verdora spat, blinking her eyes furiously.

Bath smirked. "You two," he said, clearly addressing the cousins, "don't mock the horsies."

Get it? Bath thought to himself, enjoying his own private joke. Horse quasies? Horsies?

The horse snorted indignantly again, clearly aware of Bath's sad attempt of humor at its expense.

"Horsies?" Juselin asked, eying the horse as though it had fangs and claws. "That's what they're called?"

"Er, horses," Bath corrected, coughing lightly. "I misspoke."

"Why are they here?" Erzey snapped as she brushed her arms against her robe in an attempt to shake off the tiny particles of crimson. "Are they supposed to carry our tents?"

Tents? Bath wondered. They brought tents? "No," he replied, smile saturated with grim humor, "we're going to ride them."

Juselin flinched. "Um, okay" he said simply. "They're tall."

Bath snorted. "Get up on two legs; you're taller than the humans, with an extra pair of hands to hold on to the saddle. If they can do it, you can, too"

"What saddle?" Erzey inquired, eyes glinting with confusion.

Bath sighed. They forgot to make saddles, didn't they? Bath didn't know who "they" was, but clearly they weren't doing their job. He was slightly annoyed Lepochim wasn't around; even if the deepthink was annoying, he still got things done. How were these complete amateur verdora supposed to ride bareback?

"That saddle," Bath replied smartly, pointing. The entire contingent of verdora gasped; one might have even fainted, though he regained consciousness too quickly for Bath to verify if he properly blacked out. "Looks like the Church and Dragon really are watching out for us."

"These leather saddles just appeared out of nowhere," Juselin and Erzey breathed, their voices oddly in sync just an octave apart. Bath had a feeling that they had experience singing together.

Bath's eyes flashed. "Is that surprising?"

Erzey's eyes flickered to his own. "No, I suppose not." Without wasting further breath, she approached the nearby mare and stood up tall, vaulting herself onto the horse's back.

Well, that was fast, Bath remarked, mildly impressed at Erzey's initiative.

"Everyone's looking at us," Juselin murmured, voice barely audible; Bath wasn't sure if Juselin intended for him to hear or not.

"They're looking at Erzey," Bath replied knowingly. "She's the first one on a horse; can't miss her in this densely-packed crowd."

"No, they're looking at us," Juselin insisted. He blinked once, his eye crests rising up. "Actually, they're looking at you," he whispered.

Bath groaned. What now? "Is there a problem, fellow Illudians?" They really were all looking at him.

One verdora dressed in robes of deep violet walked forward, distinguishing herself from the rest of the flock. "Thaddeus house Clanemic," she began, "from where do you draw your vast reservoir of information?"

"I had the privilege of meeting a group of humans before embarking on this expedition," Bath explained. "I hail from the region just outside of Whitesun, formerly known as Illusta, where most of the humans have congregated. They offered up a few relevant bits of information, such as details about the many quasi-sapient species of COTD; these horse quasies are one such species."

The violet-robed verdora tsked. "If only we could all be so fortunate," she purred, her gaze predatory. "I suppose we should all be grateful for your human friends."

Bath manifested a mouth behind Lisa's ear. "Hey, things are getting testy with the verdora right now," he whispered. "Might wanna calm them down."

Lisa flicked the back of her ear, her index finger striking Bath's disembodied lips. Her mouth twitched up into a smile when Bath yelped softly in response. "I'm well aware," she murmured. "Seems like this is somehow all your doing."

"What? Preposterous," Bath replied, invoking an innocent tone. "I've done nothing wrong!"

"You're such a moron," Lisa replied, chuckling under her breath.

Bath sighed in relief: despite Lisa's dismissive words, the group of verdora was showing signs of calming down, the tense atmosphere all but completely diffused. The violet-robed verdora shook her head, then walked away, leaving Bath and Juselin alone on the ground next to the mounted Erzey.

"Let's saddle up," Bath muttered, gesturing for Juselin to get on the black-footed Arabian stallion to his right. "We don't need anymore trouble."

At the same time, Lisa shook her head and asked, "What happened over there?"

"Well," Bath said slowly. "None of the verdora were briefed about riding quasi horses."

Lisa nodded. "And?"

"I was telling these two verdora cousins--wait, they have the same father, so that can't be right..."

"Telling them about the horses?" Lisa said, finishing the sentence.

"Exactly. As I did so, the rest of the verdora looked at me like cats eying a mouse."

"Bath..."

"How was I supposed to know everyone else would listen in on our conversation? Technically they had been listening in before--"

"Ugh, Bath..."

"--but I didn't think that was for anything other than the fact that they had never heard of my verdoran identity before."

"Stop!" Lisa commanded, her voice soft, yet filled with intention. "Remember why you're acting like a verdora in the first place: try to assimilate into the group."

Bath sighed into Lisa's ear. "Point taken."

"Now shoo and follow the rest of us toward the gate," she replied, grinning.

Bath slipped smoothly up onto his own Thoroughbred stallion, gliding his primary right hand over the horse's neck. He sent a dragonleaf tendril toward the horse's skin, opening a communication channel with it.

Hello, horse, he said, smiling. Your name?

Kendrick, the horse replied, seemingly startled to find that a verdora was communicating with it via dragonleaf tether.

How did you end up on this expedition? Bath asked, genuinely curious how one of his quasies ended up so far from home. He knew very little about regarding the selection of sapients, kursi, and quasies for the vanguard, and figured it must be a somewhat interesting tale.

Kendrick whinnied softly, shaking out his mane. There are two reasons why I'm here, he transmitted. One, I'm fast. Two, I like to kick things.

Bath nodded. Tell me truthfully, how do you like your own respective abilities? Do you wish you could acquire the full range of sapient boons?

If Kendrick was suspicious of Thaddeus' curiosity, he didn't let it show. I told you, Kendrick replied, I'm here because I'm fast and I like to kick. Hard. That's all I really need in life.

Bath nodded to himself. Horse-speak for he's satisfied with the horse-boons I've created. Good.

"How did you get on this thing?" Juselin grunted in frustration, his limbs splayed awkwardly against the side of his stallion. "Erzey, Thaddeus: a little help would be appreciated."

Erzey flicked her reins awkwardly, still trying to get her bearings. "Just stand up tall and push off the ground: you have your close-combat strength boons--use them."

Juselin looked down at the sand, frowned, and leapt up two feet into the air, nearly tumbling onto the back of his horse and falling off the stallion's flank onto the sand. However, he managed to stabilize himself and grip onto the saddle. He harrumphed once, then gripped the reins tightly, knuckles white, as though he'd never seen a bridle in his life.

Oh, this could be a problem... Bath looked down at the reins resting slack in his gloved fingers.

"Neither of you has land-shaper boons, correct?"

"We don't," Erzey and Juselin replied flatly, their voices conveying their exasperation.

"Why?" Erzey asked, flicking her reins down and causing her mare to back up.

"You can use the land-shaper boons to communicate with the horse quasies," Bath replied. "It's extremely convenient; if you had them, your horse would be able to explain everything."

Once again, verdora in the nearby area glanced Bath's way, shock and curiosity in their eyes. Can these verdora mind their own business? he thought, grumbling internally.

"Do you have land-shaper boons?" Juselin asked as he adjusted his seat and stiffly emulated Bath's hold on his reins.

"I do," Bath said. "I've been communicating with my horse; his name is Kendrick."

Erzey squealed, producing the most un-verdoran sound Bath had ever heard a verdora make. "They have names?"

"You're drawing attention to us," Bath reprimanded, pinning their trio's conspicuousness on Erzey's outburst. "But yes, they all have names, at least Kendrick says so."

I didn't say anything, Kendrick snorted.

Erzey gasped lightly. "The horse speaks to you? How are these creatures only called "quasi" sapients? They seem to have all the mental faculties of a typical sapient species."

One of those types, Kendrick huffed, swiping his right forehoof on the ground.

Explain, Bath demanded, his interest aroused by the horse's apparent ire.

She's just like one of the PETA people who tried to set myself and two-thousand other horses loose from our city-seed skyscraper. Set the damn place on fire.

How is she like a PETA activist? Bath asked confused.

How do you know that PETA is a group of activists? Kendrick replied, pawing at the ground with his left forehoof.

Bath waved the left rein dismissively. Unimportant; continue on.

Kendrick whinnied and rolled his eyes in a distinctly human gesture. Those humans thought they were doing the best thing for me, granting myself and the other horses COTD's sacred "self-determination." However, in trying to rescue us, they failed to recognize that we were in that city-seed by choice, fulfilling the will of our Creator, the Dragon.

Huh, Bath transmitted in response. Interesting. You don't consider yourself a sapient?

I am what I am, Kendrick replied. Whatever the Creator made me to be.

Bath found this response mildly disturbing, resolving to discuss quasi-sapients with Lisa at the next convenient time.

"How do you know how to ride these horses?" Erzey grumbled as she maintained a death-grip on the saddle with her second pair of limbs. "You've definitely been in a saddle before: I refuse to believe otherwise."

"We had something similar in the Wilderness: hide harnesses fashioned for sport riding."

"Sport riding?" Erzey glanced over at Juselin. "When this is all over, I insist you bring us to your place of residence; it clearly holds much more adventure than you originally let on."

Bath chuckled boisterously. "Certainly." Well, they'll have to pass through Earth to return to Illudis...

Suddenly, female voice projected out instructions over the verdora. "Illudians, mount your horses, then proceed to the center of the formation for further instructions."

Erzey looked Bath's way. "Care to lead us, Thaddeus?"

"A pleasure." Bath didn't even need to tell Kendrick to move: While the quasi-sapient's mouth and lips were unsuited for human speech, he had the capacity to understand English. Kendrick autonomously followed the instructions of the woman, leading the other, equally obeisant horses toward the center of the vanguard.

"Huh," Erzey muttered. "This wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be."

Bath suppressed a snort. Your horse is moving on its own.

"Now that you've all arrived at the center of this vanguard expedition," the woman's voice boomed, "I will give you your instructions. My name is Athanacia Samaras, though you can address me as Cia. I am the handler of these horse quasi-sapients; if you have a problem with your horse, report to me."

Cia rubbed the neck of her own horse, a gray, spotted Appaloosa, while she spoke. She wore the attire of a jockey, looking oddly conspicuous compared to the other humans in the vanguard wearing their White- or Black-aligned faction tabards over street clothes and dragonleaf armor. She positioned herself in front of Bath and the Delelens located at the head of the verdoran ensemble.

"Today may be your first day in a saddle," she said soberly, inclining her head. "Scratch that; you're all stiff as boards: today is your first day in a saddle." She gave Bath, both the closest verdora to herself and the only verdora visibly comfortable on a horse, a puzzled look before continuing on. "First, I'm going to lay down some ground rules."

Bath let his attention wander to other areas of the mobilizing expedition while Cia Samaras went through an incredibly obvious list of rules, such as "Feet go in stirrups" and "Don't pull the reins all the way back and choke your horse." Despite the self-explanatory nature of Cia's "ground rules," the ignorant verdora lapped her information up like it was liquid gold.

"...So, in summary: let your horse do its job, hold on, and be respectful. Your horse is extremely intelligent, and will follow my lead horse without issue as long as you abide by all the ground rules and remain in the saddle."

Cia cocked her head, as though listening to something. "Ah, that's the signal," she announced, snapping her reins dramatically and directing her horse to rear up. "We're moving out!"

A moment after Cia addressed them about the mobilization of the vanguard, her horse turned around and dashed forward. The rest of the horses followed, leaving their hopelessly-unprepared verdoran riders reeling in their seats at the sharp and unexpected acceleration. Many verdora let out cries of pain as the reins cut into their hands and the saddle bounced jarringly beneath their legs.

Bath's teeth chattered within his mouth, his veil flapping over his snout. Kendrick, he said, trying to get his horse's attention. Please try to keep the bouncing to a minimum.

I'll do my best, Kendrick replied, transmitting the image of a smiley face dubiously rolling its eyes.

Bath had never actually ridden a quasi-sapient horse; this being the case, he never realized how unpleasant the experience was: The saddle, which cut into the verdoran equivalent of a pelvis with each long lope of Kendrick's legs, was utterly insufferable.

As they rode, Bath worked on improving the shape of the saddle to reduce the shock of Kendrick's footfalls. He applied the improvements to all the saddles as the contingent rode, attempting to make the trip to the gate bearable. His actions bore fruit when, half an hour into the ride, the until-then silent verdora began chattering once more.

"We're going as fast as hovertracks," Erzey said, her voice almost impossible to hear properly over the wind of their passage. "Insane!" she exclaimed, grinning wildly, her toothy maws visible beneath her upturned veil.

Bath heard such exclamations all throughout the mounted verdora. I never thought they'd take so well to riding, he thought. These noble verdora struck me as the type to sit at home, sipping tea and discussing politics. And yet, here they were, their bodies pressed streamlined against the necks of their horses, laughing into the wind.