August's End

August 31, 2025
​Thunderheads flirted with the mountain but never gained control of the sky.  The sun beat mercilessly on the land below despite their presence.

It was still hot to be out looking for wild horses.  Or doing anything, really.  But curiosity had the better of him.

"I"m surprised Anoush didn't come with us"  Grace said.  

"She didn't want to ruin her boots" Skye answered.

"Did she know we were taking the truck?"

"She said sooner or later we'll be out of the truck and climbing around on the rocks."

Grace nodded.  Probably accurate.

They could only go so far in the truck.  Grace wasn't willing to risk driving in the dry brush due to the fire danger.

Anahit, sitting against the tailgate, seemed particularly tranquil.  Skye noticed, smiled.

"This is...like being in a movie"  she said.  "Driving across a rugged western landscape, looking for wild horses..."

As the sun began to descend to the west, they parked the truck and took shelter in the shade of the rocks.  Just like Anoush predicted they would.  The shade was comfortable, but their location afforded them no view.  They'd have to venture back out into the sunlight sooner or later.

Moving away from his band to survey the surroundings, Petrichor seemed to note the tire tracks.

From the ridge top, they stared more or less directly into the sun, waiting.  Nothing stirred.  The sun slipped behind the trees and then, behind the mountain.  Maybe it had been a false alarm.  Maybe something else had gotten their domestic horses all excited.  

And then they emerged.  Petrichor's band.

Petrichor brought up the rear, close on the heels of the blue roan mare.  Also on her heels, a foal.

The party was not exactly well hidden on the ridge top.  Petrichor saw them.  Five of them.  Too many.

Petrichor moved swiftly around his harem, changing their direction.

The sun's final glow lit the top of the trees.

Petrichor postured as his band retreated.  Grace and Skye strained to see the new foal in the fading light.

The bay mare, largely unruffled, lead the herd away.

Once they had left the vicinity, Grace and Skye lead the group down into the sandy clearing where moments before, the herd had been.  There was something about being in the same space as the wildies, even if separated by time.

"How does roan modify Appaloosa?"  Skye said excitedly.

"I'm not sure"  Grace answered.  We'll have to look it up."

Skye turned to Dude.  "That was Petrichor's band. Petrichor is Grace's stallion."

Dude turned to Grace, a questioning look on his face.

"He comes up to Grace and asks to be  pet"  Skye continued.  "We even had to bring him in once when he was lame."

"It's true"  Grace confirmed, looking at Dude instead of where she was putting her feet, and tripping on a rock.

Dude started to ask if she was okay, but caught his words with silence instead.  If that was "her" stallion, whatever that really meant...there was a certain level of chivalry that would be functionally  irrelevant.

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