Still, it was something to keep his thoughts busy as he ascended the obscene amount of steps into the higher city that clung to the mountain face below Skymount Castle, and then ascended again to the castle itself. Some people asked Handy why he chose to live in the castle rather than in the city below, as before his recent disgrace, he had no reason to live in his manor house. Handy didn’t know what other men would think, but personally, the thought of ascending and descending those bloody steps every day was more frightening than facing a hydra. Not for the first time, he cursed everyone around him for possessing a pair of wings, but he took solace in the fact that at least some, if not most of the Equestrian delegation, had to suffer the same as he did. Such thoughts warmed the little hole where his heart used to be.