"Carmen!" Two arms wrapped around Carmen's waist and a square shaped face perched itself in the nook of her neck. "A little birdie let me know that Rue had just checked into a stall and I just had to come and find you."
"Hey, Everly," she purred back to him. "This is North Bu, he's new in town." Awkwardly, I smiled and held out my hand.
"Really?" Everly scrunched his brows at me, ignoring my gesture. "I've never seen a foreigner talk about horses with that much passion." He looked at Carmen, still in his arms then back at me. "Any relatives here?"
I simply shrugged and took my hand back, "Not that I know of."
"Odd," he muttered. In a beat, Carmen hit his upper arm and he hastily added, "Not bad odd, no, not at all! Just...odd." I nodded, not really understanding what he meant, but I also wasn't too keen on finding out. After a minute of nothing, Everly led his fiancee to what I assumed was the show area so I took Wavu's reigns and followed.
Glancing back at the miniatures in the center, I pointed at them, "Uh, are they healthy? I can't say I've met a horse that small. Don't they have shortened lives?"
"Nope," he answered without a second of though. Everly looked over his shoulder and said, "They all live to at least twenty unless they're born with some other defect. Don't get too wide-eyed, you haven't even met the showstoppers yet." He smiled at Wavu, "Your lipizzan might even meet a new friend." We went through a door frame with a sign on top that said Show Horses/Ponies; On Show/Training Days, Authorized Personnel Only. I ducked below it and took a gander at the maze-like arrangement of all the different types of steeds.
There was one thing I noticed however. One thing that each one of the contestants managed to achieve despite this kind of caged lifestyle. "They're...happy."
Everly glared at me a little, probably offended by how shocked I really was. "I'd hope so. It's hell to work sunup to sundown to ensure just four of them are. The payoff is nice though." Everly snuck a brief kiss atop Carmen's forehead, "Curling up with Carmen and watching an excited horse run through the fields after winning another ribbon is one of the greatest feelings in the world." I nodded, attempting to imagine such a free-spirited life. Truly free, one without worries or family drama. One where you can tend to horses and ponies all day and get married to such a beautiful woman. And the more I imagined, the more I wished for it.
But, I just shook my head and looked off to the side. There, not too far off, I could see a silvery white and wine red miniature paint horse clopping his hooves on the ground in his stable and munching on a bundle of hay. Almost instinctively, I came closer, and soon, the horse looked up and neighed at me.
Completely awed, I shyly waved at it, "...Hi."
"I see you've met Blaze," Everly chuckled from behind me. "He's probably the youngest one in this section of the stables, Yara just transferred him in from Small Hooves last week. His first show is in two days I believe, so he's just making himself at home for now."
Not paying Everly any mind, I went up closer to the horse. "He's so small," I murmured.
Everly scoffed, "Well, Blaze is a miniature paint, so it'd be weird if he wasn't."
"Like him?" Carmen laughed. "You can take him out to the field and play for a few minutes." My neck cracked as I spun my head towards to see if she was serious or not. She just smiled at me before muttering to Everly, "I've gotta go get Rue."
"Of course," he nodded as she darted back up front. Everly then took out a key to open up Blaze's stable. "I'm pretty sure Blaze was just out there but it shouldn't matter too much. I need to take Bella out anyways. The two have gotten along so well I've started sending them out together at least once a day." Carefully, he led little Blaze out of his stall and shut it closed behind him.
"Bella?" I asked, really not caring too much.
"My falabella, she's over there," Everly nodded towards a stall were a snow white falabella was kept. "As you can see, I'm not good at the name game. Here, hold onto him. I'll go find Yara and tell her we're taking Blaze out for a spin." He gave me Blaze's reigns before walking off to find this Yara person.
Since it was just me and him, I bent down on one knee and looked at Blaze. Unlike what Wavu sometimes did, Blaze just stared right back at me, unwavering. "Hey, Blaze," I whispered. "Do you even like it here?" Proudly, he raised his snout up but kept his gaze on me. "...Why? You're in a cage for goodness' sake. Trust me, I've been secluded in a tent for years and later wandered all over an entire continent, freedom is so much better than whatever this is." Blaze looked around me, as if he was looking for someone else, before settling his eyes on me again. "But...you wouldn't really have anyone to run with. I guess roaming would be pretty awful if done on your own. This really beats being lonely, huh?" Slowly, he turned and moved so that he stood right up against his stall.
"Oh, sure!" An energetic, scratchy voice bellowed through the halls. "Blaze is an energetic one, after all!" With the voice now came footsteps, so I stood up, ready to see Everly. With him this time, was a girl with a caramel colored ponytail in blue, dusty overalls. Seeing me, she held out a hand covered by a thick black glove. "Hi, it's Yara."
"North," I grinned. "He really is a special one."
"Aw, how could I keep these two apart?" Yara cooed. "Go ahead and have fun! Although lunch is in an hour so be back by then."
Seeing a couple bundles of hay lined up against the walls, I asked, "Can't they eat outside?"
Crossing her arms, Yara shook her head, "There're bunch of horses going to the competition on Friday so for the next two days, there'll constantly be horses out practicing so the fields need to remain as clean as possible to make it easier for everyone."
As if I caught a word she said, I nodded then looked back at Blaze. "Alright, c'mon, Blaze," I started for the back exit and pulled on both horses' reigns. "Wavu and I are eager to play with you."
Picking up the white falabella, Everly called from behind us, "Bella and I are right behind y'all!"
The hour sped right past us. Once Everly put Bella on the ground, Blaze's energy shot through the roof and he couldn't stop running circles around her. However, Bella was much calmer and only joined him for short spurts of time, preferring to sit and groom him instead. Everly and I split time between watching the two and actually playing with them. The open field gave so much space for nothing but tumbling up and down the hill all the way into the valley. When we had fallen down there, even Bella got an extra kick of adrenaline. The two miniatures spent the last quarter of our time together frolicking in the valley and having Everly and I chase them.
Way too soon, a faint scratchy voice starting calling for Blaze from the top of the hill. Looking up, I could just barely see Yara's caramel ponytail as she yelled for us. Everly got up from under Bella, sighed, and led us back up to the stables. As I tried to take in the view and learn the area, my eyes kept falling on Blaze's patches. The wine redness reminded me so much of my mother's eyes. And the white parts of his fur matched the long mop of floor-length silvery curls she was always took so much proud in. The hair was the only thing we ever had in common--save the excessive length, but I didn't doubt I could achieve that too if I wanted. As a young boy, my clearest memories were just of her dreaming on. Imagining what the three of us could be, telling stories of where we'd go. She'd write it all down in scrolls encrypted to what seemed like harmless poems to any other.
One time however, once, maybe a month and a half before we lost her for good, she took all the scrolls she had ever written and buried them somewhere. The five I had on me where from after the incident, just a month before she ran off. And, I had this vague memory of her telling me that even though she loved me, she might leave me, and that those scrolls would give too much information to the wrong people. Even Papa was forbidden to read them all. However, I remember there being someone else when she buried it. No one I know, and I had no recalling of any details about them, just that they were someone.
"North?" I looked up, hoping to see Mama finally revealing this person to me. Instead, it was Carmen rocking back and forth in her fiance's arms and forcing his happiness down my throat. She gave me a bright upbeat smile, "How were the fields?" Clearing my throat, I looked at Blaze being rounded up into his stall.
I nodded, "Good." After securing him in, Yara tipped her hat and moved out of the way, giving Blaze a clear shot of me. He looked up at me and neighed, a sound that felt like it was made just for me.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Everly lean on a support beam and gaze at me knowingly, "Y'know, we'd love to have you back. All of us." Blaze stood up on his back legs, and for a moment, coming back just felt like the most natural thing in the world. I blinked and looked back at Everly, testing to see if he was serious. "I'm serious," he crossed his arms and stood up. "Tomorrow all the show ponies go into training mode and a little help would be appreciated. We start just an hour after dawn."
A huge grin tore my face in two.
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