“Huh. Sorry to hear that.” She doesn’t quite share that gut sadness at the loss – she knows horses feature pretty significantly in Old Earth cultures but that’s an intellectual knowledge, and just leaves it as one more thing missing among so many others. Jesse obviously loves them, though. She can feel sorry about that. “Maybe there’re some still running wild? Horses are fast.”

She checks their height as the broken spires of the city become visible ahead, adds, “Kinda hard to think of what it’d be like. Riding another being. We’ve got smart guns, but that’s different.”