Lost at sea, time and space

He leaned on the saddle horn while he waited, thinking through the bird's words. Hearing the footsteps, he looked over, and lifted his eyebrows at the woman. "I assume you're the bird, then." With Claire as a foster child, he'd long gotten used to strange things happening around her. This was just another odd occasion. "Found what you were looking for?" Studying her, he considered how they were going to get back, and gave a sigh, sliding off the horse. They could walk back, it wasn't too hard going down.

Nodding she replied to his words with a nod per question, holding the cold metal object in her hand tightly. Wearing out dated clothes and navigating the terrain with a surprising experienced look, she didn't say much. Now she had it back perhaps she could get her brother to leave, perhaps part of it all was the fear of being left alone. He was all she had. The rest of it was a desire to keep him safe from pain and distress, once they got to the farmhouse however she stopped. There was an unwillingness to disturb the peace her brother had temporarily found, sighing she sat down on the porch and set the orb down beside her. She wanted him happy and the girl made him happy, but she could see that it would break him a little to leave her behind, sore from the forced shift the woman sighed and closed her eyes unsure and disliking the fact that she was unsure

He kept quiet on the way back, tending to the horse and letting him loose in the paddock again before heading over to the woman, his hands slipped into his pockets. Sitting nearby, he studied her a moment. "Are you okay, sheila? Is there anything I can do to help you?" She seemed somewhat upset, though at least she didn't appear stuck as a bird any more. That would probably be helping. Wondering how Claire was going, he glanced at the door a moment, and then turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. Claire could fend for herself for now.

At the voice she changed, the slight air of unhappiness leaving her and her aura becoming calm nothingness like she was taught. "I am absolutely fine there is nothing to concern yourself with Julian." Studying him with difficult to read brown eyes, Melissa observed him silently a little more wary of him now. It would be best to keep to herself from now on, not that she was worried of becoming attached. She didn't form bonds with people after all, she was more wary of him getting in her way. As a human again she suddenly had a lot more interest in the horses, she'd had interest in them back in her own time but had never had much to do with them. Here everything she'd learnt from watching Julian when it came to horses suddenly felt a lot more interesting and important

He didn't believe her, but said nothing about it. "Well, if there is, I'm always happy to listen to you. Hungry?" He leaned back in the chair, content with watching the sun setting, and the animals moving about comfortably. He propped his feet on the small table there, giving a quiet sigh. "He's good for Claire," he finally murmured. "I've not seen her this relaxed unless she's with the horses."

Hanging around for the vet, the man finally arrived, much to Julian's relief. He'd roped Killian into sticking around, since he seemed to know the mare well and she seemed to trust him. "Dave, good to see you. Mare's in the stallion yards. We managed to get the bridle and some of the harnessing off her, but she's too skittish to let us get anything else off her." He wasn't sure what Claire's plans for the morning were, but that was fine. She'd probably be dealing with her gelding anyway. Unsure of what was wanted from him regarding Rose, Killian resigned himself to stick around, eyeing the newcomer warily.

Julian didn't answer, already getting to work on the mare's feet. Killian hesitated, then crouched on the other side of the mare beginning to work at the buckles and straps to get the harness off. He knew that she wouldn't want to be down any longer than she had to be. Julian was soon finished with her feet, hoof raspings scattered through the grass, and got to work on her dreadlocked tail, cutting as many dreadlocks as he could out while leaving her enough of a tail to keep flicking the flies away.

Finishing the mares teeth he moved to the hobbles at her pasterns, removing them and wincing in sympathy at the raw wounds underneath he carefully flushed them with water before applying a topical ointment that would help it heal and hopefully reduce infection. "Try and clean them at least once a day, if she won't let you close using a hose will do" he advised pushing the simple glasses up his nose with a finger "going by her teeth id say she's about eight or nine" once the black haired young man had finished removing the old crusty tack he reversed the anaesthesia and left the paddock heading over to Claire's mount to do his teeth. Chatting away to her, remembering her from when she was little and finding out she'd quit her job he suggested trying out what it was like to be a vet. She clearly loved horses and becoming an equine vet although a daunting task could be very rewarding. Finishing the gelding with little worries he packed up his things knowing to put the cost into Julian's account with them. "Good luck with the mare, looks like you'll need it" with a slight smile the man was soon gone leaving rose coming too and scrambling up into her feet with several rude descriptive words for the lot of them.

Killian listened in silence, amused at the man's guess at how old Rose was. Saying nothing about it, he stayed in the paddock to watch her, making sure that she'd be okay. Seeing that the red mare would be okay, Julian headed over to lean on the gelding's fence, half listening to the conversation between Claire and the older vet. He liked the idea, it would be good for her. She'd be able to travel like she enjoyed doing, and still have her horses and her home here if she wanted. Nodding to the vet as he left, Julian looked at Claire again. "Anything he said catch your attention, bear?" he asked. he wasn't worried about the red mare now, Killian was in the paddock with her, and seemed to be trusted a little. The man in question only grinned at Rose's comments, leaning on her fence. "Stop complaining, you got the hobbles and harness off now."

Julian nodded, tipping his head back. "You'd be good at that. You've got the years to study and try what you like, at least." He personally reckoned she'd be best at being a trainer, but if she wanted to be a vet he wasn't going to hold her back. As long as she found something she enjoyed doing, he didn't care what it was. Spotting her gaze at the red mare, he followed it, watching at she wobbled around. "Here's hoping she'll settle a bit more now," he murmured.

Killian grinned, making his way over to her and scratching her shoulder gently where she liked it. "The shadows could help drive the last of it away," he murmured. "If you want them to." She was so much more skittish than when he'd last seen her, he was scared to know what happened to her in the meantime.

Julian tugged on her braid. "You're a good one with the horses, you'll do well." Noticing her gaze drifting over to Killian, he grinned again. "Getting distracted, bear?" He leaned on the fence, amused at how suddenly shy she was.

He frowned at the mare, shadows carefully helping to drive away the after effects of the drugs. "What about your back feet? Want them to heal those or not this time?" He kept scratching her, knowing that she enjoyed it, and glanced over at Claire when she was mentioned. "I don't know what you're on about, grumpyguts."

He just snorted, offering the gelding his hand to sniff before heading off. He wanted to start work with red mare today, and hopefully she'd be okay with it. Slipping into the paddock, he watched her a moment, wondering how she'd go. Killian had nodded at her words, his shadows melting away to leave her alone, and he glanced at the stockman. "She wants to be alone," he said simply, and went off to find his sister. he wanted to make up with her so she wasn't annoyed with him any more. Julian sighed, but went to the mare. "Feeling better now, ginger?"

He shrugged, offering her a bit of the carrot he'd stashed in his pockets. "Just checking on you, see if you wanted to do any work, or keep resting." He didn't move from where he'd stopped, letting her make the choice to take the carrot or not. "Not gonna force you to work here, you're okay." He studied her, eyeing her pasterns and wincing when he saw how bad they were. "There's nothing for you to pull either. You won't be asked to do that again."

He offered her another piece of carrot, not bothered about her snatching just yet. They could work on that later, once she was more comfortable with him being around her. "Depends what work you want to do," he responded. "It'd be easy to start with, get you back into shape while letting those wounds heal and your coat grow back to a proper length. Then you can test things and see what you like." He gave a little shrug, keeping out of reach of her back hooves. "Itchy?"

He considered it, fishing out another piece of carrot for her. "I can teach you that. It'd be bareback and with a neck rope to start with while your mouth heals from the bits. I can't image you want anything around your head, either." It would make for an interesting training, with her being able to tell him exactly what was going on so that he could help her.

He chuckled a little, finding another piece and offering it to her. "Like carrot, do you? Good to know. I'll keep away from your head, don't worry. Unless it's unavoidable, but I'll try not to let that happen." He still hadn't moved much, his only movements were taking the carrot out and offering it too her, keeping himself predictable so she could learn to relax. "It'll have to wait until your pasterns are healed regardless, so a bit more lazing around in a paddock for you for now."