"Vika, I swear to you," Yakov's voice hit her ear the moment she landed. "You are too much trouble. Your father won't be happy about this. I stayed silent when you bought Pobeda for way too much money just because you didn't like her trainer—"
"They were ruining her, Yakov—"
"I stayed silent when you vehemently refused all of the mounts I brought you last year—"
"I wanted to focus on her."
"Vika, shut up." He growled out. "You know this is the dumbest thing you've ever done? You're not a child anymore and this is a human being, not a horse. You can't just pack up everything you have and move to another country. Pobeda's feed, did you even pack it? She'll have to transition over when you get there." The silence that met his ears told him that she'd not considered it.
"I packed enough for customs and her trip." Victoria said after her moment's hesitation.
"There better be enough leftover or she'll colic. You know she's sensitive." How could she be so stupid, Pobenka was her entire life these days. "You have her paperwork?"
"She boarded before I did, Yakov." Victoria promised. "I have all of her paperwork. She has her coggins. I have a copy of it in another bag in case. Plus, you have your copy at the farm if I need. You can send it—"
"I'm not helping you out of this one, Victoria." He stopped her and she winced. He was actually angry. "You've fucked up."
Hearing it from one of the only people's whose opinion actually mattered made her resolve falter a little bit.
"You aren't being totally unrealistic. Twenty-seven year olds take students all the time. You have no actual training in this, though. How do you think you're going to manage? Do you have connections in Japan to be flying horses left and right for competition? You can't trailer to America for WEG in a year. Be honest, do you have a plan? Do you even have a horse for this girl to ride?"
Yes. Because absolutely if she didn't she'd have given her Pobeda to show, but she'd secured three horses to look at by the time she'd landed.
"Yes."
"God help you." He hung up.
He'd actually hung up on her.
Her eyes watered and she bit her lip, worrying after him for a moment. Everything she'd found on the girl in the video pointed her in the direction of show jumping. The girl had never competed in dressage at an international level, but there she was. It was bad, it was choppy, but the basics were all there. Yuri had the capability, she had the seat and the posture. Certainly, she had some semblance of how to ask for certain things.
Snooping had brought her to the understanding that the horse in the video was retired from the international circuit at the age of thirteen, early for horses. She assumed that would mean it was an injury that caused the retirement, which would also explain the stiffness (though stiffness could be explained away by improper warm-up as well).
The door opened without need for a key, though she had been prepared for that. The internet was so useful for things, including providing information on Yuri's family business.
"Hello," Victoria tried, her accent sounding heavy to her own ears even. She hadn't used English in a while, she tended to keep to her own team or to people she could understand in Russian or French. "I'm here to see Yuri."
An older, middle-aged woman looked her up and down. A small smile played at her lips.
"I'm—"
"We have a room upstairs. Are you staying?" Victoria nodded, a little more embarrassed to hear her English was actually really pretty sounding, though maybe she was best with simple phrases she would have to use frequently with guests. She low-key hoped it was the latter, she traveled internationally frequently enough that her own English should probably be better than it was.
"At least for the night." At least until I get my horse through customs.
"And you wanted to see Yuri?" That was the goal. Victoria nodded with a smile. "She is at the barn right now. I can give you directions? Or you can use a phone and I can put in the address? I have it written down somewhere around here." The woman busied herself with a small book that she pulled out of seemingly nowhere before nodding and holding out her hand. Victoria handed over her phone willingly. The confused expression on the other's face is the only thing that clued her in to the problem, her phone was set in Russian. Easy enough to fix. Taking it back, she hurried to add an extra keyboard and open the map application directly, readying it to have an address input.
"There you are." She smiled warmly at the blonde before seeing her off.
It was a walk, it took forty-five minutes with long legs and a brisk pace. Finally she was staring at a relatively understated stable. It was smaller than the yard back home, but much smaller than the national headquarters she had been riding at only two days prior. She strode straight in, listening to disgruntled snorts by horses who recognized her as a new-comer.
"Shh," She held up a hand to the hindquarters of a pony on the cross ties. It was chestnut and shaggy with an untamed pony mane and looked at her with a slightly agitated expression. "Hey, little guy."
A decidedly human gasp met her ears.
"Hello?" She winced at her own voice again, it would take some getting used to. She spotted the origin of the sound standing a few meters away. A curry comb in her trembling hand. She was small, only a young child, and probably shouldn't have been grooming a horse on her own. Victoria had to smile at the thought, how many times had Yakov scolded her as a child for coming to the yard alone, unsupervised. "Hello." She tried again.
"H-h-hello." Victoria held onto a hope that the little girl knew English well enough to not get herself into trouble.
"Is this your pony?"
A nod.
"He is very, very handsome."
Another nod.
Maybe, maybe she didn't understand. The child scurried away in a hurry and Victoria sighed, she hoped the girl had run to find an adult—preferably the one she had come here for.
Whispering met her ears and she looked up again. There were three of them now, all almost perfectly identical, and staring at her.
"Hello, my name is—" They were off again, back down the aisle. Victoria looked at the pony with confusion in her own eyes now. "This is harder than I thought."
But really, had she thought of it at all?
A chorus of "mom" met the ears of the three young adults in the indoor. Seconds later, three young girls stumbled and tripped through the door in a rush.
"Call door before you enter!" A man snapped at them sternly.
"Yes, dad, but—"
"You three are supposed to be grounded, what are you doing here?" Yuuko frowned, walking towards them. The triplets had been scolded for posting the video of Yuri online. For an equestrian video, it had managed to go unexpectedly viral across the horse-world. Yuri had been…lightly panicked but the damage didn't seem too bad. Most people didn't know who she was anyways, not in the past year at least. "Go back home, if I see that the pony has been out of his stall in the slightest—"
"But, mom!" All three, perfect synchronization.
"No buts!"
"Mom, that rider is here!" Capriole shouted.
"The one with the silver horse that won the Olympics!" Courbette explained.
"The one that qualified for Bejiing when she was eighteen!" Levade whined, adding as an afterthought, "I don't get why that was a big deal. The games didn't open until she was 19 anyways—"
"Victoria Nikiforova!" Capriole finished. "She's outside!"
Silence met their outburst. Yuri had halted the moment the girls had run in, by C at the far end of the arena. Yuuko was sitting on a mounting block just left of center and her husband stood by her.
"Nikiforova is in Russia." Their father finally laughed.
"No! No, she's here!" They insisted, grabbing onto their parents' hands while Courbette pulled out a phone from her pocket. "Look! I took a picture!"
"I hope you asked permission." Yuuko frowned at her and her husband looked amused. "If it really is her, they should be polite at the least."
"Dver!" A distinctly feminine voice called before a head poked around the corner. "Hello!"
"Holy shit." Yuri whispered, eyes wide.
She was a distance away and, stupidly enough, without her glasses but she could still recognize the long, almost white hair and she could imagine bright, icy blue eyes. She couldn't really tell if Victoria was smiling, but her voice sounded friendly enough.
"You know who I am," Victoria put her hands on her hips. "Considering you borrowed one of my musical freestyles. Good job, by the way, for someone who obviously has not competed at any decent level in dressage."
Yuri grimaced and Yuuko looked taken aback.
Victoria blinked.
"I need to warm up, my English is not always great. I am right? You do not compete in dressage? Definitely never Grand Prix?"
"Is she insulting me under the guise of not knowing English?" Yuri asked Yuuko softly after letting Alchemy walk over to her.
"Yes?"
"I came to help." Victoria stepped forward, offering a hand up to to shake the other woman's. "I am not sure why you chose to borrow a freestyle, it defeats the purpose and it is not like this is dance or something where borrowing choreography is typical. It was hard to watch your lead changes. This horse was trained in dressage, from what I found out? Yes, he should not be doing hunter changes then. You are asking wrong."
"You came to help?" Yuri asked. Victoria raised an eyebrow, isn't that what she had just said? "Help with what?"
"Your horse is lame." Victoria said, as if it was obvious. Yuri nodded slowly, eyes still wide with confusion and surprise. "You need a horse. I have a prospect. Welcome to Grand Prix, we need to fix your lead changes." She looked the other girl up and down. "And your calves. You are a bit of a…we will put you on a diet."
Yuri stood, silent in shock.
"You can finish your ride, I will watch." The Russian smiled when Yuri leaned down to finally take her hand and shake it. "Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we have three horses to look at."
It was obvious nothing was going to get done with Victoria's eyes on her. Everything Yuri did, the other woman's expression was completely blank. The only time she had spoken was to call out and ask if Yuri was really a jumper because "you keep looking at the ground."
It took her all of fifteen minutes to decide to hop off and give it a break.
"He is handsome," Victoria said finally, patting Alchemy's neck as Yuri dismounted. "I prefer mares, but he is ok. Definitely soundness issues, no surprise he retired. His muscle has," A pause and the next word came out like a question after she checked her phone, "Atrophied so maybe that is why," She paused and looked at Yuri now that the other woman was on her own two feet. Jodphurs definitely should not be as loose as they were on her. "Then again, so have yours…I have my work cut out for me." She offered a cheerful smile, her cheeks dimpling and rounding to cause her eyes to squint so much Yuri wondered whether they were even still open.
Yuri glanced down at her own pants with a blush.
"Do you eat?"
Blunt.
"Yes."
"Weird." Victoria took the other woman's hand in her own. She laced their fingers together and gestured to the horse. "Bring him. Untack him."
There was a horrible sinking sensation in Yuri's stomach when she realized that Victoria was staying at the springs. There weren't many rooms as it were, but her mother suggesting that Victoria room with her was ridiculous. Yuri hadn't been back home in years, she didn't really know consciously what was still in there in terms of incriminating evidence. There were ribbons everywhere, that she knew. Her mother hung up every single one that she sent home. It had actually come to the point where Yuri considered not picking them up from the office (most riders her age and status didn't choose to bring home ribbons anyways) but she felt guilty not having something in her hands to send her mother and she didn't always place high enough to get trophies or silver plates.
"Fuck me," She mumbled, quickly yanking down a few pages from Beijing. The last thing she needed was Victoria seeing them. Equestrians weren't really used to fanatics and most young riders in high rated circuits would meet those they looked up to fairly early. "What else do I have that shouldn't be up?"
Well, more things from Beijing, certainly. 2008 wasn't the first time Yuri had seen Victoria, they had actually competed at the same venues on a few occasions or at least been at the same shows (being in different disciplines meant sometimes one of them was just there to cheer on stable mates). It was just the first time she'd actually gotten a glimpse into the other woman's life and they were only a few years apart in age. Yuri had set the goal for herself to qualify in the next Olympics but had missed the team by a few points.
"This is your room?" The accent was lighter than it had been earlier, and even at dinner. When Yuri turned around, Victoria smiled. "Pretty. Are these all yours?" Yuri nodded as the other woman inspected the shelves. "You have some training." She said softly, fingertips brushing over ribbons from local dressage shows in her youth. They stopped on the nameplate.
"My apologies," Victoria said suddenly. "This looks new. Was he old?"
Yuri nodded, tears threatening to spill over.
"My childhood pony was my best friend. It is hard to see them go." She whispered, staring at the name a little longer before smiling again and turning around. Victoria sat herself dead center on the floor and looked up expectantly at the younger woman. "We should get to know each other, before I start putting you on various horses."
"I have a mattress for her, unless you would like to share your futon?" Yuri looked up in surprise as her mother opened the door to her room. "Up to you, let your father know what you decide."
"She's staying in here?"
Victoria looked between the two, confused. Maybe she should consider learning some Japanese while she was here...
"She's one of your friends." Yuri's mother frowned.
"I'm not eight, this isn't a sleepover! Mom! MOM!" She called, stepping towards the door her mother left through. "Ok. It could be worse."
She had cleaned up any incriminating evidence.
"What kind of canter do you like?" Victoria brought her back to the moment. "When was your last ride without stirrups? Do you know how to do a lead change right? Is there a book of your old score sheets around here somewhere? Any boyfriends I should know about? Past boyfriends? Girlfriends—"
"Something smooth that covers ground, but I could care less so long as the transition is good. Before we retired Dima. I know how to do lead changes, I don't know why you say they're wrong. I don't think I have my dressage scores, I was probably thirteen at the last dressage show I did. How are those questions relevant?" Yuri fires off in just as rapid succession.
"I need to know things about you so I can make you tick."
"Stuff like that is private." Yuri mumbled, crossing her arms and sitting back down on her mattress. "And irrelevant."
"This is like a girls' night!" Victoria rolled her eyes. "We can just share things!" Silence. "Well we can talk about me! So there was—"
Oh god this was going to be a long night.
Surprisingly, it wasn't. Victoria was blinking sleep back from her eyes only half an hour later and then was dozed off, clutching at her pillow. Yuri wasn't tired, too anxious to be tired really, and tried her hardest not to watch the other woman. The bed was big enough, they didn't have to touch at all, solved some discomfort.
As much as she was trying not to look, Yuri noticed Victoria was restless in her sleep. For someone who seemed so content and animated through her day, she didn't seem to be even remotely content in her sleep. She wondered what had the other woman's face screwed up in a frown and framed by silvery hair.
"Again," Victoria called. Despite this being the fourth attempt at a leg yield off the wall, she didn't sound irritated in the slightest. "Don not let him stop!"
Yuri was panting and all but literally clutching her side.
"This is a school pony," Victoria frowned, thoughtful finger to her lip when she turned towards the owner. "He does not move well off the leg and she cannot carry a whip."
"He listens to voice—"
"She will lose marks for that." Victoria shook her head. "Off, he is not working. Do you have a walker here or can a groom do it?"
"You still use hot walkers in Russia?" Yuri blinked in surprise.
Victoria cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"They can be really dangerous." Yuri explained. "We have one but it isn't electric and we don't use it."
Victoria did actually know that, it's why she chose to walk Pobeda herself normally. It didn't mean that her stables didn't have one.
"I can walk her." The owner sighed.
"Next horse." Victoria nodded, taking the third horse she'd found by the reins.
It took Yuri fifteen minutes to regain any semblance of control. The stallion moved off her leg easier than she expected.
"He's gentle," Victoria commented in approval.
Yuuko said something in quick Japanese and the owner replied.
"He says he has the heart of a gelding." Yuri commented as she passed. "Oh—"
Victoria laughed at Yuri's surprised response to the sudden passage she had asked for.
"You really don't know upper level movements." She commented. "That's not how you ask for a trot, you asked too hard."
This one was good. It would take work, but he and Yuri looked pretty together. They were already connecting. Her seat was tight but not rigid or stiff. It was natural, it flowed.
"What is his name?" Victoria watched the canter closely, a small smile on her lips. This one was it.
"Hikami de." Yuuko called from the side, grinning and bouncing with excitement.
Victoria pursed her lips in distaste at the lead change Yuri asked for, confident the horse was better than that.
"On Ice." Yuri said breathlessly, using everything in her to keep the stallion collected as she circled 20m around Victoria.
"If you win the FEI worlds this year, I will buy you this horse." Victoria said seriously, watching his legs. They would need a vet to be sure, but he looked fine. She brought her gaze back up to smile at the younger woman. "Yuri, it looks like you're going to be on ice this year."
Hikami's eyes were wide when Yuri suddenly halted, tears in her eyes.
"What should we call him around the barn?"
There was a moment's hesitation.
"Hika." Yuri said finally.
"Hika." Victoria nodded, grin still wide on her face. "Welcome to Grand Prix."
