A Light in the Dark: The moon

Chapter 5: Bond

-"Ok, walk her around the ring," said Hansengrove.

They had gotten to the barn, and Hansengrove had taken out her personal horse.

-"What we are going to do is not going to be what you are used to." She said. Her brown and white leopard spotted appaloosa flicked her ears toward her owner.

-"Éclair, listen to Etta," she said to the mare, who obeyed, oddly enough.

-"We are going to go for a trot." She continued.

Etta's heart sank. Seeing her student's disappointed look, she said.

-"The reason why you were having trouble trotting is because you didn't bond with the horse at all, not a tiny bit. The horse thus lacked the will to even try at all for you. This time will be different. This time, Éclair will want to trot when you ask her, not for you, but for me." She said. "So, ask her to trot, shorten your reins, and when you are ready, squeeze your legs and click," instructed Hansengrove.

She did that. Éclair did not trot, but she kept asking.

-"Come now, Éclair, trot-trot-trot," Hansengrove coaxed, and Éclair did.

Immediately, Etta was jeered into an unexpected trot. She bounced on the saddle a little, the spotted mare had the bounciest trot Etta had ever seen, but with the coaching of Hansengrove, she managed to keep apace with the trot, and go up and down as she needed to. It did not come as naturally as it did with Stella, but she was managing.

-"I'm doing it!" She exclaimed.

Hansengrove smiled.

-"Yea! You are!" She encouraged Etta.

The lesson lasted the afternoon, and  Hansengrove even put out some poles for Etta and Éclair to trot over. When the lesson was over, Hansengrove asked for Etta not to groom her mare. When she noticed Etta's puzzled look, she answered,

-"Me and Éclair are deeply bonded. It is... relatively rare to find such a bond between horse and rider, and it has many advantages, such as communication, but it also has a curse. Just like you, when I am away from my horse, I feel like only one half of a whole, and also, when someone touches Éclair, I have a chance of feeling it too. This chance gets bigger depending on how close I am to her." She said.

-"But that means I'll be living my whole life with the chance of feeling like I'm being groomed, or worse, abused!" Etta exclaimed, suddenly panicked as she put two and two together.

Suddenly, a funny sensation took hold of her foot. It felt like a kind of scraping, but instead of hurting, it tickled. Panicked, Etta cried out and dropped herself to the ground. It felt like someone was gripping her foot, and not letting her go. She sat on the ground, and desperately pulled at her boot. The feeling was almost unbearable, and as soon as her sock was off, she scratched at her foot. Hansengrove looked at her, concerned, but seeming to understand. Etta shook her foot hard and the feeling went away. She rubbed it, then put her boot back on.

-"Are you ok?" She asked her student.

Etta opened her mouth and took a breath to answer, but she was winded by the feeling of a harsh impact on her left cheek, as if somebody had smacked her, but without the pain. Just the shock. She stumbled back, stunned, as she put her hand to her cheek. Nobody had smacked her... She stared, stunned. Suddenly feeling crowded, she turned and started to run, but Mrs Harvard was blocking her path. Taken by surprise, Etta screamed, startled, and stopped abruptly. Mrs Harvard had surprised her, she hadn't noticed her standing there. She ran in the other direction, hoping to run pas Hansengrove, but just as she was about to whisk by, she pulled her arms into a bear hug. Etta struggled a bit, rather confused, but Hansengrove held steady, and soon, Etta came back to her senses, tears pouring down her cheeks that she hadn't noticed were there. Hansengrove didn't say anything, only looking up at Mrs Harvard, concerned.
In minutes, the three were in the student girl's dorm. Hansengrove sat on Maddy's bunk, holding Etta on her lap.

-"The first signs of a bond are already happening. Based on what I gathered from her explanation, the mare she rode, Stella, is having her hooves picked out. She didn't like that, not trusting the people who were doing it. Probably trying to discipline her, the person trying to do her hooves smacked her, which served as a trigger. The mare panicked, and so did Margretta, because their souls are connected, and Etta is now acting upon Stella's instinct. Now, if my suspicions are correct, they will give the mare a moment, then they will try again. They have to make her as pretty as possible to appeal to potential buyers." Explained Hansengrove.

-"Well, shouldn't we stop this before it gets bad?" Asked Mrs Harvard, "I'll call Diana and ask if she could do something," she said, fishing for her phone from her pocket.

Diana was Mrs Vermont, the principal of the school. Mrs Harvard left the room.
Sure enough, Hansengrove's suspicions were correct, as Etta got another of the same ticklish sensation on her other foot. She reached for her boot. The feeling was unbearable!

-"Is this actually what it feels like when horses get their feet done?? Oh god I'd hate to be a horse!"

As soon as the boot was off, Etta scratches and rubbed at her foot but nothing could stop the horrid sensation.

Hansengrove knew what Etta was going through, and remembered the incident when a new ranch hand had mistakenly done Éclair's feet. It had been an unbearable feeling, and she'd sat on the floor itching and rubbing her foot for ages, clueless as to what was causing it.
Now Etta felt as though she might just start crying if it didn't stop. After awhile though, and to her utter relief, the feeling went away, and Mrs Vermont called to say that she was now with Stella, having explained the situation to the staff of the auction, and not letting anyone near the mare. Etta was sent to bed, with hot tea, to calm down and get over her nerves. When the students came back from the trip, they were asked not to go into the girl's dorm. By the time it was time for the students to get to bed, Etta was already sound asleep, and did not stir when her roommates quietly filed in to get ready for bed. Even the little ones kept as quiet as they could. Hansengrove went to check on her before lights out, and was satisfied to find her student still sleeping soundly. She then left and got ready for bed herself.