after all is said and done

Putting the phone in his pocket, he gave her a slight nod. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch in a couple of months, probably.” He shrugged a shoulder, glancing at her again. “I don’t mind how far. Just let me know when to let you off. Doesn’t bother me at all as long as you got some way of getting back okay.” He glanced at her curiously, watching the dragon as it curled in her lap. “Don’t mind Ted either,” he said quietly. “We all kind of just speak our mind on the boat, we forget you aren’t used to it so much.”

Well if he didn't mind, then she'd pay petrol money and get him to take her all the way back. When he mentioned Ted, claire couldn't help her smirk. "My fathers partner is as blunt as a nail, I'm more than used to people speaking their mind, it dosent bother me. If anything it was funny" Very much aware that it'd take a while to get home she leant back in the seat more listening to the music and humming quietly along to the tunes she knew. stroking the dragon regularly she continued to watch the world fly past the window .

Giving a nod, he settled in to keep driving, content to travel in silence. Turning the music up a bit more once it was clear there was going to be no conversation, he hummed along happily, following her directions when she did speak. It took a while to get to her place, and he watched the landscape curiously. It was all farmland and rolling hills, and he couldn’t help but wonder why she lived in the middle of the country when she was so at home on the sea. Keeping the questions to himself, he finally pulled up at her front gate when she pointed it out, giving her s quick smile. “Can’t stay, I’m afraid. Got plenty of things to do. I’ll talk to you when I know the dates of the next one, alright?” Giving her a friendly grin, he didn’t wait for any offers of fuel money, and headed off back down the road, whistling along to the music.
Seeing the car pull up and Claire hop out, the black stallion pacing at the paddock fence, seriously considering jumping it to go and greet her. Calling out to her, he lifted his front feet off the ground slightly, knowing that she’d only get annoyed with him if he jumped it, but wanting to make sure right now that she was safe and okay.

Content to listen to the music, she hummed to the ones she knew, finally reaching home she stepped out with the dragon around her shoulders and her bag on her back. Giving a nod she wasn't given any time to offer money for fuel and suspecting he'd done it on purpose made a mental reminder to give him some when she next saw him. The sound of her stallion calling for her distracted her, turning she dumped the bag and dragon on her way to see him, ducking through the fence she wrapped her arms around the powerful creatures neck in a hug. "missed you, big black donkey" she murmured into his familiar coat, happy to be home and with the horses again releasing him to rub his neck affectionately she glanced over at the house guessing Jules would be waiting for her

Pleased that she was home safe, and seemed happier again, the big horse nuzzled his human gently. Not a donkey, seasprite. Is River okay? Tossing his head to get his annoying mane out of the way, he nudged Claire’s shoulder, then moved his nose down to her pockets, snuffling hopefully for treats. You seem more content. It’s good. Having heard the stallion’s calling, Julian wandered out onto the verandah, leaning on one of the support posts while he watched Claire. Already he could see that she was more settled, and he gave himself a mental pat on the back for getting her out on the sea. Whistling happily, he headed over to her, leaning on the fence to have a chat. “Good to have you home kiddo. Have fun on the water?”

Smiling at his comment she rubbed his forehead firmly, at her fathers words she left the black stallion to move over to the fence to speak with him "yeah, I did, I learnt lots and the work was fun" the dragon made her way over and hopped up to perch on the fence, reaching to sniff Killian she flicked her whiskers and growled softly in endearment. Renee Cantered up to them and skidded to a halt to sniff Claire and check her pockets for treats before gently nudging her husband affectionately. Petting Renee as well Claire glanced over at Angus and Rose, she still was helping him come up with a plan to make Rose a human again although she knew Jules would be a little sad at the loss of such a good work horse

Bobbing his head a little, the black horse kept close to Claire, making thoroughly sure that there were no treats in her pockets. Nuzzling the gentle mare when she came over, he snorted lightly at the dragon, dropping his head to graze nearby, listening to the conversation. Julian nodded, reaching out to scratched Renee’s head gently. “Good to hear.” Spotting her glance at the other two horses who hadn’t come over, he tilted his head a little. “Still thinking about turning Rose human?” he said it quietly, keeping his voice low so the two ponies wouldn’t overhear him. “Be a shame to lose her, but Angus needs her, doesn’t he?” Picking out a few knots in Renee’s mane, he glanced over at River, noticing the cuts and scrapes. “River okay?”

When her head was scratched, the white mare turned and affectionately nudged Julian, quite pleased that everyone was okay. Swishing her tail at the few pesky flies that hung around, she soon lowered her head and began grazing alongside her husband, watching the white mare quietly Claire sighed softly. "Yeah I am dad, Angus needs her for the full moons" picking up river in her arms and holding her close she brushed her fingers over the healing cuts and scrapes pleased that the humans creams had helped them heal faster than normal. "Yeah she got stuck in a net while helping, the human, Alex, he helped me rescue her" the dragon soon wriggled out of her arms and headed off on her own leaving Claire to sigh softly.

Watching the dragon wander off, Julian nodded slightly. “He’s an interesting kid,” he mused, turning his gaze back to the grazing horses. Reminded, he gave a short nod to himself. “Kept bitting the stallion for you. Only a couple on minutes each time, left anything more for you to deal with.” At Killian’s snort, he just grinned. “Hasn’t particularly been happy about it. But at least he’s standing in cross ties again. You should be able to deal with him fine. Staying for dinner?” He tugged his daughter’s braid gently, hoping she would. She still needed time to fully heal and recover, though it looked like the sea trip had helped her a lot.

Listening to her father carefully, Claire nodded when he mentioned that he'd kept bitting Killian for her, not saying anything about alex she instead just tucked her hands into her pockets and sighed softly. "Yeah i'll stay for dinner" she smiled at him affectionately and rubbed killians neck again before exiting the paddock and stretching. Keeping the fact that she hadn't slept the night before to herself, she hid a yawn and gave her father a quick hug happy to be home with him again.

Spotting the yawn, Julian merely lifted an eyebrow at her before returning the hug. “Alright, good to hear.” He glanced at the sun, working out what the time was, and then took another look at the horses again. “You’ve got time to work with him before dinner if you want to. Would be good for him, he’s been cheeky lately.” Ruffling her hair, he headed off to finish the rest of his jobs for the day, ignoring the indignant snort from the stallion. Killian came over to the fence, pricking his ears towards Claire. I’m not cheeky. Just curious.

Wincing somewhat as the ruffling of hair tugged at the hair that was braided, Claire let him go and haltered killian bringing him into the cross ties. She gave him a thorough grooming to make up for being away for so long and picked out his feet being firm but fair, once that was done she went and grabbed the bridle. Coming back with it she informed him "The goal this time im home is to get you grazing with it on, ready for boot camp to start up again? Come on" lifting the bridle up she brought the rubber rather chewed on bit up to the animals lips for him to accept into his mouth. She'd take him for a ride the next day after a good nights sleep.

Killian snorted gently, nosing his human as he followed her to the cross ties. Standing nicely, he watched her grooming him and picking out his feet, enjoying the attention. Yay boot camp. He snorted, lifting his head a little as he shuffled his feet. Thinking about it, he gave a sigh and lowered his head again. Unlike Renee, he didn’t help with putting the bit in his mouth, but he didn’t argue this time either, lowering his head a little more to let her slip the leather over his ears. And what’s the point of this again?

Snorting, he shook his head as she secured the bridle, still not really a fan of it. Flicking his nose up a little when she found his itchy spots, he tolerated the bridle for the longer period of time before spitting the bit out when she finally took it off. Resting his head against her shoulder, he listened to her speaking quietly, taking it all in in silence. Happily following her, he stayed near her when she sat down, grazing peacefully and occasionally nudging her gently as he did. The sea was good for you, he murmured, flicking his tail to get rid of the flies. I’m glad you went. You needed it.

Happy that her stallion chose to stay with her, she sat in the long grass while the black horse cropped grass next to her, at his words she smiled "I've been offered a spot on the boat when they go out again in a month or so, I'm going to go with them, i missed the sea" unplaiting her hair as she was going to need a shower anyway she brushed her fingers through the strands finding that there were still bits of sand all through it while she planned out the next month of how she was going to work Killian and start preparing him for bitted work "Bit wise, if you learn to take the bit then we'll be able to enter in a wider range of competitions. I really want to do eventing on you but that requires a bit" she finally told him, truthful and quite sincere.

Nibbling at her hair gently, Killian thought through her words. He didn’t really like her being gone, but she did seem better for it, so he wouldn’t kick up a fuss. Just as long as she was careful. He didn’t want to be helpless again. Just be careful, he told her quietly, nudging her cheek before dropping his head again to keep cropping the grass. Stamping a hind leg at a fly, he tilted an ear towards her when she started talking again, considering the words. Afraid it’ll hurt, he finally said softly, the human part of him knowing that she’d never want to hurt him, but the horse part was still scared of a bitted bridle, and he wasn’t sure how to overcome that.

Glancing at him as he remained quiet, Claire smiled slightly and was about to say something when he finally spoke. "Trust me Killi, I learnt my lesson" she replied softly and quite sincerely "I'm not dating anyone or letting anyone get a hold over me again" reaching up she very gently touched a hand to his cheek when he mentioned that he was afraid that it'd hurt. She knew that with time hopefully the horse would come around, until then they had to keep pressing forward, he knew her reason for wanting to try to remouth him now at least. Dinner would be ready soon, she should head inside, but it was nice sitting out here with the stallion, a few old stray memories had her lowering her hand and looking out across the land silently

Nudging her cheek again gently, he merely swished his tail and kept grazing. There wasn’t much he could say to that, so he kept quiet. Thinking it through quietly, he’d moved a few metres from her whilst grazing before he spoke again. What’s eventing? He liked competing with her, so he’d make himself tolerate the bit, and hopefully not have the horse act up too much. It was easier to control now, after so many years, but there were still times it broke away from him when it got too scared by what was going on. It is fun and fast?

Watching him graze she made herself comfortable "eventing is hard work, its three courses over three days, the first day is dressage, the second is a cross country course and the third day is show jumping. Its hard work but looks like it'd be great fun" Knowing he wouldn't like the dressage part she added "its not Renee kind of dressage, its more of a dressage test, so theres no music and it isn't dancing as such" it was interesting that Killian and Renee had decided to remain horses instead of people, she knew in killians case it was because it hurt fiercely for him to change yet Renee had chose to stay horse for him. It was sweet, in a way that made the now faint ache return, she'd done what had to be done and now she must live with it, after what had happened with Oliver she'd attempted to make her peace with the fact that she was obviously supposed to be on her own. Getting up she left and returned with the feeds for the horses in the paddock tipping the feeds into the troughs she headed inside, taking off her boots before entering. Finding her father she hovered inspecting what would be for dinner.

Snorting rudely at the mention of dressage, he grumbled slightly. He didn’t like the dancing movements. It was much more fun to race and jump instead. Perking up at the sound of her returning with their dinner, he was waiting for her at the gate with the other three, eager to be fed. Like always, he made sure that Renee wasn’t bullied and got her own share of the meal before they all settled down again, the black horse mulling over the idea of the eventing that Claire apparently wanted to do.
Hearing Claire come in, Julian barely looked up. “How’d he go this time? Reckon you’ll be able to teach him to accept it completely then?” He glanced up, giving her a studying glance. “I know you want to do eventing with him. You think he’ll do it?”

Grabbing a glass of water and downing it fairly quickly she replied with a soft sigh "Much better, thanks for the help Jules. I'm fairly certain I'll be able to if Ice dosent turn up and undo all the work we've done. As for the eventing the Dressage will be the hardest to get him to do as he seems to think its all dancing, which eventing wise isn't true" getting out the plates and utensils she was quiet thinking about the idea she'd had "If he ends up having an issue with the bit we're trying him with a bit made out of shadows" tucking some escaped strands of hair behind her ears, the shadow master waited paitently for her father to finish cooking the food. Once he had she filled her plate and found a spot to sit and eat, tired and lookign forward to sleeping in her bed once again.

Pleased with the answer, Julian nodded, humming softly as he finished off dinner and served it on the table. “Good to hear. Keep him on the rubber bit as long as you can, it’ll be better for him to learn that not everything is solved with shadows, no matter how much you don’t want to hurt him.” He gave her a knowing glance. “He’s still a horse, treat him like one. A shadow bit might not even work, could end up being too soft on him.” Sitting with her, he patted her hand gently. “You’re doing well with him and Renee. It’ll just take more time than you’re used to to get him working nicely on the bit. If he gets to the point where he’s not listening at all to anything, let me know. I’ll help you sort him out.”

She'd worked with Renee and Killian, and had managed to get Killian lunging in the round pen holding his head down and accepting contact with the bit it'd been a rough but good three months. With her hair wet from a shower and a towel wrapped about herself she idly checked her phone out of habit, she'd managed to keep in semi contact with Alex and so had actually bothered keeping her phone charged instead of letting it die. Sitting on the bed she unlocked her phone and read through the text a smile presenting itself on her face, it seemed he was getting ready to head back out to sea again, replying that she'd be keen to come with them again like she'd said when he'd dropped her home. Claire pulled on her pyjamas and began the long arduous process of drying her hair waiting for the reply

Half distracted with his fish, Alex nearly missed the sound of his phone, and just as nearly juggled it into the fishtank. Managing to catch it, he read the text and gave a quiet grin. He’d be glad to have Claire back on board. Sending her the details, he tucked the phone into his pocket and got bac to work, glad to have her eager to come back. Moving through the house, Julian knocked on Claire’s door, leaning on the doorframe. “So you remembered what a phone was for, kiddo,” he teased her, amused. “You heading back out soon then?” It was good for her to be out and about on the ocean, so he wasn’t going to complain loudly about the loss of an extra pair of hands. “How’s that stallion of yours going? He finally accepting the rubber bit? Seems like he’s ready for a ride with it and see how he goes.”