"Mother is going to kill you if she sees you like that," Alice said, her shadow looming over me as I dangled a piece of string in front of the cat.

The cat, christened Sooty by the stable hands because of his black fur, crouched low against the stable floor and watched the string. He wiggled a little to get his balance before pouncing, tearing the piece of string from my fingers. I looked up from the floor to where Alice stood. She stared at me, her blonde hair pulled back in a plait down her back.

"She'll only kill me if she finds out." I sat up and brushed the straw from my arms. "The only way she'll find out is if you tell her."

"I don't have to say a word. You are a mess. One look at you and Mother will know where you've been."

I sighed and stood up, brushing the remaining straw from my shirt and trousers. Sooty rolled around on the floor with the string, kicking it with his back legs and getting covered in straw. Alice raised an eyebrow at me as I tried to remove the smaller pieces of straw from my clothing, but it was an arduous task. She tutted and shook her head a little.

Despite being younger than me by just over a year, Alice often acted as though she were older. She had scolded me for having jam on my shirt, corrected my tie at a supper party with our grandparents, and had even threatened to cut my hair since she thought it was getting too long. Alice always knew where to find me, no matter how hard I tried, so it was impossible to hide from her and escape her judgemental gaze. Still, she was my sister and being annoying came with the territory.

"What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you had an etiquette lesson."

"Mrs Percival rearranged it for next week. I have a riding lesson instead. I came to see if Genesis was ready." Alice stepped forward and pulled a piece of straw from my shoulder before she readjusted my shirt as though I were a child. "Does Father know you are out here?"

"No, I told him I wanted to study in my room and he agreed."

"A poor decision on his part."

"Hm, probably. To his credit, I did study for a little while, but I wanted to see how our new mouser was getting on." I scooped Sooty up with one hand and held him up, the cat dropping the piece of string. "There hasn't been a single mouse spotted in a week."

"That's because ten or more cats are stalking the stables, Nate. Any mouse would be crazy to cross that threshold because of the number of strays you've taken in." Alice shook her head. "You cannot save every single stray animal or human you come across."

"But how can you say no to that face?"

I held Sooty up in front of Alice's face. The cat stared at her and gently raised his paw to lightly tap Alice on the cheek to demand attention. Alice obliged, lightly scratching Sooty behind the ears. Although she had her reservations about the number of cats that roamed the grounds, Alice still couldn't resist petting them when they asked. That and they helped to keep the mice at bay, which she had to be glad about.

My sister often chastised me for being a little too charitable when it came to animals and humans. The cats in the stables had all been strays, animals I had found in the woods who had been abandoned by their parents and were on the brink of death. With a little attention, each one had grown into a cat worthy of protecting the stables from intruders. The stable hands enjoyed having them around, and even Mother and Father could see the benefits of having them around. Alice just thought I needed to put my time and effort into other things.

Although I understood where Alice was coming from, I did not see why there would be any issue with giving animals, or other people, a second chance. I still found time to study and attended the expected social gatherings, but I enjoyed helping others and the expectations people had about me wouldn't change that. Besides, I did not see the harm in helping those who needed it.

After a few minutes of tolerating me holding him, Sooty wiggled out of my grip and jumped to the floor. He immediately pounced on the piece of string even though it hadn't been moving and rolled around on the floor with it. Alice and I watched him for a few seconds before the sound of footsteps on the stable floor caught our attention. I turned, half expecting to see Father sneaking up on me after discovering I had not been in my room. To my relief, one of the stable boys stepped into view rather than Father.

"Genesis is ready for you, Miss Alice," the stable boy said.

"Thank you, Joseph," Alice said. She turned to look at me. "You should return to studying before Father finds you missing."

"I could, or I could join you on your riding lesson instead. Father did say I needed to work on my horsemanship."

"If I say no, you'll come anyway, won't you?"

I shrugged. "Probably."

"Fine. I shall see you on the grounds."

With that, Alice turned and walked out of the stable. I bit back a smile, knowing I had upset her just a little. Alice didn't like it when I tried to weasel my way into her riding lessons, most likely because I tended to show her up. She was good on a horse, but I had always been better and our riding instructor often asked me to show Alice how to do something.

I turned to Joseph. "Could you get Lightning tacked up for me? I should change."

"Yes, Master Nathaniel." He nodded, his dark hair falling in front of his face.

"We have discussed this, Joseph. You do not have to call me Nathaniel. That is the name Mother and Father use when I am in trouble. Nate will be fine."

"Yes, Sir."

I nodded and left the stables to get changed and allow Joseph the time to get Lightning ready for a ride around the grounds. Joseph had worked for us for two years as a stable hand, one of several who worked on the estate. He had previously worked for a man in London who hadn't treated him all that kindly. Upon witnessing the mistreatment, I demanded that Father do something about it and so he had to hand over a tidy sum to move Joseph into our service, but it had been worth it. He seemed happy.

With Joseph tacking up Lightning, I left the stables and crept back into the house. I took the stairs two at a time, sneaking past Father's study to try not to alert him of my movements. He wouldn't be too pleased to discover I had skipped my studying to play with a cat in the stables; much like Alice, Father didn't agree with me bringing so many strays back to the house.

I made it to my bedroom without disturbing Father and changed into my riding boots. Through the open window, I could hear the low mumbling of conversation between Alice and her riding teacher, Mr Cooper. From the bottom of my wardrobe, I grabbed my riding jacket and pulled it on, crossing to the window and peering out onto the grounds of the estate.

The sun stood high above the house, the sky a brilliant blue colour that looked like something out of a painting. The trees surrounding the estate had turned a brilliant green in the summer weather and they cast shadows across the grass as the sun moved. Our entire estate was surrounded by trees of various types that looked impressive no matter the season.

In the breeze, the trees danced and shook. I watched them, mesmerised by their movement and the sound of the leaves rustling around. Out of the corner of my eye, a different type of movement caught my eye. One branch shook harder than the rest, as though someone had grabbed it and then let it go. I frowned.

Throwing open the window, I leaned forward to see if I could catch a glimpse of anyone in the tree line. There was no one there. After a few seconds of violent movement, the branch went still until the breeze forced it to move once again.

"Nate!" Alice called from the ground below. "Are you joining us or not?

I tore my eyes away from the trees and turned to face her. "Yes, I'm coming."

"Be quick about it or we will start without you."

With a slight roll of my eyes and a glance at the tree line to see if anything had moved, I left my window wide open and stepped out of my room. I snuck past Father's study and down the stairs, all the while thinking about the strange movement of the tree branch. The breeze had not been strong enough to create such a forceful movement. Only a person could have done it but I had seen no one nearby. I shook my head, trying to shake the thought from my mind.

I stepped out onto the grounds, the sun momentarily blinding me. Across the grass, Joseph stood holding onto Lightning's reins.

"Thank you, Joseph," I said, taking hold of the reins and slightly stroking Lightning.

Joseph nodded. He walked back across the grass and disappeared into the stable. I led Lightning across the grass and towards Alice and Mr Cooper, who were waiting for me. Alice raised her eyebrow, her lips drawn into a thin line to tell me she was unimpressed with my slight tardiness. I said nothing. Instead, I put my foot in the stirrup and climbed up onto Lightning, taking him across the grass at a light trot.

"Thank you for joining us, Master Nathaniel," Mr Cooper said. He, alongside Mother and a few of our servants, were the only ones who called me Nathaniel. "We shall start with something simple. I want to see you both transition your horses from a walk to a trot to a canter and then a gallop. I will call each transition, so make sure you are listening. You are both experienced riders, so this should not be an issue for either of you."

"Well, not for me. Alice still struggles to tell the difference between a canter and a gallop."

"That was one time, Nate."

"Twice, actually, but who's counting?"

"Evidently, you are."

Mr Cooper cleared his throat. "That's enough. I want you to both start on a walk and listen carefully for my instructions."

I looked at Alice and winked, steering Lightning into a walk around the grounds as instructed. Alice had a habit of overthinking every small detail about a task she had been set, and I knew that bringing up her previous mistakes would set her on edge. I meant nothing bad by it. It was just my way of reminding her who the older sibling was. That and I could never live down her being better on a horse than me.

Mr Cooper started calling out the transitions almost immediately. He got us to change from a walk to a gallop into a trot and then back into a walk. The longer we rode, the faster the transitions came and the more flustered Alice became by it all, although she kept her head, albeit with a few close calls. Mr Cooper wanted to put us through our paces and once or twice changed his mind before Alice and I had even transitioned to the previous movement.

Despite the transitions getting harder, my mind kept wandering to the woods and branch movement I had witnessed from my window. It had been such a minor movement, but it was enough for me to suspect something strange. My eyes kept drifting over to the tree line to see if there was any additional movement, but only the breeze made the trees move. Perhaps I had imagined it.

"Alright, that's enough," Mr Cooper said. "You both did well, but you both have some issues with your form, particularly when you canter. I want to see you both canter around the grounds in the correct form. Miss Alice, you shall go first."

Alice looked at me. "No snide comment?"

"Not yet. I'll wait until I can correct you myself."

"No need. My form is perfect."

"Mr Cooper would beg to differ."

"Well, I'm about to prove him wrong."

Alice steered Genesis off to give her enough space and started out in a walk. Slowly, she transitioned into a canter, her hands pulling on the reins a little too much for it to be comfortable for Genesis. I watched her, noting the way she was sitting, the way she tugged on the reins, and how Genesis reacted to her movement. There was no doubt that Alice was a decent horsewoman and that her horse trusted her, but she was still uncertain.

"See? Perfect," Alice said, coming to a stop.

"Not quite. You were gripping the reins too tightly and pulling on Genesis' mouth. You have to relax your hands or you'll hurt her."

"I wasn't holding them too tightly." Although Alice sounded confident, she flexed her fingers on the reins.

"Master Nathaniel is right. Your grip was a little too tight, but you did well otherwise." Mr Cooper looked at me. "Your turn."

"Show us how it is done, Nate. You are the expert, after all."

I made a point to lighten my grip on the reins as I steered Lightning to a clear spot on the grounds, so I had enough space to canter. Lightning didn't need that much persuasion to get moving. He heard the word canter and couldn't wait to get going. The horse was often more excited than I was.

With a light squeeze of my legs, Lightning started in a walk, but transitioned into a canter with another squeeze on his torso. Even though it was just a canter around the grounds, I loved being on my horse more than anything. It gave me a different perspective on things, an escape from the endless studying and Father breathing down my neck. On a horse, I could leave the grounds. Father always found me if I stayed in the stables to play with the cats.

Lightning and I cantered around the grounds with Mr Cooper and Alice watching on. Alice looked a little too unhappy with me, which meant I was doing something right, or at least I thought I was. Out of the corner of my eye, movement in the trees caught my attention. It was the slightest movement in the tree line, a branch being pulled backwards. There was no breeze, no explanation.

I kept Lightning steady and glanced over to the tree line, half expecting to see a squirrel bounding along the branch and bending it, but it wasn't a squirrel.

Through the trees, peering over the branches, was a girl. Someone had been watching us.

~~~

A/N - Hello and welcome to the first chapter of When The Rain Falls! I'm so excited for this one and I cannot wait for you all to read it and come along on this journey with me and Nate!

Thoughts on the first chapter? How do you find Nate and Alice as characters? Who do you think is lurking in the woods?

Let me know below and if you have any general feedback, I would love to know your thoughts!

Dedication - I'm bringing back the chapter dedications and the first chapter goes out to the lovely LucyAnnWrites who was the first person to vote on this story! Your love is much appreciated!

First Published - October 4th, 2022