No Sense of Direction

Chapter Twenty Four

-Katrina-

"Lookin' good, Bryan!" I said as I watched as he rode Care-Bear, while I was next to him on Balto.

"This is so much fun!" he said and I laughed.

I had taking my little cousin, Bryan for a ride around the trails and he looked like he was having fun. Milan was back at the house playing with the puppies and trying to bond with my brothers. Uncle Dan and Aunt Mary ended up having to leave, something with the Penguins, and Bryan didn't want to, so I offered to watch him.

By the time we got back to the stable, Zach was walking up to me saying that there was a man here that wanted to talk to me and that he had a trailer with him.

"Oh, yeah, that's probably the horse I'm looking at today," I said and he nodded his head.

"I'll send him back," Zach said and I nodded my head.

"Come on, Bryan," I said and then I got off of Balto and held onto Care-Bear and wrapped my arm around Bryan and pulled him off.

"You're getting another horse?" he asked and I smiled.

"Maybe."

"Cool," he said as he walked next to me as I walked the two horses back into the stables.

"You stay by the door and yell for me when he's here," I said and Bryan nodded his head.

I walked Care-Bear back to her stall and took the saddle and harness off of her. I walked out and then placed her saddle and harness into the extra stall that held all of the others. I walked over towards Balto and then walked him over towards his stall and did the same with him, but when I came back from putting his harness and saddle away, I looked at him and saw that he needed a good brush down.

"They're here!" I heard Bryan say just as I tied Balto up and started to brush him down.

"All right," I said as I turned around and saw two men walking towards me.

"Beautiful horse, ma'am," the older man said and I smiled towards him and nodded my head.

"Thank you," I said and then took the man's hand when he held it out.

"My name's Randy, this is my boy, Ian," he said and I shook both of their hands and saw that Ian was about my age.

"Kat," I said and they nodded their heads.

"Who's this here?" Ian asked as he placed his hand on Balto's back.

"That's my boy, Balto."

"Mighty fine lookin' horse, indeed," Ian muttered and I smiled, "How many do you have?"

"Four so far," I said and they looked at the four.

"This one's mighty fine too," the father, Randy said as he walked over towards Blaze's stall.

"I'd be careful with him, he doesn't take well to strangers," I said and he nodded his head and didn't walk any closer, "So, what did you bring for me?"

"I brought two, I know you said one, but I thought you might like this mare as well," Randy said and I followed the two men over towards their trailer.

"Come on, Bryan!" I called and Bryan ran over towards me and stood in front of me.

Randy and Ian opened the trailer and I looked at the two horses, both of them were beautiful, "This is the mare," he said as he pulled her out.

"Very beautiful," I said as I walked over towards her and placed my hand on her neck and examined her, "Files?"

"Of course," Ian said and then handed me her file.

"Starfire, nice name," I said and smirked because she was a deep red and had a black mane and tail, "She's two?"

"Yeah, she was my daughter's horse," Randy said and I looked at him, because she was a little young to be on the market already, "My daughter passed away and Starfire here just-"

"I understand," I said as I ran my hand along her back, "Can I see the Colt?"

"Sure," Ian said and then walked into the trailed and walked the Colt out.

He was a black horse, like Blaza and Balto, but unlike them, this one was pure black, not a speck of another color on him, other than his deep brown eyes. His coat shined in the sunlight and this one reminded me of the horse from the book and movie, Black Beauty, he was gorgeous, but he was also young. Ian handed me the file and I looked to see that this horse was not even two yet, but he was very healthy. His name was Nightwing and I smirked when I saw the name, '...Someone like's their superheros...'

"There's a catch though, Kat," Randy said and I handed the files back to Ian, "These horses are a set. They're friends, and I couldn't bare to break them up."

"I only really wanted one, though," I said and then sighed and looked down at Bryan to see that he was smiling.

"Ten thousand for the pair," Randy said and I looked at him.

'...Ten thousand for both? This one horse is at least worth fifteen...' I thought as I looked at Nightwing, "What's wrong with them?"

"Excuse me?" Ian asked.

"Ten thousand for both horses?!" I said and then shook my head, "Something's wrong there, this one is at least double that," I said while placing my hand on Nightwing's neck.

"There's nothing wrong with them, you can have a doc come out here and check, they're perfectly fine," Randy said and I looked at it, "It's our problem," he said and I sighed, "Too much has happened and these horses remind us of bad times."

"Your daughter?"

"Yes."

"How are they with being ridden?" I asked and Randy looked at me and nodded his head.

"Starfire's fine, she can carry a lot of weight on her, but Nightwing is still learning to accept the saddle," Ian explained and I looked at him.

"It's no problem, I can easily train him, I'm patient," I said and Ian smirked.

"So we have a deal?" Randy asked and I sighed.

"Luckily I have three extra stalls," I said and then looked down at Bryan, "What do you think?"

"Buy them!" he said and I smirked.

"Would you like a check or cash?" I asked and Randy smiled and held out his hand for me to take.

"A check is fine," he said and I nodded my head and shook his hand.

"They come with their own saddle?"

"Starfire does," Ian said as he handed me Nightwing's reins, "I'll get it for you."

"All right," I said and then started to walk him into the stable with Randy behind me with Starfire.

"These are big enough," Randy said and I nodded my head, "You'll be pampered here," I smiled, he was saying his goodbye to the horses, "You'll be taken care of here."

I placed Nightwing in one stall and then looked at Randy, "You can put her in there," I said while pointing towards the stall across from him and next to Lola.

"Um, actually they like to be next to each other," Randy said and I looked around.

"Hmmm, ok then," I said and then laughed, "I'll have to move things around so that they can," I said and then walked Nightwing out of the stall and hooked him to a rope, "Those first two are the only ones that are next to each other, but the first stall has all of the saddles and harness, it's no big deal, but I'll have to move them so that these two can stay together."

"Thank you," Randy said and I smiled and nodded my head.

"No problem," I smiled and then hooked Starfire up to the rope next to Nightwing, "I'll do that later, let me get your check."

"Ok," he said and then we walked down the stables to the office and I walked in and sat at the desk, "So what do you do for a living? Raise these horses?"

"That, and I'm a trainer for the Boston Bruins, well, now the Pittsburgh Penguins," I said as I dug through the drawers for the check book.

"Hockey?"

"Yes."

"Wow, that's some job, who takes care of the horses when you're on the road?"

"I have help around here that come in the morning and when I'm away. I take care of my horses, if you'd like, I can show you around the place," I said and he nodded his head.

"I'd like that."

"No problem," I said and then wrote the check out and handed it to him.

"This is for twenty thousand," he said and I nodded my head, "Why?"

"Well, one, because you drove them here all the way from Utah. Two, you're giving me Starfire's saddle and harness. And three, because Nightwing is worth a lot more than you're charging me."

"You're very kind," he said and I smiled.

"Let me show you around the place, you'll probably feel more comfortable," I said as I stood up and walked out of the office to show Randy and Ian around the place.