Chasing the Stars

Cloudy Skies Stables

(DISCLAIMER: I will use horse terms, and while I will explain most of them, some of them I won't. If you have questions about a word, let me know in the comments. Please enjoy)

The boat stops at a long, wooden dock at sunset, and the glowing orange sun casts beautiful light across the docks, turning the warm colour of hot bran mash.

When they lead me off the dock, I'm to content with food and clean water and freedom to struggle.

A large, cream-coloured building stands on a hill, not to far off from the dock.

Calia takes hold of my makeshift halter and leads me over the wood.

It creaks and groans and makes tkp-tkp-tkp-tkp-tkp  noises when I step on it, which makes me a little uneasy, but Calia rests her hand calmly on my shoulder, soothing me.

Rodrigo and Charl hang back on the boat and I can hear them arguing about something. I prick my ears backwards to try and hear their conversation.

"Not suited for ... too wild and ..." Charl's voice is just within my ears grasp. "Bad idea ... said from the start ..."

"She is totally ... Stop shutting her ... amazing potential ..."  Rodrigo starts to say something else, but the wind snatches it away from me.

Frustrated, I snort.

Calia laughs.

When the docks  end, a large, winding dirt path begins. Calia leads me up, being careful to avoid the few small rocks in the path.

She takes a deep breath and sighs. " You smell that, Girl?" Calia asks, her eyes closed peacefully. "That's the smell of home."

"Home smells ... nice." I whisper to myself.

The summer wind smells sweet, and the distant sounds of horses whinnying happily drift on the breeze.

The dirt path continues for a few minutes, and lush green pastures surround me. Large oak trees cast long, comfortable shadows, and a few horses are lying down in the shade, grazing, or  munching delicious-looking hay. 

I catch three dappled grey mares gossiping about something called "The Market". Even though I only caught a few words, "The Market" doesn't sound good.

I spot two young, bay fillies (A filly is a female foal. A colt is a male foal. A foal is a baby horse) racing each other across a long field, their spindly legs almost giving way.

"You're observant, aren't you girl?" Calia asks, studied my head tilted towards the pastures, and the way my ears prick at every sound, and I twitch my nose at every smell.

"That's what Jacob always said." I whisper, staring sadly at the ground. "What did I do wrong?" 

"Hey, mopey new horse!" A voice makes me snap my head up. 

"Girl, are you okay? Did something spook-"  Calia starts but follows my gaze and lets out a small laugh. "Oh, don't worry about her." she points at a buckskin mare who's staring at me intently. "She always gives new horses a hard time. She's just curious." 

"Who're you?" The mare asks rudely. She wrinkles her nose. "You look like you've been to the market and back six times." 

"My owner dumped me on a ship to get abandoned on a hot, deserted island for two years." I retort, loving the feeling of satisfaction that bubbles up inside me when I see her astonished face. 

"Um - I - Well-"  she stutters indignantly

Calia and I turn around the corner before the mare can answer. The cream-coloured building sis right in front of us, and I can see it's a big stable, with a large indoor riding arena. Large, wooden stalls go on forever, and it seems every one of them have a silver plaque with a name on them.

Where do I belong?  I wonder. None of these stalls will have my name on them. So where do I belong here? 

Calia leads me past the stalls, and into a stall with no door, and a rubber mat instead of shavings. I remember the washing stall back at Jacob's Farm, and it looked almost exactly like this. 

Calia smiles and hitches me to the cross-ties, gently rubbing my nose. "Before we check with the vet about you, we need to give you a serious grooming." 

She unclips my lead, places it on a hook, and retrieves a hose from a small nook. "I hate this hose." she growls, twisting the top of the hose, and she lets out a small squeal, when it bursts on and sprays both of us. 

We laugh together for a good second, before Calia takes the hose and sprays it all over the parts of my body where little bits of sand are all tangled, and dirt is all knotted, and my fur sticks up. Once I'm thoroughly soaked, she takes a soapy sponge and scrubs me clean. 

It feels good, a little ticklish, and very soothing. I've missed, feeling loved. Getting taken care of. The sweat scraper comes next, and soon after Calia produces a fluffy towel, and softly musses up my silky fur, collecting the moisture. 

"Alright." Calia wipes her hands on her jodhpurs, and picks my lead back up. "C'mon. Rodrigo called the vet, she's on her way. Let's take you to the holding stall." She unclips the cross-ties and leads me out of the washing stall, and into a clean, wooden stall. It doesn't have a silver plaque, and I relax once I realize that I'm not intruding.

Calia waits outside the stall, humming and tapping on her phone. 

I peer over her shoulder, and see little bubbles with words pop up. Calia taps the screen, and another word-filled bubble pops up. I can't read human, but I know what human words look like. 

The rumble of a car makes us both look up, and Calia slips her phone into a pocket on her boots.

A tall woman with dark skin and black hair, tied up in a high, messy bun walks into the stable. She has red-rimmed glasses on, a long white lab coat, a green shirt, black pants, and white boots that go up to her knees. 

"Doctor Mimi!" Calia grins and waves. "Over here!" 

The woman smiles widely and walks over to the young, tan girl. "Calia! How are you doing? How's everything with Firework?" 

"He's ... y'know. Destroying everything in the house. I woke up this morning to find him chewing my mum's boots." 

Doctor Mimi laughs and facepalms. "That's puppies for you." She looks up. "This the horse? She's a beautiful mare, she is. Looks pretty healthy, but I should do a check up anyway." 

"Remember that article two years ago about the horse-owner that had to get rid of his horse?" Calia asks.

Doctor Mimi raises an eyebrow. "This the fine young girl from that?"

Calia nods. 

Doctor Mimi sighs. "Some people do bad things for no good reason." she puts on white gloves. "Let's do this." 

She takes out a small tube with a point and presses it against my shoulder. 

It pierces my skin and I let out a small yelp of pain. "Ow!" I shy away from the pricker. "That hurt!" 

"It's a nessecary shot." Doctor Mimi sighs. "But I got it." She taps the tube a few times and squints.

"Is she good?" Calia asks.

Doctor Mimi frowns. "I'm afraid not. She's been illegally tested with drugs."

(Whaaaaaaat? 1217 words? How did this happen? Hope you enjoyed!

SUSPEEEEENSE)