14th June: Building bridges of humanity

Edward began to explain the details of the stud and his family's stables, leaving her time to comment or ask additional questions and trying to include Vickery in the conversation as well. It was a rather pleasant way to spend the time, and too soon the camp was before them.

Honestly, Edward said: "It was a great pleasure to ride with you today, senhora, as well as most instructive. May i hope it was not the last time we have seen you?"

Estefania was listening attentively. For the most part Torrington managed to answer any of the questions that she could have come up while listening to him. His voice was pleasant, and her talk informative. She did ask a few questions, had listened to Vickery as well , made a comment or two and was quite surprised when the camp appeared before them as if out of the blue.

She smiled politely to Edward. "The feeling is mutual." She hesitated, wondering if it was how the English would reply, when thinking the same. " I will gladly come again. " In part she knew she would have to, in the name of the irregulars, but a part of her wished to visit for the sake of the company. "Should you be interested to visit the stables and see a few horses.. I cannot promise many, mind. The French cause good reason to not keep them close. But should you wish it, the invitation stands." She was again not quite certain that it should have been said so, but hoped that they would understand what she had meant.

"It would be a priviledge and a pleasure!"

Edward bowed in the saddle.

"Have you made other arrangements, or may I have the pleasure of escorting you home?"

Estefania smiled pleasantly. "..I would not want to be a burden to you sir. Nor keep you from your men." But the offer flattered her and though she was quite capable and safe to travel alone, she seemed to contemplate the company never the less.

"But should you have the time, and should it now interfere with your work sir, you are welcome to ride a part of the way with me. Perhaps even the whole way." She leaned closer to the neck of her mare and gently patted her. She glanced at Vickery, wondering what the captain would make of this, unwilling to cause offense towards him.

So that was to be the way of things, it seemed. Well, well.

He caught Estefania's eye. "I daresay the Captain can find time afterwards to catch up on any work with which he may fall behind," he said. "I think I can find my way back to camp from here."

The path now was pretty easy to follow, after all - they were riding back the way they had come, and had passed the point at which his impromptu race with Torrington had begun.

Estefania gave John Vickery a polite nod. "It should be safe from the French and should there be an irregular mistaking you, be quick to right their wrong." She smiled lightly. "Though, I do not think you will be in danger, nor that you do not know that yourself." He bowed her head to Torrington.

She was aware that Vickery may think of several reasons to why they would ride together and although an officer, he was equally a man. But she had ridden alone or in company of men before, as irregulars could not be too picky with whom to ride and when, when tasks needed completion, and so whatever Vickery might think of this, if anything, did not particularly concern her.

Willoughby and his companions waited patiently for the officers to finish their conversations, so that they could all or in part, return to camp. He wondered if they might be requested to follow the officer with the lady, or perhaps even split, some returning with the rifle's captain, the others then, with the engineer.

Estefania shifted in the saddle and turned to Torrington. "Shall we then?" She inquired turning the horse about in the direction in which they needed to ride. "I would rather that you are home, well, back in camp anyhow, before it gets dark. As then your blue coat will only be more easy to mistaken.. and with the welcoming habits of people here, I trully do not wish it on you, sir."

Willoughby and his fellow troopers, chosen to accompany the officers, stood patiently awaiting the order either to move out or slit. Herrero looked bored but seemed to have found a nice patch of grass and was mulling over it now. The horse beside him seemed to have wanted to move over to a nicer one, but was halted by his rider so that he looked much more displeased about it. Another correction of his position kept him in the earlier spot, but of a slightly less pleasant temper.

The birds were heard in the distance briefly, and even seen, as they flew above their heads a little later. Small and rather uninteresting in colour, they seemed to care equally little about the group. Herrero swished his tail, batting away some of the flies which seemed to have found them and decided to be particularly insufferable to proud beast.

Torrington's mouth twisted ruefully.

"Believe me, senhora, the first words I learned in your language were 'I'm not French, I am an engineer!'. Will you lead the way?"

He reined Trueno in so that she could turn her horse in the new direction.

"And they have even listened? I am impressed. It seems your command of Portuguese and your engineer..ial charm must have captivated them long enough that they could hear you speak." She chuckled lightly. "Yes, I will." She bowed lightly, inclining her head towards Captain Vickery. "Until we meet again, captain." Then she glanced at Torrington, her horse standing pointed in the direction she wished to go. " But let us not test lady Fortune today, sir,...and," After a moment of hesitation. "I would still like to hear it in Portuguese, that is, the part where you convince the irregulars that you serve the right side!" Her legs squeezed just enough that her mare knew she wished her to move.

Torrington took leave from Vickery with a quick salute and followed Estefania. Dutifully, he repeated the phrase in passable Portuguese, then in quick ordder in eight other languages, closing with Greek.

"Usually, shouting this in quick order at least stunned them long enough for me to explain ... greatly helped by pulling out a map and a pair of callipers and waving them around madly."

Estefania recognised several of the languages in which the engineer spoke and appeared quite impressed as the different languages continued. She arched a brow and then laughed softly at his 'theatrical' explanation of what else he did. "What language was this..?" She asked as she tried to best her ability to repeat phonetically what she had heard. It was Welsh he spoke about.

She kept her mare's pace quick, but leisurely at the moment, allowing her to pick the easiest path for her hooves and balance. She only guided her in general direction that they needed to go and towards the path that they could take to proceed more comfortably.

"Nid wyf yn Ffrangeg, dw i'n Peiriannydd ...", Torrington repeated slowly. "It's Welsh - a celtic dialect spoken not too far from where I grew up. They learn English, nowadays, but in rural parts sometimes it is quite useful to know at least a bit, so my grandmother taught me the basics. I learned a good deal of my mapping skills during the ordonance surveys there, and have to admit that this sentence in particular came in handy even then."

Estefania inclined her head a little as she listened. She tried to make out the words from the sentance, with which his slow manner of saying it, really helped. She smiled at tried again, doing her best to sound the words in a similar manner to what she had heard. She could only guess on the meaning of each separate word, but she liked the foreign sound of them.

"I admit to never have heard the likes of it." She said as she straightened again, looking quite intrigued. "Why do they not learn their own language then?" She gazed at him inquiringly. "Mind, I would understand learning English, should you wish to do business with them, the two languages appear very different." She shifted a bit, navigating another path, and ducking lightly when a branch had come quite close, but the other side she could not take, as she might have had to nudge Torrington into another tree for it.

"Do you know enough to hold a conversation in it?" She asked then, smiling. More quietly and more to herself she repeated the words. It was not as if she needed them in the Peninsula, but she liked the sound anyway.

"Only a simple one - and I fear I am out of practice. Learning your own fair language is of more importance right now, I'm afraid."

He drew his sword and gallantly used it to push up some thorny branches for her to pass under.

"You yourself seem to have quite an aptitude for languages as well. Might I ask where you learned your English?"

"I have had a tutor for English. My father was a diplomat and I had been.." She hesitated briefly. "Exposed to the science of languages and had opportunity both to learn it...and thanks some as well to my aunt.. also to read it." She smiled and straightened again in the saddle once she had passed the offending thorny branches.

"May I inquire of the same, you seem to know many languages. This, I do not think, is the norm, even for the English?"

"Not in general, but it rather is for engineers. After all, we are supposed to be able to read the various treaties about fortifications, buildings and other practical things, and unlike those about theology amd law, they tend to be written in the language of the country of publication", he explained.

"I learned German and Italian there, as well as the more common French and Latin, and I must admit that all I try to sell off as Spanish or Portugues is mostly a creatively pronounced melage of those languages."

"I would like to propose you.." Estefania said after a few moments of thought having perhaps not fully correctly used the word she intended when making the suggestion. "You will need Portuguese practice as well perhaps as correction in Portuguese and perhaps translation of words you do not find in books, and that I know and can speak... I am curious of the Welsh, that you have the knowledge of." She adjusted the direction in which her mare was going only slightly.

"The proposal is, that.. should you be willing to tutor me in some Welsh, I could offer you my knowledge of Portuguese, and also Spanish." She studied him, awaiting his response and searching his face for a reaction that might be perhaps more direct and quick than words.

"I am not sure whether my command of the language qualifies me to tutor you, madam, but if it would please you, I will certainly try. It would be of great help if you could give me a chance to better my own skills. It seems that people give information much more freely if you ask them in a language they actually understand and without insulting them gravely in the process", he remarked drily.

They had reached a stretch of level road (made by use and not by labour, but nevertheless quite servicable), and he asked:

"Should we attempt a canter, or is the dust it raises not worth the effort?"

"I may assure you that while your command may not be perfect, it is most certainly far greater than any I have insofar encountered." She smiled. "There is a rare Portuguese or Spanish person that would excell in Welsh." She said that teasingly, while her smile seemed warmer.

"Indeed.. if people know what you ask of them, they usually can be much more helpful than if they try to decifer why a soldier acts as if though they've gone mad." She patted her horse then and glanced towards Torrington at his next question.

"We can canter and gallop, should you so wish and we may even race, should the desire for it exist." She said. "The dust will rise behind us, whatever much there shall be and...it is an empty road. It should not anger noone."

"Then, senhora, lead the way ..."

The engineer settled his bicorn more firmly on his head and waited for her to increase their speed. He was quite curious to see how that nicely build mare she was riding would hold up; not to mention get a better grasp on what Estefania could and would do. She was still rather a conundrum to him, and one he did not necessarily trust completely.

"At your service, sir." Estefania may have spoken somberly and mimicked almost comically a response an officer would give to another, but she did not waste any time in waiting to see whether the engineer might react in any fashion or way to it and rather had her mare leap forward, alternating from a walk in a rather fast succession to a canter and then egging her mare to go even faster. She had changed her position in the saddle to, to accommodate the new speed comfortably. The tails of her long dark blue coat caught wind and dust and dirt kicked up from the horse's hooves.

Torrington was at her side within moments; the big hooves of his stallion pounded deep prints into the earth as the horse snorted and nearly pranced, running with the mare. The engineer handled the challenge easily, and seemed exhilerated at the gallop, but despite his obvious enjoyment, he kept an eye on his surroundings. Suddenly, he turned Trueno sharply away from the road, pracitcally pushing the mare int he same direction, towards a more rugged landscape.

"Someone is moving to the right", he hissed. "Between those house!"

The mare had almost crashed against the bigger stallion, if Estefania had not also reacted to Torrington's sudden turn. They were not as elegant in their turn, but they were efficient enough not to bring them all tumbling to the ground.

She made no protest at his words, and seemed rather instead to look in the direction she thought he had seen something, while her mare continued as she was directed. "Uniform, or civilian?" She said quickly.