As soon as she saw that grin, Olive knew she wasn't going to try to overtake him. She wanted him to have a win today. So she urged Searchlight on enough to come close - she didn't want it to be obvious - but stayed just a hairbreadth behind. Still, it was fun. The rush of wind, the pounding of the horse's hooves all were imbued with a little feeling of freedom. Even if it was a freedom with caveats. Olive was finding, more and more, that all forms of freedom were. Was she freer living in the wild with the mages? Maybe. But she hadn't been free from hunger, or cold, or the constant threat of capture. Now, maybe, was the start of a new kind of freedom for her. But just in that moment, with the horse running beneath her, it felt like a purer form of freedom. Just then. In a minute, of course, it would be over.
When she finally came into the stables, just behind Vale, she was breathless and laughing. "Fine, you win! I'll trudge through the muck. I won't even tell Grace what happened," she grinned. Then she laughed and looked over at him, "Are you going to help a lady down, or what?"
She could, of course, dismount herself. But just then, she wanted to ask.