Finding My Soulmate

Chapter 7

She couldn't believe that her first encounter with her soulmate was like this. Her clothes were both filthy and soaked, she looked like a drowned rat in the rain. She didn't have many fantasies about her soulmate, but he definitely didn't look like this.
"Um, s-s-sorry for the trouble," she stuttered, before clicking her tongue and touching Midnight's sides. The two mares obeyed her cues and cantered away, towards the next town.

"Wait!" He yelled, but she didn't. She continued. She'd looked a right mess, he thought to himself. He closed the car door and sulked as his mother reentered the car. "What was that about?" She looked at him.
"Nothing," he avoided the topic and resorted to staring out the window as they drove on. He felt himself drifting off in his thoughts. He'd bet there was something under that mess. She'd looked surprisingly good on that black horse of hers, and the one that followed was something special too. He sighed. If she was heading to their town, then maybe he'd see her again soon enough.

Not even a few minutes later when Grace looked back, the car was gone. She felt embarrassed for riding off like that. Her trip was to find her soulmate, but now she had found him while she was in a less than presentable state, and she didn't know how to react. What happened now? A slight regret sat in her. But right now, she wanted to get to the next village. She kept a fresh pace.

Arriving at the village, it was smaller than she had imagined. Since the towns had gotten bigger and bigger as she'd passed them, she imagined it to almost be the size of a city. But it wasn't. In fact, it could be smaller than her own town. It was like a bigger family. There was one food place, which was a cafe and horse shop in one. Apart from that, there weren't really any shops. It was like a line with a few houses. Grace could just about see the fields that were behind them. Some filled with cows, others filled with sheep, some filled with horses, and some empty. There were about 10 houses, and then that was that. A little after those houses, the path continued into a forest, that hid what was on the other time.

It didn't seem like a town that got many visitors, for people came out to look. A few small children ran up to her. Grace stopped both horses as she looked around.
"Um, can we pat your horses?" one of the girls asked, her eyes shining.
Grace replied with a quick "Sure," without thinking more about it.
The rain had since then left completely, and although she had signs of being wet, her clothes were starting to dry. The horses' coats were drying out too, but still damp.

An older woman came over to her, "You poor thing! Did you get caught up in that storm?"
Grace nodded a yes.
"I have an empty pasture, why don't you leave your horses there and borrow my shower?"
Grace's eyes widened at her kindness, "Do you mean it? I don't want to be of trouble."
"You're no trouble at all! We help each other here," she smiled at Grace, "What's your name, dear?"
"My name is Grace. These two are Midnight and Sandy," she said, referring to her two horses. Grace jumped off Midnight's back.
"Off you go, kids," the woman said to the children who were patting the horses. They ran off to a garden to play some games. "Call me Kathy, dear. It's nice to meet you:"

Grace took the tack off the two horses and hung it on the fence. She watched them for a while as they each rolled in the sandiest part of the field, before nibbling on some grass.
"They're lovely, I'm sure they'll be fine. Come on inside," Kathy smiled and guided her to the door. Grace hesitantly followed after, but she had no reason not to trust this woman's kindness. She didn't have much left, after all. She kept her card hidden in a pocket on the inside of the vest she was wearing. It was the only valuable thing she had left, after all. Kathy lent her a clean pair of clothes she put on after she'd had a shower.

She felt much fresher afterward and, not finding Kathy in the house, she went out to see Midnight and Sandy. She was relieved to see them both standing together, grazing peacefully. She'd been nervous since the two horses hadn't actually been together, but the trip must've brought them close. Apart from her, they only had each other, after all. She enjoyed watching them peacefully as she leaned against the fence.

"What are you doing here?" Kathy had somehow appeared by her side. "Those clothes look good on you."
She looked away, blushing slightly at the compliment, "I'm on a trip. Most of my things got stolen, so all I really have left is those two." Grace shrugged and changed her line of sight from Kathy to the pasture in front of her.
"Where are you heading?" Kathy followed her sight towards the horses.
"Nowhere in particular," Grace avoided saying what the woman probably wanted to hear. It sounded weird to say she was sent on a trip by her parents to find her soulmate. She had now found him, except it hadn't turned out in the way she'd hoped.
"Well, you're welcome to stay for a while," Kathy replied with a smile, dropping the subject.
"Thank you, I appreciate it," Grace bowed her head ever-so-slightly.
Then there was silence between them as they looked out at the fields in front of them. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, though. Kathy almost felt like a distant grandmother. She was kind and welcoming to Grace despite not knowing her. Grace stifled a yawn. Even though it was still mid afternoon, the exhaustness was coming through to her.

After a while, Grace was the first to break the silence, "I think I'll take you up on that offer to rest."
"Of course my dear, you can sleep in the guestroom. Let me show you where that is," Kathy said and turned around, heading through the small garden, which really just was a large patch of grass separating the house from the horse pastures, and headed towards the house. Grace followed after in a steady pace, noticing that the older woman was slightly shorter than herself and took smaller steps. But there was no rush. She just followed after without saying a word.

When Grace woke up, it was evening. Not late enough for the sun to go down, but it was loosing it's light and warm. Grace sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. The first thing that came to her mind was to check Sandy and Midnight. For even if Kathy had been extremely nice to her, she had lost the trust after the episode in the last village. Grace went through the house, not meeting another soul, and opened the door to the back garden. Sandy and Midnight were both there along with her tack, and they seemed to be fine. She whistled lowly. Sandy was the only one that moved from her patch of grass and came over to her. She rubbed the mare's face gently.
"Hey girl," she mumbled, "I'm glad I still have you here. It's been a tougher journey than I expected."

After a while of cuddles and attention, Sandy left her to go graze. Grace stood watching them for a while, before hearing noise from the front of the house. It sounded almost like. A party? A gathering? Her curiosity was killing her. She decided to go and look. Leaving the horses, she walked around the house and down the path that was between Kathy's house and her neighbour's.