Word Count: 72,030
Summary of Events:
Hadia was visited by her Sunday School teacher again and was much more negative toward him this time. Levi had a chat with his mom about his accidental injury and other topics over iced tea and cookies. Traeton was questioned by Mr. Erickson quite thoroughly and began to think that Mr. Erickson didn't believe him any more than anyone else. Hadia was watching people help her family pack for the move — being as she had no interest in participating — when she got upset at one of the helpers . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
"Hadia glanced over at Anne and Sophie, both of whom seemed positively rooted to the floor, staring at her with rather mournful and disbelieving expressions. She then turned and hurried back down the stairs before heading around to return to the backyard.
She had her head down and ended up colliding heavily with someone who'd come from the laundry area, which knocked her onto her backside.
"I'm sorry Hadia," she looked up to see Pastor Mark offering a hand to help her up.
Hadia looked at him defiantly and got up on her own before turning back the way she'd come and heading out the front door. If she couldn't hide in the tree anymore she might as well not even bother being anywhere near the house.
It didn't take her long to get to the stables, and from there to Maiden's pasture. Stopping short, Hadia noticed that Maiden wasn't in her pasture. But she was always in her pasture. She knew that the stables were rather unoccupied, as there was a bit of a friendly competition over in Hazelton where most everyone was going to be for the weekend; but Hadia was the only student who'd been using Maiden for their lessons because she'd injured her knee in a jumping accident, so she didn't usually have more than one or two students who did the basic, introductory things, and maybe a little bit of a start into jumping before they transitioned to a different horse.
Quickly Hadia started around the stables, desperately looking for Maiden. In the stables Hadia found that all the stalls were empty — as would be expected, considering all the horses were either in Hazelton or in the pasture — including Maiden's.
Going to the tack room, Hadia checked and saw that Maiden's tack was gone, which gave Hadia a dreadful feeling. Maiden had a new student.
Slowly she walked to the indoor arena and looked inside. Eli, Mrs. Blanch's oldest son, was riding Serene, a grey mare that'd recently been bought from a dressage stable where she was being retired from active competition at the Grand Prix level — which was the level whose riders went to the Olympics.
Eli wanted to pursue dressage at that level, and so Serene had been bought for him to work at advancing his skill and doing some competitions, as well as to help other advanced dressage students get higher.
He noticed her and trotted Serene over. "Do you need something?"
"I was just wondering where Maiden was," Hadia replied quietly.
"Liam took her out on the trails because she hasn't been out in awhile," Eli replied.
"Oh," Hadia said. "Okay."
"Did you come to say goodbye?" Eli asked.
"No," Hadia replied. "I just came for a visit."
Eli nodded. "Well Liam might not be back for another couple of hours, he didn't leave that long ago."
"Oh," Hadia said. "Thank you.""
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