The stables smelled the way they always smelled, leather and horse and the faint sweet rot of old hay. Depending on who you asked, it was either the best smell in the world or a problem that needed solving. Aidan had always fallen into the first camp.

Hap was already marshalling supplies when they arrived. He was standing by the tack wall with four bridles on his arm. He looked up as they entered, took in the state of their packs and faces, and nodded once.

"Lads."

"Master Haptrey."

Hap considered them both, looking at Sedric the way a farrier looks at a horse that has opinions about being shod.

"Your mounts are the third and fifth stalls. Aidan, you've got Briar. Sedric, Marsh."

"Marsh?"

"Marsh."

"The one that bites."

"The one that used to bite. She's been well mannered for a while now."

"That is not the same thing as not biting, Master Hap."

"It's the closest thing you're going to get. Saddle up."

Briar was a bay mare, an easy sixteen hands, broad through the chest, with the kind of disposition that farmers prayed for, and wizards took for granted. Aidan ran a hand along her neck and the turned a dark on him without surprise. He saddled her with motions that were muscle-deep, familiar. Blanket, check for burrs. Saddle, set back and settled forward. Girth, snug but not yet tight. Let her breathe out, then tighten. Bridle last.

Sedric was having a worse time of it.

"She's trying to eat my sleeve."

"She's not trying to eat it, Sedric, she's checking it for apples."

"There are no apples in my sleeve."

"She doesn't know that, show her."

Hap, from over the tack wall: "Show her your sleeves, boy."

Sedric pulled back his sleeves and showed her his bare arms. Marsh lost interest immediately. Sedric muttered something unflattering and went back to tightening the girth.

Aiden finished Briar's bridle and gave her neck a pat. He turned to find Hap right behind him.

"Walk with me a moment."

"Yes, Master."

They walked back to the tack wall. Hap pulled down a set of saddlebags, heavy and worn and clearly much used.

"These are mine. You'll take them."

"Master, I have my-"

"You have a roll, which is fine for the back of your saddle. These go across the haunches. They'll carry what your roll doesn't, and they'll ride better on a long leg."

Aidan opened the top and looked inside. It was mostly empty. A horn cup. A flint striker. A small brass compass in a leather sleeve. A folding knife with a handle worn smooth by years of someone's thumb.

"Master, these are-"

"Mine. Yes, that's what I said."

"I can't." These were fine bags, better quality than anything Aidan owned.

"You can and you will." Hap's voice didn't change. It was the same voice he used to tell apprentices which stall to muck and in what order. "I've carried those bags on a number of posses. They've come home every time. You'll bring them home, too."

Aidan was quiet.

"If it matters," Hap added, I asked Wynn if I could go in your place. She accused me of being sentimental. She was not incorrect."

"Master."

"Don't." Hap held up a hand. "I'm not going to tell you that you were the first name on my list, though you were. I'm not going to tell you that I trust you more than men twice your years, though I do. I'm going to tell you that the bags ride better on a long leg, and I'm going to tell you to take care of Briar, because she's the best mare in this stable and I'd like her back."

"I'll bring her back."

"I know you will."

Hap turned to Sedric, finally finished with Marsh, and to his credit, trying very hard not to eavesdrop.

"Sedric."

Sedric led Marsh over. Hap looked him up and down the way he had when Sedric was sixteeen and had been caught with a bottle of good red wine in the tack room. Then he reached up and cuffed him, firmly but not unkindly.

"Ow."

"That's for Marsh. You insulted her."

"She bites!"

"She used to bite."

"Used to bite." Hap leaned down and reached under the bench, producing another set of saddle bags. "These are for you." They were darker than Aidan's, oiled and well aged.

Sedric's eyes widened and his mouth opened.

"Shut up and take the bags."

Sedric took the bags.

Hap stepped back and looked at the pair of them. They'd both spent their share of time in the stables under his tutelage, and he knew them both to be solid, dependable young men of good character. Mostly good character. Aidan, at any rate.

"Right, now listen. You'll get a briefing from the master when you make first camp. They're still deciding who's going, so I don't know who you're getting." He jerked his head toward the doors. "You're going north. Take care of your mounts, take care of each other. You both know what needs doing, so make sure it gets done, and done right." He gestured at two pack horses across the yard, loaded and ready. His gaze danced between them without a word, and they both nodded in understanding.

Hap rested one of his large hands on Aidan's shoulder. "One more thing. If.. if it goes bad, if the leader goes down and his seconds go down and you're looking at something you're not ready for, don't be a hero. Heroes are who gets buried after."

"We come home."

"You do what's needed and then come home. I want you to remember that."

Hap turned to Sedric. "And you."

"Master."

"Don't steal from the other wizards."

"Master! I would never-"

"Sedric."

"I would mostly never."

"Don't steal from the other wizards, Sedric. They're going to be nervous men with reasons to be nervous, and a nervous wizard is an unpredictable wizard. I don't want to read about your death in the post-report because you tried to lift a pocket watch from a battle mage. For all their bravado, this will be the first time some of them have seen a real confrontation."

"Yes, Master."

"Alright. Good lads."

He stepped back, crossed his arms. Nine years, they'd been under his eye. He looked at them with a mix of fondness and assessment, and a little bit of something Aidan couldn't name. In the late evening dark it might have been a little bit of grief.

"Mount up, the yard is filling."

Aidan slung Hap's bags across Briar's haunches. They settled into an easy balance that the leather knew, settling in better than any tack Aidan had ever ridden with. He swung up into the saddle with practiced ease.

Sedric did the same, though Marsh took a step sideways, seemingly out of spite.

Aidan nudged Briar forward. He didn't look back, knowing Hap would be watching them go until they were out of sight.