Edith's Arrival

The filly's brown eyes darted from side to side as she let the human slip the halter over her head and clip the lead rope to it. She'd had that done enough times to know the human meant no harm. She glanced back at her mother as the human led her out of the stall, a soft gesture commanding her mother to stay.

"Mom?" Her ears pricked, pausing with one hoof raised.

"You'll be okay, go on, little Edith." Her mother smiled, head tilted slightly.

Edith's tail flicked, hesitating at leaving her mother behind. A tug, gentle as always, on the halter made her snort as she made her decision, moving after the human guiding her.

She studied him as he led her through the stable, passed other stalls and horses and humans. She'd seen him a few times, usually leading another horse out of the stable or bringing in a horse that smelled of strange places, but he'd never interacted with her before.

She wondered why he'd approached her now?

"Hey! You taking Edith?" She turned her head at the familiar voice, letting out a soft call of greeting to her mother's favorite human.

"Yep, it's time for her to go." She tilted her head. Go? Where could she possibly be going?

"Well, I'm sure it'll be a nice place." There's something sad in the human's eyes, and she let out a curious whinny.

"I'm sure. We don't let our horses go to just anywhere." The human leading her nodded decisively, and her mother's human sighed as he pet her face.

"Yeah. Well, take care, Edith." She snorted, still confused, but no questions were answered as her guide human started walking off again. She neighed out a goodbye to her mother's human and followed obediently, blinking when she was guided out of the stable and towards a trailer.

She'd seen horses come and go from them, but the only time she'd been loaded in one was to make sure she would go in, and that was with her mother.

She hesitated at the bottom of the small ramp laid out for her to walk up, whinnying as she glanced back for the stable.

"It's alright, come on." She hesitated, eyes narrowed on the human encouraging her up, before huffing and walking up. Her steps were so loud on the metal! She shook her head, feeling like her ears were ringing.

He tied her with expert hands, running a hand down her neck and patting her shoulders. "There you go, see you in a bit." She huffed her begrudging assent and watched him go.

Hours later they stopped at some weird open building area and he walked her around, ensuring she got a good drink before he returned her to the trailer.

By the time they stopped again, the sun was low in the sky, not quite setting the world aflame with sunset but Edith knew it wouldn't be long.

The door opened and she pricked her ears, head tilting at the unfamiliar stable she could glimpse outside. A couple of humans were leading horses into the large building, and now that the rumbling of a trailer wasn't drowning out any other noise she could hear the calls of strange horses.

"Well, here we are." She tilted her head further, letting out a curious nicker to the human who had brought her here as he untied her and led her down the ramp. She looked around now that she could see more, ears swiveling as she tried to take in as much as possible.

Approaching footsteps had her turning her head forward, blinking at the human approaching. The woman was young, brown hair pulled back in a ponytail but not dressed for riding. She was wearing a loose purple t-shirt and black pants that were probably for riding, paired with black boots.

"Mister Morrow! I'm glad you two made it safe and sound!" Her voice was kind, smile bright and warm.

"And you must be Miss Quinten?" Edith's handler returned.

"That's me, Alene Quinten at your service." The young woman nodded, shaking hands with the man. "And this must be Edith? The pictures didn't do her justice." Alene's kind eyes turned to Edith, holding out a hand for the not-quite yearling to sniff.

"This is her. Your messages said you had everything ready for her?" The woman hummed with a nod, stroking a hand gently down Edith's face when the Loshenka nudged her hand. This human didn't seem too bad, though Edith wished she understood what exactly they meant.

"Of course, I just triple checked everything this morning."

"Well, then I'll hand her off to you. I believe you already received the paperwork?" Edith tilted her head. Paperwork? Huh?

"I did. Everything's in order. Thank you for driving her here." Alene smiled, pausing in her petting of the mare to take the lead rope from Edith's handler.

"Of course. Best of luck, Miss Quinten." The man nodded and turned to head back to his truck. Edith frowned. Wasn't he going to put her in the stable? Or take her with him at least? She took a step after him, whinnying in confusion.

"It's okay, Edith." Wide brown eyes turned back to Alene, the Loshenka letting out another confused noise. "You've probably had a long day in that trailer, huh?" Edith just blinked at the human, finally fully taking in the fact the stranger was holding her lead rope. "Let's get you into the stable, yeah? I've got a nice warm stall with your name on it, and in the morning you can check out the pasture."

Edith eyed the stranger warily, but the gentle smile on Alene's face was enough to sway the tired filly into accepting the offer. Turning away from the now-closed trailer as the truck started, Edith gave her new guide her full attention.

"That's a good girl," Alene praised gently, turning to lead Edith into the stable. Edith took in the stalls as they passed, several of them filled with half-asleep horses or having some clipboard beside it with a name she couldn't bother trying to read. Then Alene stepped towards a specific stall.

It didn't really look different from any of the others. Same size and shape, same two-part door that could open the top without opening the bottom, same smells other than for the fact it was clear no horse had been staying in it for a while. There was only one difference Edith could spot. On the bottom half of the stall door, there was a golden nameplate that wasn't present on any of the other stalls she'd seen.

She squinted, trying to make out the writing. It seemed to have two lines, the first reading... KJS Snowy Mount Edith? She snorted a bit, recognizing the last word as her own name, ears pricking. Then, on the second line, it just read "Edith".

"You like it?" Alene smiled, opening the door and leading the filly in. "I bet not many people call you your full name, huh? It seemed right to have it on your stall though."

Full name? Edith's ear twitched, momentarily confused before she remembered what her mother had said once. It was that many horses had two names, their show name and their common name. The long name on her stall must be her show name, Edith reasoned with a smile.

She ducked her head in a nod, bumping her nose against her new handler's shoulder to show her approval.

"Glad you agree." The young human beamed. "Don't worry though, your barn name is on there too." Edith whinnied softly, smiling when she was rewarded with nose pets.

Alene untied the lead rope and gently undid the halter to remove it. "I've already put some feed in here, so go ahead and eat and get some rest, okay?" Edith nodded her agreement, receiving a giggle for her efforts.

"Good girl, I'll see you in the morning." Alene stroked Edith's neck one more time as she passed, slipping out of the stall and locking it behind her before heading away.

Edith tossed her head, glancing around. The stall was roomy, not quite as big as the one she'd been sharing with her mother but not too far from it. There was a feedbag and water trough, both filled, and what seemed like panes that could be open and closed on either side of her stall. For now, they were closed, but she could hear the shuffling of another horse in the stall to her left. In the back, there was a window to let in the fading light of the sun.

Her ear flicked, a yawn splitting her jaw. Hm, some sleep didn't sound too bad... She could think about exploring what seemed to be her new home tomorrow.