Nathan dropped his saddlebag and lute in the room, then headed downstairs and to the stable in back.  "I'm back, girl.  Now lets give you a rubdown and brush.  If there's a farmer's market in the village, I'll see about getting you some carrots tomorrow."  People would always look at him strangely when he talked to his horse.  But Midnight had been the longest relationship he'd had with a female.  Unlike the other women in his life, she never talked back to him or demanded much of him.  So he did his best to please her.  How he wished women were as easy to please!