Fields

Mika looked up at him. "I knew...I knew before we started on the ride" she shook her head and looked down again. "how could i have been so stupid?" she muttered.

"It's not your fault, it's not. Just breath." I squeezed her. I wasn't good at this sort of thing. I didn't know how to comfort her.

Mika shook her head 'it is to my fault' she thought but she knew it was useless arguing with him. She didn't have the energy anyway. She was so weary. "I...I have to get him back to Cahoon...I need to start on the preparations" she said distractedly. She started to try and stand but fell back to her knees. She sniffled and gathered the strength to stand again.

As her knees began to buckle again I lifted her off her feet and carried her back to Koda. I lifted her high enough to where she could swing her leg over. She sat right behind where Aadens body was draped. I handed her the reins and placed a hand on Aadens covered body and closed my eyes and a tear rolled down my face "Would you like me to come with?" I asked "i'm sorry i don't know what i can do for you!" This was my weekness. I didn't know what to say or what to do. "and would you like me to lock Beauty up and I can doctor him up."

Mika let him lift her up and put her behind Aaden's body. She felt totally numb. She barely heard his question. She thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Just....be there" she said quietly. Her sad brown eyes stared straight ahead, no moving not feeling just numb.

"I'm always here....you know that." I sighed not sure what her answer was "do you want me to go with you?" I repeated the question.

"well that's fine. but please come back when you get done, let me know that everything is ok. I'm going to put beauty in a paddock and doctor him up" I frowned as I watched her ride off

Mika blinked "I can make it back" she nodded as he said he would take care of Beauty "thank you" she said softly before nudging Koda with her legs and riding onto Cahoon.


------Cahoon----->

----> Rhea's house

"So, I'm going to slice that tree up right there." she said, pointing with the sword, "That distracting enough?"

Rhea laughed, "Yep,"
Rhea paused to laugh again, "That should be good,"

Danielle stared at it for a minute, seeing the best way to "defeat" it. She walked up to it, looked up. It only took a minute, anyone watching would have seen a Danielle colored blue shot up the tree and then her standing at the base again, now with cuts and scratches all over the trunk. A few branches clunked to the ground and the tree leaned to the side. She turned around to face Rhea, "Hmmm, I was aiming to cut it down... my skill is more speed then strength."

Rhea's jaw dropped for a second and then she started laughing,
"Impressive, I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Rhea exclaimed, completely forgetting about all the recent events leading up to then.

Danielle smiled, "Years of working my butt off." she replied.

Rhea smiled,
"Well it obviously payed off," Rhea said sitting on the fence and swinging her legs,
"Not sure if Jarlon will be too happy with what you've done to his tree though," Rhea laughed

She laughed, "At least I didn't touch the crops, then he'd probably explode, he's so proud of those crops." she said, jumping at the tree again, and leaving another bold cut across the tree.

Rhea smiled,
"You're probably right there!" Rhea said, Leaning back forgetting there wasn't anything to lean against and slipped off the fence, Landing on her back.
"I planned to do that," Rhea laughed and didn't bother moving, just stayed on her back.
"Have I heard your 'life story?'" Rhea asked,

Danielle turned when she heard the thud and laughed, walking over to her and swinging herself over the fence, "Depends on if you want all the details." she said, leaning against the fence and looking up at the sky, her arms crossed.

"I can handle hearing details," Rhea laughed. "So..."

"Alright then, I trust you can." she, took a breath and began, "My father is a very rich and well known business man, my mother is of royal descendant. I told you all that I was sent to live with my uncle, truth is he saved me from that wretched place. My father was always busy and was never there, and when he was, every time I tried to talk to him, he yelled at me." she sighed, "My mother died when I was eight, leaving my father even more bitter. I hung around the maids mostly, they were nicer to me then my father was. They assisted my uncle Will in taking me away. At the time I thought he was an evil man, taking me away from my father. But the truth was that my fathers business empire was slowly falling apart and soon I would be nothing but a beggar's daughter." she hadn't looked at Rhea, still looking up at the stars. "You're the only one here who knows all that." she said after a while, "I don't like people knowing that part because in the past, people had tried to get to my family's wealth through me. I don't know if he really is a beggar now... he' s never tried to contact me." she shrugged, "And I have no intention of going back." her face was hard, remembering her father.

"The only one? Why is it you only trust me with that part of your past?" Rhea asked staring at the stars as Dani was.

She shrugged, "No one else asked, really. And I don't have much patience with Bardon or Sloan... Jarlon is always running to one place or another." she said and smiled, "It's nice to get it off my chest once in a while. Someday thought, I'm going to have to give my dad a piece of my mind."

Rhea laughed, "Same reasons why'd i've only told you the full story of my past...well...kinda...I don't understand why you don't like Bardon,"

Danielle sighed, "I figured someone would ask me that soon enough. There's just something about him that makes me nervous, and I've had a bad experience with someone like him." she said, not wanting to get into the whole novel length story.

"Ah," Rhea said, she stood up wiping the dirt off her clothing and fixed her hair. Not wanting to make Danielle have to speak much longer, she obviously didn't want to talk about it but Rhea couldn't help but wonder if it had been her torturer.
"Well it's getting chilly...You wanna have some dinner and head to bed?" Rhea asked politely, Zaric circling her legs quickly.

"Yeah, sure." she replied, standing up off the fence and sheathing the sword.

---> Rhea's house

------> Rhea's House