Chapter Text
Leodux Winpar is a workaholic. That is the best way he can describe himself. He works for the hours, not for the rewards. All he finds himself doing in the office is signing reports, separating them into different piles, and then sending them in bulk to the King. Usually this would take a good 30 minutes of his day, but the constant civil wars has increased his workload by ten-fold. Not that he should care, it’s his job to do so, but even this is absurd. 30 minutes turns into one hour, an hour turns into two, and two hours turns into the next morning. This cycle has gone on for months. Each and every single report he signs is another second of his life lost. Not to mention the other tasks that befall his knee.
Training the newbies… going to the stables and checking on his horse… communicating with the other Captains of their respective branch… and so on and forth. Sometimes Leo finds himself regretting taking this path of life, but he knows this solves nothing.
One autumn day, while Leo was slaving away with his third batch of reports for the week, the King stormed into his office with nothing more than a triumphant fanfare. Leo merely looked up from the papers, got up and saluted, then waved the King to his sofas.
The King sat down with a practiced smile, crossing his legs over each other.
“Your Majesty,” Leo finally said while setting down some cups and lighting up the teapot near his library. “Would you fancy some tea? I fear I don’t have as much as I need to…”
The King raised a hand, as if to stop the captain in his motions. “Do sit, Sir Leo.”
“Yes sir,” Leo dropped the cups and rushed to his side of the sofa. He sat down with his own practiced smile and demeanor. Honestly, between the two, they are much closer than they seem. Although the King stands in a much higher position than Leo could ever achieve, their relationship stands as a father-son like bond. Even while Leo slaves away, the King takes extra care in making sure his Captain gets an exceptional amount of rest and gets a large chunk of his work done. He even goes as far as to make sure his hardworking Captain eats while on duty— he’s aware as to how he works and how he functions. The only thing Leo brings in return, is protection for the Royal Family. The King holds his Captain in high regard, as does Leo.
But on that note, Leo and Aether hasn’t been at the ranch together for months. It’s been stressful on the duo ever since. Leo can’t recall the last time he took a proper shower. The King eyed his Captain before breaking his fake smile into a softer one.
“I come to you with an order. I realize how hard you have been working for these past few months, but also how little you have cared for yourself during this time.”
Leo only eyed the table as the King spoke.
“I fear I cannot keep having my own order of knights to be watching over you while you work. I’m sure you’ve noticed them, no?”
“I have, your majesty.”
“Good,” The King sighed. He bridged his fingers and rested his chin on it. “Then you must know what my order will be. Am I wrong?”
“Not in the slightest, your majesty,” Leo deadpanned. He trailed his eyes upward to see the concerned expression on the King’s face. That was enough to dig a hole in Leo’s heart.
“Then I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear that you have a week off. From today to the next day the sun rises on this same day, you’ll be off,” the King sighed, then smiled. Leo loved how the King’s ginger mustache parted a tad when he smiled, and how his beard climbed up his face. The Captain found himself proud that he swore his life to this man. Leo nodded, then got up and saluted.
“Thank you, your majesty.”
“You have been blessed. Go on and do something with your time. I will have my own knights deal with the rest of your reports,” he nodded into his lap. “Also, do give Thomas and Juna my love.”
Leo gave a crooked smile. “As you wish.”
.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆
Leo, as embarrassed as he was to admit, was unaware of what to do with himself for a week. All he’s done was work… so all he knows is… work.
At first, he decided to take it easy and talk to Uncle Thomas and Juna, his stablehand, but a few mere minutes of casual conversation was enough to make him tired. Even as he sat around the table the three set up outside of his house, he couldn’t help but to doze off for a bit. Leo heard the chuckles of Uncle Thomas, and the lecture by Juna was enough to tell that Aether was nudging his back, trying to pull him off the table and into the Ranch house. Leo could respect that, the bastard Aether was. If he was human, he’d certainly be his overbearing butler.
A few painstakingly long minutes later and the Captain was tucked into bed while the sun was still remotely high. A frown, but sleep comforted the boy nonetheless.
On the first day, he rested. On the second, he got up to eat a light breakfast (apple) and went back to bed. On the third, he didn’t even wake up until the sun shined on the fourth. The constant exhaustion that followed Leo around like a weight was gone in merely four days.
The Captain woke when the sun peeked through his windows and gently tickled his face. At first, he was confused; noting the fact that he literally slept in for four days straight— his mind started to play a fun game of catch up before it clicked that he was in bed. Leo pulled out the ribbon tying his braid together and unbraided the bird’s nest that was his hair while finally kicking himself out of bed.
Leo swung his legs off the bed and trailed into the kitchen, where Aether usually greets him first thing: regardless of time. He stopped over the counter and chuckled slightly as he saw his stallion hanging his head in the window over the counter, still sleeping peacefully. At first, Leo wasn’t sure if he should snort or laugh at his four-legged friend, but even this was a blessing to wake up to. So, instead, he summoned his crystal and commanded it to take a picture. With an eyebrow raised and a smirk present as day on his features, the Captain took an apple and left it under the stallion’s chin. “I’m gonna go take a shower now, k?” Leo hummed, watching Aether’s ears flick in his direction. “Don’t go off setting alarms, alright boy?” with a final pat on Aether’s nose, the boy was off.
After a few painful minutes of pouring water through his hair and realizing there is more dirt and grime than what he thought was humanly possible, Leo moved on to the body… only to find the same issues. Sleeping for four days straight merely added to the issue and he wondered how people don’t hate him yet, or even started avoiding him because of the stench he carries. Another few minutes and he was out of the bath with a grand total of 45 minutes under his belt. A frown.
Another useless 15 minutes were spent trying to actively detangle the hair Leo thought he detangled in the bath. He didn’t. A sigh as loud as a growl resounded through the house, and Leo snapped his head to the, oh so loud, whinny that echoed throughout the house. That was enough evidence for the Captain to deduct that he accidentally woke up Aether with his frustrations. More time passed as Leo struggled with getting his hair in an acceptable state, before giving up, braiding the thing together and tying the ribbon with a huff.
Leo then drifted to his closet. Frankly, he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do with himself for today. He’s slept for far too long, so perhaps working would— no. Leo promised himself that he wouldn’t do anything that quantifies as work within his brain. So, instead, he pulled out the Performer’s suit: a red suit laced with gold accents across the inner drops of the sleeves and the outer drops of the pants in elegant curves and arcs. A white jabot accented graciously with red over the frills, along with the inclusion of a red vest plated with beautiful frets in gold. Crimson cuffs on the sleeves, a vest chain accompanying the back, and white boots laced to the top with diligence made the entire being of the suit.
And Leo loved it. He acquired the suit during his racing days, long before he abandoned it all in the name of knighthood. But for now, with the combination of a few other assets he was missing, this outfit would be defining the overarching task for today: training.
The last time the Captain was back in the ranch, he assisted Suou, another one of his white-gray stallions in the birth of Shiro: a horse he couldn’t tell if she was a mistake of nature or a blessing. Everytime he checks his crystal, Leo is reminded that this is a horse that exists, as a minimum. For one, she’s a white-gray with a mane and tail as white as snow— just like Aether. The only difficulty between the two is that she’s taller, has a curly tail, and is extremely overprotective for no reason, her only problem was being born as a Grade 7. In Alicia, horses are rated like beef cuts— the higher the grade, the higher the worth and the potential— horses are no different. Grade 7 is like a step away from perfection, hence why Shiro stands as a mistake of nature— and is still yet to be fully trained.
Leo finally made it out of the house after shoving a pair of earrings in his ears and sliding his gold laurel down his head. With two apples in hand, the knight mounted the fence and watched as his horses grazed, groomed each other, and ran around.
“Hey,” a sharp, yet gentle voice struck the captain’s senses like an arrow to its target. Leo turned around and smiled at Juna. The girl smiled back, putting a hand on her hip with some sass. “It’s only seven, why are you up?”
Leo shrugged. “Guess my body got sick of sleeping.” Then took a bite out of his apple. Juna only raised a brow, then walked over and leaned on the fence.
“What’cha planning on doing today?”
Leo furrowed a brow. “I’m… training? I think.”
“I think,” Juna echoed in mere mockery. “Training what? Muscles?”
“No,” Leo shook his head and took another bite out of his apple. His brows tensed for a bit before they relaxed. “Maybe one of the horses here that hasn’t been trained yet…”
Juna nodded. Leo met her lavender eyes. “Is Shiro green?”
The stablehand’s brows furrowed together with literal shock as if she was saying: “Are you stupid??” Leo only blinked as he awaited a response.
“Am I a rider?” Juna finally questioned back. “Do I ride horses, Leo, or are you just dumb?”
“It’s a simple question,” Leo deadpanned, taking a lengthy bite of his apple. “You’ve been around my horses longer than I have wanted to be— surely you’d know-“
“I don’t,” Juna huffed, and that was that. The two sat in silence for a bit, watching as the horses moved slowly with the flow of the wind before Aether trotted up to Leo and ruffled his mane. The Captain offered up the second apple in his hand, and the horse took it with glee.
Aether then turned sideways, a prompt enough for Leo to know that he was to sit on his back and figure out what he was going to do with one of the horses on his ranch. Leo cursed his shortness as he climbed up to the highest level on the fence and swung his leg over Aeth’s back. Once seated comfortably enough, he looked back at Juna.
“Stable clear?” she barely looked up, tapping a few painted fingers on her cheek. Leo nodded. “Alright. You want me to leave Aether with you?”
Another nod, Juna pushed herself off the fence and put her fingers in her mouth, allowing a loud, train-like whistle to scream through her lungs and into the ears of the horses. As she expected, nearly all 17 of the horses turned their heads to her, a few in confusion and a few in love. They were attentive, though, ears panned towards the girl. Juna shrugged as if it was another Tuesday and pulled up a singular halter and lead rope, slinging it over her shoulder. Juna walked towards Haze, a chestnut mare with a mane and tail flowing like a river. She is objectively the oldest out of every horse on the ranch, and the assigned herd leader. They all listened and bent towards her, and that was enough for Juna to just wrangle them all into the stables underground the ranch.
The stablehand looked back at Leo once she haltered and attached the lead rope to Haze. “Should I hold back Shiro?”
“…Yeah,” Leo muttered, tapping a finger on his forehead while Aether pawed the ground. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
“She’s all yours.”
.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆
Leo sat there for a time, staring down Shiro as she grazed peacefully, with little to no care for the world around her. He was unsure where to start, or if she’s even been tacked up before nor if she’d been ridden— the blank expression that sat on the Captain’s face slowly dulled into a frown. He needed equipment.
Luckily, Juna wasn’t one to half-ass things. Once she came back (and was unamused to find that her friend has done literal jackshit for the 40 minutes she’s been gone) she held up a halter, lead rope, and dragged a whip behind her. In the other hand, she dragged a cart with tack. Juna only raised an eyebrow. “I figured you haven’t done anything.”
“I don’t know where to start,” Leo said blankly. Juna nodded.
“I know. Why don’t you try getting on her back and seeing if she bucks you off?”
“You just want to see me fall,” Leo hissed, pointing a gloved finger at her. Despite working a literal 9-9, the Captain still retains the bare amount of youthfulness in his life, sharing it exclusively with a small circle of trusted, beloved human beings… and horses. Juna shrugged and smiled.
“I love tragedies~”
The knight shook his head and finally squeezed the stallion’s sides, leading him only with the legs to get painfully close towards Shiro. Shiro paused her grazing and panned her ears towards the pair— looking up, she tilted her head and snorted.
Aether whinnied: also while knowing that he holds little to no authority with the horses in the ranch, he did know they weren't stupid.
Shiro shook her head in response, snorting at the stallion once he came to a stop. Leo bent down towards Aether’s ears. “Why would you word it like that?”
A snort in response, Leo rolled his neck. “Fine then, lemmie use your back.”
While the Captain struggled to get on the mare’s back, Uncle Thomas finally made it down to the paddock. He adjusted his glasses and gave a curious look to Juna. She only looked back with a smirk. “Ah, if I may ask..? What in the devil is going on here?”
Juna shifted the weight on her feet for a bit, tapping her cheeks with glee as she watched her brother from another mother struggle to even mount the horse next to him. A playful grin wiped the smirk off her face as she proudly boasted: “A circus.”
Thomas only held the stare before sighing lengthly. The old man pulled off his glasses and rubbed his fingers into the divots of his eyes. “I fear I don’t get paid enough for this.”
Juna chuckled, then stared back at the two white horses surrounding Leo. The Captain was finally able to get on Shiro’s back, and with a smile, Leo threw a thumbs-up at Juna. Juna only waved back cooly. She then looked back at Thomas. “Now, the show begins.”
And indeed it did. At first, Leo began with a little bit of leg leading (granted he didn’t have any tack on the mare, so she had to listen on bodily cues alone) to see where she stood with listening, but frankly, she kind of just did whatever suited her. The boy on her back only added as a little extra weight as she continued grazing. She didn’t mind, nor did she care. Leo pouted in response, now clicking his tongue loud enough not to be ignored, but tonally soft enough so that he wasn’t coming off as rude or aggressive. Shiro panned an ear back, then turned in the circle Leo commanded her to.
The pair held on this for awhile, until Shiro found the jumps outside the paddock a bit entertaining. A nicker acted as Leo’s only warning before Shiro went into a bolt. It was a spurt of energy at first, then it led into the wooden jumps piled around the arena. Leo barely had time to get a hold of his surroundings before he plummeted face first into the mare’s mane. Shiro only whinnied, bucked, and threw the boy off before pushing into a gallop around the ranch. Leo pushed himself off the dirt and brushed off the grass that landed within the divots of his pants. A sigh and he shoved a hand into his pockets. “Long day.”