Chapter 12 : Fallout

There was a light, hesitant tapping on Neil's door and he tried to get up and failed. The clock read 5, but he felt like he'd barely laid down. He sat up and croaked "come in".

Mae opened the door, which drew a low groan from Neil. "Are you... are you OK, Neil?"

Neil slid back into his blankets. "I don't know. I still have a job... although that's not something you'd want to bet cash on."

Mae came over and sat in the camp chair. "I waited for you, I thought you were... teaching me another lesson" she grumbled.

Neil looked from under from his pillow. "I was at the hospital, then I was at Derrick's father's hotel room, getting the third degree."

Mae accepted this, then started to stand. "OK. I just wanted. to... you know... see if you were OK."

Neil rolled a bit. "Mae, what did you mean, teaching you another lesson?"

"That's what those days were, weren't they? Teaching me a lesson?" She sounded bitter, but not angry.

"I suppose. I've thought about it Mae, and... well... it was cold of me. You didn't deserve..."

"No. No I didn't." Mae said sharply. She frowned and hugged herself, then sat back down. "But I was being really unfair. To you. I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well... yes. OK? I know! I know I was being unfair and it was wrong... but you... you hurt me... "

Neil sat up. "What?"

"When you left me here... when you ignored me... when you treated me... and I KNOW! I know you did it... because you were showing me what I was... but it's wasn't fucking fair, Neil. OK?"

Neil started to build an argument, but it fell apart. "No. You're right. It wasn't fair and I'm sorry. I wanted to... 'teach you a lesson' but I also wanted to get back at you for what you were doing to me. And that... that's not really right. I was cold, and I'm sorry, Mae."

Mae sat and nodded again...

"Forgive me?"

Mae nodded. "Can... Can I have it back?"

Neil blanked, having no idea what she was talking about.

Mae took it as Neil considering and looked up. "You never... told me that you stopped loving me..." she said with her voice edging into a whine. "So, can I have..."

Neil got the idea. "No" he said softly. "You had my heart and I never took it back... so I can't give it to you again."

Mae smiled sadly and walked over. "Its not right between us. You understand? I'm... really stuck now. I didn't want a boyfriend... and you won't let me be anything else." A tear started down her nose and Neil moved to wipe it, but she stopped him. "See? SEE? You can't... stop being Neil and I'm don't want..."

Neil grumbled and pulled her into an unwilling hug.

"At least we can be... friendly? A little?"

Mae relaxed into the hug and nodded. "No more Mister Mean?"

Neil nodded "Unless you want a little mean... "

Mae giggled and pulled away. "See, you're a fucking bastard at heart" she said without much malice.

Neil grinned and stretched. "I guess today I find out if it makes any difference. I may be on my way home"

"You really think Mom will fire you?"

"I don't know. But I wouldn't be surprised."

After his early shower, Neil took a walk to the stables to check on Arnoss. The big geld was perfectly content in his stall, with no injury markers on the posts. Neil gave him a good checkover anyway, noting a few minor dings in the shoes but no other issues. He was on his way back to the cabin when Harry called to him from the Cave.

"Hallo, Neil. I hear you had a bit of trouble yesterday."

"A bit?"

Harry chuckled. "I'm not one to listen to rumors, but I have to say killing a camper is frowned on. Especially when you ride your horse back and forth over his corpse!"

Neil sighed. "Is that what the latest is?"

"Well, some suggest you were hired by a mob family to kill him, then brought his head back as a trophy, but I'm not convinced of that one."

Neil growled. "Jesus. Derrick is fine. Broken leg, but otherwise..."

"And a cracked rib."

Neil nodded, then looked hard at Harry. "How... "

Harry grinned. "I got a call from a certain Nathanial Rothcrest last night. Very late, too. He'd been drinking."

"You... know him?"

"Quite well, actually. Nathanial is a sponsor of another one of my equestrian projects. Well... his wife was a client more than Nathanial."

"Derrick's mother?"

"Eh? oh no. She was his second wife, this was his third. Quite the avid dressage rider."

"The lady who was with him last night?"

Harry chuckled. "She is... his fourth. Or fifth. I don't know. Anyway, Nathanial and I became friendly, in a sense. He investigated some rumors concerning his wife and... well, me. Totally untrue, of course."

Neil sat in a daze. "That's... interesting..."

"You and I are due in Mom's office in an hour. You should eat."

The crowd in Mom's office was surprising. Along with Harry and Gwen, whose sharp features were dragged down with emotional weight, there were the two medics, the trail captain, a trail guard, Mitchell the stable master and a stable hand, Leah, Gail, one of his students, and surprisingly enough, Cynthia.

Mom and Nathanial arrived, talking to each other and a third woman, who was arguing vocally with Nathanial.

"He's in AGONY!" she shrieked.

Nathanial waved his hands "He's on medication and only seems to feel any pain when you're there."

The woman was statuesque. There was simply no other word. If her hips had ever borne children, they'd long since forgotten. She was older, but had no grey in her reddish hair. Her breasts were perky and clearly synthetic and she had a "worked" look to her face that suggested a lot of knives had touched up its surface. The sum, however, was only faded slightly by the construction. She was beautiful and shapely, even with her face always settling on "fury" or "grief stricken". Nathanial's newest wife was not in attendance and Neil did not have to wonder why.

Mom settled behind her desk and rapped a knuckle on it. Everyone turned toward her, expectantly.

"I've spoken with most of you here, but I want to hear Neil's side of the story. The WHOLE story" she said.

Neil sighed. He started with his earliest classes, discussing Derrick's issues with equipment and safety. He hesitated to tell Gwen's part, but he was finally forced to by Mom's unblinking stare. He continued through the safety test, stopping afterwards when Mom spoke up.

"Is this true, Gwen?"

Gwen sobbed and nodded, "I didn't tell Neil the truth, then, I was scared that..."

"Enough. Continue Neil"

Neil flinched, then continued. He described Derrick's riding issues, how he knew how to ride, but only through his dressage classes. He also described seeing Derrick's skill test, but left out the fact that he called Gwen's mother. It was a moment of personal dishonesty he didn't feel like sharing.

Mom pulled Derrick's folder and noted the scores for the group, then called on Harry.

"Its true. And I bear some guilt for not telling you, but Neil said he had nothing but bits and pieces. It was probably enough"

"It WAS enough..." Mom corrected, then indicated Neil should continue.

Neil described a few other scenes, including Cynthia's skill test and Derrick's threat.

"He'd NEVER!" Derrick's mother yelled, trying to stand.

"Sit DOWN Amanda!" Nathanial growled. "Your son has shown himself to be a dishonorable LIAR. I will not tolerate your outbursts".

Mom paused, then got to the point. "And so we come to yesterday. Neil?"

Neil nodded. "I assigned uh... Guido to Derrick. He's a level 1, a good trail rider, very docile. When we got out on the trail, though, I saw he was on a different horse."

"Arnoss." Mom noted. "The two are certainly similar, but not identical."

"No... they're not" Neil admitted. "Guido has a faint white star. I told Derrick to stop, and tried to halt the line, but the leader was pretty far ahead. So I stopped the rear third of the line. Derrick tried to pass, but Arnoss didn't like it. He reared and spun, then headed back down the trail. When we got to the intersection, he took off."

Mom paused, noting nods from the other girls in his class, then continued. "And we know the rest. Arnoss threw Derrick on the access road, and he broke his leg, cracked a rib and has other minor injuries"

"Minor?!?" Amanda shouted, standing again. "I'll SUE!"

Mom stared at her for a long moment. Amanda faded under her gaze, then sat back down. "You signed a release when your son arrived. Derrick was injured in a riding accident due to his own negligence. I invite you to sue me."

Amanda sat down heavily.

"Now. I've spoken to Harry and Cynthia, as well as the other campers and groundspeople and have no reason to doubt the story so far. Does anyone have anything else to add?"

There were silent head shakes around the room.

"So. Derrick is suspended from the academy for the remainder of the summer. His actions violated parts two, four and five of his camp agreement. Neil will be reprimanded for his failures as a counselor, but will retain his job, should he choose to stay."

Neil realized it was nearly a question and looked up. Mom gave him a curious glance and he nodded quickly.

"Done. I believe that Mr. Rothcrest and Harry should stay. Also Gwen for the moment. The rest of you are dismissed."

Amanda's protests faded down the hallway into the admin foyer and Neil steeled himself for the eventual "other shoe". Nathanial had a few quiet words with Gwen in the far corner, and she left with tears in her eyes and a huge smile on her face. She managed a last wave to Neil, then ran out. Neil looked up and smiled at Nathanial, who sighed.

"It hurts that she would... think I could deny her..."

"She's tough, I wish she could go back into Dressage" Neil answered.

"She will, I'll put her in some winter classes. She'll make up the difference, and Western is probably good for her."

Harry came over and clapped Nathanial on the shoulder. "What do you know about western... or horses... or little girls for that matter!?"

Nathanial chuckled and took a seat next to Harry.

Mom took her seat behind the desk and looked wearily at Neil. "You know, I got a long list of compliments from parents in the younger class..."

Neil was surprised, thinking back of who might have bothered to say anything to Mom.

"Sixteen." she said, pulling a stack of papers. "Ten hand written notes, four emails and a pair of those feedback forms we send out in the mail."

Neil smiled despite himself.

"Jesus, Neil... I wish you'd come to me." she said heavily.

"I'm sorry, Mom... I just didn't have... proof..."

"You had suspicions based on facts. Good facts. And THIS!" she said, flapping Derrick's skill transfer sheet. "What a pile of crap. I'll speak to Martha about THIS."

Neil nodded.

"Nathanial?" she probed.

Nathanial looked at Neil with a long appraising glance. "I'm satisfied that Neil did... what he felt was right. He certainly made some mistakes in judgement, but he's young and Derrick got better than he might have."

Mom grunted. "He might have gotten two horseshoe prints in his skull. Harry, why the fuck didn't you say anything to me?"

Neil jumped to hear Mom curse, but Harry's laughter shocked him more.

"Ah Abbey, I should've. I am sorry. The boy holds the world on his shoulders."

Mom threw the now balled up skill sheet at Harry, then regarded Neil. "I forget that you're only eighteen, Neil." she sighed, pulling a sheet out of her cabinet. "If I don't do something, the campers and parents will think you skated... so, I'm putting your Trail cert on probation. See Jackie for a refresher. It'll take you ten minutes, but at least it'll sound good. Your safety cert is revoked, go retake the tests. You're on stable duty every morning for the rest of the summer and you'll get a written reprimand from the stable master for not double checking the horses you assigned and a verbal reprimand on record from me. Plus I'm docking your pay"

Neil sighed and nodded.

"Yesterday from five on, today for... oh, three hours. That's... I don't know, fifty bucks or something." Mom's eyes twinkled and she threw her pencil at him. "Next time come tell me." she growled. "Now all of you get out of my fucking office. Harry, tell the students that I yelled at him for two hours."

"Like a banshee with hemorrhoids, Abbey"

"Get. Out."

Neil sat at breakfast in a state of shock. Every counselor's eyes were fixed on him, shocked that he was still alive and apparently employed. He ate quickly, deciding to head back to the stables for his first duty assignment. Ruth and Dave spotted him, but he shook his head and mimed "later" before rushing off.

Mitchell grumbled about having to write some damn reprimand and eventually assigned Neil to write it himself. He was doubly annoyed at having Neil underfoot, and ordered him to show up late the next morning and leave early. Neil wrote his reprimand as quickly as possible, unsure of how stern to be. He tried to show it to the stable master, who balled it up and threw it into a pile of manure.

"Bloody nonsense. It got lost, get out." he growled.

Neil had to remind himself that it was Friday, and ran off to find his class. They would be in the arena, and he wasn't looking forward to seeing them.

He sat the entire class down in the grass near the arena. "I've heard the rumors, and I'm sure you're all a little confused and concerned, so here's the honest truth. Derrick took a horse he wasn't qualified for."

There were several exchanged glances from his circle of followers, several of which were a bit guilty.

"Derrick lied on his transfer sheet, and wasn't qualified to ride western and trail. He took a faster horse, probably to impress someone." More exchanged glances and Neil was satisfied at the levels of guilt present. "It was a... bad decision. Arnoss is a runner, and can be a dangerous horse for a novice rider. Derrick got thrown on the access road on the far side of the lake. He broke his leg... badly and hurt his ribs."

The glances were more urgent this time, and some of the accomplices started to turn red. Neil took a hard look around as a few started to raise their hands, shaking his head to stop them. "Derrick has been kicked out of Silverspire." There were a few nods, and Neil steeled himself for the final part. He had to play this one for Mom and to drive a last sharp spike of guilt into those responsible.

"As for me..." he started, drawing every eye. "I am... currently going to be keeping my job... barely". Stunned looks greeted him as he let that sink in. He left the doubt out there for them to chew on for a while. "Although it was a... tight decision, the school has decided not to fire me for not stopping Derrick"

"But you didn't know!" one of the red-faced girls said suddenly. She had her hands over her mouth in a second, her eyes wide.

"No. I didn't. But its my job to pay attention to every rider, every horse, at every second. I've had two of my certs suspended, trail and safety. I've had my pay docked and I've been reprimanded by both the stable master and the owner of the academy. I've also spent a very long time discussing the situation with Derrick's mother and... father". Neil dropped father in a whisper, as if remembering a week of torture.

Neil let them think for a long moment, then stood. "Well, back to work then. We have our first competition tomorrow, and I'd very much like to see you all do well."

For the next hour, Neil put a very obedient and restrained group of girls through a solid workout in the Western arena. Even Leah kept to herself, smiling shyly at him between runs. Neil gave her a very reserved smile and kept the pressure on the riders. All told, it was probably the most productive arena time he'd ever put them through. By the end several of the girls seemed to have taken his advice to heart and, in a shocking twist, applied it to their riding.

Neil kept his sadsack face on through most of lunch, managing to get sympathy from Harriet, Ruth and even Mae. Dave was incredulous that he was still employed and tossed aside each and every claim of punishment and reprimand with a casual "Fuck that!" Neil was eventually forced to fess up, revealing the entire story in small, quiet bites to his slowly growing audience. Harry stopped by to chip in his two cents and Cynthia came over to make sure her part was accurately portrayed.

"I swear, you are amazing" Harriet grumbled.

"That's what Ruth keeps saying" he joked.

Ruth choked and coughed, giving him a deep look of "shut up"

Harriet's eyes grew and after a sideways glance at Ruth mumbled something like "chatty bitch" and slid over to have a conversation with her ladyfriend.

Dave continued his disbelief, but toned it down after Harry and Cynthia left. "I swear man, I drop a kid off a horse and I'd be dead... especially some rich Rothcrest brat."

Neil shrugged. "Yeah, look its done. I'm ready to move on."

"Yeah. Hey, Ruthie and Harriet want to hook up tonight, you in?"

Neil glanced over at Mae, who was concentrating on her lunch. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm in. I don't know what good I'll be, I'm seriously exhausted."

"Tell Ruth to do the work. She's into that"

"Doing work?"

"Being on top."

"Ah. Have you had a chance to, you know, reacquaint yourself with Harriet?"

Dave grinned. "Yeah. And a two-fer with Ruth"

"Sweet!"

"No, that's why I need you back. Not fucking kidding, man"

"They too much for you?"

"They work against me. One's talking dirty in my ear while the other works me over. Ruth held me down and rubbed everything she had in my face while Harriet blew me. I lasted like four minutes."

Neil laughed and Dave tried to smack him.

"Fucking serious, man. Harriet was going down on Ruth while I did her, holy... jesus. I about lost it. I had to pull out and cool down. Then they went at each other and gave me a play by play"

Neil cracked up, glancing over at the girls who were chatting away about some class. "They're a pair."

"A pair of ruthless bitches in the sack. If you're there, I can pass one off, you know? Tagteam style. Take it down a notch. Or they can double team you. How do you NOT blow?"

Neil shrugged. "Sometimes I do. Harriet got me yesterday at lunch, I was... uh, putty in her hands."

Dave laughed. "I just can't fight it, you know. They're hardcore"

"The monster in your head" Neil said with a grin.

"What?!?"

"That's what I call it... what I think. Its like a monster in your head, a werewolf or whatever. It feeds on lust. Y'know"

"Yeah, that's pretty good. The monster in my head is a fucker. I can't stop it and BOOM, they win. Think about baseball my ass..."

Neil slapped Dave on the shoulder and stood. "I'll be your wingman."

"Tonight? Awesome."

With a wink to the two girls, Neil was off to the stables. They were due for a short trail ride and more time in the arena.

For the trail ride, Neil was triple cautious until they were out of the stable and on the trail. He sent Leah forward to lead, noticing that her teasing and flirting had eased back from nothing to barely any. He didn't need it right then, so she got banished to the front of the pack. Gwen returned from her morning with her uncle, and was in a talkative mood, so he set Gail as the tailgunner and rode with Gwen, listening to her chatter away.

She'd had a long talk with her uncle, and described him as a kind man with no free time who had haunted her life like some ghost who barely showed up for holidays. He'd been quite friendly and promised her that she would not miss any more summer courses.

"But if I take dressage, you won't be my teacher!"

"Well, you'll have Harry. He's nice too"

"But not as..." Gwen blushed and Neil gave her a quick glance.

"Not as tall?" he offered.

Gwen looked over and nodded, facing her saddle.

Neil chuckled but inside he felt the monster take heed. He was a bastard, alright, a bastard with a penis and a conscious who wasn't doing a fucking thing for him.

Neil had decided to take them down the East trail to the mazes, then back along the access road next to the lake. It was a bit of a exorcism for him, he didn't want to always associate the area with the accident, so he took them casually around the corner and down the road, the horses' hooves clopping on the gravel. Neil moved back until he reached Gail in the back of the line. She smiled gently, paying attention to her horse. Neil noticed her riding position and started to wonder.

"What's wrong with your leg, Gail?"

Gail shook her head, but his look stopped her. "I'm... sore from yesterday. We rode kind of fast back and I was paying more attention to..."

"Thank you, Gail." Neil said, interrupting her.

She looked up in surprise.

"You and the other leaders took over at a bad point, and I appreciate that. You got everyone home safe and the horses back in. That was a big help"

Gail almost blushed, shifting a bit.

Neil realized it wasn't her leg that hurt, it was her butt and he couldn't quite stop himself from laughing. Her hurt look sobered him. "I'm sorry, I'm a little slow. Its not your leg that hurts."

Gail blushed firmly, refusing to look at him.

"Ah, well, then trot up and tell Leah to take the rear and you lead us down to the watering strip on the lake." Neil challenged. He expected her to refuse and reveal her injured butt, but she gave him a growl and trotted forward. Neil laughed, until he realized Leah would be joining him.

Leah was a little timid, standing on her stocky quarterhorse and waiting for the end of the line. Neil smiled at her and she fell into line. "Hello poppet." he said lightly.

Leah gave him a cautious smile. "So I get to put up with you for another week, huh?"

"If you take Trail next week. I just get lots of punishments"

"Like?"

"Writeups and retests of my certs. Plus I'm on stable du..." Neil stopped, realizing his mistake, but it was too late.

"Stable duty you say?" Leah said with a light laugh. "Ah that will be terrible. Working in the stables"

"Yeah, well... I doubt they'll make me... do much, you know"

"Every morning"

"No... just, uh, a few days"

"With an audience, no less!"

"What? What audience?"

"Me"

"Leah... "

"I like poppet"

"You... what? you do?"

"Do you know what a poppet is?"

"Isn't it a food or something? I heard it somewhere..."

"Its a fetish"

"A... WHAT?"

"Not that kind of fetish. Of course brits use it as a term for a child or girlfriend"

"Oh... well... that's not so"

"But that's not what it is. A poppet is a doll, used in spells."

"Spells?"

"That's what a fetish really is, tying people up is a different meaning"

"Well. I..." Neil couldn't find the words. Leah was Leah, only ten times more so, tying him up in his own words and dancing around his attempts to escape... She was allowing the ride of the horse to bounce her, just a bit. Her breasts, though small, still managed to catch his eye. She was also looking at him just so. She laughed, and giggled and it was all hypnotic and distracting and so very, very Leah.

"Do you know what kind of doll a poppet is?"

"No... not... "

"Fertility"

"Fertility?!?"

"Yep."

"How do you KNOW this?"

"Gail is into witchcraft"

"She is... she's WHAT?"

"Not like that, she thinks its interesting, like she studies it."

"Oh. "

"I asked her what a poppet was and she told me. In lurid detail"

Neil blanched and shook himself. "Look... Leah... maybe 'poppet' isn't the right... you know, name for"

"Its perfect. Don't you plan on knocking me up?"

"WHAT?"

"My big belly full of your offspring after you imPREGnate me?"

"Leah!"

Leah started to laugh, holding her hands over her imaginary belly. "Big fat baby in my belly"

Neil laughed, but not as heartily.

"No babies for me, not for a while." Leah said, suddenly serious.

"Well... good."

"But you can imagine. And practice"

"Ye. NO! Wait."

Leah's laughter drew the attention of other riders, so Neil eased his horse ahead. He was sure he could feel her staring at him, but whenever he looked back down the line, she was always looking somewhere else.

Neil had an unexpected dinner guest. After a short and cold shower he walked up to the Cave and discovered Nathanial sitting at one of the side tables with his wife. Neil walked over and finally learned her name, Deb, and sat down with them at Nathanial's insistence.

"I understand you're back to work, Neil" he said with a nod.

Neil nodded back, trying not to pay too much attention to his supermodel level wife. Wherever he found these women, Neil wanted to pay a visit. His credit probably wouldn't buy him much, though.

"I must apologize for my... reactions..." he started.

"No... sir, it was understandable." Neil objected.

"Perhaps, but I still owe you something. I like you Neil, you took responsibility in a situation that was both unfair and difficult. That takes courage, and I like that. Are you going to college?"

Neil frowned. "Maybe. I'm actually going to work for my father for a bit, to build up some cash"

Nathanial nodded firmly. "Good. College is a right royal pain and should be avoided at all costs." he said with mock severity. "You should keep it in mind, though. It would do you good."

Neil nodded, not really following the discussion.

Nathanial handed him a business card, which Neil examined then put away. "If you do go to college... or decide to start a business, or whatever. Call me first. I'm not going to just hand you a wad of cash, Neil, you did drop my son off a horse. But I can give you advice, direction, or even help. My company might also be looking for smart young men who stand up for young ladies"

"Sounds like a great job" Neil said, watching Nathanial ogle his wife. Neil filed the "his wife" part away and refrained, but Nathanial winked at him. "Its a tough job, finding beautiful women. Very rewarding, though."

Neil wasn't sure where this was going EITHER, and tried to remain political and friendly. "I can only imagine" he said dryly.

"Ah, dear, Nathanial is a gentlemen. I like him even more."

Deb smiled broadly at Neil and wiggled. It was tiny, almost below his threshold of vision, but it was as unmistakable as a wink and ten times as erotic.

"The world needs more gentlemen." Nathanial mused, sliding his hand down Deb's arm. "A man who treats a woman as a lady, takes care of her."

Neil swallowed as the monster fought with the muscles in his eyeballs. They rotated slowly down and he had to blink and turn to face the table to hold them in check. "I guess so, sir."

Nathanial laughed, then caught that Neil was a bit upset. "Ah, I'm not making fun of you Neil. You are a good kid... a good man and I'm teasing a bit, that's all. I'll tell you what. Come into town with us tonight. We're leaving tomorrow and I plan on making a night of it."

Neil tried to put them off, but Nathanial would not be persuaded. Neil also noted Deb's interest and was growing very, very concerned. He finally agreed and slipped away to tell Dave that he was on his own for the evening.

"I have to. Rothcrest won't take no, and hell... who knows what an evening with that guy would be like"

Dave grumbled, then almost choked. Neil followed his gaze down the table and saw Ruth and Harriet.

"Neil, you're going into town?"

"Yeah... I'm going to..."

"That's a pity. We had plans tonight" Ruth said.

"With you and Dave" Harriet finished.

"But now..."

"It will just be us..."

"and Dave..."

Dave swallowed hard and looked at Neil with pleading eyes. Neil backed away from the table slowly, watching the hunger in the girls eyes. "Yeah, so you guys have fun..."

"We will" the girls cooed together.

Dave started to stand, but Harriet moved to intercept, forcing him down into the bench.

"Dave will just have to work... twice as hard" she growled.

Neil put on the only nice clothes he had and was picked up by Rothcrest at the admin building. Nathanial was wearing a dark suit and Deb an evening gown that was very, very revealing. Deb's dark, curly hair was up, cascading down over her bronze shoulders and framing her oval face. She was very exotic. Her large breasts were barely contained by a strapless dress that had an oval removed from her upper stomach, revealing her belly button. Neil thought the dress itself was very conservative until he saw the slit. It ran from her ankle almost to her waist. It was distracting as hell.

"I suspected that you wouldn't have any eveningwear, so we will be stopping to get you something fitting" Neil got a little embarrassed, but Nathanial stopped him. "Pah, who brings eveningwear to a horse camp?"