Reconciling Circumstances: Day 10

Word Count: 60,009

Summary of Events:
Chapter 19:
Heleighna was handing out carrots to the horses and was going to give one to Sauvage, but Étienne found her and got quite upset at her. Étienne later was made to apologize to Heleighna, even though he didn't want to.
Chapter 20:
Étienne gave Sauvage a longer workout, which Chérie saw and got somewhat uptight about it, which confused Étienne, but Chérie eventually explained herself to Étienne. Heleighna saw them together later on and was surprised by their amicability.

Excerpt of the Day:
""But still, the temptation is stronger here than elsewhere," Chérie said. "If you walk him in the aisles you're not as tempted to get him up to a trot, a canter, or performing any manoeuvres because it's too confined and dangerous. Here things are open and free and meant for doing all of those things. If you're working him here the open space will tempt you to work him more and more until eventually you overwork him and aggravate his injury."
"If I gradually build him up in his workload then he won't aggravate his sprain," Étienne said. "And besides, we're going to have to get back into the arena eventually anyways."
"But how long are you going to do it?" Chérie asked.
"What do you mean?" Étienne asked.
"Are you going to build him back to full workout over a week? A month? More?" Chérie asked.
"Six weeks," Étienne replied.
"I don't think that'll be enough time," Chérie said.
"And since when are you the veterinarian?" Étienne asked.
"I'm not," Chérie replied. "But–"
"Then why should I listen to you?" Étienne asked. "Dr. Charron hasn't said anything about working in the arena, but when Sauvage was injured he did say that Sauvage would be able to compete again the first competition after the break, and he hasn't made any change to that prediction either."
"Because I don't think you're doing the best for your horse," Chérie replied.
"And you're an authority on what's the best for my horse?" Étienne asked.
"No," Chérie replied. "But–"
"There you go again," Étienne interrupted. "That's the third time you've admitted that I really have no legitimate reason why I should be listening to you. If you'd answered yes to any of those questions then I might consider listening to you, but you've answered no to all three, and yet still feel that I should listen to you. You've given me no legitimate reason why I should listen to you, so I'm not going to; get out of here and leave me alone."
"I don't want you to hurt Sauvage more!" Chérie snapped; Sauvage stopped and warily looked at her.
"I won't!" Étienne snapped in response. "I know just as much about horses as you do — if not maybe possibly even more than you do — I know what I'm doing! I'm not a fool idiot! Stop talking to me like you think I am one! Go work with your own horse or do something else and leave me alone! I want to compete with him, and If I want that then I'm not going to do anything that would injure my horse!"
"But your desire to compete might well cloud your mind!" Chérie retorted. "And I don't want you to be so blinded by your desire to compete that you forget about the wellbeing of your horse!"
"I won't!" Étienne replied. "And in addition: what does it benefit you whether or not I compete?"
Chérie opened her mouth to retort, but said nothing. It seemed like the realization had hit her that maybe she didn't even know what the reason was behind her actions. Étienne signalled Sauvage to walk on."