Standoff

|3| A Brush of Change

"Mama! There's a man over er'!" A voice rouses Aaron's attention as he opens one eye, a young man, in his twenties, looking almost exactly like Garroth, with his blonde hair and baby blue eyes. is kneeling down next to him, probably checking if he's alive.

"I'm awake son." Aaron says while sitting up, scaring the young man out of his skin and making a second one come to check on him.

"Levin? What's goin' on?" The second boy asks what Aaron assumed to be his brother, though instead of blue eyes and blonde hair, he has brown curly hair and vine green eyes.

"Nothin' Malachi, Just got scared by this bloke." Levin points to Aaron and glances at the sleeping horse by his side.

"What are you boy's doing out here? You aren't runnin' from the law are ya?" Aaron asks, standing a foot taller than the boys, he spots a fire, and two horses, one white with brown spots, the other caramel with a black muzzle.

On top of the spotted horse is the most beautiful woman Aaron has ever seen in all of his 32 years of living, she has long, black hair ending at the small of her back, smooth, tanned skin, and eyes the color of caramel apples.

"No sir, we just got caught in the storm and reckoned we better let Mama an' the horses rest." Aaron doesn't hear a word but he nods his head anyway, his eyes still locked on the woman.

"And who's that? On the horse?" He asks, finally tearing his gaze away from her, Malachi, the brunette,has a sly and knowing smile on his face.

"You mean Mama? She's a ridin' on Pepper, she's about to foal, we're tryin' to get into town before she gives birth." Sure enough, the speckled horse is as round as a ball and looking to be about to bust, but Aaron eyes again, trail upward to the woman atop it.

"She looks awful young to have both of you, your Mama I mean, how old is she?" Malachi stops his brother from speaking another word, and instead points toward her.

"Why don't you go ask? She won't bite cha' well, not too hard." Malachi smirks at the flush that fills Aaron's face, it had been a very long time since he talked to a lady.

"An' she's 28 by the way, but that's all I'm tellin'." Eclipse, who at this point had woken up, stands and huffs aggressively at the boys.

"Wow, that's a stallion! Is he tame?" Levin asks excitedly, his blue eyes twinkling with stars.

"Yeah, though I don't recommend petting him, he's libel to kick ya." Levin immediately reels his hand away, with Eclipse very close to kicking.

"Mornin' Mrs!" He calls out to the woman on the horse, she turns to him, scans him up at down, and chuckles.

"Miss, actually. But Good Morning Sir." Somehow this made his insides explode in joy, but he contains his happiness and bows his head.

"So your son's told me that your lookin' for town, is that right?" She looks unamused, but nods all the same.

"They ain't mine, their my late sisters. I've taken care of them all my life." Aaron hears the clopping of Eclipse behind him, and Eclipse rests his head on Aaron's shoulder.

"That yours?" The woman asks, chuckling as Eclipse tries to eat Aaron's hair.

"Yeah, he's usually not this affectionate." Aaron pats his head and shakes off the horse hair.

"Where are my manners? I'm Aaron, that's Eclipse behind me." He grabs her outstretched hand and shakes it, making the woman smile.

"I'm Aphmau. It's nice to meet you Aaron." Aphmau chuckles.

"Aphmau? That's a... Very unique name. Pretty though." He adds quickly, his face loosing color again, he is bad at meeting new people.

"I get that a lot, don't worry. Where you headed?" She slips off the pregnant speckled horse and suddenly Aaron realizes that she's really short, and only came up to his elbow.

"Uhm... Oh! I dunno really, that sandstorm got me lost..."

A whinny alerts Aaron to Eclipse, Levin had tried to ride him and got bucked off into next year, Eclipse hadn't hurt him, just startled him pretty bad.

"Levin! What the hell were you doin'! You know better then that!" Aphmau suddenly develops such an accent that Aaron does a double take, and stares back in shock.

"Sorry Mama..." Levin replies, planted firmly on his butt from where Eclipse bucked him off.

"I shoulda' warned ya 'bout that, Eclipse is a wild spirt, you gotta be careful with him." Aaron chuckles finding his saddle and strapping the horse up.

"You can come with us, get ya back on your feet." She points to his wound that had bleed through his bandana, and he grins.

"Aye, Much Obliged, My lady." Aphmau laughs, shaking her beautiful head.

"Ugh... Not if you're gonna do that your not, just call me Aphmau, or Aph." Aaron nods, liking her more with every sentence that escapes her mouth.

"Alright, When are we headen' out then?" Aaron asks, straightening Eclipse's saddle and taking out a canteen full of whiskey.

"After I check where the foal is, should only take a minute." Aphmau pets Pepper, then takes one hand near the back legs, and squeezes just hard enough to feel the foal.

"Oh Damn. Yeah we ain't going nowhere." She sighs and groans inwardly.

              "She's coming now."