Return to the Scene of the Crime

[Kekona Hanson]

The paperwork had come through, and Kona was now the proud owner of a new horse - New only in the sense that she, or her parents, now owned the mare. She had been working with Mary for quite some time now, but hope had been given up on finding the mare's previous owner, and she had been given permission to 'adopt' the horse by both the school, and the local animal control system.

So, of course, they had to go out onto the trails to celebrate. She had only a vague idea of where Mary had been found, but she remembered that day well, seeing Cara come back with the horse she'd been riding, as well as the tacked mare who nobody knew. Any trail would do, really, for the sentiment, and so they set out that morning towards the waterfall. They took it easy, Kona letting the mare walk on a loose rein for the beginning, since they weren't really in any rush.

[Piper Wilson]

Having finally extracted Sixty from her stall, which had taken more effort than she thought should ever be necessary to persuade a horse to go out on the trails, Piper had mounted up and set off towards the waterfall, for no particular reason other than that she felt like it. And really, what better reason did she need? Getting her mare to do anything that she didn't want to was like trying to extract teeth with a pair of toenail clippers, but she had long experience of managing Sixty's moods, and had managed to coax her into a gentle trot just in time to slow again as she spotted another horse in the distance. It was always hard to identify people from the back, but as she got closer, she definitely had a pretty good idea of who it was in front of her. "Behind you," she called- not too loudly, because Sixty was more than capable of spooking at her own rider's voice if she was in the mood. "Hey, Kona."

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona heard a voice behind her and brought Mary over to the side of the trail, then slowed her mount just a touch so that Piper could catch up, "Hi Piper! Have a good holiday break?" She had spent the time on campus, as lonely as that was. Travel to her parents was just a little too difficult in the winter months to make it worthwhile, and they had agreed that she'd head home for the whole summer break instead.

[Piper Wilson]

Piper shrugged, bringing Sixty up alongside the other mare with all due caution. Though she wasn't one to kick or bite or any such nonsense, she still didn't absolutely trust the horse, and so she took it just a little steadier, making sure that the mare had plenty of time to see what she was getting into before she actually got there. She'd done it plenty of times before, but Sixty never seemed to see that as a reason to miss out on an excuse to much about. "Not too bad, thanks. Had a pretty good time. How about you- you stayed, right? Not too lonely, were you?"

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona smiled, "That's good. And no, there was a few of us that didn't go home for whatever reason, and they made a big deal out of it here for us. I did miss my family a bit, but staying was better than spending the better part of a week trying to get home." There were definite drawbacks to living in the middle of nowhere, "But I'll go back for the summer, so it's okay. Where is home for you? Sorry, I don't think we've ever discussed it."

[Piper Wilson]

Piper nodded with a slight smile, moving Sixty firmly away from the foliage that the mare had begun to eye with rather more interest than her rider thought appropriate. "Texas," she answered, resolving to keep a closer eye on her horse in future- she ought to know by now that she couldn't trust her as far as she could throw her. "Near Dallas, actually. So... could be closer, but it's probably way easier for me than it is for you."

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona grinned, "Definitely more of a horsey land than Alaska." She shrugged as the girl compared the distances for the two, "It's still quite a ways away!" She always tried to validate other people's feelings on that sort of thing - Yes, she was from the middle of nowhere. But that wasn't something she had to push them away with, "I'm guessing you fly as long as you don't have to bring your horse? That'd be a long drive!"

[Piper Wilson]

"Oh, yes," Piper agreed with a grin- she couldn't remember any length of time when she'd been younger that she'd spent without being around horses in one way or another. They were just a part of the landscape as much as any tree or mountain might be, though personally, she knew that she paid rather more attention to horses than she did to either of the above. "We definitely fly. I haven't got the patience to drive it." The sooner they invented teleportation, the better.