Is it just wishful thinking?

 ChaCha waited patiently for Milo to begin, but it seemed to take him a while to get started as they rode on the stead's silky back at a mellow pace.

"I met him at the Academy," Milo finally said. ChaCha smiled with her eyes closed trying to imagine her brother and Milo as equals in a scholarly world.

"He was the head of his class," Milo said her brother knew many languages and was a swordsman as well. "I was just a servant boy." 

ChaCha didn't like that part.

"Was he brave?"

"Yes."

ChaCha sighed with a smile.

"He kept the others from hurting me," Milo told her. "And showed me how to defend myself. Later, he even showed me how to read and write, too."

"So was he a good teacher?"

"Um."

"Is that all you can say about him?" Why didn't he talk more? She wanted every detail.

"I knew him for a long time, back then," Milo sighed. "I was small. He was always taller than me. He got along with everyone, which I can't say for everyone I knew there. If only I could spot a trick like he did. I might not have gotten into so much trouble."

"Well, you're here now. Maybe he's still watching out for you," ChaCha laid her ear next to his back and listened to his heart.

"It's a good thought." The way he said it, ChaCha believed it. Maybe it was her brother who sent the stallion.