January

January 1, 2024
Dawn came with a chilling wind that Grace would not normally have opted to ride in. But according to the ranch horses, there were wild horses in close proximity, so the girls ventured out. Saturday's rain was frozen into the soil, making the ground hard and the going slow.

The mosses and lichens glowed green, invigorated by moisture, carpeting the rocky terrain. 

Somewhere in that rocky terrain, there were wild horses. But where.

Petrichor's harem, six strong, took shelter from the wind in a narrow draw, concealed from view by the rock walls.

"Can you hear anything?" Skye said softly.

Grace listened. Watched her mount's ears. Peered hopefully ahead. Nothing.

Highlander and his band saw the girls coming. They slipped through the rugged rock passage, and away.

The girls wanted to keep looking, but the wind pushed back on them.  Eventually, they turned back.

At home, Grace and Skye watched the Rose Parade on the laptop.
"Wouldn't it be so much fun to ride in the Rose Parade?" 
Grace considered it. 
"It would be, but it would be an awful lot of work too. I mean, for us, pretty easy really...we're about as close as you could hope to be."

January 6
The girls had been down the mountain all morning with the boss. Skye noticed the black capped bird first. 

Then they both noticed the tree.

The wind was cold. They knew the tree was coming down. There was a great deal of work going on in Chilao to make the inhabited areas safe from wind, fire and heavy snow. Still. The skyline would never be the same.

"I wish we could have seen them fell it" Skye said. Grace thought about it. "Yeah, me too, but maybe it's better we didn't."

In the late afternoon, everything went still. The wind stopped. Clouds covered the sky and the humidity rose. Beset with a little touch of melancholy, the girls decided to tend to their feelings with a ride. Woodpeckers, scrub jays, western bluebirds and various insect hunting birds were all that stirred. The band tailed pigeons had finally gone back to the Visitors' Center on the other side of Chilao, where the staff kept them in an ample supply of seed. 

La Barilla did an unexpected about-face.

Petrichor's bay mare and her foals moved into the clearing. The mare hesitated for a moment, then continued on, slowly, watching the girls, but unafraid.

Grace strained to get a glimpse beyond the black mare i Petrichor's band, Thorn, as La Barilla became increasingly difficult to hold steady. There were two more dark horses that they had never seen before.

The bay mare's foals noticed the Vanner filly.

The Vanner filly was equally curious. The foals began moving toward each other.

"Oh, this could be interesting" Skye chirped, "and I'm along for the ride..."

And then Petrichor swept in, putting himself between his band and the Vanner filly.

His herd, swollen now to three mares and three foals, took heed, turning away from Grace and Skye and moving back toward the cover of the chaparral.

The Vanner filly returned to her nickering mother, looking rather pleased with herself. Petrichor and his band slipped out of sight.

Back at home, it took a little bit for the girls to get warm.
"I don't want to take my coat off" Grace said as she scanned her emails.

"Yeah but that was worth getting cold and stiff! That's the closest we've ever been to the foals I think! And the new mare and foal! And you can tell it's cold out when the barn cats would rather stay in a room full of dogs than in their own beds."

Grace was silent, staring at the computer screen. 
"What's wrong?" Skye asked.
"I'll read it to you" Grace responded. "It's an email from the boss. 'Hey Grace, tomorrow is supposed to be barely above freezing and windy. Remember that review I was hoping to do in the fall? Let's do it tomorrow.' "
It was Skye's turn to fall silent.
"Tomorrow." Skye finally said. "We don't even have a day to plan. I had so many ideas. I wanted to make it like a show you know, and I wanted to speak for you, because that would be the traditional way to do it...you know, not you bragging on yourself but me speaking on your behalf...and I wanted to show pictures..."
There was a long silence.
"We've got all night" Grace finally said. "We'll pull it together."

Grace and Skye caught the last moments of the sunset. Clouds swirled and danced and made their way up the mountain. The cold crept quickly into their hands. 
"Do you know which horses you want?" Skye asked.
"Pretty much. It'll be about half-half mares and stallions."
"So how do we split the talking?"
Grace thought about it for a moment. She started to answer and stopped. Finally she spoke.

"We could spend a lot of time trying to figure that out and have it all change the moment we get in the arena. Let's just both decide what we generally want to say."
"I like that. We'll keep it fresh."
"Organic" Grace smiled.
"Real." Skye replied, smiling. "I like that."

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