Learning From Passion

Chapter 1: From Russia To Spain

Snow covered the landscape of Russia like a blanket would a human, and a somewhat perfect silence enchanted the place. Plants, instead of being full of colour, had dulled and were simply black and white. Wooden fences and posts were scattered around the area, meaning to show some kind of twisty path but ended up being nothing but a mess that confused a rider that would pass through the area. The white snow mixed with the few black streaks of wood made a mist that would be white, seem a light shade of grey as the warm yellow light of lamposts mixed with the grey.

Amidst all this snow, someone still dared trespass on the landscape, ruining the perfectly smooth-looking snow. A young boy wearing a light brown ushanka and a navy blue trench coat, seemingly too big for his frame rode past on a dapple grey horse, whose legs were frosted up from the snow. Wherever they went, a deep path was made in the snow and hoof prints were made easy to see, as the horse's metal shoes sunk into the ground, uncovering the mud underneath the snow. "We'll be home soon, Evelina," the teen whispered to his horse, his voice husky in this weather but still clearly a teen's, as a white cloud escaped his mouth when he spoke, warm air colliding with cold. His nose was becoming red; the rest of his face was almost white compared to it.

The quiet thud of horseshoes against the snowy ground slowly became louder as they entered a place with much less snow and a concrete ground. Only one or two people could be seen walking around on foot as everyone else was inside, hiding from the cold weather.  It didn't matter to the mounted boy since even if there was a crowd of people outside, he doubted anyone would have said a hello of any kind to him or anyone else.

Once escaping the desolate place, the teen continued riding towards a place glowing with warm lights, from multiple buildings, two of them giving off a much larger amount of the light than the rest. One was a stable, but the other was hard to see clearly. The boy smiled slightly at the sight of the buildings as he gently shifted his hand over to his horse's neck, patting it. "Home's right there," he spoke, another white cloud escaping his mouth, his eyes still looking directly at the stable.

When he and the dapple grey mare stood before the large building, he stood up in the stirrups and lifted his left leg over the horse to be able to jump off her. He landed on the snow-covered ground with a slight stumble and the mare glanced at him, checking if he had not fallen - luckily he had not. She quickly turned her head back to its original position and the teen took hold of the rein, lifting it over her head. They walked into the great building together, the human only slightly ahead of his friend, still holding onto her rein.

Slowly, they got closer to an open stall with a small nameplate saying Evalina. "Here you are, girl," the boy spoke to his mare, walking her into the stall. The snow that had previously been covering Evelina's legs, making them seem white, changed into cold water droplets that travelled down her legs.

The teen then crouched down to be able to get to the buckle that kept the saddle on the horse. He undid it, and the leather straps immediately dropped down as he then promptly moved his hands over to the horse's back stepping away and standing up straight to reach the saddle. His hands slipped under the large saddle, taking the blanket along with it, lifting the heavy load off the horse, and placing it on the stall door. He then stepped towards the mare's head, cautiously taking off the bridle. Her ears were flattened against her head for a moment as the bridle was pulled off, but quickly perked up again as she was now completely free of any tack.

Smiling, the human boy walked out of the stall, closing it behind him and picked up the saddle again. "I'll be back with warm water in a moment, Evelina," he said, chuckling slightly at how the mare had immediately started to nibble on the hay she had in her stall. 

He turned towards the door which he came through and walked out, towards the other building. Once stepping inside, he looked around and saw no one and, in some way, he was relieved. He quickly dashed through the main room and kitchen, ran up the stairs and soon enough, he was in front of a closed, white door. He opened it and walked up to a wall, from which a wooden stick stuck out from, somewhat horizontally - not perfectly, but well enough. The teen placed the saddle on the stick and the bridle on top of it.