Howdy ya'll! Golly I missed writing.... Uh, never mind. I would love to
thank Raquel and Prime Rib Panda Bear (PRPB) thanx you guys for reviewing.
You know, since I had to beg these two at school, then annoy, then
threaten, to r/r, that doesn't say a lot. Please oh please read and review.
I get lonely.......
Disclaimer: Is this absolutely necessary? You and I know both know that no one can surpass the genius of Tamora and the fantasy worlds her magic creates. I am never going to be 1/ 1 millionth as good as she is, even at her worst (I'm implying nothing- she really has no level of bad) but I did create a few characters, which you know of. I will introduce a few others new to you, in later chaps naturally. Later~
Chapter Five: Falcon's Fall
Sometime, a while after dinner, Ema came by to fetch the triplets. Willow was gently grooming a beastly looking stallion. She cooed to him like a mother to a child and caressed his nose. He snorted at her and tried to bite.
"Miss Willow-" Ema started.
"Ema-"
"Right- Willow. Willow, why are you speaking to him that way?" meaning the horse.
"I'm trying to show him that I am his friend, NOT enemy. He seems to get the two confused." She motioned to a large bite mark on her forearm. That's also when Ema noticed a gash on the other girl's forehead.
"You're bleeding!"
"Huh?" Willow wearily asked, then realized her face was throbbing. "Oh- that. Must have gotten that when I was thrown the second, no, third time."
"Thrown?"
"I get to break in this brute."
Ema nodded understanding, but started looking around for River all the same.
"River is with Stefan somewhere." Willow saw her gaze around and knew what was on her mind. She put two fingers to her hairline and winced. She drew them away and saw that they were cloaked in crimson blood. She sighed and looked at Fall. "You'll be the death of me." He whinnied, as if in mutual agreement.
"I'm not looking for River." Ema replied, indignant.
"Please, I'm not blind." 'Far from it even.' She said, then thought with a sigh.
"Fine. Anyway," Ema said uncomfortable and changing the subject. "Did you make any friends today, besides the four-legged kind?"
"A blue jay flew in and watched me for a while."
"And they can't have feathers." Ema growled, frustrated with my female companion.
"Well, River and Wind get on with everyone pretty well, except Kit. I haven't seen her this morning now that I think about it. She's not very social. Bowen and I don't, um, mix well, but Brock and I get on ok. He showed me what I was doing wrong on the bridal Fall broke."
"Huh?"
"This is Falcon's Fall. He broke a bridal this morning and I was trying to fix it but was using the wrong tool. Plus the bit was still bent."
Ema raised her eyebrows, impressed. It's not everyday that you meet a horse that can bend a steel bit in its teeth.
"Where's Wind?"
"Last I saw of THAT brother, he was joking around with Brock. Let's put Fall away for the night, and then hunt them down." She tousled the stallions' mane and led them down rows of stalls until she stopped the group in front of a stall in shabbier appearance. There were hoof dents and the hay in the net bags they put up, it was torn down and the hay strewn all over the floor. His water trough was overturned as well, so before she could put the horse up, Willow begrudgingly cleaned the mess. Stefan had shown her the way to it at lunch (which consisted of a few apples), as well as the closest places to get fresh water, hay, where to get brooms and such, and all other necessities for the stall. She remembered that she'd have to bolt (with lock and key!) in the creature.
Ema stood by, offering assistance every once in a while, only to be politely refused.
Willow put the key on a hook, dusted off her messy hands, and smiled, a bit over-optimistically.
"So who are this Brock and this Bowen?" Ema inquired as they began their search for Willow's brothers. Willow knew she could find them, no problem, and get done in a tenth of the time. But, alas, she had the company of Ema, so she was reduced to physically looking, instead of magically.
"Brock is pretty nice. Like I told you, he helped me with Fall's busted bridle. Gods he sure is hard to talk to though."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Willow said as she turned around the corner as a spur of the moment, last possible second decision, leaving Ema momentarily turned around, "that he is just so gods blessed TALL. The only person who could look him in the eye would be Master Numair, that or a giant." She sighed and paused for a moment. "He sure is sweet though."
"Sounds as if someone has a crush on the giant man-boy!" Ema teased her as she had been teased.
"No, not really. But you wanna know what really........ irks me?" she passionately asked, forced to find a word that was polite enough for the other girls taste. She gave her no time to respond before she answered her own question. "That arrogant, self congratulatory, know-it-all, head hostler's son! 'Never turn ye back on a unbroken stallion.' The nerve! Like I don't know that? And the way he looks at you, criticizing your every move ..... I'm fifteen you know, and just as capable as River or Wind!" She threw her arms in the air exasperated. She then turned to face her new friend, stopping them both, and kept jabbering about the "pompous, sorry excuse for a human who should have been drowned at birth" for a few more minutes, paused when she heard a nearby "THUD", and then kept going on with the insults and complaints as a smile crept slowly onto Ema's face. She tried to smother the continuous laughter until tears began to appear on her cheeks.
Willow was perplexed, looked at her strangely, then went on to say, "And to top it all off, he believes he is the Gods gift to the world, and then River and Wind think those idiotic jokes and remarks are hilarious.... he's behind me isn't he?"
When Ema doubled over, laughing harder than she ever had before, nodding her head, gasping because her sides ached so much, Willow clenched her eyes shut and then turned ever so slowly.
When she opened her eyes, first one, then the other, she was eye level with a manly Adam's apple. Without moving her head, she looked up into his face with just her eyes, to see him looking down at her in the same fashion. His eyebrow was cocked again, in that smug way of his, and a one sided smile caressed his lips.
He said nothing, but waited for her to speak. When she just stared at him blankly, he decided to break one of the most amusing silences he'd ever encountered.
"Ye do a TERRIBLE impression of me."
"Well I didn't know I had an audience." was the snappy come back.
"Well ye shouldn' of done it in the firs' place, should ye? Insultin' a fellow worker on the firs' day- tsk tsk."
"For you, I believe an exception stands in that rule."
"Oh- ouch. This filly bites." He smirked, clearly enjoying this. Her glanced at something near her hairline. "Ye know yer bleedin', don't ye?"
"Yes, I ran into a fence."
"Now why would ye do tha'?"
"It wasn't exactly voluntary."
"Meanin'-"
"Fall threw me into it." He nodded.
"Beastly tha' one."
She shrugged. "He's not so bad once you get used to flying." This made him chuckle.
There was another awkward silence for a few moments, until Willow remembered what she had said about him, most of which she still believed was true.....most.
"Well aren't ye gonna apologize?"
"What for?" she demanded. "I have a right to an opinion too! You know, I thought this was Tortall- men and women equal, unlike.....other places." She caught herself. 'Close one Willow- watch it!'
"But ye hurt me tender feelins'!" He exclaimed, not really meaning it, just trying to get a rise out of her.
"No I didn't. You have to have a heart to have feelings."
'Ok Willow- TOO FAR!' a little part of her mind mentally scolded when she saw the reaction her words had on him, showing in his eyes.
Instead of apologizing right then and there, like she SHOULD have done, she frantically looked at Ema, grabbing her by the arm and forcefully drug her away to where Wind may be, leaving a rather hurt Bowen standing in the straw.
Once they had gotten a few rows away, Ema pulled willow into an empty stall and whirled her around face to face.
Willow wouldn't look her in the eyes, but stared intently at the floor.
Ema was ready to scold, but saw that Willows conscience had taken care of that.
She took a deep breath to compose herself, then said, "You and I both know that you weren't the.... KINDEST person to him, and no doubt you had reasons, but Willow- really? Heartless?"
"I...I don't know why I said that, or why it came out that way, but I didn't mean it."
"You could of least have apologized."
"NO! I mean I didn't know how to- apologize for that, I mean. You don't get it- that was the first time I really said what I wanted, when I wanted. I took myself by surprise, then the look on his face..."
Ema sighed. "Well I'd steer clear of him for as long as humanly possible."
"Oh- I plan on it." She grabbed her own wrist, and old nervous habit, then yelped when she discovered yet another bruise. "Let's just go find my brothers. I need to get some sleep. Maybe then I can be myself." Ema considered this, nodded, and together they resumed the search for Wind.
Bowen stood dumbfounded. She'd said he didn't have a heart, didn't have feelings. He'd gotten some pretty foul things said to and about him before, but he'd always been able to laugh them off. Why did it matter so much now? Well, he'd never been called heartless before, for one thing.
Soberly, he climbed a nearby loft ladder and smiled the tiniest bit at Kit, who was close by.
Bowen was the only person Kit really talked to, outside of working. Naturally, she was furious at the one person who could make her only friend look like that.
"You're gonna let her talk to you like that, the little-"
"She 'as a right to 'er opinion, Kit."
"That wasn't an opinion- it was an insult!" Kit roared, outraged.
Bowen was just silent.
Kit stormed to another part of the loft- HER part of the loft, to decide what to do about this, this Willow.
"And there was this shapely brunette near Persopolis, and a blonde with ALL the right curves in, oh...., I forget, but there was this other brunette at- "
"Ahem."
Wind was talking with Brock. They sat on two old apple crates and Wind regaled his companion with tales of the pretty lasses he noticed at EVERY stop.
Willow and Ema got a bit tired of hearing about voluptuous ladies, so Willow decided to let their presence know.
Wind turned around at his interruption, then seeing it was only his sister, and Ema, he relaxed.
"Hello, brother dear." Willow said over-sweetly.
"Want do you want?" he demanded. Brock stared at the two girls.
"Oh- sorry. Brock, Ema. Ema, Brock. Look Windbag," Willow used the nick- name she dubbed him, years before. "I'm tired, unbelievably sore-"
"And bleeding!" Wind exclaimed when he saw a drop of blood run down her cheekbone.
"She raised both her eyebrows in mock surprise and said with an insulting grin, "Hey, took you long enough! I'll care for it later. Anyway, as I WAS saying, I would like to take a bath, since I can do that now. Help me find River so we can search for the room."
"He's with Stefan somewhere."
"Wow! How'd you come to THAT glorious conclusion?" Willow exclaimed sarcastically "Now- can we go find Stefan?"
Wind finally picked up on her grouchiness. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he stood up.
During all of this Brock hadn't said a word, just nodded at Ema when he was introduced. Now, he stared at Willow again, memorizing HER curves, they way her curls shook when she spoke. How he longed to mend her wounds, for, if unknown to her, she also had a bad gash on her right thigh, as her breeches glistened with blood there too. How badly he just wanted to make her pain go away, make her happy.... 'Snap out of it Brock! You've known her only a day!' he mentally scolded himself.
Willow saw Brock shaking his head, snapping out of his trance he was in and turned her head to look at him.
Now all he did was stare at the floor because he could feel her gaze upon him.
He kept debating in his conscience and made the decision to say something, so he lifted his head.
They had left.
He rested his chin in his hands and sighed. 'Doofus!' that part of his mind yelled at him.
Stefan released River from work when he noticed a maidservant had come to retrieve them. Plus River no longer concentrated on pitching hay for him after his siblings and the pretty girl walked up.
He sent his three newest workers off to sleep, thinking about all the work done that day. Daine and Numair were right. They did very well, especially that Willow. Look at all the work she managed with Fall today!
And that name- Falcon's Fall. If there isn't a story behind that, then he would in turn his stables and eat Bowen for breakfast.
They had a past that, with perseverance and luck, he could hopefully coax out of them. They were a lot like that mustang, yet to be broken into people like the ones you find in Corus. All he wanted out of the horse was to make friends and build a trust- the same with those kids.
He stopped being thankful and started calling Kit, Brock, and his son to dinner. They'd trounce over to the kitchen and beg something off a cook.
When Willow, River, Wind started leading the way to the room. Ema laughed and asked where they'd learned to go THAT way.
"Daine and Numair took us this way."
"Shows. Come, follow me." She led them though a door and down a hallway. She turned the first left they came to and ended up two doors away from their room.
She explained that Daine and Numair were practical jokers of a sort and loved doing that to stuffy nobles. "They get them lost in the catacombs all night and are too tired the next day and will sign any treaty shoved under their noses. The King finds it quite handy, not to mention a riot."
"Well, why did they do it to us?" Ema shrugged.
"Maybe they just wanted some amusement."
They weren't sure they liked being the butt of a joke like that, but since they hadn't slept in two days, they weren't going to carp over it.
There was a bit of an argument concerning baths between siblings.
Willow insisted they all start bathing every day. River didn't care, but Wind ranted about it being unhealthy.
"Nonsense, everyone at the palace bathes everyday- well, MOST everyone." Ema crinkled up her nose at the memory of a certain smelly kitchen boy who liked to follow her around while she worked when they were younger.
"Plus since we work around horses every day now, I won't share the bed with you if you smell. You'll sleep on the floor while River and I share the FEATHER mattress." She emphasized "feather" to strike Winds interest. Willow and her brothers had never slept on anything softer than a wood floor with about a quarter inch of scattered hay on it. They were all anxious to try out one of the softest things available, even if they had to share.
Begrudgingly, Wind obeyed. They all enjoyed (some more than others) a nice, hot bath and then went to bed, not even caring about the Dinner Ema set out for them.
They groggily awoke, but still sooooo much better than before. They ate their cold leftover rolls from the night before, plus all of the fruit Ema brought them that morning.
They hurried down to the stables to get an early start, nut found everyone but Brock already awake and working.
"Aye- yer here." Stefan said. "Good. Wind, ye go see Bowen an' star' helpin' 'im. 'E's in the loft. River, wake Brock, then finish wha' ye were doin' las' night. Willow, go feed an' water Fall. Clean 'is stall an' tie 'im up in one of the exercise rings. Mend them two bridles since ye did such a fine job yesterday. Then work wiv' the stallion. The bridals are on tha' workbench."
They set off on their different directions to start their days work, River trudging out to the other end of the stables, Wind climbing a nearby loft ladder, and Willow hurrying off to start with Fall.
When she reached the brutes stall, she smelled something bitter, and noticed that he was incredibly restless, more so than normal, but she disregarded it.
She opened his door slightly and heard a creaking noise above her. She looked up towards the noises source and opened the door wider at the same time, just to witness a bucket come crashing down, hitting her forehead wound from yesterday. She screamed.....
Bowen seemed a more depressed than he was yesterday, which was puzzling. Wind didn' know what to do, so he started to tell bad jokes, hoping to stir his interest and make the work less tedious.
He thought a smile on Bowen's face when he finished reciting a silly (and bit naughty) limerick he heard on the road with the caravan, but was interrupted by a crash from downstairs followed by a familiar scream.
"Willow!" Wind exclaimed, swing down from some open rafters, ignoring the ladder directly be his foot. He flew in the direction of her cry, never once noticing Bowen at his heels, until he was passed, that is. They ended up in front of Falls stall and saw Willow frantically locking the stall door back in place. Fall was bucking and kicking to get out.
"Wha' 'happened?" Bowen asked.
"Did he hurt you?" Wind asked seeing the blood gushing down her forehead, into her eyes, and then reached out to examine it.
She batted his touch away, and wiped her face with her hand and brought it away bloody. She scowled in disgust.
"No, he is just excited because I have horse urine all over me. SOMEONE rigged a bucket to fall and shower me in it."
"That wouldn't explain the feistiness in Fall." Wind said thoughtfully. "Besides the fact that he is already feisty."
"I know wha' would." Bowen spoke up. "One of the females aroun' 'ere is in heat. Tha' would explain 'is behavior." Willow sat down on the wooden, hay- strewn floor rather hard.
"Great! And I get to work with him all day, smelling like this!" she brought her hand up to scratch he nose and got a good whiff of herself. She crinkled her nose and wiped her forehead again, wincing.
"At least people will leave you alone, well, except for the stallions." Winds feeble attempt at humor just made and she started to cry. "Oh, come on Willow, I didn't mean that." He got down the ground next to her, trying not to get any of the yellow liquid on him, and tried to put his arm around her, but failed since the smell was so strong.
Fall was still kicking the door, trying to get at the female in heat. The smell was so near, after all.
"I just want to know WHO did it! Did either of you see someone near here?" she eyed them suspiciously, tears rolling down her cheeks, making tracks in the smeared blood on her face.
They frantically shook their heads. She sighed.
'I'll probably never find out though I still suspect Bowen.' She thought, looking straight at him as he exchanged the stare. 'No doubt he's still mad at me from yesterday.'
That actually was the opposite of what he felt, though, not quite what he thought. 'She probably thinks I did it because she thinks I'm mad at her, no doubt.' He thought this with a sigh, never breaking the eye contact.
Before she knew what was happening, Wind had lifted her to her feet (he really doesn't know his own strength sometimes!) and was dragging her away to get cleaned up. They had to break the contact once Wind guided her around a corner, yet she still "saw" him, kneeling on the rank floor, then stand and start to clean up, tossing aside the reeking bucket.
Bowen had sat on the filthy ground, and was staring into her eyes- they were so deep he could get lost in them forever... What was he doing?
He got up and figured, since it would have to be done anyway, and Willow wasn't here to do it, he might as well clean the mess. He picked up the extremely smelly bucket and tossed it aside.
After mopping up the urine and putting new hay down, he cautiously opened Falls door and got him to calm down, earning him multiple bruises and bites for his efforts. He cleaned the stall and watered the frisky paint, wondering HOW willow was going to break this fiend, especially smelling like she did today.
Putting Fall outside in an exercise ring by a water trough and giving him some hay, and a bit of oats as a treat for not stepping on his feet, River silently slipped back inside and resumed his chores.
Alas, since it was solitude he sought, Wind came back. River and Brock also came up after a bit to move some crates of leather thongs for bridal and saddle repair for the Riders with the upcoming ball, the Midsummer holidays, and such.
They also HAD to do it as loudly as possible.
"Where were you?" Brock inquired. Bowen was supposed to be working on things on the loft, before he started mucking out stalls, a coveted (not) job around the stable hands, or so he thought.
"There was an acciden'. Wind an' I ha' to take care of it."
"What kind of accident?" River casually asked.
Bowen hesitated, but since he would find out anyway, being her brother and all, and them living In the PALACE, a proverbial goldmine of gossip, he gave in and told River, "Willow 'ad a prank pulled on 'er. Someone rigged a bucke' to fall on 'er when she opene' the door of the stallions stall. Go' a nasty gash- or reopened the other on her face." He explained this, trying to sum it up as best he could
"Is she ok?" they simultaneously asked, genuinely worried.
"She'll be fine, bu' tha' ain't all of it." He paused. "The bucke' was full of horse urine." They looked puzzled and a bit disgusted. "I' was from one of the females- in hea'." Now they looked horrified.
"Well, a stallion and his hostler, who happens to smell like a mate... interesting day for sis." River joked, being a brother. He knew she was a big girl- she could, and would, take care of herself.
"Shouldn't we tell Stefan? I mean, he can't expect her to with him drenched in......that."
Bowen opened his mouth to say something, but River interrupted. "Uh, I wouldn't do that. See, Willows not one to give up. She'll do it HER way, no questions, no excuses, no exceptions She won't thank, I promise. You'll be lucky if she doesn't hurt you." He lifted a crate and moved it to the pile they were forming, letting them absorb that.
"But surely she'll-" Brock started.
"No. Whatever it is, Willow will scratch out your eyes. She doesn't like being singled out, even it isn't meant in a sexist way. She thinks people treat her differently because she's a girl, and in a lot of places they have."
"Yes but this is Corus- Tortall, tha land of the odd. No one cares about that- not around here."
"Try telling that to some of the villages, near Tyra. One man, well, boy really, about sixteen or so- our age, he did that, and well....you don't wanna know WHAT she did to him."
"What did she do?" Brock pushed, stupidly thinking that she couldn't have done much.
"Sometime, when you're ready for a horror story, I'll tell you. Between me and Wind, we know enough to make the Black God nauseous."
"Come on man. She can't be THAT bad- she's not Kit you know!" Brock said laughing with Bowen, teasing his close by hostler, scowling on her cot.
"Well, how many people do you know, that with a blindfold, after being spun dizzy, at night, pinpoint the exact position of a spidren, and kill it with ONE arrow?" they shook their heads, not exactly following. "She can. It's pretty entertaining too- especially the time she got paid to do it- on a bet. Never turns those down either...."
That shut them up.
Wind took good care of her, giving her a damp cloth to get some of the smell off her face and skin, though her clothes were hopeless, and still stunk. He bandaged the wound and found a headache remedy for her as well.
She went to work on the bridals first, thinking about how she would get through the day with Fall, smelling like that. Just getting him out of his stall regularly was a chore.
She sighed, strapping the last leather strip into place and hanging up the equipment in its proper spot. She started to go back to get Fall when something moving about in the corner of her vision outside made her turn her head.
It was Falcon's Fall, ready to work.
'But how did... who would.....eh, forget it.' She thought, trying to piece the puzzle together, then giving up.
The day proved interesting indeed for Willow. Occasionally, a passerby would witness a girl running away from a fierce-looking paint, crazed glint in his eyes. She would jump the fence and climb a tree, waiting until he calmed down enough for her to try whatever she was doing again, having to return to the safety of a nearby oak soon enough.
At the end of the day, no progress was made, but Willow accumulated many more bruises, and some sore muscles.
The days began to pass in this fashion, without the pee, naturally. There were no more pranks, but Willow still made limited progress with her charge, for he learned he could jump the fence, and she would be forced to seek assistance to detain him. Willow learned, however, that if she tied his rope tether (or his reigns, depending how lucky she was with the bridal that day) around her wrist and hand, she could keep a hold of him better. Unfortunately, she was light, and he was strong. Once he even cleared the fence, dragging his captor into a post, giving her many more future scars.
Wind and River mainly stuck to the other hostler boys, and Kit on occasion, doing the more manual labor- none of the fancy stuff. Moving boxes, mucking stalls, grooming extra horses, pitching hay, and maybe shoeing a horse if they needed it, or mending broken tack- that kind of thing. They worked with the NORMAL horses (well as normal as the palaces horses got, what with the Wildmage's influence) leaving the insane ones to their sister.
Some days, the regular hostlers would finish early, and Stefan would give them permission to go down to a swimming hole, much like the pages did. Willow never got to go- Fall wouldn't permit such luxuries. But on one such day, Stefan granted her permission, told her to go relax, with the others. He said since so much work was done with Fall as of late, she deserved the break. She raised her eyebrows at this remark (she noticed no progress) but didn't argue. Sitting in the shade of a tree whilst her brothers played in the water with the others like a bunch of infants sounded downright dandy to her.
She saw the four teenage boys scramble down towards the shore, stripping down to their loincloths and diving in. She had no desire to join them- too much physical effort to lift her shirt hem over her head, thanks to the wonderful treatment Fall gave her. She noticed Kit sitting in the same fashion she intended to, staring at the hoodlums, splashing around like lunatics, attempting to dunk one another as they used to do as young children.
Willow plopped down, not saying a word, and leaned against the tree trunk.
At first, Kit was surprised to see the other female stable hand there- wasn't she supposed to be with the crazy horse? Well, she tossed that aside and just watched her watch the guys, wondering what she was thinking. Then, a terrible, wicked idea came to her.
"Hey Willow?" she casually spoke up.
"Hm?" she asked, kind of in a trance, off in her own little world.
"You know what would be kind of neat? If someone would jump into the lake from that bluff just there." She motioned to a rock jutting out on the east side of the pond, about two stories high above the water.
"Sure would." Willow absent mindedly agreed.
Kit paused. "Well, how about you? You know what- I dare you to jump off that."
Willows interest was sparked. "A dare?"
"Are you afraid?" Kit taunted.
Willow narrowed her eyes, defiantly rose to her feet and started walking to the bottom of the bluff.
"Wait!" Willow turned to see Kit, complete with the evilest sparkle in her hazel eyes. "I wasn't done yet. I dare you to do it- in only your underclothes."
Now, when Willow heard THIS little detail, the sensible part of her mind blatantly refused. Fortunately, the insensible part of her mind was far larger. She WAS a bit apprehensive about not wearing over clothes in front of Brock and Bowen, but she had never turned down a dare before- River and Wind could vouch for that!
She nodded, slowly at first, then faster as she was surer that she would do it. "I'm game."
This was exactly what Kit had counted on.
She would get up there and then chicken out- embarrassment galore, not to mention that she was in her UNDERWEAR. Ha ha! (Not exactly the most genius, imaginative plan, but Kit would take what she would get)
River was about to jump on Bowen's back, playing roughly with the other guys, when a figure caught his eye.
A girl was climbing the bluff, muttering to herself. She wore nothing but her under clothes, so this was no Lady, as they never do such things.
When she reached the top, she gallantly looked around, enjoying the view.
"River what are you doing?" Brock asked, shaking Wind off his arm. He looked in the direction River intensely stared.
A young lady stood on the bluff, looking at the lake. Her hair blew across her face, and her eyes were filled with determination. Her stance was very familiar. She was going to jump......
"Willow!" Wind cried out, seeing his sister about to do something daft, something he was gonna do.
She looked up, startled, and lost her balance.
Well? Huh? Whatcha think? Yes I do know that usually horses shoes are changed by a blacksmith or a farrier (or what ever they're called- I can't remember), but wind has to do something useful- so kindly ignore that error. I am sorry about the lack of updates, but we lost my great grandmother lately, I have an over abundance of HW, dance, practice, and football games. I am very tired. Just be glad this happened before I graduate. Sorry. Thank you reviewers, and I would like to recommend Vulpes Lapis- the BEST author ever, and all of their stories. They are great for all ages. I love you vl! Sorry, I've been basking in those glorious stories for the past two weeks and they have been the only light in theses dim times. Thanx vl. Great, I sound like an ad for vl..... well, um, r/r.
Thanx...............
Disclaimer: Is this absolutely necessary? You and I know both know that no one can surpass the genius of Tamora and the fantasy worlds her magic creates. I am never going to be 1/ 1 millionth as good as she is, even at her worst (I'm implying nothing- she really has no level of bad) but I did create a few characters, which you know of. I will introduce a few others new to you, in later chaps naturally. Later~
Chapter Five: Falcon's Fall
Sometime, a while after dinner, Ema came by to fetch the triplets. Willow was gently grooming a beastly looking stallion. She cooed to him like a mother to a child and caressed his nose. He snorted at her and tried to bite.
"Miss Willow-" Ema started.
"Ema-"
"Right- Willow. Willow, why are you speaking to him that way?" meaning the horse.
"I'm trying to show him that I am his friend, NOT enemy. He seems to get the two confused." She motioned to a large bite mark on her forearm. That's also when Ema noticed a gash on the other girl's forehead.
"You're bleeding!"
"Huh?" Willow wearily asked, then realized her face was throbbing. "Oh- that. Must have gotten that when I was thrown the second, no, third time."
"Thrown?"
"I get to break in this brute."
Ema nodded understanding, but started looking around for River all the same.
"River is with Stefan somewhere." Willow saw her gaze around and knew what was on her mind. She put two fingers to her hairline and winced. She drew them away and saw that they were cloaked in crimson blood. She sighed and looked at Fall. "You'll be the death of me." He whinnied, as if in mutual agreement.
"I'm not looking for River." Ema replied, indignant.
"Please, I'm not blind." 'Far from it even.' She said, then thought with a sigh.
"Fine. Anyway," Ema said uncomfortable and changing the subject. "Did you make any friends today, besides the four-legged kind?"
"A blue jay flew in and watched me for a while."
"And they can't have feathers." Ema growled, frustrated with my female companion.
"Well, River and Wind get on with everyone pretty well, except Kit. I haven't seen her this morning now that I think about it. She's not very social. Bowen and I don't, um, mix well, but Brock and I get on ok. He showed me what I was doing wrong on the bridal Fall broke."
"Huh?"
"This is Falcon's Fall. He broke a bridal this morning and I was trying to fix it but was using the wrong tool. Plus the bit was still bent."
Ema raised her eyebrows, impressed. It's not everyday that you meet a horse that can bend a steel bit in its teeth.
"Where's Wind?"
"Last I saw of THAT brother, he was joking around with Brock. Let's put Fall away for the night, and then hunt them down." She tousled the stallions' mane and led them down rows of stalls until she stopped the group in front of a stall in shabbier appearance. There were hoof dents and the hay in the net bags they put up, it was torn down and the hay strewn all over the floor. His water trough was overturned as well, so before she could put the horse up, Willow begrudgingly cleaned the mess. Stefan had shown her the way to it at lunch (which consisted of a few apples), as well as the closest places to get fresh water, hay, where to get brooms and such, and all other necessities for the stall. She remembered that she'd have to bolt (with lock and key!) in the creature.
Ema stood by, offering assistance every once in a while, only to be politely refused.
Willow put the key on a hook, dusted off her messy hands, and smiled, a bit over-optimistically.
"So who are this Brock and this Bowen?" Ema inquired as they began their search for Willow's brothers. Willow knew she could find them, no problem, and get done in a tenth of the time. But, alas, she had the company of Ema, so she was reduced to physically looking, instead of magically.
"Brock is pretty nice. Like I told you, he helped me with Fall's busted bridle. Gods he sure is hard to talk to though."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Willow said as she turned around the corner as a spur of the moment, last possible second decision, leaving Ema momentarily turned around, "that he is just so gods blessed TALL. The only person who could look him in the eye would be Master Numair, that or a giant." She sighed and paused for a moment. "He sure is sweet though."
"Sounds as if someone has a crush on the giant man-boy!" Ema teased her as she had been teased.
"No, not really. But you wanna know what really........ irks me?" she passionately asked, forced to find a word that was polite enough for the other girls taste. She gave her no time to respond before she answered her own question. "That arrogant, self congratulatory, know-it-all, head hostler's son! 'Never turn ye back on a unbroken stallion.' The nerve! Like I don't know that? And the way he looks at you, criticizing your every move ..... I'm fifteen you know, and just as capable as River or Wind!" She threw her arms in the air exasperated. She then turned to face her new friend, stopping them both, and kept jabbering about the "pompous, sorry excuse for a human who should have been drowned at birth" for a few more minutes, paused when she heard a nearby "THUD", and then kept going on with the insults and complaints as a smile crept slowly onto Ema's face. She tried to smother the continuous laughter until tears began to appear on her cheeks.
Willow was perplexed, looked at her strangely, then went on to say, "And to top it all off, he believes he is the Gods gift to the world, and then River and Wind think those idiotic jokes and remarks are hilarious.... he's behind me isn't he?"
When Ema doubled over, laughing harder than she ever had before, nodding her head, gasping because her sides ached so much, Willow clenched her eyes shut and then turned ever so slowly.
When she opened her eyes, first one, then the other, she was eye level with a manly Adam's apple. Without moving her head, she looked up into his face with just her eyes, to see him looking down at her in the same fashion. His eyebrow was cocked again, in that smug way of his, and a one sided smile caressed his lips.
He said nothing, but waited for her to speak. When she just stared at him blankly, he decided to break one of the most amusing silences he'd ever encountered.
"Ye do a TERRIBLE impression of me."
"Well I didn't know I had an audience." was the snappy come back.
"Well ye shouldn' of done it in the firs' place, should ye? Insultin' a fellow worker on the firs' day- tsk tsk."
"For you, I believe an exception stands in that rule."
"Oh- ouch. This filly bites." He smirked, clearly enjoying this. Her glanced at something near her hairline. "Ye know yer bleedin', don't ye?"
"Yes, I ran into a fence."
"Now why would ye do tha'?"
"It wasn't exactly voluntary."
"Meanin'-"
"Fall threw me into it." He nodded.
"Beastly tha' one."
She shrugged. "He's not so bad once you get used to flying." This made him chuckle.
There was another awkward silence for a few moments, until Willow remembered what she had said about him, most of which she still believed was true.....most.
"Well aren't ye gonna apologize?"
"What for?" she demanded. "I have a right to an opinion too! You know, I thought this was Tortall- men and women equal, unlike.....other places." She caught herself. 'Close one Willow- watch it!'
"But ye hurt me tender feelins'!" He exclaimed, not really meaning it, just trying to get a rise out of her.
"No I didn't. You have to have a heart to have feelings."
'Ok Willow- TOO FAR!' a little part of her mind mentally scolded when she saw the reaction her words had on him, showing in his eyes.
Instead of apologizing right then and there, like she SHOULD have done, she frantically looked at Ema, grabbing her by the arm and forcefully drug her away to where Wind may be, leaving a rather hurt Bowen standing in the straw.
Once they had gotten a few rows away, Ema pulled willow into an empty stall and whirled her around face to face.
Willow wouldn't look her in the eyes, but stared intently at the floor.
Ema was ready to scold, but saw that Willows conscience had taken care of that.
She took a deep breath to compose herself, then said, "You and I both know that you weren't the.... KINDEST person to him, and no doubt you had reasons, but Willow- really? Heartless?"
"I...I don't know why I said that, or why it came out that way, but I didn't mean it."
"You could of least have apologized."
"NO! I mean I didn't know how to- apologize for that, I mean. You don't get it- that was the first time I really said what I wanted, when I wanted. I took myself by surprise, then the look on his face..."
Ema sighed. "Well I'd steer clear of him for as long as humanly possible."
"Oh- I plan on it." She grabbed her own wrist, and old nervous habit, then yelped when she discovered yet another bruise. "Let's just go find my brothers. I need to get some sleep. Maybe then I can be myself." Ema considered this, nodded, and together they resumed the search for Wind.
Bowen stood dumbfounded. She'd said he didn't have a heart, didn't have feelings. He'd gotten some pretty foul things said to and about him before, but he'd always been able to laugh them off. Why did it matter so much now? Well, he'd never been called heartless before, for one thing.
Soberly, he climbed a nearby loft ladder and smiled the tiniest bit at Kit, who was close by.
Bowen was the only person Kit really talked to, outside of working. Naturally, she was furious at the one person who could make her only friend look like that.
"You're gonna let her talk to you like that, the little-"
"She 'as a right to 'er opinion, Kit."
"That wasn't an opinion- it was an insult!" Kit roared, outraged.
Bowen was just silent.
Kit stormed to another part of the loft- HER part of the loft, to decide what to do about this, this Willow.
"And there was this shapely brunette near Persopolis, and a blonde with ALL the right curves in, oh...., I forget, but there was this other brunette at- "
"Ahem."
Wind was talking with Brock. They sat on two old apple crates and Wind regaled his companion with tales of the pretty lasses he noticed at EVERY stop.
Willow and Ema got a bit tired of hearing about voluptuous ladies, so Willow decided to let their presence know.
Wind turned around at his interruption, then seeing it was only his sister, and Ema, he relaxed.
"Hello, brother dear." Willow said over-sweetly.
"Want do you want?" he demanded. Brock stared at the two girls.
"Oh- sorry. Brock, Ema. Ema, Brock. Look Windbag," Willow used the nick- name she dubbed him, years before. "I'm tired, unbelievably sore-"
"And bleeding!" Wind exclaimed when he saw a drop of blood run down her cheekbone.
"She raised both her eyebrows in mock surprise and said with an insulting grin, "Hey, took you long enough! I'll care for it later. Anyway, as I WAS saying, I would like to take a bath, since I can do that now. Help me find River so we can search for the room."
"He's with Stefan somewhere."
"Wow! How'd you come to THAT glorious conclusion?" Willow exclaimed sarcastically "Now- can we go find Stefan?"
Wind finally picked up on her grouchiness. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he stood up.
During all of this Brock hadn't said a word, just nodded at Ema when he was introduced. Now, he stared at Willow again, memorizing HER curves, they way her curls shook when she spoke. How he longed to mend her wounds, for, if unknown to her, she also had a bad gash on her right thigh, as her breeches glistened with blood there too. How badly he just wanted to make her pain go away, make her happy.... 'Snap out of it Brock! You've known her only a day!' he mentally scolded himself.
Willow saw Brock shaking his head, snapping out of his trance he was in and turned her head to look at him.
Now all he did was stare at the floor because he could feel her gaze upon him.
He kept debating in his conscience and made the decision to say something, so he lifted his head.
They had left.
He rested his chin in his hands and sighed. 'Doofus!' that part of his mind yelled at him.
Stefan released River from work when he noticed a maidservant had come to retrieve them. Plus River no longer concentrated on pitching hay for him after his siblings and the pretty girl walked up.
He sent his three newest workers off to sleep, thinking about all the work done that day. Daine and Numair were right. They did very well, especially that Willow. Look at all the work she managed with Fall today!
And that name- Falcon's Fall. If there isn't a story behind that, then he would in turn his stables and eat Bowen for breakfast.
They had a past that, with perseverance and luck, he could hopefully coax out of them. They were a lot like that mustang, yet to be broken into people like the ones you find in Corus. All he wanted out of the horse was to make friends and build a trust- the same with those kids.
He stopped being thankful and started calling Kit, Brock, and his son to dinner. They'd trounce over to the kitchen and beg something off a cook.
When Willow, River, Wind started leading the way to the room. Ema laughed and asked where they'd learned to go THAT way.
"Daine and Numair took us this way."
"Shows. Come, follow me." She led them though a door and down a hallway. She turned the first left they came to and ended up two doors away from their room.
She explained that Daine and Numair were practical jokers of a sort and loved doing that to stuffy nobles. "They get them lost in the catacombs all night and are too tired the next day and will sign any treaty shoved under their noses. The King finds it quite handy, not to mention a riot."
"Well, why did they do it to us?" Ema shrugged.
"Maybe they just wanted some amusement."
They weren't sure they liked being the butt of a joke like that, but since they hadn't slept in two days, they weren't going to carp over it.
There was a bit of an argument concerning baths between siblings.
Willow insisted they all start bathing every day. River didn't care, but Wind ranted about it being unhealthy.
"Nonsense, everyone at the palace bathes everyday- well, MOST everyone." Ema crinkled up her nose at the memory of a certain smelly kitchen boy who liked to follow her around while she worked when they were younger.
"Plus since we work around horses every day now, I won't share the bed with you if you smell. You'll sleep on the floor while River and I share the FEATHER mattress." She emphasized "feather" to strike Winds interest. Willow and her brothers had never slept on anything softer than a wood floor with about a quarter inch of scattered hay on it. They were all anxious to try out one of the softest things available, even if they had to share.
Begrudgingly, Wind obeyed. They all enjoyed (some more than others) a nice, hot bath and then went to bed, not even caring about the Dinner Ema set out for them.
They groggily awoke, but still sooooo much better than before. They ate their cold leftover rolls from the night before, plus all of the fruit Ema brought them that morning.
They hurried down to the stables to get an early start, nut found everyone but Brock already awake and working.
"Aye- yer here." Stefan said. "Good. Wind, ye go see Bowen an' star' helpin' 'im. 'E's in the loft. River, wake Brock, then finish wha' ye were doin' las' night. Willow, go feed an' water Fall. Clean 'is stall an' tie 'im up in one of the exercise rings. Mend them two bridles since ye did such a fine job yesterday. Then work wiv' the stallion. The bridals are on tha' workbench."
They set off on their different directions to start their days work, River trudging out to the other end of the stables, Wind climbing a nearby loft ladder, and Willow hurrying off to start with Fall.
When she reached the brutes stall, she smelled something bitter, and noticed that he was incredibly restless, more so than normal, but she disregarded it.
She opened his door slightly and heard a creaking noise above her. She looked up towards the noises source and opened the door wider at the same time, just to witness a bucket come crashing down, hitting her forehead wound from yesterday. She screamed.....
Bowen seemed a more depressed than he was yesterday, which was puzzling. Wind didn' know what to do, so he started to tell bad jokes, hoping to stir his interest and make the work less tedious.
He thought a smile on Bowen's face when he finished reciting a silly (and bit naughty) limerick he heard on the road with the caravan, but was interrupted by a crash from downstairs followed by a familiar scream.
"Willow!" Wind exclaimed, swing down from some open rafters, ignoring the ladder directly be his foot. He flew in the direction of her cry, never once noticing Bowen at his heels, until he was passed, that is. They ended up in front of Falls stall and saw Willow frantically locking the stall door back in place. Fall was bucking and kicking to get out.
"Wha' 'happened?" Bowen asked.
"Did he hurt you?" Wind asked seeing the blood gushing down her forehead, into her eyes, and then reached out to examine it.
She batted his touch away, and wiped her face with her hand and brought it away bloody. She scowled in disgust.
"No, he is just excited because I have horse urine all over me. SOMEONE rigged a bucket to fall and shower me in it."
"That wouldn't explain the feistiness in Fall." Wind said thoughtfully. "Besides the fact that he is already feisty."
"I know wha' would." Bowen spoke up. "One of the females aroun' 'ere is in heat. Tha' would explain 'is behavior." Willow sat down on the wooden, hay- strewn floor rather hard.
"Great! And I get to work with him all day, smelling like this!" she brought her hand up to scratch he nose and got a good whiff of herself. She crinkled her nose and wiped her forehead again, wincing.
"At least people will leave you alone, well, except for the stallions." Winds feeble attempt at humor just made and she started to cry. "Oh, come on Willow, I didn't mean that." He got down the ground next to her, trying not to get any of the yellow liquid on him, and tried to put his arm around her, but failed since the smell was so strong.
Fall was still kicking the door, trying to get at the female in heat. The smell was so near, after all.
"I just want to know WHO did it! Did either of you see someone near here?" she eyed them suspiciously, tears rolling down her cheeks, making tracks in the smeared blood on her face.
They frantically shook their heads. She sighed.
'I'll probably never find out though I still suspect Bowen.' She thought, looking straight at him as he exchanged the stare. 'No doubt he's still mad at me from yesterday.'
That actually was the opposite of what he felt, though, not quite what he thought. 'She probably thinks I did it because she thinks I'm mad at her, no doubt.' He thought this with a sigh, never breaking the eye contact.
Before she knew what was happening, Wind had lifted her to her feet (he really doesn't know his own strength sometimes!) and was dragging her away to get cleaned up. They had to break the contact once Wind guided her around a corner, yet she still "saw" him, kneeling on the rank floor, then stand and start to clean up, tossing aside the reeking bucket.
Bowen had sat on the filthy ground, and was staring into her eyes- they were so deep he could get lost in them forever... What was he doing?
He got up and figured, since it would have to be done anyway, and Willow wasn't here to do it, he might as well clean the mess. He picked up the extremely smelly bucket and tossed it aside.
After mopping up the urine and putting new hay down, he cautiously opened Falls door and got him to calm down, earning him multiple bruises and bites for his efforts. He cleaned the stall and watered the frisky paint, wondering HOW willow was going to break this fiend, especially smelling like she did today.
Putting Fall outside in an exercise ring by a water trough and giving him some hay, and a bit of oats as a treat for not stepping on his feet, River silently slipped back inside and resumed his chores.
Alas, since it was solitude he sought, Wind came back. River and Brock also came up after a bit to move some crates of leather thongs for bridal and saddle repair for the Riders with the upcoming ball, the Midsummer holidays, and such.
They also HAD to do it as loudly as possible.
"Where were you?" Brock inquired. Bowen was supposed to be working on things on the loft, before he started mucking out stalls, a coveted (not) job around the stable hands, or so he thought.
"There was an acciden'. Wind an' I ha' to take care of it."
"What kind of accident?" River casually asked.
Bowen hesitated, but since he would find out anyway, being her brother and all, and them living In the PALACE, a proverbial goldmine of gossip, he gave in and told River, "Willow 'ad a prank pulled on 'er. Someone rigged a bucke' to fall on 'er when she opene' the door of the stallions stall. Go' a nasty gash- or reopened the other on her face." He explained this, trying to sum it up as best he could
"Is she ok?" they simultaneously asked, genuinely worried.
"She'll be fine, bu' tha' ain't all of it." He paused. "The bucke' was full of horse urine." They looked puzzled and a bit disgusted. "I' was from one of the females- in hea'." Now they looked horrified.
"Well, a stallion and his hostler, who happens to smell like a mate... interesting day for sis." River joked, being a brother. He knew she was a big girl- she could, and would, take care of herself.
"Shouldn't we tell Stefan? I mean, he can't expect her to with him drenched in......that."
Bowen opened his mouth to say something, but River interrupted. "Uh, I wouldn't do that. See, Willows not one to give up. She'll do it HER way, no questions, no excuses, no exceptions She won't thank, I promise. You'll be lucky if she doesn't hurt you." He lifted a crate and moved it to the pile they were forming, letting them absorb that.
"But surely she'll-" Brock started.
"No. Whatever it is, Willow will scratch out your eyes. She doesn't like being singled out, even it isn't meant in a sexist way. She thinks people treat her differently because she's a girl, and in a lot of places they have."
"Yes but this is Corus- Tortall, tha land of the odd. No one cares about that- not around here."
"Try telling that to some of the villages, near Tyra. One man, well, boy really, about sixteen or so- our age, he did that, and well....you don't wanna know WHAT she did to him."
"What did she do?" Brock pushed, stupidly thinking that she couldn't have done much.
"Sometime, when you're ready for a horror story, I'll tell you. Between me and Wind, we know enough to make the Black God nauseous."
"Come on man. She can't be THAT bad- she's not Kit you know!" Brock said laughing with Bowen, teasing his close by hostler, scowling on her cot.
"Well, how many people do you know, that with a blindfold, after being spun dizzy, at night, pinpoint the exact position of a spidren, and kill it with ONE arrow?" they shook their heads, not exactly following. "She can. It's pretty entertaining too- especially the time she got paid to do it- on a bet. Never turns those down either...."
That shut them up.
Wind took good care of her, giving her a damp cloth to get some of the smell off her face and skin, though her clothes were hopeless, and still stunk. He bandaged the wound and found a headache remedy for her as well.
She went to work on the bridals first, thinking about how she would get through the day with Fall, smelling like that. Just getting him out of his stall regularly was a chore.
She sighed, strapping the last leather strip into place and hanging up the equipment in its proper spot. She started to go back to get Fall when something moving about in the corner of her vision outside made her turn her head.
It was Falcon's Fall, ready to work.
'But how did... who would.....eh, forget it.' She thought, trying to piece the puzzle together, then giving up.
The day proved interesting indeed for Willow. Occasionally, a passerby would witness a girl running away from a fierce-looking paint, crazed glint in his eyes. She would jump the fence and climb a tree, waiting until he calmed down enough for her to try whatever she was doing again, having to return to the safety of a nearby oak soon enough.
At the end of the day, no progress was made, but Willow accumulated many more bruises, and some sore muscles.
The days began to pass in this fashion, without the pee, naturally. There were no more pranks, but Willow still made limited progress with her charge, for he learned he could jump the fence, and she would be forced to seek assistance to detain him. Willow learned, however, that if she tied his rope tether (or his reigns, depending how lucky she was with the bridal that day) around her wrist and hand, she could keep a hold of him better. Unfortunately, she was light, and he was strong. Once he even cleared the fence, dragging his captor into a post, giving her many more future scars.
Wind and River mainly stuck to the other hostler boys, and Kit on occasion, doing the more manual labor- none of the fancy stuff. Moving boxes, mucking stalls, grooming extra horses, pitching hay, and maybe shoeing a horse if they needed it, or mending broken tack- that kind of thing. They worked with the NORMAL horses (well as normal as the palaces horses got, what with the Wildmage's influence) leaving the insane ones to their sister.
Some days, the regular hostlers would finish early, and Stefan would give them permission to go down to a swimming hole, much like the pages did. Willow never got to go- Fall wouldn't permit such luxuries. But on one such day, Stefan granted her permission, told her to go relax, with the others. He said since so much work was done with Fall as of late, she deserved the break. She raised her eyebrows at this remark (she noticed no progress) but didn't argue. Sitting in the shade of a tree whilst her brothers played in the water with the others like a bunch of infants sounded downright dandy to her.
She saw the four teenage boys scramble down towards the shore, stripping down to their loincloths and diving in. She had no desire to join them- too much physical effort to lift her shirt hem over her head, thanks to the wonderful treatment Fall gave her. She noticed Kit sitting in the same fashion she intended to, staring at the hoodlums, splashing around like lunatics, attempting to dunk one another as they used to do as young children.
Willow plopped down, not saying a word, and leaned against the tree trunk.
At first, Kit was surprised to see the other female stable hand there- wasn't she supposed to be with the crazy horse? Well, she tossed that aside and just watched her watch the guys, wondering what she was thinking. Then, a terrible, wicked idea came to her.
"Hey Willow?" she casually spoke up.
"Hm?" she asked, kind of in a trance, off in her own little world.
"You know what would be kind of neat? If someone would jump into the lake from that bluff just there." She motioned to a rock jutting out on the east side of the pond, about two stories high above the water.
"Sure would." Willow absent mindedly agreed.
Kit paused. "Well, how about you? You know what- I dare you to jump off that."
Willows interest was sparked. "A dare?"
"Are you afraid?" Kit taunted.
Willow narrowed her eyes, defiantly rose to her feet and started walking to the bottom of the bluff.
"Wait!" Willow turned to see Kit, complete with the evilest sparkle in her hazel eyes. "I wasn't done yet. I dare you to do it- in only your underclothes."
Now, when Willow heard THIS little detail, the sensible part of her mind blatantly refused. Fortunately, the insensible part of her mind was far larger. She WAS a bit apprehensive about not wearing over clothes in front of Brock and Bowen, but she had never turned down a dare before- River and Wind could vouch for that!
She nodded, slowly at first, then faster as she was surer that she would do it. "I'm game."
This was exactly what Kit had counted on.
She would get up there and then chicken out- embarrassment galore, not to mention that she was in her UNDERWEAR. Ha ha! (Not exactly the most genius, imaginative plan, but Kit would take what she would get)
River was about to jump on Bowen's back, playing roughly with the other guys, when a figure caught his eye.
A girl was climbing the bluff, muttering to herself. She wore nothing but her under clothes, so this was no Lady, as they never do such things.
When she reached the top, she gallantly looked around, enjoying the view.
"River what are you doing?" Brock asked, shaking Wind off his arm. He looked in the direction River intensely stared.
A young lady stood on the bluff, looking at the lake. Her hair blew across her face, and her eyes were filled with determination. Her stance was very familiar. She was going to jump......
"Willow!" Wind cried out, seeing his sister about to do something daft, something he was gonna do.
She looked up, startled, and lost her balance.
Well? Huh? Whatcha think? Yes I do know that usually horses shoes are changed by a blacksmith or a farrier (or what ever they're called- I can't remember), but wind has to do something useful- so kindly ignore that error. I am sorry about the lack of updates, but we lost my great grandmother lately, I have an over abundance of HW, dance, practice, and football games. I am very tired. Just be glad this happened before I graduate. Sorry. Thank you reviewers, and I would like to recommend Vulpes Lapis- the BEST author ever, and all of their stories. They are great for all ages. I love you vl! Sorry, I've been basking in those glorious stories for the past two weeks and they have been the only light in theses dim times. Thanx vl. Great, I sound like an ad for vl..... well, um, r/r.
Thanx...............