Human culture had fallen into anarchy after the Event, with war, famine and plague running rampant. They would undoubtedly now be nearing extinction by their own hand, but for the elves. After long believing the humans best left to self-inflicted annihilation, they had at last taken pity upon them, and domesticated them.

Keeping mixed-gender stables of humans was a recipe for trouble, and so the males were put to work in the mines and fields hauling loads, kept isolated from the females and each other in cage-like stalls. And the females, more disciplined and less aggressive towards each other, proved receptive to saddle-breaking. A human girl - once suitably altered by a skilled apothecary - could be trained as a dutiful, intelligent mount, perfectly loyal to her master or mistress, highly responsive to commands.

The female mounts had proved more effective than anyone could have imagined. They began to be used for recreation as well as travel, sped on by the patronage of Princess Eledora herself, who enthusaistically broke her girls by her own hand and authored several papers on her methods of training and riding them. They could even be used in battle against their own uncivilised kin, where they added the long stride and bulky mass of a human to the skill of the elves, allowing elf warriors to match the only advantages that the barbaric raiders had.

Experiments became conventions. Conventions became traditions. Soon, few could imagine a time without human mounts. Elf culture had been enriched, and the human race had been saved. All agreed that a most wonderful thing had been done.