I woke again at six, and went about my morning routine. First feeds, taking Lucifer around the fields, brushing him down, mucking out, second feeds, marking everything done on the whiteboard outside the office as I went. By that time most of the farmhouse was awake, Teo already on the ferry to the school on the mainland. Dani was up, pining after Cesca whilst they sorted the laundry together. Alessa was mucking out the fields, feeding the horses handfuls of treats from her pockets.
Aurora's stay was payed for by her parents, who thought she should do something before going off to university, so she could lie in and didn't have to help. Arrow was also paying his way, but got up at more reasonable times.
He came and sat down in the tack room when I was methodically cleaning all the tack.

"You okay?" He asked gently, when I didn't say anything.
I nodded briefly, rubbing at a mark on Everest's saddle.
We sat there in silence, me working, him watching me, before he picked up a rag and a bridle and started working.

"Undo all the buckles first, and work it into the leather underneath them." I said quietly, and he nodded, following my instructions.
It took him over twice as long to do one bridle than it would have taken me, but I appreciated the effort.

"That okay?" He asked, finally holding it out.
I nodded.
"Where does it go?" He asked.

"Hook labelled 'Rex'." I pointed, picking up another saddle.

"Hey, that one's different from the others." He noticed.

"It's Ranger's. He's ridden with a western saddle- the only one at the stables." I explained. "Those ones over there are different again, but that's because they're side-saddles."

"Maple and Brontë." Arrow noted, and I nodded. "They also have normal ones. So what's the difference?" He asked.

"You ride with both legs on one side- one above and one below the pummel. You have a whip the other side." I explained.

"Sounds dangerous. Ever done it?" Arrow asked.

"No, I stick to astride. But according to Sara it's apparently much easier."

"Maybe that's the riding for me then." Arrow noted, and I almost smiled.

"She'll tell you it's a woman's sport." I said. "But if you want to go for it, fuck gender roles."

Arrow looked at me. "Odd thing for you to say." He observed.

"Really?" I asked, before smiling. "Maybe if I was a cis straight white boy who felt threatened."

Arrow laughed. "Well, I guess you're the threatening one, what with your tattoos and swords and shit." He teased.

I shrugged, and we sat in silence for a while longer, listening to the rain outside.
"So are you?" He asked.

"Am I what?" I replied, avoiding the answer. I knew I shouldn't have opened my mouth.
This is what happens when you have fun.

"Well, obviously you're white, you look freshly dug up, but are you cis and straight?" He asked.

"I don't remember that being any of your business." I said coldly.

"Take that as a no then." He muttered. "Where does this go?"

"Kestral." I said, cursing myself.

A while later, the lunch gong went, and he jumped up. "Coming?" Arrow asked, at the door.
I shook my head.
"Come on, Renzo."

"Not hungry." I said.

"Want me to bring anything back?" He asked.

"A coffee would be great, thanks." I nodded.

He disappeared off, reappearing half an hour later with a steaming mug of coffee.
I downed it, and continued working.
"You're almost finished." He pointed out. I nodded.
"Do you live off of coffee?" He asked.
I nodded again.
"Sounds... healthy." Arrow muttered, picking up his rag again and another bridle.

Finally, we were finished. "Thanks for your help." I muttered, slightly grudgingly.

"I didn't really do much." He said, smiling.
I took down Lucifer's tack, and headed out into to the rain with it.
"Can I come?" He asked.

"No." I replied.
In the short time it took for me to get to Lucifer's stall, my hair was soaked, and dripping steadily down my back. I grimaced, closing the stable door behind me and tacking him up quickly. I left him to his own devices for a second, and climbed onto the hay manger, using it to jump over the stable wall into the barn.
I then unlocked the back door to his stall, leading him out into the barn, where I quickly jumped onto his back, and started getting him to walk around the barn, leaving hoofprints in the sandy floor.

Arrow walked into the barn a while later, holding two mugs.

"Do you mind?" I asked, slowing Lucifer once I neared him.

"Not at all." Arrow grinned, holding up a mug.
I slipped off of Lucifer, looping his reins around the railing, before taking the coffee gratefully.
Arrow sat on the railing and drank his tea slowly.
"Don't like coffee." He shrugged. "You don't like people around you when you ride, do you?"

"I don't like people in general." I shrugged, leaning against the railing.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why not?" I replied, putting my empty mug down, and vaulting back onto Lucifer. "Come on, boy." I whispered to him, trotting him around the ring.
Arrow stayed in the barn, drinking his tea and watching me work. I tried to ignore him, but every so often I would catch a dash of orange and grey, as his t-shirt and jeans became visible in the corner of my eye.

I finished the session with Lucifer, untacking him and putting him in his stall, before I rushed out into the rain towards the tack room to put his tack away.
I walked back to the barn, where Arrow was still sitting.
"Damn, you're good." He muttered, still on the railing.

"Thanks." I said, picking up the discarded mugs.

"Can you teach me to ride like that?" He asked, as we went back out into the rain.

"Ask Alessa." I shrugged.

"How about you?"

"I'm too busy." I said, opening the back door to the house and putting the mugs in the kitchen sink.

"What are you doing next then?" He asked, following me back out into the rain.
I looked at the whiteboard outside the office. There was a little green 'x' next to that day's riding lesson, indicating that it had been cancelled. That meant that there were more green ticks on the board, as Alessa had done various jobs around the farm.

I picked up the red pen, ticked 'Lucifer', and glanced down the board to see what else needed to be done.
My heart sank when I realised that the next thing would be the next feeds, in an hour or so.
Grimacing, I scribbled 'Arrow's riding lesson' on the board. "Come on then." I muttered, turning to him. His face lit up. We walked into the tack room, and I picked out two sets of tack. "You can have Stay Calm." I said, handing him the saddle.

"Ok..?" He asked.

"Blue roan, 1/4 Aqua Equus. Beautiful horse, if you think you can handle him." I smirked, handing him a hat.

Arrow paled, and I couldn't help but smile. "There's a reason he's called Stay Calm. He's as gentle as Sea Dragon. I just can't be bothered to go out to the field to get her."
I led him into the barn on the far side of the yard, putting the tack I had picked out for myself to use over the railings, before opening up Stay Calm's stall for Arrow.
"So, do you know anything about tack?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know?"

"Great start." I grimaced. "Shall I just do it for you?"
He nodded, smiling. I talked him through it as I went, but I couldn't be bothered to stop and explain every small detail. I gave him a leg up, and led Stay Calm out of his stall, explaining the very basics as we went.
"Wait there." I said, going over to where I had left the tack, and heading off to Caspar's stall.
Caspar was a chestnut brown, with some Aqua Equus blood, but in the right hands he was a dream to ride. He responded to the smallest commands, making it look, and feel, as if the horse and rider were one animal.
In the wrong hands, he was known to go off on his own thing and not respond to the most obvious signals.
Fortunately, he responded well to me. I didn't get the chance to ride him much though, what with all the breaking in I did.

"Uhhh... Renzo?" Arrow called.

"You're good, just don't do anything and don't come off!" I called back, jumping onto Caspar and riding him into the ring. Arrow on top of Stay Calm was a sight to behold. He was trotting around, looking more at home on the horse than he looked normally. And he was grinning in a way that was infectious. He appeared to glow. "Woah, there." I said, making Stay Calm slow to a walk, and then stop completely. "You didn't know how to hold your reins a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, well, oops?" Arrow shrugged.

"If you know how to ride already, then quit wasting my time." I said.

"Honestly, this is the first time I've ever been on a horse." He smiled. "I think he and I just get on well."

I nodded, looking at him carefully. His posture was shit, but I wasn't exactly one to judge, as I had gotten pretty lax.
"Come on, Enzo, sit up properly. Like I am."

My back straightened, and I tried not to smile. I took a whip from where it was hanging on a hook, and rode over to Arrow. "Back straight, hands down, heels down. Elbows in." I poked the offending limbs with the wip as I talked.

"Oi." Arrow complained, adjusting his posture. "That hurt."

"That was nothing, deal with it." I smirked.

"I meant the fact that you're such a harsh teacher hurt." He replied, smirking.

"You're the one who requested that I, and not Alessa, taught you." I retorted. "And I've never taught someone before, so deal with my methods."

"Don't look down, Ren, look ahead. You don't need to watch your hands. It will come naturally to you soon enough."

I shook my head slightly. "Now walk K-B-A-C."
Arrow nodded, nudging Stay Calm into action. I watched him carefully, but I knew he was safe.

"So, how many times have you fallen off?" Arrow called as he went.

"Don't think about falling and you'll be fine." I retorted. I had fallen my share number of times, but it hadn't stopped me. I just missed having Luca pick me up and dust me off, and get me back onto the horse.

"Don't worry about speeding up, Renzo. You'll be fine. You're only trotting currently. Let's see if you can canter."

"But... what if I fall? I don't particularly want to hit that mud." I was 14, only 20 minutes younger, but this was his area of expertise, not mine. My comment made him smile, and I knew he liked to be the older, wiser, one. And, in that instance, he was. The one to be looking after me, rather than the other way round. His horse was right next to mine, our legs rubbing together occasionally, and it was easy to still see the life behind his blood red eyes. The fighting spirit still within him. It made me smile in response.

"Soft landing." Luca shrugged, before looking at me. "Don't worry, you won't." He smiled again.
But even Luca lied occasionally.

Arrow insisted on helping me with the afternoon feeds, saying that it was payment for the lesson. I appreciated the help, but most of the time was spent with me telling him how things were done, rather than him actually doing them.

"So, Renzo, tell me something about yourself." He said, emptying the container of feed into the bucket before handing it to me.

"Not much to say." I muttered.

"Alright, I'll go first." He shrugged. "My favourite food is fish."

"Er, I want to get a motorbike."

"Of course you do, you little tough kid." Arrow smiled. "Well, swimming used to be my favourite sport, but I think riding might surpass it." He smiled at me.

"I think that you're trying too hard to make friends." I retorted.

"I think you need a friend." He said. "Someone who knows you more than everyone in the house, someone who you can talk to and trust."

"What would I need to talk about?" I replied.

"I think you know." He smiled again. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled.

"I think you're bluffing right now." I said, trying not to smile in response.

"Maybe I am, but I'm not especially great with people." He said.

"You're better with them than I am." I shrugged.

"I really like you." He blurted out, before covering his mouth.

"One truth too far?" I asked, not knowing how else to respond. He nodded silently.
"Make friends, Renzo. People are generally nice, if you'd just let them be so."
"Alright, so, more serious truths." I shrugged. "I ride because my brother used to."

"I swim because my whole family does." Arrow smiled, almost grateful that I hadn't made a big thing of what he had said.

"My family's dead, so I don't have that pressure." I shrugged, getting more surprised with myself each time I opened my mouth.

"My family's kinda weird." He said.

"How so?" I asked.

"That's a question, not a fact." He smiled.

"Alright. My brother was called Luca, and we were twins. How is your family weird?"

"Is that the Luca of your tattoo?" He asked. I nodded. "I think it's cool, by the way."

"Thanks. Are you trying to avoid my question?"

Arrow thought for a moment, before nodding.

"Fair enough." I shrugged. "Let's get these buckets to the ungrateful animals."

Arrow nodded. We carried as many buckets as we could outside, depositing the correct ones into each stall.
"So, twins with the last name of Geminus." Arrow said, as we worked. "That's pretty cool."

"Hmm." I agreed. "How will your family react to you riding?"

"Don't want to think about it." He muttered.

We finished distributing the buckets, and went to sit on the food bins in the feed room to shelter from the rain.

"So, I feel like I should say this now- don't bother getting too attached to me." I muttered, not looking at Arrow.

"Bit late." He muttered. "Why?"
I looked at him, my eyes meeting his. I noticed he had amazing green specks in his brown eyes.
Don't get distracted.
"I'm going to catch and train an Aqua Equus, and hopefully race it, so I doubt I'll live very long." I shrugged.

"What is it with you and death?" He muttered, making me smile at the irony of his words. "So, how are you going to catch it?"

"I don't know yet." I shrugged.

"Why don't you go down and watch other people doing it, to get an idea?" He suggested.

"Cool thought, I'll go later." I shrugged, leaning back against the wall and closing my eyes.

The horse bit down on the man's arm, flinging him around like a rag doll. He hit the cliff face and there was a sickening crack. Blood was seeping from his skull, covering the browns, yellows and white of the sand with a sea of red.
The horse dragged the body towards the water's edge, and then disapeared into the waves.

"You okay?" Arrow asked, his voice cutting through my thoughts.

I opened my eyes, nodding.

"I think the rain's worsening." He observed.

"Let's get into the house then." I muttered, slipping off the bin.

We ran into the house, kicking off our boots just inside the front door. Arrow pulled of his soaked t-shirt, bundling it into a ball. "I'll put your hoodie in the bathroom to dry off." He offered, but I shook my head. I headed upstairs to pull off my jods and change my jumper, Arrow trailing behind me, until I headed towards the second set of stairs.

The farmhouse was on three levels, where the uppermost floor was basically just Dani, Alessa, Cesca, Teo and mine. The five of us happily coped with the sloped ceilings, as we had the space to ourselves. My room was at the end of the corridor, which ran along under the eaves on one side of the house, and I'd been allowed to do what I wanted with the space.
The window in the wall was where I perched, but I also had skylights on each side of the room. My bed was in one corner, directly under a skylight. I had a chest of draws near it, a desk near the window, and a bookshelf against the inner upright wall, next to a small fireplace that I often used in the winter. There were photos on the shelves, as well as some horse manuals that had been Luca's. The whitwashed stone walls were otherwise bare, aside from a pin board, with more photos and some sketches. It was my space, and no one else went into it.
I quickly got changed, and pulled on an old raincoat over my hoodie.

"Miriam- I'm off to see the Equus." I said, putting my head around the door to her office.

She nodded, and I moved to leave. "Renzo-" she called after me. I stuck my head back into the room.
"Look after yourself out there. Take those swords of yours."

I nodded. I already had them, waiting next to my boots.
I walked to the clifftop, seeing the chaos that was going on on the beach. Horses, the colours of the sea- black and grey and white and brown; blue roans and dappled greys- were coming out of the sea. Not many, but enough that the few people down there were outnumbered. Some horses were trapped, using a bait that I didn't want to think about.

Lighting ripped through the night sky, illuminating two horses, which turned on a person, ripping them apart like a sheet of paper, dragging the pieces back into the water.

A horse was caught up in a net, people pulling it towards a lorry. It squealed, a heart-wrenching scream that chilled me to the bone.

This is your life now. This is your island. Your home.

I was used to the more trained Aqua Equus, already captured and beaten into either submission or revolution.

A man screamed, being dragged by the foot towards the sea. After a lot of struggling, he managed to reach the diving knife around his ankle, and slashed the animal's flank. It dropped him, bleeding profusely, heading back to the water on its own.

But the man had no time to celebrate, as a group of horses stampeded, trampling him to death.
The beach stank of death, blood soaking into the sand, and I couldn't rip my eyes away from the scene.

A sound made me turn, to see a large black horse making its way towards me along the clifftop.

I reached over my shoulder, my hand gripping the comforting leather-bound handle of my sword. I could hear my breathing, my blood pumping. The sounds of the beach were distant echoes.
I could just tell that it was the horse from the yard.

"Hello." I breathed.
The horse nickered, approaching me slowly as if I, not it, was the wild animal.
I lowered my hand from my sword, holding it out to the creature tentatively. "Come on.." I whispered.
I didn't know how I intended to catch it, as I hadn't brought a headcollar with me.

The horse stepped forward, towards my hand, but I didn't retract it. If it tried to bite me, then so be it.
I reached up to stroke it gently, once it became obvious that it wasn't about to bite me to pieces.

One look in its brown eyes explained why, and everything fell into place.
They were eyes that I had seen before, with striking green flecks.
I muttered as I looked at them, "Hello, Arrow."