#but he gets to Ajak with this dumb grin on his face

[softquietsteadylove]

For the Thenamesh Dressage AU:

Olympia gets spooked bei something and out of fear she runs away. Gil sees her running away and searches for her!

Thena paced the front patio of the club's main building. She had been pacing all afternoon, watching the grey clouds roll in steadily. It had been hours she had been out here.

Olympia had been in the fields when apparently she had gotten spooked by something and jumped the fence. She had run off at full speed, only witnessed by a few of the club staff present at the time.

Gilgamesh had gone after her.

Of course he had, though. Not just as a caretaker for the horses, but because he was like that. He cared about every single horse in his stable, and she had no doubt that he would have gone after any of the horses had they escaped.

Thena fidgeted with the sleeves of her turtleneck, clacking her boots on the wooden deck. A storm was coming in, and if they had thunder and lightning to worry about, it was even less likely they would find Olympia without injury or incident. She was about two seconds away from stealing Ikaris' steed Achilles and riding him out to find her.

Not that the club would let that happen. Not only would Ikaris kill her, but there were certain expectations of her as their champion rider, and one of those expectations was definitely not to go rogue and ride out into a thunderstorm and get herself killed.

How was Gil going to wrangle a spooked horse all by himself?

He was strong--obviously. But would just 'being strong' be enough to pull the stubborn mare back from a panic attack? What if she was truly scared? She was a kicker, and if Gil was in the wrong position at the wrong time...

Thena shuddered. No, certainly not; Gilgamesh was a trained and accomplished caretaker. He knew how to approach and handle a spooked horse. He was probably on his way back with Olympia right now!

She had been telling herself that for the last hour and a half straight.

"They'll be all right," she muttered, mostly to herself. Every since she had found Gilgamesh talking to her horse that day in the stables, she had taken up the habit for herself. She could see why he did it; it felt somewhat calming to voice her thoughts. "They'll be fine."

"Thena?"

She just sighed as Sersi walked up the club steps to her side. "They're not back yet."

The veterinarian nodded, offering a supportive pat on the shoulder, "I heard about the incident. I'm sure they'll be back any time now."

Thena gave her a tight lipped nod. Obviously Sersi was able to read the anxiety off of her. "I...I hate to think they're-"

"Oh!"

Thena looked up. Somehow, Sersi was right; on the far side of the ring, a bright spot of white emerged from the treeline. Olympia was clearly covered in branches and other evidence of her sprint. Gilgamesh was guiding her back with a makeshift lead looped around her neck. He looked exhausted.

Sersi blinked as Thena took off from the deck in a run.

The closer she got, the more she could see that Olympia had obviously fallen at some point, her right side positively caked with mud. Gilgamesh didn't seem much better off, also covered in sticks and pine needles and leaves. He had a few smears of dirt on him and some light looking scratches and cuts along his skin.

He smiled at her.

"Hey," he greeted with a heavy wave, "don't worry, she's not hurt. I-"

Thena threw herself forward, pressing her face in, "thank goodness."

Gilgamesh froze, not moving an inch with her arms wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. "Uh... "

Thena released him, not thinking about it in the slightest as she turned on her horse, "what were you thinking, young lady!"

Olympia ducked her head and looked away from her, a vague look of shame settling over her long features. She huffed.

"You could have gotten hurt!" Thena continued to scold her impulsive mare, taking the rope from Gil's hand and leading Olympia back to the stables. "And that's nothing to say of putting poor Gil through this!"

"Really, I-"

"You are in big trouble, you," Thena grumbled, her steam running out as they made their way back to the stables. Thena laid her head against Olympia's mane, twigs and mud be damned, "do you know how worried I was?"

Olympia blew through her lips, angling her face to somewhat nudge Thena affectionately.

"I know you are," she sighed, petting her horse for the comfort of them both. "Let's get you washed up, you filthy thing. Gilgamesh has done enough for you for one day."

"Thena, really, I-"

Thena continued right into the stables. She walked Olympia right in, ready to hose her right down. Yes, she would get covered in mud and water and horse hair and be disgusting by the end of it. But having her horse back safe and sound was well worth it. "Go on."

Olympia walked into her stall with her head hung low in shame.

"Thena, really," Gil attempted to comfort her again. "She's fine, I'm fine--and we're lucky for it!"

Thena gave him a brief once over, her eyes moving over the mud in his hair and the beginnings of rope burn on his palms. She pressed her hand to his, watching as he flinched from the sting of it. "Hm--go to Ajak and have her tend to those."

"But-"

"Go!" she barked at him. He had that soft, gentle face, though, and her usual temper shook in the face of it. She sighed, "I'll take care of Olympia. You should go take care of yourself."

He gave her a funny kind of smile, which she couldn't entirely read in the moment. "Thanks--for worrying about me, I mean."

Thena blinked as he obeyed her order to go to the club medic to have his injuries tended to. She paused; she had been worried about him, sure. She just didn't know how to feel about him knowing that she had been worried about him.

Olympia whinnied loudly at her rider.

"Sorry, sorry," Thena muttered, stepping into her stall with her to examine her before making a mess of both of them.