A New Sun (Belle)

[Peter Solomon]

Peter carried Mei up the stairs to his apartment, his fingers already at work unbuckling the vixen's harness. As he reached his floor, he shifted Mei that she was laying across his shoulder, digging in his pocket for the key to his rooms. While the run wasn't as long as the fox or he was used to taking, with all of the pressure on him at the moment, Peter was proud of simply having found the time to take her out at all. He wished that he could bring the vixen in to work with him, to make up for having left her alone for most of the previous day, along with the entire night, but knew that she would worry the horses, and that was the last thing he wanted.

After making sure that the food and water dishes were filled, enough for another day of being alone, Peter let himself back out of the apartments, his mind already churning on his next few tasks. With the sun not yet visible, but a slightly grey tinge around the edges of the horizon, Peter decided to make one more short stop, at the hopefully-open kitchen. While it didn't open for students or breakfast until six thirty, he knew the staff well enough to expect the coffee to already be brewing, and thus hot water to be available. Pearl had started waxing a few days earlier, although she hadn't started looking ready to foal until the previous morning. Peter had sent Annabelle a text about the situation, but had told the girl to stay in class, and he would send for her if anything happened.

Entering his barn, with a hot cup of tea, with lemon, he looked around, his eyes landing immediately on the barn hand that he had detailed to watching the mares as soon as the youth had entered the barn. After a brief conversation, confirming that nothing had happened, other than the fact that Pearl seemed a little restless, Peter stopped by his office, scanning his phone and email for a moment before heading back out to actually look in on all of his charges. The official barn work wasn't underway yet, since it didn't start until a later time in the morning, but already the horses seemed to be slowly waking up, rustling about. As he looked in on Pearl, Peter frowned. The barn hand had told him that the mare had seemed restless, but by now, she was kicking at her stomach, displaying all of the signs of a colic... Or of an impending birth. His eyes going over the mare, Peter decided that it had to be the latter, and pulled out his phone. After sending a text to Annabelle, apologizing for waking her so early but that she should come down, in the hope that the girl would hear her phone go off, he sent another message to Dr. Carr, letting the woman know that Pearl's time had come.

@running1

[Deleted]

Sitting up in bed, for the past half an hour the eighteen year old had been reading in her bed. Swinging her legs of to the side, she decided it was time to get up, not because it actually was, but because she was bored. Belle picked out an outfit for the day and gathered an outfit for equine classes for that day as well. Giving a handful of food to Lily she started gnawing on the little pieces. Just as Belle was going to go down and do something else other than just sit in her room until eight o'clock her phone vibrated against her thigh.

Fishing her phone out she read the text she had received from Sir Solomon, "Finally!", she said a little too loudly as she locked her door behind her and ran down the stairs. As she made her way across the campus she slowed to a walk as she reached the barn, as she knew she could spoke the mares. Seeing Sir Solomon standing by Pearl's stall, the eighteen year old couldn't hide her excitement. "How's she doing?", she asked trying to contain her mile-wide smile. Her eyes flickered back and forth from Pearl and Sir Solomon. She let her eyes watch the mare for a few more seconds, seeing that she seemed restless and she was kicking her stomach.

[Peter Solomon]

Peter looked up from where he had taken up position, far enough away from the mare as to not bother her, although he was close enough to move in if something were to go wrong. He saw Belle approaching him and gave the girl a tired smile. The adrenaline that was keeping him going now that something was happening kept him aware of his surroundings, although he didn't have too much energy for formalities, so he didn't welcome the girl or anything, instead launching into the situation, "She seems to be doing well so far, she's following most normal births, so I'm not worried yet." Since Pearl was a maiden mare, Peter wasn't sure about her own unique birthing process, but as things seemed to be going by the book, he was willing to relax slightly.

Just then, however, things turned for the worse. The mare, instead of laying down as her contractions increased in power, squatted, and Peter frowned at the mare's actions. It wasn't normal, as the mare was supposed to lay down to push. However, as the mare just stood again, Peter thought less of the incident, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. As the mare paced, continuing to heave and kick at her stomach, Peter pulled out his phone and prepared it to send another text to Dr. Carr, just in case something did go wrong. Turning the display off again, he returned the phone to his pocket, his anxious gaze back on the pearl mare.

[Deleted]

The thought of being so close to seeing a new life gave Belle a warm feeling throughout her body. Sir Solomon's reply didn't exactly put her at ease, but it was good enough for now. The eighteen year old wouldn't stop worrying until the foal was up and suckling, maybe not even then. "What should I do first?" Even though they had gone over the things that needed done, they had really covered an order. Belle wasn't exactly sure if she should do anything at that point.

When the mare squatted and started to breathe heavily Belle's heart dropped into her stomach and sat there with what felt like the weight of the world. They had went over what it meant if the mare laid down, but she didn't and even though the eighteen year old didn't know the whole nine yards for foaling, she guessed the squatting part was unusual from the look on Sir Solomon's face. Belle knew this was Pearl's first pregnancy and hoped that all went well and Pearl would be a natural. The blonde rocked back and forth as Sir Solomon sent, what she was assuming was, a text to Dr. Carr. At that point she was feeling extremely privledged to be in the barn when Pearl would foal.