Kiara nervously approached the mare. This mare, which had been named Krystle, had been abused and distrusted people. Everyone assumed that since Kiara was K'miri, she could handle Krystle. But in fact, horses had been the whole reason she had run away from the Raadeh. Mother and Father had been about to force her into being a hostler, and she hated working with horses. ((GASP!!))

Now, the mare tossed her head and gave the trainee a haughty glare. Kiara had been told horses could sense fear. She was sure the horse knew that she was frightened. "I'm not gonna hurt you," she murmured. "Nobody's gonna hurt you." The horse continued to paw at the ground.

Kiara mounted and began walking Krystle. Gradually, she transitioned the mare into a trot, then a canter. When they reached a full gallop, Kiara felt far better than she ever had about horses. She was free. She could control whatever this horse was about to dish out.

Well, she got a surprise. The mare suddenly spooked and began to rear and paw at the air. Kiara screamed. "NO!" she tried to tell Krystle, but the mare was remembering something that had happened in her past. She was trapped in a memory.

Krystle jolted, and Kiara flew out of the saddle. She couldn't see any trainees in the immediate area. The girl tried to climb out of the horse's way, but too late. Krystle's hooves came down on her, once, twice, three times.

Kiara was hurting all over. She was bleeding and blacking out. "HELP!!" she screamed over and over. "Help! Help! He..." her voice trailed off as she slipped into unconciousness.

"That woman..." Thomas muttered, imagining up numerous ways in which he horribly maim and injure her. "The iron maiden just won't do it," he said to himself, "not painful enough. Maybe striking her with lightning?" He tried to think of ways that he could channel the power of the skies, but then realized that he was supposed to be mucking this half of the stables, or else he would never be allowed to eat under the roof of the mess hall ever again, which he assumed meant being expelled. And, he had to take a bath afterwards. If he didn't take a bath, he'd have to do the other side. No plans for that, to be sure.

He led the horse in the first stall out and tied her on a post, stroking her mane gently. Lorelle had chosen well. Then he grabbed a shovel and began scooping, still comtemplating on the lightning question. Lost in his thoughts, he was considerably startled when something nibbled on the back of his shirt.

"Hello," he said, turning around. "You aren't Lorelle's girl."

The mare's only response was to nip him, quite painfully, in the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

The pony's only response was to gallop away.

"Hey, wait up!" he yelled, and began to run after. It didn't take him too long, however, to realize that the horse was much faster than him, and after his had gone only a few paces, he gave up in disgust.

That was when he realized that she had stopped, standing over a prone figure, chewing grass nonchalantly.

Tomas, inquisitive as always, approached, but what he found made him draw back in a kind of fluid shock.

"Help!" he cried. "Help! I think there's been a murder!"