A/n: Yay, second chapter! I understand some of you may be like: Is she really writing about this? WHO CARES?! Its just a bit of an explination story to another story that I have in mind, so don't worry, not all my stories will be westernish. PLEASE REVIEW!! And thank you to those who did. ^^ Al always, read enjoy and review.
Disclaimer in chapter one.
~Raven
That night, after a filling dinner and chat around the table, Mitena showed Ghastly to his room. He had only brought two bags with him, but they were good sized. She led him into the living area and up the old and creaking stairs. Several pictures of horses and country singers lined the hall that she turned into, immediately taking a left into a nice sized bedroom with a queen sized bed pushed up against the wall and facing a window, allowing the user of the bed to see out over the pasture.
"Welcome to your temporary home, Mr. Bespoke." she said, smiling and setting down his bags on the bed.
"Please, call me Ghastly." he smiled back; looking around the room, there was a wardrobe to the left next to a white wooden door. "What's in there?" he asked, pointing to it.
She pressed the old-fashioned handle and allowed the door to swing open. She allowed him in first, and he marveled at the difference in size. This room was only about six wide by twelve feet long, and yet there was a small bed and wardrobe the right hand corners of the room. Pictures of the horses on the ranch as well as others were posted around the room and on a cork board directly in front of them were about fifteen different colored ribbons, eight of them a royal blue.
Gazing at the awards he asked; "Is this your room?" she nodded.
"What are these all for?" he pointed to the blue ones.
Mitena looked away, a little embarrassed. "Barrel racing mostly," she said, moving next to him and pointing to the three in the middle. "These are for bull riding though, but that was about ten years ago, when we still had our bull, Torrent." She turned back to him, changing the subject. "I hope you don't mind our rooms are connected. It's a small house, and the only rooms that aren't connected are my brothers and fathers."
He shook his head, "It's not a problem." He looked at his watch, the time showed at about quarter after eight, and outside a half moon peered in through the window in Mitena's room.
She sighed, "It's getting late and we have an early start tomorrow. You should get some sleep. There's an alarm clock on the top of the night stand on the far side of the bed. If you can, set it for whatever time you need so that you have enough time to have woken up, gotten dressed and eaten breakfast by six thirty so we can get out feed." he nodded and went back into what was now his room.
"Where is the bathroom?" he asked, moving to his bags and pulling out a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Mitena walked into the hall and turned left, stopping at the end of the hall where there was a closed door in front of her and to her left and right. She tuned to him and pointed to the door that was on his right. "This is Gavin's room," she pointed at the door at the end of the hall, "this is Marcus's room," and she opened the remaining door, revealing the bathroom, "and here is the bathroom."
"Thanks." He said as she smiled and walked past him. His eyes followed her down the hall before he moved into the bathroom. It was small, with a newer glass-box stand-up shower in the corner. He moved to the sink and brushed his teeth, thinking about what was in store for tomorrow. He had never ridden a horse before and something told him it would take a while for him to get to the same level or even close to the same level as Mitena. He finished, gathering his things and moving back into the other room. He dug through his bag and found his sleeping pants, closed the door then changed into them. A knock on the door startled him, and he pushed it open slowly.
Mitena stood before him, dressed in her sleeping garb; a purple sleeveless shirt and purple woman's boxers. Her face flushed pink a little as she looked away from him, scurrying into her room and before closing the door, muttering, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." He muttered back, moving to the alarm clock and setting it to go off at five thirty. He closed the door to the hallway and turned off the light before crawling into bed to attempt sleep.
~X~
Ghastly awoke to the soft beeping of the alarm, and as he reached over and turned it off, he became conscious of the weight on his lower legs. He propped himself up and laughed as Tulum looked up at him from his legs with a sleepy face. The serpent shook its head, causing the green feathers on the back of his head to shake wildly. It stuck its tongue out at Ghastly and then slithered off the bed into Mitena's open room.
Ghastly pushed himself off the bed, bringing one of his bags off of the floor and removing a pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt from it from it. He changed, wishing that he could be in one of his suits, but Marcus had advised him that the West was no place for business men.
So at about six, he walked down the stairs to see a plate of waffles positioned in the middle of the table next to a bottle of syrup. Mitena looked up from her own plate, which had a few remaining pieces of two waffles lightly coated in syrup. She smiled as he entered, pulling out the chair across from her and sitting down.
"Buenos dias! Good morning Ghastly, did you sleep well?" she asked, taking an apple from a fruit dish at the far end of the table and setting it next to her plate.
"Good, actually, Tulum must have wandered in some time last night; he was on my feet this morning." He replied, forking a waffle onto his plate and buttering it.
Mitena chuckled, "He does that, he's like a scaly cat."
When he finished, Mitena took their dishes to the sink, rinsing off the plates then putting the extra food away. She grabbed the apple before heading outside.
They both left out the kitchen door, Ghastly with his hat on and Mitena with her hair pulled into a pony-tail again. The sun was already slightly above the horizon as they crossed the dirt drive-way to the weathered stable. Whinny's echoed throughout the twelve-stalled corridor, and Mitena explained that her father and brother brought all the horses in the night before.
She stopped at the end of the corridor, where she opened up a big sliding door, allowing a cool morning breeze the play with the loose bits of hay on the ground in front of both the door and several large stacks of hay.
A small bag hung from a nail on the side of the small hay loft, and Mitena removed it. She opened the bag and pulled out a small pocket knife, replacing the still open bag back on the nail. Unfolding the knife, she cut the two strings that bound the hay together and tossed them aside. After refolding the knife and placing it in her pocket, she turned to face Ghastly.
"Each horse gets about three pounds of hay now and three tonight. They'll eat their lunch in the pasture. Then they get two scoopfuls of grain- seven and a half pounds." She explained. Ghastly nodded and pointed to the apple she set down on a different bale. "Who's that for?" he asked.
She picked it up and tossed it to him. "For the time you're here, you'll train with two horses; the horse you choose now, then Blizzard. When you choose the horse you wish to train with, give them that apple, as a sign of trust. You can do that now if you'd like, I'll get started feeding."
He smiled, "Alright."
"Oh, and I suggest not taking Poison or Ender. Stallions are definitely not beginner horses." She called after him as he began browsing the stalls.
"Got it." He called back, looking at the sir name plates on the horse's stalls. Along his right were Apple, Ender, Thunder, Eagle and Lea. He turned around at the end, looking at the name plates again. Typhoon, Fleck, Blaze, Poison, and Blizzard. He went back to Fleck, Inspecting the mare between the bars of her stalls door and wall. She turned to face him, looking at him with big brown eyes.
The brown paint horse had a white stripe on its face and was covered with splotches and splatters of white. She gave a low, almost purring sound with her ears turned towards him, and he smiled. Slowly, he reached the hand without the apple through the bars, and the mare lowered its head a little, allowing him to pet her nose.
Mitena came down to him with a bale of hay in her arms. "Good choice, she seems to like you already." She said, setting down the bale and cutting the straps. She took the halter and lead rope that were hanging with the horses reins on a peg beneath its nameplate. She opened the door to Fleck's stall, closing it slightly behind her before pulling the halter over Flecks head and tying the lead rope to one of the bars on the wall. She opened the door again and moved to the hay bale, separating a few subsections from the bale. "Put that apple down for a second and take this in to Fleck." She said.
Ghastly did as he was told, putting the apple on the ground and taking the hay. Cautiously, he entered the stall. Fleck raised her head to look at him and swiveled her ears forward. He placed the hay in the blue plastic bucket in front of her and she graciously began eating. He smiled a little then walked back out. Mitena returned from Eagle's stall, who was also eating happily.
"Will you choose her?" She asked a smile on her face as she picked the apple up off the ground.
He nodded. "I will, she seems like a great horse. Do I just give her the apple?"
Mitena shook her head. "These horses have been raised in a way that they will trust those who say and do certain thing. It's something that my brother and I remember from our tribe. If you wish to train with her you must repeat what I say then give her the apple. Still want to do it?"
Ghastly paused, then nodded again, taking the apple then moving back into the stall.
"Since I have said this to her already, she will ignore me. But once you begin, she will stop eating to listen. I'll translate what to say, but you must say it in Spanish, she doesn't recognize it in any other way. Now repeat: Caballo, su majestad y la belleza son igualadas por ningún otro animal."
(Horse, your majesty and beauty are matched by no other animal.)
Ghastly repeated it, with some trouble, but Fleck still looked up.
Mitena continued, "Un vínculo de confianza entre nosotros nos beneficiaría a ambos en gran medida."
(A bond of trust between us would benefit us both greatly.)
As Ghastly repeated, Fleck cocked her head a little.
"Soy un estudiante, y desea entrenar con usted. Usted puede aceptar o no."
(I am a student, and wish to train with you. You may decline or accept.)
After Ghastly was done, Fleck straightened her head then shook it up and down, causing the chain on her lead rope to jingle.
Mitena laughed. "She has accepted! Now, tell her this: Gracias, Espíritu amable. Voy a cuidar de ti y te tratan con mucho respeto."
(Thank you, kind spirit. I will care for you and treat you with much respect.)
Ghastly repeated it, then handed the horse the apple. She took it and devoured it. She took a step towards Ghastly, and nudged his chest. He laughed and patted Fleck's muzzle. He left the stall and looked to Mitena, who was smiling widely. "You did great! When we're done feeding, she'll be happy to let you ride her."
