"That's what I think too. How else could he have done that. Anyway, the horses are in the academy's stables. First thing, we need to register the second horse with the office. The horse he replaced was academy property, so there's a bit of paperwork to be done here."
Astien led them to the stables, and retrieved the newer horse, and brought it up to the stable's office. "What happened to the first horse?" The stable master asked.
"He ran away." Astien meekly replied.
"How? Heracles was a very well-behaved horse."
"There was an accident. I had to let him run away to create false tracks."
"Very well. Here are the papers, and we're going to need a 200 gold deposit while we decide if the horse is worth keeping. Come back in about two hours, we should have decided if the horse is a good one by then."
Astien sighed and handed the coins to the stable master, who put them in a safe and left to check the horse as Astien began filling out the forms.
Marius sat with Astien while he filled out paper work.
"Age, breed, previous injuries... Gods, I don't know any of that. Cormac bought the horse, not me. I hope they find the horse acceptable. I'm not getting that deposit back, otherwise."
"I doubt Cormac would have bought a bad horse. You haven't had any problems with her since you go her right?"
"No, but for all we know, she isn't very good with kids. If that's the case, the stable master's going to turn her down without a second thought."
"Hm...That is a problem."
Astien finished with the paperwork, and placed it on the stable master's desk. He then led Marius into the stables to check on his other horse. He smiled as the horse whinnied happily at his presence. "Hey, boy. It's only been a couple of days. Miss me already?" He strokes the horse's mane.
"Oh, you two have never had a proper introduction, have you? Marius, this is Hippocrates. Of the two horses who pull the carriage, he's the only one I actually own."
"It's nice to formally meet you Hippocrates," MArius said cheerfully.
Hippocrates whinnied and started chewing on Marius' braid. Astien laughed at the sight.
Marius chuckled and took his hair out of the horse's mouth.
"Yeah, he seems to think hair and hay are the same thing." Astien giggled.
"I guess I should start deep conditioning my hair then," Marius chuckled.
"Oh, your hair is fine. My little Hippo's just a big old pig, isn't that right?" Astien scratched the horse's ear, making it neigh in pleasure.
The two heard a giggle as they turned around to find the two girls with the cruahes on Astien behind them.
"Hello professor Tymnas!"
"Hi professor! We're happy to see you won the hearing!"
"Are you, um, doing anything to celebrate?"
"Well, we're baby shopping today," Marius said.