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Elros blinked in confusion. "You ... brought a vase with you?" he asked blankly as the pasture came into sight. "Isn't that a big ... fragile?"

The herd was scattered all throughout the pasture, some in groups, others alone.

"Still," Elros reasoned, "you would still have to be careful with it and make sure you didn't accidentally knock it over or something ... after all, even the strongs ones have their weak points where they can be cracked and then broken."

He climbed over the wooden fence and headed towards a lone horse, slowly and cautiously, mamking sure that the horse was well aware of their presence. The last thing he needed, despite his size, was to be trampled by a shy and untrained horse, and he wasn't sure which horses were trained or untrained. In truth, he really didn't have anything to do with them ... he just protected them and the people who lived there.

The horse he was approaching was a young mare, a paint, that was covered with white and brown splotches of colour, that seemed to be gentle enough. It was too small for Elros to ride (but then again, most horses were) but he still enjoyed being around horses at times.

Elros smiled gently at Lin. "Yes, she is quite beautiful, is she not?" he murmured in agreement. He reached out one hand and put it on the mare's head, then rubbed her forehead and jaw, then moved his hand down to her neck.

"Would you like to pet her as well?" he asked her softly, his icy blue eyes growing slightly softer as he glanced sidewise at Lin.

Elros's smile grew slightly wider and his eyes softened a bit more as he looked at Lin, and he nodded.

"I think it would be just fine," he agreed, and he took her from his shoulder and let her sit in the crook of his arm, where she was just at the same height as the horse's head.

"Go on," he urged her gently.

The horse flared its nostrils and twitched its muscles where Lin had touched it, then looked away, then lowered its head to the ground and began to eat the grass.

Elros chuckled lightly. "You have to pet them pretty hard, Lin," he told her gently. "If you just touch them lightly it's like flies to them and they try to flick you away. You need to press harder for her to really feel it."

And he took her hand gently in his own and demonstrated for her.

"Well," Elros explained with a soft smile, "they're very thick-skinned creatures, so anything less than a good hard rub is just an irritation ... like when a spider crawls over your hand or arm. You feel it but it's an irritation, it's annoying."

Elros looked down at Lin, his face expressionless once more.

"I suppose that's true," he murmured thoughtfully. "You are after all very small ... hmm."

He tried to think of a different example, one that was more fitting to her.

"Try to think of a fruit fly, then," he suggested. "They are very tiny ... smaller than your smallest fingernail."