“
Are you all right?”
Arin glanced up at Roshar, then returned his attention to the horse. He ran a hand down the inside of its front left leg and picked up the hoof, cupping its front. With his free hand, he cleaned the hoof with a pick, brushed it off, and used a knife to probe the outer edges of the hoof, looking for the source of the problem. Steam rose from a nearby bucket of hot, salted water. It was near noon.
“Arin.”
“Just thinking.” Kestrel’s written words still radiated through him, making him feel larger inside than he had been before, as if he’d swallowed the sun and it somehow fit, and blazed and ached and left him dazzled: half-blind but still seeing things more clearly than before.
“Well, stop it,” Roshar said. “You’ve been looking either dour or dreamy and neither really suits the victorious leader of his free people.”
Arin snorted. The horse, feeling his knife touch a sore spot, tried to pull her hoof away. He held it fast, supporting it from below with his knee.
“You could at least make a rousing speech,” Roshar said.
“Can’t. I’m riding to Sythiah.”
Roshar made a strangled sound.
“Not on this horse,” Arin said. “She’s lame.”
“What are you doing?”
“She was limping. It hurt to look at her. An abscess, I think. She must have stepped on something sharp.”
“Arin, you’re not a damn farrier. Someone else can do this.”
“Tssah,” Arin hissed in sympathy when he found the abscess. The horse tried again to tug away, but he punctured the sealed wound, which instantly dribbled black pus. He worked on opening the abscess, then pressed the rest of the pus out. “Bring that bucket closer, will you?”
“Oh, certainly. I live to please.
”
”