xp_logs | [RED X] Stonewall Part #2

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"Aren't you lovely? Yes, you. Oh, you know who I'm talkin' about, don't you?" Amanda crooned to the horse she was rubbing down with handfuls of straw to stop the animal from catching cold. The horse, a chestnut filly, stamped her foot and tossed her head a little, as if agreeing. The witch chuckled, giving her a gentle slap on the neck. "Full of yerself, that's what you are," she told her.

Manuel walked up to the horse that Amanda was cooing over, and grinned at her and the horse at the same time. "You have a good eye for horseflesh. This one's got some stamina to her, by the looks of it. Well built, well cared-for. And she likes the rubdown."

"This place has some amazin' animals, that's for sure. Wonder if they'd take me on as a stable hand?" Amanda was only half-joking - she ran her hand down the filly's nose with an expression of longing. "I've never seen their like up close before. 'M glad I came t' help."

"They're all right. Alphonso used to own some Arabians that he would race - I used to be permitted to play around them before the jockeys came. These are no Arabians, but they're very gentle, and well cared-for. Do you like this one?" he asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

"Arabians, eh? I've never seen one of 'em up close neither. Most of me experience is workin' the pony rides in Brighton an' the odd horse-driven cart, you know, those touristy things. But this one... she's a beauty, make no mistake." Amanda reached up and scratched behind the filly's ear, murmuring some words that sounded vaguely Baltic.

Manuel got the odd word or two out of that utterance, just from similarity to Basque. "Since you like this one so much - would you like to own her? Charles has a stable on the property, and I have the funds. I'm fairly sure I can arrange a fair deal with the owner." he said, stressing that word just slightly.

Amanda looked up, wide-eyed with surprise. "You'd wot?" she asked, accent momentarily thickening. "You'd buy her? For me?"

Manuel nodded, easily picking up on her surprise and happiness. "Absolutely. I would do this for you because it makes you happy. You should laugh more, it suits you well. Shall I go find the owner, then, and make an offer? Or would you prefer that I do this when dampened, to assure that the deal is fair and honest?"

A faint blush coloured Amanda's cheeks, and she hid her face in the filly's mane for a moment. "I dunno what t' say," she managed, sounding muffled. "I mean, no-one's ever offered t' do somethin' like that for me before..." She breathed in the comforting smell of horsebefore pulling away and looking up at Manuel. "Thank you, for wantin' to. Now probably ain't the best time t' be makin' offers, what with everythin' bein' so confused an' all. An' I don't know if I could accept somethin' so big..." The horse snorted and turned to nibble at the shoulder of her RedX jacket, and she laughed again. "Get away with you. No gangin' up on me."

Manuel stepped forward, to trail his fingertips down Amanda's jawline. "I would like to do this for you." he said softly, directly to her. "No obligation is intended. If you do not wish it, merely say so and the matter will be forgotten. I could make sure that the owner does not sell her before you are ready to accept, if that would please you more." His eyes were their usual brown color, not the screaming red of empathic coercion.

Amanda closed her eyes for a moment as his fingers traced her jaw, lifting her face almost instinctively to his, but at the last moment pulled away. She didn't want to put more pressure on his control than he could handle. And after the warnings from just about everybody that week, reopening the link was not an option. "Could you?" she asked, looking into his eyes with a smile. "Ask the owner t' wait? I need t' think 'bout this." She reached up on tip toe and kissed his cheek. "An' thank you. It means a lot, you doin' this, an' without usin' yer power."

Manuel grinned from ear to ear at the kiss, and at keeping his power under control. "I would be honored, sorgin." he said in a low voice, before turning away from Amanda to face the horse - to get

himself under control. ~You will be hers, if she wishes it.~ he told the horse in Basque, his eyes flashing red briefly to drive the feeling of Amanda into the horse's brain.

"What did you call me?" Amanda asked, amused - and a little overwhelmed. She bent to grab another handful of straw to start rubbing the next horse down, and the filly nudged her with her nose with a small whinny. "Easy, girl, I ain't goin' that far. Just lookin' after yer mate here."

Manuel just grinned at Amanda, and picked up his own handful of hay to begin rubbing horses down.

***
Note: "Sorgin": Basque for "witch".

"Over here!"

Tabitha ran toward the man shouting and helped him lead three more horses -- two beautiful, full-grown Arabians and a foal -- into the shelter. They pulled at their harnesses, skittish due to the smoke in the air and the number of people rushing about.

She'd never really been all that fond of horses, but, "This reminds me of the time I dated one of Robert Sangster's stablehands," she said with a grin. "He was /always/ conning me into helping out with the horses..."

The young man looked up at her from where he was crouched down fastening the mares' lead lines to an anchoring stake, a temporary measure until they could be moved again, and squinted at her as though he were seeing her for the first time. "Sangster? /The/ Robert Sangster? Did you ever meet him?"

Tabitha shrugged, bold as ever. "Oh, sure. He was a great guy. Really nice to his employees and, /man/, did he know horses." She held out the next lead line for him to take, waiting patiently.

"Poor bastard passed on today, eh?" The man took the lead and fastened it down. It was a lousy way to keep the horses in one spot but it would have to do, and they were under supervision. "Rest his soul, I bet he's up telling God what he did wrong in his breeding program."

Tabitha grinned, chuckling quietly. "I'm sure he is. I remember seeing him talking to one of his competitors, once, explaining what he was doing wrong."

"He did a lot of good for the business, that's sure." Finished now, the man stood, scrubbing his hands off on his thighs, and offered one to her to shake. "Percy Seiffert. And you are?" He was tall and when his hair was dry and free of soot, it might well have been blond. His eyes were blue, if a little bleary from smoke and weariness.

Tabitha shook his hand, still grinning. "Tabitha Smith. You work here, huh?"

"Yeah, bit of a family affair. My dad's one of the trainers." He gestured for her to lead the way out of the shelter. "You've got one of those jackets that some of the odd kids running around are wearing, what's that all about? Not that we're not grateful, mind."

"Red X. It's a program run by the Red Cross. A sort of...mutant disaster relief team?" she said, walking out in front of him. "I grabbed one of the extra jackets on my way out of the house."

"That's a damn cool idea." Percy started trotting back up toward the foaling barn. "Never heard of it but glad you all showed up. There some sort of requirement for being good with horses to get in?" he asked lightly.

Tabitha laughed. "Maybe that's why I'm not in," she joked, following behind him.

"Ah, you're doing fine," he said, looking over his shoulder at her. "You're not yanking or yelling or poking. You should see some of the people in this business -- the ones with the money that is, not the ones who have to do the work. So you just live with one of these guys?" He gestured vaguely around to where Scott and a few others were helping the firemen move another set of hoses closer to one of the fires.

"Perce!" A /very/ short black man came bouncing toward them, leading four horses at once, and none of them looked very happy with the arrangement. "Give us a hand here, mate!"

Tabitha reached out for one of the leads, and, when Percy had taken another, she nodded. "I live with all of them. In the not /with them/ sort of way."

Percy took a second lead in the same hand and nodded at the other man. "Want a lift there, Sharkey?" he asked and moved closer. He bent a little and held out his free hand.

"Ta, mate." Sharkey put his muck-heavy boot squarely in Percy's big hand and swung up on the remaining horse. They set off for the shelter at a sedate pace, Sharkey patting the neck of the gelding he rode and talking under his breath to the animal.

Percy followed after, leaning a little to look at Tabitha over the withers of the mare he lead. "I figured on the /not with them/ way," he said with a grin. "So if not /like that/, then...?"

Tabitha shrugged, trying to decide what Percy would look like without all the muck. "I'm a teaching assistant for a couple of the classes and I help out with some other stuff around the school."

"Got my head on backwards tonight, sorry. Didn't sink in that a handful of mutant volunteers might actually be, you know, from the local private school for mutants." Percy gave her a sheepish smile and then tugged to get the mare -- who was the only horse so far who seemed to want to go to the shelter -- to stop forging ahead.

Tabitha's face split with a smile. He was adorable, even covered in muck. "It's okay. There are actually a few other Red X teams in the States, I guess, so it's not necessarily obvious," she said, waving her free hand.

Percy laughed quietly, hidden between the two horses he was leading. "You're merciful," he said wryly. "It's an uncommon trait in beautiful women."

Both of Tabitha's eyebrows went up and her smile got bigger, if that were possible. "You're sure free with the compliments," she said, laughter trickling into her voice.

"Never," Percy said, handing one horse over to Sharkey, who was waiting by the shelter. He towered over the little jockey who took the horse Tabitha led as well and led them away. "Blame it on smoke inhalation or something. Or it could just be that I'm the master of the obvious. Like, you look cold and could probably use something hot to drink." He pointed up down to where a few people were serving hot drinks and snacks out of the back of a van from a nearby farm. "Go on," he said.

Tabitha looked longingly at the table of hot drinks and smiled back at Percy. "I'll come find you later," she promised, then headed off for a dixie cup full of coffee to warm her hands on.

"We've got a problem, Red - looks like one of the stud stallions and some mares made a break for it early on. With the fences down, they could be anywhere by now." The farmhand who brought the news was big and burly, like many of the men hired to do the heavy work on the estate.

"How many?" asked Red, the groom who'd been overseeing the evacuation and relocation of the horses. He'd been a jockey in his youth, and it showed - he was short and bandy-legged and horses were clearly his passion. "Which stallion?"

"'bout six - two of the mares might've had foals with 'em. Near as we can tell, it was Stonewall's Pride that went with 'em."

"Damn. Still should have known it'd be him. Right little lord and master, that one. Wouldn't trust us to look after his herd, he'd have to do it himself. Ain't going to be easy, tracking 'em in this mess. And that's if I find someone to go after 'em."

"Whatever you do, better do it quick, Red. Those beasts could be at the interstate by now."

"I could go." The voice that interrupted was Amanda's. She'd been lugging hay bales for a barricade for the foals and shamelessly eavesdropping on the men's conversation. The farmhand frowned.

"This isn't a game, girlie - those horses are worth more than your folks'll pay for your whole education at that swanky school. And look at you - you even know which end of a horse is which?"

"Easy, Mike," Red broke in quietly, before Amanda could retort. "I've been keeping an eye on these kids, and this one, the horses trust her, for all her fancy get-up." He turned to Amanda. "If I send you out, you go some way of finding those animals, girl?"

"I do! I could turn into a cloud and float nice and high and tell Amanda what I see!" Jane had dropped the bucket of chaff she'd been taking to some of the pregnant mares, sheltered behind some of Marie-Ange's walls, and was looking at the two men with big, hopeful eyes, clasping her hands in front of her. "Please let me help! I don't think I've been around horses before, but I like them, even though I thought they were so big and scary, and I don't want them to be hurt or lost."

"She can, y'know, turn herself into a cloud. An' she would be a great help - I'd find 'em heaps faster with her," added Amanda, unexpectedly supporting her roommate. Jane seemed about to hug her gratefully, but Amanda waved her back.

Mick looked even more doubtful than before, but Red nodded. "Six is a lot to handle, 'specially when only one of you knows anything 'bout horses. Take that Madrox kid with you, or one of him - there's dozens of him running all over the place. I'll saddle a couple of the work horses while you get him. And watch out for 'Pride - he'll be spooked, wanting to protect his herd. He's liable to get nasty."

Amanda nodded. "I'll remember. Ta, Red," she said, and, grabbing Jane's hand, took off to find a Jamie.

***
"You see anthin' yet?" Amanda called into the sleety air above their heads. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, the rain and cold working their way through the heavy RedX jackets she and Jamie wore. Jane, in her cloud form, was invisible against the leaden sky and the darkness.

*Not yet* came Jane's reply. *I'll fly ahead and come back and tell you if I find anything, okay?*

"Okay!" Jamie yelled back. Then he turned to Amanda. "They won't be in very good shape if we don't find them soon," he said, rain dripping off the brim of his sodden RedX cap.

"I know," Amanda said, urging her horse down a small gully and up the other side. "This road can't be too much further, neither." She sounded genuinely worried, and Jamie gave her an odd look.

"Where did you learn about horses? I'm thinking the streets of London, or Brighton, or wherever it was weren't exactly paved with horse poop."

Amanda laughed, and then shrugged. "There was a bloke used t' run pony rides down by the seaside in Brighton. I used t' work for him in the summer. I like horses, an' Bill used t' say I had a way with 'em.

Jamie was about to comment that pony rides were a lot different to what they were doing now, when Jane's telepathic 'voice' reverberated in both their heads, soon followed by the cloud itself, almost bouncing with excitement. *I found them, I found them!*

"Easy, Jane, you'll frighten the horses, and I don't think I need a mud bath," Jamie said, pulling up his horse as it shied away from the cloud.

Amanda was doing the same thing, leaning forward to lay her hand on the animal's neck and murmur something in its ear. "Where are they? Can you show us?"

*Follow me!* Jane said, restraining her bouncing somewhat. She floated about ten feet ahead of them, leading them over another rise, and there, at the bottom, was a miserable cluster of horses, heads down. As they approached, there was a shrill whinny, and the largest of the group, a dark brown stallion, trotted forward, eyeing them warily. Jamie looked past the stallion to the little herd of mares and foals, then glanced over to Amanda.

"You think you can get him calm enough I can check out the others?" He fished a square box out of his jacket pocket and grinned crookedly: sugar cubes. "Welcome to these, if you want 'em--wise man once said, the trick to catching horses is not to be stronger than the horse, or faster than the horse, but smarter than the horse."

"Yer wise man was on the right track. I'd much rather do this the easy way, 'specially since the hard way involves usin' a spell t' hold him still, an' I don't think I'm up for that yet after Sunday," Amanda said, sliding off the horse and taking the box. "We'd better hurry, those foals ain't doin' well at all." There were two of them, one still standing, but huddled shivering against its mother, the other curled up on the muddy ground. "Jane, can you go 'round the other side of 'em, try an' stop 'em from takin' off? Not too close, mind - we don't want 'em t' bolt."

*Sure thing! Should I keep do it as a cloud or as a solid? Well, they probably won't care about a cloud, so I'll go solid. But hey, if they get too panicky, I could always let them breathe me in and choak them until they pass out from lack of oxygen. It would probably damage them, though, so maybe not.* Jane went to the other side of the horses and solidified. They were big and a bit scary, but if they came at her, she could always dissolve and float off.

"Maybe you should stick t' bein' a cloud... Forget it," said Amanda with an amused grin as Jane solidified, sans clothing. "Least she don't feel the cold," she muttered, handing the reins to Jamie and walking slowly towards the horses.

"Let's hope not," Jamie muttered back after a very short, rather disturbed glance at his abruptly naked new friend. He eyed the two saddled horses speculatively, then led them vaguely in the direction of the mares and foals, at an oblique angle away from the stallion, stroking them and feeding them sugar from his other pocket. One of the mares pricked her ears up as he drew closer, but the rest seemed too tired to move.

The stallion whinnied again, torn between the two teens approaching his herd. Amanda was closer, so he decided to scare her off first, trotting up to her and dancing around warningly. His hooves splashed in the mud, and as he tossed his head angrily water flew from his soaked mane. "Easy now, easy," she said quietly, soothingly, pausing. "Right filthy night, ain't it?" she continued in almost conversational tones, shaking some of the sugar lumps out of the box. "There you were, all tucked up for the night an' all of a sudden there's noise an' fire an' fuck knows what else. So what's a bloke t' do? Save his family, just like you did." The stallion paused in his prancing, looking at her warily. This human wasn't reacting the way he'd expected, and there was something about the soothing tones of her voice... he smelt sugar, and whickered. "That's it, av akai, Ataman", Amanda said. "Jamie 'n Jane 'n me, we ain't gunna hurt you or yer family. We're here t' help." The stallion stepped forward, slowly, snorting.

Amanda continued talking quietly to him in a mixture of English and that Baltic-sounding language, and he took another couple of steps, until he was within reach of the out-stretched hand holding the sugar cubes. He sniffed at her hand, and then nibbled experimentally at the sugar. Amanda kept still, knowing he was expecting to be grabbed at that point. "Chindilan?" she asked, slowly raising her other hand to stroke his neck. "We've got a nice warm place for you an' yer family, if you want." The stallion nuzzled at her arm and shoulder, snuffling, getting her scent, and she grinned as he nudged at the jacket pocket where the rest of the sugar was. "All right, Ataman, you can have some more. 'N after that, how 'bout we get yer women back t' the farm? Ain't fit for man nor beast out here." She fed him a few more sugar cubes, and then, when he was done, he moved around her to nudge her back towards the other horses. "I'll take that as a yes, then," she said, chuckling, and he snorted impatiently and nudged her again. "We'er good here, Jamers," she said. "How're you travellin'?"

Jamie, who had managed to make himself acceptable to the other horses by dint of massive bribery, glanced over with a slightly strained smile. "I'm good, and so are most of these ladies." He turned back to the downed foal, running his hands over its side gently. "We're not out of the woods yet, though--this one's hurt." Jane watched as Amanda and Jamie gentled the horses, keeping her distance. She was still a bit afraid of them, but when she heard Jamie say that the foal was hurt, she rushed over to help.

"Oh, you poor baby!" she said, stroaking its mane uncertainly. "I don't know much about horses, but I don't hink the little one will be able to walk. What should we do?" The horses skittered nervously at Jane's sudden movement, and the stallion tossed his head, letting out an angry-sounding hinny. Amanda murmured to him and he settled... somewhat. He was still obviously distrustful of the situation, and protective of his heard.

"Nice and slow, Jane," Jamie said, trying to ignore the fact a very naked girl was hunkered down next to him as he ran careful hands over the foal that was sitting on the ground. "Looks like he's caught his foot in a hole or something - nothing's broken, but he won't be able to walk. And being out here hasn't helped. Poor little guy's getting hyperthermic." The foal's mother snorted, nosing at her baby. She'd started when Jane had rushed over, but she seemed to understand that the two teens were trying to help. Jamie looked over at Amanda. "I don't think we'll have too much trouble getting them to go back, if you can convince Mr Overly Protective there to let them go - they'll know the way back better than we do. But someone's going to have to take this little guy on board - we need to move fast, or I don't think he'll make it."

"His Lordship ain't bein' too co-operative," Amanda said, her hand on the stallion's neck, calming him as he jerked his head around angrily. "Least, he is while I'm with him, but I don't think he'll let us lead him back. He's been right spooked, and not knowing us don't help." She muttered something under her breath about 'bloody highstrung thoroughbreds', and thought. "I could ride him back and you could take the foal with you and lead the other saddled horse with you. I don't think tonight's a good time for Jane's first ride," she added, grinning.

Jamie considered the proposal. "You sure you want to ride him bareback? He isn't exactly a nice calm work horse."

"I'll need you t' give me a boost, but we'll be all right. Won't we, 'Pride?" she asked the horse, patting his neck. The stallion shook his head, splattering her with sleety rain.

"One boost coming up, then," Jamie said, not a little relieved to get Jane out of his immediate line of sight. He knelt carefully next to the stallion, watching the horse's legs for any sign of a pre-kick weight shift, and offered Amanda his cupped hands. Whispering a few more words in the stallion's ear, Amanda wound the fingers of one hand into his mane, and rested the other on his back, to help lever herself up. Stonewall's Pride was a big horse, and Amanda was a shortish witch - it was quite a way up. She carefully placed her muddy boot in Jamie's cupped hands, and on the count of three, he levered her up, glad she was built like Kitty.

The horse danced nervously at the feel of someone on his back, and Amanda leaned forward, laying her hand on his neck. "Easy, Ataman," she said quietly, trying not to pull a face at the sensation of water soaking through the last dry place on her jeans. Gripping his flanks with her knees, she nudged him towards the rest of the herd, finding her balance on the unfamiliar horse. "Right, Jane, you'll have t' hand the foal up t' Jamie once he's ready. You think you can do that without upsettin' his mum? Just move nice an' slow, and keep talkin' t' her."

"Nice and slow, got it." Jane kept an arm around the foal, trying to keep it calm while Jamie mounted a nearby horse. Frankly, she was glad that Amanda and Jamie would be doing the riding, not her. When he was ready, Jamie beckoned to her to bring the foal over to him, somehow doing it while not looking directly at her. Jane picked the little horse up, struggling a bit with it, and getting kicked in the thigh by a hoof, but she finally got a good grip on it. "It's okay, little one, you'll be okay. You're going to go on a little ride and then everything will be fine," she whispered to it while she walked slowly over to where Jamie was. With a great big heave, she passed the foal up to Jamie. Neither horse was too happy with the situation, as evinced by the foal's distressed whinnying, but they eventually got everyone stituated correctly. "There!" It looked a little weird and akward for Jamie, but it was the best they could do. "I'll follow in the air, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan." Jamie, juggling the reins, fed a couple of leftover sugar cubes to the foal to help calm it down and shot a quick glance at Jane across the little horse's neck. "The rest of these guys might try to go back to the barn, though, since that's their home and they don't realize it's, you know, on fire. Think you can keep them together and following me?"

Jane nodded firmly. "I will try my very best. If one of them tries to go the wrong way, I will just solidify in their path. That should do the trick, don't you think? I mean, I'd want to go in a different direction if someone just appeared in front of me."

Jamie laughed and agreed and they got underway.

*** Notes: From the Rom: "av akai" - come here. "Ataman" - Chieftan "Chindilan?" - are you tired?

"Are you okay?" Clarice asked Angelo in a moment of relative calm. He was watching the fire burning in the distance, one hand holding the reins to a horse.

Angelo didn't appear to hear her for a moment, then glanced round with a start. "Oh! Clarice. Hey. Yeah..."

"Buzz! Wrong answer!" she made a very unladylike buzzing noise, "Don't tell me you're okay. I'm not dumb."

Angelo laughed. "Never said you were. You asked, I answered. Just got a bit distracted, is all." He turned decisively away from the fire, turning his foal's head towards the tent entrance.

She smiled back nodding, "Fair enough. So how many horses are we going to have? I'm supposed to start stocking this place with food and water."

Angelo thought. "If it's just the foals they're bringin' in here, I think it was 42. Not sure if they're bringin' the pregnant mares to us as well, though."

"That's a lot," Clarice shrugged, clearing an area and dragging bales of hay to mark it. "This is my landing pad, keep it clear, okay?"

Angelo chuckled. "Will do. That where you're gonna store the food?"

"I dunno. It's where I'm going to 'port it though," she created a teleportation disk, "Be right back!"

Angelo blinked, never having seen Clarice use her power before, then took it in stride, turning his attention to settling his foal in one of the makeshift stalls.

A few minutes later she returned, bringing with her a trough of grain, "Damn that's heavy!" she exclaimed, catching her breath, "New rule. No one eats or drinks."

Angelo laughed. "Not sure Mr. Schwartz'd be too happy with you starvin' his horses."

"Oh fine! Be that way!" Clarice grabbed one end of the trough and tried to pull it out of the way. It didn't move. She looked up at the workers around her, "Help?"

Angelo took pity on her and stepped forward to grab the other end. "Where d'you want it?"

"Not here," she replied pulling again, "I have more stuff to bring. And it's a lot harder to teleport this stuff than just myself or another person!"

Angelo nodded, pushing the trough in the direction she seemed to want it to move. "Fair enough. Does it depend on how much you could carry if you weren't teleportin', or what?"

"I don't think so...I mean, I couldn't carry this. I just made the 'porting disk big enough to cover it, but it's still harder. Maybe more energy is needed or something," She'd been working with Kurt on her teleporting, but hers was so much different from his that they weren't entirely certain what she could or couldn't do compared to him. Although she wasn't about to try 'porting into the sky, she wasn't an acrobat like him.

Angelo nodded. "You tried seein' what you an' Ev can do together?" he asked curiously.

"Not yet, might be an idea though. I've got accuracy now though," she sat on a bale of hay, thankful her jeans prevented it from itching. "Okay...now for water! Which is heavier than grain."

Angelo nodded. "You'll be fine", he reassured her just before she 'ported out.

Nearly ten minutes passed before Clarice returned, breathing heavily, "Water was not such a good idea," she panted, trying to catch her breath. "How're the horses?"

Angelo took the water from her and put it down on the ground. He glanced around at the horses. "Okay, I think. Bit restless - they can still smell the smoke, or somethin'."

"I think everything is getting under control," she told him, hoping that would help calm everyone down.

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, there's... what, three people out there with powers that could help stop the fire? Shouldn't be much longer now."

"And the firemen," she reminded him, "But I snuck a look a the barn while I was out, it's G-O-N-E gone."

Angelo nodded. "An' the firemen, yeah." He frowned, hearing the rest of her words. "What, all of it? Or you mean it's just beyond savin'?"

"Both? It's still standing, but I don't think it will for long. Not that I know much about these things. But it didn't look good."

Angelo nodded sadly, understanding. "Man, that sucks. Heritage site an' all."

"Yeah, but there are lots around here. Upstate there are tons!" Clarice tried to reassure him, but she knew that not only was horses their livlihood, but being a Heritage site also brought toursits.

Angelo shrugged, turning to calm a foal that had suddenly taken fright at something. "Yeah, an' they've probably got insurance to rebuild."

Before Clarice could reply her walkie-talkie sprang to life, babbling orders for her. "Eek! I got to go!" Clarice teleported out.

It was his first time out in public - officially - without an inducer since he'd come to the mansion, and Kurt had initially been worried about the reactions he'd get from the people at the farm. Amazingly, though, the folk in the rather tight-knit horse racing community didn't give him a second glance after he showed that he wasn't going to spook the horses. Kurt rather liked horses, actually. They had sweet souls and were timid but nonjudgemental and for some reason, they liked him back.

They were terrible in a crisis, however, and the young stallion he was trying to coax down the hill was being horrible. Suddenly, he was on his back in the muck.

Fortunately, before the horse could bolt, a pair of hands grabbed the reins, a London-accented voice scolding the animal. "Oi, you duffer, what d'you think yer doin', givin' us grief?" Amanda told the horse, in a voice far more gentle than her words. The stallion tossed its head and tried to rear, but she held firm. "Cut that out," she told the horse, like she would a misbehaving child. "Hai shala*?"

Kurt, from the flat of his back, could make out the form of a somewhat familiar too-thin girl swathed in rain gear silhouetted against the smokey sky. "Be careful," he warned her, struggling out of the churned, wet earth. "You know how fickle they are." It wasn't until he got to his feet and was reaching for the lead-rope that he realized that the girl had spoken in Romani. He gave the stallion a reproachful look and twitched his ears reprovingly. The stallion, still skittish, had the good grace to look a little ashamed of himself. "He understands," Kurt said with mild disapproval. "He's just not doing what he's told, like the child he is. Thank you." He took the lead from the girl, he could see now that it was the little witch-child they called Amanda, and gave her a smile.

She looked away from the smile, busying herself with holding the horse until Kurt had gotten hold of the rope again. "Not a problem," she muttered. Then hesitantly, she asked: "You understood what I said to 'im?"

"I did, indeed." He could sense her sudden nervousness and sought to reassure her with a calm voice, even as he did the horse, coaxing it down toward a vacant paddock. Being a Romani child had its pains and price and if she were for her to be here in this place now spoke of quite a journey. And that was in addition to what he knew of her already because of his position on the school staff. "I can pretend I didn't," he offered. "It isn't quite an untruth to do so now. God will have my tail for splitting hairs, but it's the least of my sins."

"I'td be easier if you did," she did. "I... it's somethin' I only use t' horses. 'S personal." She made as if to head off to help with the evacuation more, but then paused. "How do you know... you speak Romani?" she asked.

"Enough. I haven't heard it in a long time, though." He turned his attention away from the horse just long enough to glance over at her, reading her face. "It reminds me of home. It's good to hear, even if it makes me sad." He stroked the stallion's nose and kept moving slowly. He wanted to ask her many questions but he'd learned that questions were a tricky thing with the inhabitants of Xavier's big house.

"I dunno where I learned it. Seems like I've always known." Amanda joined Kurt as he walked slowly towards where the horses were being assembled. "You said it reminds you of home - where's that?" she asked.

Kurt hid the smile that came unbidden at her curiosity, keeping his attention on the stallion who seemed mostly content now to just roll his eyes wildly and snort great puffs of hot breath in Kurt's near ear. "Everywhere there was a road," he said honestly. "I was raised in a small circus, we travelled through much of Europe. The circus only holds appeal when it is a guest in the town."

"Sounds liberatin'," Amanda said with a wry smile. "It must be strange, stayin' in one spot at the school."

"Liberating?" Kurt shook his head. "Liberty has nothing to do with moving around or not. I am more free here than I have ever been in my life. Travelling from place to place that I could not explore was hardly liberty. Having no rights, being treated like outcasts and freaks and wastrels? Prohasar man opre pirende - sa muro djiben semas opre chengende,** they used to say. That is not the talk of free people." It still made him angry, the memory of how they were treated in so many places and how little he could do to change it, not even show his face to speak out.

Amanda looked surprised at the outburst. "'M sorry, I didn't mean t' offend you. Just... I had it different, is all. Not much freedom of any kind. An' when I was small, all I wanted t' do was travel."

Kurt was immediately downcast. "I'm sorry," he echoed. He gave Amanda a look that was genuinely sorrowful, even the angle of his ears and the droop of his tail were apologetic. "Forgive me, I should not have snapped. It is just... it is not a romantic life like people seem to think. Yes, it is strange to stay still, you are right. If you know Romani then it makes sense that you would have the road in your blood."

The man was so open with his emotions, it bemused Amanda. How could anyone open themselves up so much and not be destroyed. "'S all right," she said. "I'm a bit tactless sometimes, an' I don't always say things the right way." She pondered his last. "I dunno 'bout it bein' in me blood, tho'. I don't remember me parents, or anything really before I was sol... given t' the man who raised me. Who knows? I don't, an' I don't wanna know." They reached their destination, and she turned to the German. "It was... nice talkin' t' yer," she said awkwardly.

"Then we have something else in common," Kurt said, flicking open the paddock latch with his tail. "And it was nice to speak to you too, Amanda, and to hear a little bit of home also, even if you do not remember how you came by it."

"I s'pose you might've noticed I ain't exactly been upfront in makin' meself known," she said, closing the gate after him as he led the horse inside.

"Yes, but there is nothing wrong in that." Kurt let the stallion loose and the young animal immediately dashed off, flinging muck in the air. Kurt leapt easily to perch comfortably on the top rail of the gate, looking down at Amanda. "Many people do the same. I have learned not to play... what does Ororo call it? Twenty questions?"

"Neither have I, least not well," she replied. "But I meant... I was kind of afraid t' talk t' you before."

"Oh?" Kurt appreciated the admission, even if it stung a little, and wondered what her reasons were. "It is not just you who avoids speaking to me," he assured her. "I hope I have not scared you off worse now." His tail twitched anxiously as he watched her face.

"Nah, not really. Now you just confuse me." She twisted the button on her jacket nervously, ignoring the sleety rain running down her face. "Makes it hard t' understand why someone like you would do somethin' like that t' yerself." Amanda nodded at the scars visible on his legs as his pant legs rode up.

"For God." Kurt looked down at himself, and then back at Amanda. "I cannot think of a better reason to do something."

"Yer God demands that? An' here I was thinkin' Christianity had gotten past its mutilation an' torture days." Amanda's voice was hard and angry, and before Kurt could respond, she stomped off through the mud back towards the burning barn.

He wanted to call out to her, to teleport after her, to say, /Wait. You don't understand./ "But that is the point, isn't it, Father?" he said to the ominous sky. "Those who want to understand will stay to learn." He watched the girl's angry little form trudging away from him a little longer and then was gone with a crack of air and puff of sulphur.

***
* Do you understand?
** Bury me standing, I've been on my knees all my life.

Water dripped down Amanda's collar and down her back as she stumbled across the muddy field to where the foals were being taken care of. In her arms was the smaller of the two foals she, Jamie and Jane had rescued earlier, shivering violently.

As she pushed open the tent flap and carried the foal inside, Angelo glanced up and saw them. He put down the handful of hay he was feeding to a horse, making sure it could still reach it, and strode over there to help her with the foal.

"Ta," Amanda said through chattering teeth as Angelo took the foal from her. Her hands, as he brushed against them, were icy cold. "Me an' Jamie and Jane had t' do a spot of roundin' up. It's fuckin' freezin' out there. This poor little bugger found it hard goin'."

Angelo frowned at the cold of her hands. "Yeah, your hands are freezin' too. How long since you last got inside?"

"A bit. Had t' make sure the horses were okay first," she said, shivering violently. Her clothes were soaking wet after the riding in the sleet, and splattered with mud from the foal's hooves.

Angelo eyed her, concerned by the shivering. "Wonder if they've got any dry clothes lyin' around here anywhere..." he said over his shoulder as he settled the foal into a stall.
"Doubt it, but there ain't no need. I'll dry off soon enough." She joined him at the stall, climbing in and rubbing the foal down with handfuls of straw. "Pass me that blanket?"

Angelo turned to grab the blanket and handed it over. "Not if you go back out there, you won't."

Amanda wrapped the foal in the blanket and settled it back in the straw, running her hand over its nose. "Poor little bleeder," she murmured, and then climbed back out of the stall. "He'll need a vet t' look at him - we think he strained his leg somehow," she said, and sneezed. "Okay, so maybe I ain't goin' back out there just now..." she admitted.

Angelo looked at her sternly. "You're not goin' back out there at all, 'til this is all over an' we go home. If they need another person out there, you an' me are switchin' jobs."

Amanda grumbled, but didn't protest overmuch as Angelo grabbed another blanket and slung it around her shoulders. "How have you been goin'?" she asked. "This ain't exactly yer usual thing."

Angelo nodded, grinning a little wryly. "'s been okay, actually. I c'n deal with little horses, they don't kick. Much. An' I get to stay in here, not..." He gestured to the outside, leaving words about the fire unspoken.

Amanda lay a blanket-covered hand on his hand. "Yeah, I think they've got plenty of help out there," she said, deliberately casually. "An' the little ones can be just as tricky as the big ones. 'S just a matter of introducin' yerself properly. " She pulled him over to the stalls again. "First thing is t' let 'em sniff at you, can an idea of who you are," she said, poking a hand through the slats and letting the foal sniff at the skin. "Hey there, little girl," she said, voice softening.

Angelo followed her actions, offering the foal his own hand. "You really like them, don't you? Given this one a name yet?" he asked teasingly.

"No," she replied, poking her tongue out at him. She stroked the foal's velvet nose, let it nibble at her fingers. "I do like 'em. Dunno why... somethin' 'bout horses always makes me feel... Safe, I s'pose." She shrugged. "I can't explain it without soundin' like some drippy twelve year old in love with her pony."

Angelo nodded. "You ever get to be around them in England?" he asked curiously.

"Sometimes. I used t' work in the summer for a bloke who ran pony rides on the shore. An' when I was in school I used t' make friends with anyone who had a horse - even if I hated 'em." Amanda pondered mentioning Manuel's offer to buy her the filly she'd taken a shine to, and decided against it. Angelo wasn't inclined to be receptive to hearing about Manuel's generosity. "Rack used t' promise I'd get one when I was old enough, but then he used t' promise a lot of things."

Angelo scowled slightly at the mention of Rack, then shook it off. "Can't say I'd ever been around them before I got to the school. No reason for them to be in the old neighbourhood."

"Yeah, well, I can't see 'em bein' too happy t' be there neither," she said, chuckling. "You
know, this Red X thing ain't as stupid as I thought it would be."

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "Stupid how? I mean, leavin' aside the whole mutant-human relations thing, we're doin' some good for once, outside the school. Y'know? Not gonna turn down that chance, even if it doesn't change what a single person thinks of us."

"I know, just thought it was gunna be... I dunno. Like one of the X geezer's lectures 'bout the Dream an' all that. Singin' kum-bye-ya an' holdin' hands." She grinned. "Then again, I weren't exactly open t' any new thin's when they suggested this, which is why I've taken so long t' get on board. Think I'll stick with it, tho'."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, me too. Not sure I've really bought into the Dream yet, not like Jamie seems to've done, but this is different."

"I don't do so well with words - you might have noticed that," Amanda said. "Doin' things, achievin' somethin'... that I can get into. An' it don't hurt that I get t' play with as many horses as I like," she added, grinning mischievously. The colour was returning to her face, and the shivering was easing.

Angelo laughed, not missing that she looked healthier. "You warmin' up any? Not that I'm lettin' you back out there either way."

"You sound like Shinobi," Amanda grumbled, theatrically pulling the blanket closer around herself. She had to admit, it had been a good thing it had been there.

Angelo chuckled. "An' this is a bad thing how?"

"Because you two can gang up on me?" she suggested. She gave him a playful punch in the arm. "C'mon, we'll make a horsey person out of you yet."