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WIND MEETS THE ROM : Part 18 of 27 :

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WIND MEETS THE ROM

Part 18 of 27

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

Cover art by @wind-the-mama-cat

54212 words

Writing begun 06/01/18

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story? Read from Part 1, here!

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As he got his portions and came down to the tea, Wind smiled at him. To her surprise, he smiled back. “I have heard good things of you, Lady Wind Whisper. Thank you for the tea.”

Over their quiet dinner, Hanar told Wind, “We will be up later than usual with the evening dancing. Tia and Midnight must leave for Canterlot and the service of the rest of the kingdom tomorrow.”

Just after dinner, Tia, Midnight and Marchhare retired to Marchhare's caravan to work through the Kingdom's business that really would not wait for the next day. It was not long before they emerged from the caravan, all the cases sealed and ready for delivery back to Canterlot.

Whitly took the cases and spread his wings, flying back to Canterlot. Midnight took her place in the center of the dancing green, the Skydancers gathered just behind her.

Wind saw Rom gathering at the usual place for musicians and realized with a jolt what she had been hearing during the fair but not all playing in one place. Five different kinds of Rom Lyre, three different flutes, and four different types of the Rom's simple seeming but complex to play drum sets.

They swung into an ethereal and rich version of Wind's Wings. Luna had no coaching for this dance. Her elegant hoof and wing work flowed seamlessly with the brilliant flourishes of her sash work. The Sky Dancers, staying on the ground behind her followed her lead in an amazing display. Wind began to truly appreciate how important her contribution of sways and slides were to the Rom. The Sky Dancers, following Midnight's lead, were even incorporating them into their wing work as she made the sways and slides with her whole body, including her wonderfully big and active wings.

She noticed that even Tia, while playing her beautiful big Moro Lyre, was moving her head and horn in gentle sways.

The whole dance session lasted for nearly the entire night. Wind, watching carefully, caught a few cracks in Marchhare's facade of not being able to dance any but couples dances. Getting carried away by the music, several times, he did very well for a bit before catching himself and suddenly becoming four left hooves again. She chuckled to herself when she saw it.

Hanar saw Wind notice and winked at her.

Finally, they all broke for a nap before full dawn overtook them.

Breakfast was the usual madhouse of horses vying for their favorite treats. All of Midnight's Munchies leftovers were on the board along with the usual fare! Wind was serving the Rom black tea and Hanar was in the serving line with her, as usual.

A pegasus landed outside of the camp and requested, “Permission to enter the camp, Your Grace, Marchhare?”

Marchhare looked up in surprise. “Baron Whitly! Of course, come in and join us for breakfast! What has brought you back from Canterlot?”

He joined the line while replying, “I did know that Their Highnesses will be returning to Canterlot today. Inquiry among the others in the messaging pool told me that they will not leave until the Rom have been packed up and the Rom are ready to leave.”

He sighed, “To make up some for my gaffe yesterday eve, I have returned to see if I may be of some assistance in your chores.

“I admit that, as a baron, I always let my towns manage their fairs and your comings and goings. It was only yesterday that I realized that there is far more to a fair than simply entertainment and trade. I wish to amend that by being such help as I may.”

A smiling Tia reached under the table to a hidden tray and gave him a nice twist with a tan colored topping.

Midnight stared at it in near shock! “Tia! You gave him one of your private stash of butterscotch goodies!”

Tia nodded gently. “When we have a baron this good, some sacrifices must be made.”

Wind listened with amusement and whispered to Hanar, “I heard that getting between Tia and her butterscotch topped goodies was listed as suicide by trampling!”

A giggling Hanar snorted, “Pretty close! Whitly has certainly made a good impression on Tia and Midnight.”

The meal done, the Rom set about tearing down their booths and stowing away the parts. To everyone's surprise, Whitly carefully followed directions and was actually a considerable help in getting everything properly cleaned and stored.

When all was done, Tia and Midnight went into Marchhare's caravan. Princesses Celestia and Luna emerged. They bade Baron Whitly to fly in formation with them on their return to Canterlot.

Wind took her place in the hitch beside Hanar and Pulled as the cadence was called. The serene trance of Road Songs, Pulling and the simple enjoyment of being beside Hanar overtook her. She was actually surprised when the whole caravan pulled into a Wayside to stop for lunch.

She found the others examining the Wayside wood ricks where the free firewood was supposed to be. She saw several stout ribbon like ties hanging from a holder made for them but there was no fire wood in the frame made to hold it. There were recent tracks of a loaded wagon and two ponies leading from rick out to the road.

Wind shook her head and asked Hanar, “Do ponies steal the firewood very often? It does not look like the wayside ran out, not with those tracks.”

Hanar giggled, “The old 'you need firewood, we got some cheap' ploy. I haven't seen that for several years.”

Wind pointed to the ties hanging from the side of the wood rick. “What are those?”

Rose was sort of chuckling as she answered, “Those are called benefice ties. When the wood cutters leave the wood, it is bundled in those ties. The Royal Road Police count them and seal them. That is how the wood cutters get paid. Whoever took this wood took it ties and all.”

Wind looked around and wanted to know, “Why isn't anyhorse upset by this? How will we cook our lunch?”

It was Hoof Dancer who snorted, “For one thing, the thieves will be along directly to sell us some firewood that they “just happen to have to spare,” and for the other, my dear dead donkey of a husband has already gone to fetch the RRP from both the Haymarket North and Haymarket South Road section stations.”

Wind looked around and, as she was watching, she saw old Marchhare sort of fade into view. One moment he was not there, the next he was standing quietly beside Hoof Dancer. And grinning.

Wind now understood enough to know that the grin was not a good sign for somepony.

True to the prediction, to the creak and grumble of poorly made wheels, a dray wagon loaded with bundled firewood pulled into the wayside. As the drovers, an off yellow pony and an orange one, sort of sneered, “See you gots you a problem. This here wayside done run outen wood. Tell you what. Give us a big ol lunch and 20 gold bits and we can spare you the wood to cook it up. No coin and no lunch, you gets no wood. Got that?”

Black Lotus pointed up with her horn, just before her magic grabbed both of the miscreants and lifted them off the ground. The pegasus, in the blue uniform of the Royal Road Police, saw that the situation on the ground was under control and spiraled in to a landing.

The drum of galloping ponies could be heard coming from the road. Two RRP ponies entered the south entrance and two more came in from the north. Seeing that the ponies that they were after were going nowhere, they slowed and homed in on the wagon.

They had out their note pads and were already sorting out the load of stolen firewood. One of the five came over to Black Lotus and respectfully asked her to continue holding the crooked ponies but let them down to where the RRP could properly manacle them. She did and they did. After that, she let go of them entirely.

One, with Sargent's stripes, politely asked Marchhare, “Your Grace, we have done assessing the stolen wood and verifying by the tie seals that it came from here. Would your band do us the favor of restacking it into the rick?”

For an answer, they all went to the wagon and even the small foals lifted out a bundle or two and took them to the rick and neatly stacked them. Wind, seeing what they were doing, joined them, sinking her claws into a bundle and carrying it to the growing stack in the rick.

Once the wood was all stacked properly and accounted for, Hoof Dancer used her magic to take two bundles and open the benefice ties. She neatly hung them with the others already hanging there and brought over the firewood.

Lunch was soon cooking over the coals.

Black Lotus took the liberty of speaking to the RRP officers quietly before they removed the prisoners and their wagon. Doing a quiet little happy dance, she told the rest of the band, “I have invited the RRP who just helped us to come join us for lunch as soon as they have finished dealing with the thieves.”

Wind wandered over to the boxed spring that supplied the wayside with water. She began to pick a string bag full of bank sorrel and cresses. Hanar was soon by her side, helping.

“Thank you, Wind. These will make a lovely fresh salad.”

Wind smiled as her hand busily gathered the small bounty. “I am trying to leave some to regrow the patch, like you have showed me. I am puzzled by something though. With as many freight wagons and ponies who use the waysides, why are there any of these plants left?”

Hanar grinned a little sideways as she replied, “Laziness. Comes of being in a hurry. That sounds like a contradiction but it is not. They come in and drop their hitch and get some water and rush back to their camp to boil the oats that they brought for rations. They don't look for anything fresh outside of the grazing meadow. Plus, when they see us picking any, they are too proud to 'eat that Rom stuff. Those horses will eat anything!' That attitude cuts them off from some lovely eating and saves us some excellent salads.”

Wind chuckled at the reasoning but asked, “I managed to sort out what plant makes that delicious Rom black tea. Why haven't ponies stumbled onto it?”

Hanar happily informed her, “They have. Many times. It has to be treated and dried just right. If you don't, it makes all equines sick to their tummies.”

The sheer elegance of the notion nearly stunned Wind! She chortled, “Somehorse among the Rom is a true sadist! If I had not seen how many of the ponies treat us, I would wonder if they deserved it.”

Hanar nodded agreement, adding, “There are a few who treat us well and we do return the favor. We still don't let them know our secrets. They could tell without meaning to.”

Soon they were done. Returing to camp, they busied themselves with preparing and properly dressing the salad.

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#WIND MEETS THE ROM #Part 18 of 27 #MLP Fan Fiction #Written by De Writer

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