Chapter 17

Will You Forgive Me If I Feel This Way?

It was a glorious afternoon in my homeland. The sky had a golden, reddish color, the glade was alight with all the beauty of the day. The evening was slowly approaching in a magnificent manner, and the soft blow of the wind made me sigh in a delightful contentment. It were days as these that made me so grateful that I had such a wonderful home.

I was leisurely walking about the fields alongside Silver Moon, her small yearling; who didn't have a calling yet, Wind, Blaze and Dawn, when I noticed Little Creek making his way towards us. My heart instantly leaped from my chest as soon as he whistled for me. I quickly trotted up to him, only to see that my human was covered from head to toe in a blue paint. He looked absolutely hilarious. I let out an amused whinny. What on earth happened to him?

"Are you making fun of me too?" He asked with a laugh, trying to reach out and touch me. But I didn't want him to stain me as well, so I avoided his touch by ducking my head, and trotted in circles, nickering playfully.

"Not you too, girl!" Cried Little Creek with a chuckle. "This isn't my fault...that mustang is as mischievous as can be!" He laughed heartily again, as his two friends Singing Eagle and Long Knife burst out into fits of hysterics upon seeing him.

"I told you that mustang wouldn't allow you to paint him!" Long Knife spoke up, still laughing loud.

"Go wash yourself. You look ridiculous!" Singing Eagle added, he too cracking up at the sight of his friend.

Aha, so this was Spirit's doing. I shook my head at my owner. What was he thinking? Painting Spirit? Of course, that idea was bound to fail. Wind, who himself had a blue circle painted around his eye, couldn't retain his amusement and let out a loud neigh. Blaze, Dawn and Silver Moon followed his suit and soon, everyone was laughing at my poor, unfortunate owner.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, when I playfully pushed him and ran away. "I'll get you all!" He warned with a cackle and chased after us. We all delightfully loped in circles as our humans fun-lovingly wrestled with one another. In matter of seconds, we were all covered in blue paints, thanks to Little Creek...and Spirit who was the one that caused all this in first place. What can I say? It was an entertaining day! Messy for sure, but entertaining.

By the time our humans washed themselves and cleaned us, the whole afternoon had gone by. The evening came upon the land, the sky was still as glorious as before, but the lovely red sun was setting back to the earth. The villagers, like always, gathered around a camp fire where the chief and elders usually told ancient stories.

Today, we had a special Full Moon festival that included dances and celebrations with food, singing, and drumming. I always loved this time of the year. It was usually before the popular Fall harvest gathering. The humans would get together to celebrate the beginning of Autumn and ending of the fine Summer season. So in honor of that, our two-legged companions got together bringing their horses in from the open fields, so that everyone...absolutely, every living being could stand close by the campfire and listen to the elders and enjoy the festivities under the full moon.

My Little Creek was no exception. Tying the rope over my neck, he led me towards the round pen where Spirit was resting, unaware of our special gathering. Upon sensing us, he jerked his head up, clearly confused. Usually his evening times were spent in solitude. Spirit stared at us questionably, cautiously taking few steps back.

"Hey, easy mustang..." Little Creek began, with his usual soft, and gentle voice. "I'm not gonna hurt you. You know that, right?" As he said this, he carefully tied other loop of the rope on the stallion's muscular neck. Spirit looked down at it and then at me, blinking in confusion.

"I'll explain later." I nickered at him warmly.

That seemed to relax him a bit and he nodded slowly at me. Little Creek opened the gate of the pen, leading us both outside. "I'm not gonna let you miss our Full Moon festival." He spoke up, facing Spirit with his kind eyes. "You don't have to be afraid...Rain's right here. She'll tell you all about it. I think you'll enjoy it, mustang." He finished, flashing us a happy grin.

Spirit couldn't hide his entertained expression as he shot me a sly look. Without doubt, he thought of my human as a silly two-legged, who first tried to paint him with blue substance and now was making him watch an odd gathering of the humans.

Once we were all gathered together around the campfire, under the bright shiny stars, and beautiful Full Moon, the humans started to cheer loudly. The chief of the village and couple of other elders set in the middle. First they needed to narrate wise and popular legends before the festivities could begin. Little Creek seated himself close to his friends while Spirit and I, stood nearby other horses. Wind, Dawn, Blossom and Blaze all greeted Spirit politely, happy to finally make his acquaintance.

I could tell that the dun stallion felt slightly out of place, as the horses nickered around him curiously. Spirit tilted his head towards me. "So what's this all about?" He inquired.

"This is what our humans call a Full Moon gathering." I explained gently, keeping my blue eyes focused on the campfire. "They celebrate the coming of Fall and the successful end of Summer."

Spirit looked fascinated as he held up his fiery eyes and gazed at the bright, silver moon above us. "True. This magnificence and beauty needs to be celebrated." He smiled in approval, glancing at the rest of the horses.

We quieted for a minute as the chief began to tell stories about the first encounter of a doe and a man. Many of the legends he narrated where the things my tribe believed in whole heartedly. Although, I didn't understand a whole lot of what they were referring to, I was always in awe by them. I snuck a glance at Spirit, wondering what was going on in his mind during the narration. To my surprise, I found him glaring at someone very coldly. Turning to see where his attention was, I spotted Great Conquest standing there right across from us. He too had the exact same glare, his ears pinned and nostrils dilating in anger at seeing him. I immediately tensed at this. Oh no! Not again. Spirit and I were tied together so a fight was out of the question. However, this hostile attitude between them really concerned me.

I didn't want either of them to get hurt. I shot Dawn a nervous look, as she read my mind and nudged the gentle stallion beside her. Wind, realizing that he was needed to pipe down the tension, nickered at Spirit softly. "Hey, you should get something to eat." He brought forward the basket full of carrots and politely offered them to him. Spirit seemed to be pleasantly taken aback with his kind gesture. It was obvious that he always looked at stallions as rivals especially after what happened with Great Conquest. Wind's welcoming personality surprised him.

Spirit accepted Wind's offering, finally ignoring the grey stallion and thanked Wind with a grateful nicker. I sighed in relief, glad that the unpleasantness was slowly, yet effectively fading. However, the cold, hostile glare between the two stallions didn't seem to go unnoticed by my attentive and thoughtful owner. He stared back, feeling slightly uneasy as if trying to figure out what was the meaning behind their hateful glare. He looked at me afterwards, raising his eyebrows, as if realizing that I might know the reason. Leaning forward towards Long Knife, Little Creek whispered something to him. The two humans hesitantly stared at the two stallions, trying to read their body language and I noticed how Long Knife shook his head.

"They're studs...it's normal." I heard Long Knife, waving his hand completely unaffected.

Little Creek, knowing and understanding our kind better, did not seem convinced. He kept his eyes focused on both Great Conquest and Spirit, from time to time, he looked at me as well. I could tell that he was worried.

The stories were finished, the drumming began, the humans stood up and began dancing around the fire. Spirit's eyes widened at the unique sight. By now, most of the horses, including Wind and Dawn had returned back to the fields for the night. The dun stallion however, was so fascinated by the dancing humans that he didn't think about leaving yet. I couldn't hide an amused smile from my face.

"It's getting late, we should retire." I spoke up calmly. Spirit nodded at me slowly, not ripping his eyes from the curious scene. "The two-leggeds are captivating, right?" I began, as he trailed behind me, both of us making our way back to the open fields.

"Not only the two-leggeds." Spirit answered, his brown pools of eyes gazing warmly at me. He caught up to me, and I could feel his shoulder gently brushing mine, sending weird tingles up and down my entire body.

Arching my head to the side, a smile crept across my face. "Do every stallions make a habit of flirting with every mare?" I questioned teasingly.

This seemed to slightly upset the mustang as he averted his gaze, pulling away and hung his head low. I watched him in surprise, part of me feeling stupid for an untactful joke. Just then, Little Creek appeared, ready to untie us for the night. Everything was still, as the crickets chirped in a peaceful manner. When we were separated, Little Creek led Spirit in his pen while I was left to graze in the fields.

Before leaving, my human turned to me and planted a kiss on my muzzle. "Goodnight, my Rain."

I whinnied affectionately at him as he made his way back to the camp. With a soft nicker, I wished Spirit a good night; he looked up, nodded and lowered his head again.

Did I offend him in some ways?

Who could tell me?

Thanks for reading. Please leave reviews and stay tuned for more interesting chapters. I realize that the love story between Spirit and Rain is very anticipated, but I really want to develop characters first. Though, one can already notice that sparks are flying between the two.