I paused to think for a moment, "I guess it depends on how strong you are," I said turning to look at Alessandro "They normally give the smaller guys the easier jobs and start making them harder and harder so they start to bulk. They will also make sure you are eating food that is high in fat so it is easier to bulk." I explained "That is why you see some of the older men here with what looks like a beer belly. In reality, they just have a Viking build and are probably stronger than me," I added "It just means their body is already in the perfect condition for all the work around here, so the fat doesn't go anywhere. Some of them prefer the fattier diets, hence why not all of them look as fit as my father,"

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I'm introverted outside and extroverted online, it is also just the fact I know quite a bit and so I can describe things well.

I listened to what Toby was saying, nodding my head. I only looked away from him to look up at the moon and stars, everytime captivating me. It had been a while since I'd seen a sky like this so I wanted to make sure I took it in, I guessed I would probably see it alot now but still. Never take things for granted, as I would say.

I did wonder whether I would start on the small jobs, I probably would though, I admittedly wasn't the most muscular person around. Not that it bothered me at all, I was perfectly fine with the smaller jobs to start off with.

I listened to what he was saying about how they ate around here. I was certainly intrigued but abit uncertain how I'd find it, I'm sure I'd get used to it though. I nodded at Toby as he finished explaining and smiled quickly before sinking back into the water.

(Oh okay yeah and I can imagine that would help yeahh)

I stared off into the trees and movement caught my eye. I slowly moved closer to Alessandro before looking directly at him and putting a finer to my lips. I pointed to the area of movement and something could be seen moving through the bushes. Whatever it was, was focused on Derek and Garrett as it kept stalking the bushes nearest to them.

I slowly looked around and noticed Chic was surprisingly close. I slowly and quietly got out of the water and grabbed my bow off the pack horse that was still attached to her.

Unlike guns, a bow can go in the water. So I quietly waded back in but stayed in areas that could touch. I also stayed in the areas where if I had to draw the bow back the water wouldn't touch it. I slunk down in the water so only my nose, eyes, and hair were sticking out just so I could get closer without being noticed too easily.

I looked up at the sky again, almost losing myself in thoughts when I noticed Toby moving closer, tilting my head slowly. I saw him put a finger to his lips and my brow furrowed before looking over to where he was pointing. I could see something moving around in the bushes, instantly a chill run through me. I tried to keep calm though and tried to not make any movement in the water. I turned my head to where Toby was getting a bow from the horse and moving back into the water. I was aware of my racing heart but tried to ignore it as best as I could although admittedly I was abit scared. My gaze was locked onto the creature moving around in the bush, I did glance at Toby as he got closer and held my breath.

Derek and Garrett were clueless, I'm glad, it was a good distraction and whatever it was didn't see me. Whatever it was slowly started crouching on the ground trying to get closer. Finally, once it came out of the shadows I saw what it was, it was a mountain lion. It could have gone for one of the horses but I probably saw the two and would go after them since they are going to be tired. They can be such idiots. I slowly stood up and raised my bow to aim. Once it got up to start running I had a clear shot and took it, I quickly went up and pulled out my knife. Garrett and Derek froze after they realized what happened, but thankfully the death was silent apart from the crack of the skull. It seemed my arrow missed the eye socket but still managed to go through the skull. All of a sudden as I was running to the the mountain lion I heard a pained whinny. As I turned around I saw there was a second one and it was latched onto Chic's throat. The mare managed to get the cat under it's hooves and stomped it to death but she was losing too much blood.

"Chic!" I screamed then hollered for Mojo to make sure he was alright. He came running but had a few scratches, they must have tried to go after him but saw the bigger prey when he ran back.

I ran over to the mare who was already becoming weak and laying down. I quickly went over and I was extremely hesitant but had to hold my emotions back as I put her out of her misery so she wouldn't suffer. I stroked her neck,

"I'll stay here as you two go get the guys so they can help us haul everything out of here," I said to Garrett and Derek as I couldn't stop looking at the dead mare in front of me.

"We're sorry dude, but thank you for saving us," Garrett said and all I could do was nod. They ran to their horses as I slowly took off Chic's bridle. I looked over at the pack horse and it was still around like it was trained to do, but it was very alert after that happened right next to it.

I stroked her neck as I felt tears flow down my cheeks, the mare was the horse I grew up with. We were the same age because she was born in the same year, so my parents decided to give me a horse to grow up with. She was in her prime still, she still had at least a good 8 years on her life if I was lucky.

I couldn't tear my gaze from the bush and felt myself shudder as the creature started moving closer. I held back a gasp as I saw it was a mountain lion. I hadn't ever seen one in real life before but I had heard stories of them which instantly scared me.

I had no idea what to do, this was the first time something like this had ever happened and I was completely clueless as to what I should do. I stayed still and as quiet as I possibly could, but it wasn't like I could do anything else, I was completely frozen in shock. I only tore my gaze from the creature to glance at Toby seeing he was raising his bow. Before I knew it, the creature got up and was shot by Toby. I relaxed for a split second before realising there was another mountain lion attacking Toby's horse. I watched in horror at the attack and saw that Toby shouted for his horse before running over. I stood in complete shock. I had to look away as he put his horse down and although I hardly knew either of them I instantly felt a wave of sadness wash over me. I walked through the water slowly, the chill air hitting me as my body became more and more exposed. I hardly noticed it though and sighed as I could see Toby.

I watched as Garrett and Derek went off to the other horses but my gaze soon drifted back to Toby. I let a few minutes pass to give Toby some time with his horse before starting to walk up slowly. I wasn't sure what to do and stopped as I reached the edge of the water, but I soon decided to go up. I felt a few tears prick my eyes seeing Toby with the mare and crouched down beside him. "I'm really sorry that happened" I spoke quietly with a small sigh, I wasn't sure if I should even have said anything but would go away if Toby needed the space.

I wiped my tears away, "I need to find the cubs, tell them what I'm doing when they get here." I said trying to clean myself up. "They are both female and have been feeding so they were probably helping raise each other's cubs," I said walking towards the edge of the woods. and sniffing "I gotta find them," I repeated before calling Mojo over and letting him get ahold of the scent. I grabbed my bow for protection and grabbed a couple of bags hidden under a rock. "I've hidden things around this entire pond, the key is just finding them if you don't know where they are," I said before walking into the woods, following Mojo and his cowbell. His scars were just scraps that would easily scab, so we wouldn't have to worry about him. I followed him for what felt like forever until his cowbell stopped, which probably meant he was pointing. I went to where I last heard his bell and he was pointed towards a cave. I was hesitant but tied the bags to my belt and went inside holding my bow at read. Soon enough I saw 5 tiny balls of fluff, they had barely opened their eyes yet but they were well-fed. I had nothing else to put them in other than the bag so they wouldn't hurt me. So I quickly put them in the bag and carried them back, there were people waiting when I returned. Even my father was there and he came up to hug me but saw me carrying something gently in my arms.

"what do you have there?" he asked quietly

"5 young cubs, can't be any more than a week old," I said and he sighed "What do you think we should do with them?" I asked

"Keep 3, take 2 to the rescue, and make sure they get taken to a sanctuary," He said and I looked at him like he was crazy. "Forget your chores for a bit, they could come in handy when they grow up. I want you to raise them," I looked at him weird "You still have that colt that Chic gave birth to?" he said and I hesitantly nodded "He will be your new horse. it will give you time to retrain a horse and you can raise the cubs." He said patting my back and giving me a side hug. "Is Mojo okay?" he asked

"yeah, he just has a couple scratches," I said "they must have chased him for a it until he ran here and they saw bigger prey.

"Oh yeah, what happened exactly," he asked "Garrett and Derek said it all happened too fast and they could barely make anything out." I let out a shaky sigh

"Well i saw movement in the bushes and something was stalking Garrett and Derek, i motioned for Alessandro to stay quiet. I managed to shoot that one with my bow and somehow got it through the skull. Then I heard Chic whinny in pain and turned around to see one latched onto her throat; she managed to stomp it to death but she wouldn't have made it, so I put her out of her misery." I said with a choke. "I want to keep the skull of the one with the arrow in it intact, and I want the one that killed my mare turned into a dam floor rug," I said and he just nodded

"fair enough, I woulda' done the same," He said walking off. Both mountain lions were being hauled onto pack horses and the dead mare was getting dragged by her back hooves by 2 of our draft horses. I was handed a pack horse that was saddled as we rode back.

I looked at Toby, concern etched onto my face and listened to what he said with a nod. I stood up and just looked at Toby as he spoke, I didn't think there was anything else to say and just nodded again. I watched as he got a few bags from around under a rock, raising my eyes slightly at what I thought was a good idea. Well, it was apparent that it could definitely be useful. I looked on as Toby walked into the woods and sighed quietly. I wasn't exactly sure what to do as I was waiting but could feel the cold air and felt a shiver. I walked over to where I had left my hoodie and threw it on over my head, wrapping my arms around myself in hopes to keep warm.

I allowed my thoughts to drift. I didn't really know what to think of what was going on and what had just happened, it still seemed unreal although my still racing heart said otherwise. I took a few deep breaths just to calm it down, which thankfully seemed to help. I tried not to think too deeply, it wouldn't help anything and as I looked up I could see, who I assumed to be, Toby's father. I was thankful they were here and watched as they approached. Once he was in talking distance I told him what Toby had told me to say "Toby's just gone to find the cubs" I spoke, my voice oddly quiet. I just hung around everyone until Toby returned and tried not to listen to the conversation, only actually paying attention as he told him about what had happened. With him just repeating the story sent a shiver through me. It would have been horrible to just hear that but having experienced it did make me feel kinda odd. I sighed quietly and was just long among my thoughts as we all got onto horses and headed back. I glanced up at the sky, it was probably the only calming thing at the moment.

(I'm going boxing so I wont be able to reply after this for like 2 hours)

Once we got back I handed the two cubs to someone and they were going to take them into town since everyone else got some sleep. They said they would pick up some milk and stuff for me to raise them with. with a sigh I took them inside and got out Mojo's old kennel, setting it up, and putting them inside it for now until morning

When I woke up there was stuff on the table, so I followed the instructions and got to work on feeding them. I fed Mojo after I clean the baby mountain lions, thankfully he was a patient dog. I made my own breakfast and went and grabbed a halter to put on the yearling colt that Chic gave birth to the past year. He was definitely a pretty sight as he was a blue roan that looked black instead of blue. I stared at him for a bit before I went into the yearling pen, He recognized me thankfully and immediately came up to me as I presented him a treat and slipped the halter on him. I managed to halter-train him before he was separated from his dam.

It was a relief to finally see the barn and the cabin. After getting off the horse, I headed over to the cabin. I changed into some night clothes before sitting on my bed. I didn't think I was going to be able to sleep just yet so got my book to start reading. Surprisingly I only read a few pages before feeling tired, I guessed the day had taken it out of me more than I originally thought. I fell asleep within a few minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

Waking up, I felt dazed, for a few seconds my mind was clear of everything until all the past day events hit me. I sat up with a sigh and ran my hand over my face before getting up to shower, it was pretty much my routine so I just got up instinctively. I headed into the shower and just enjoyed the warm stream for a few minutes before getting out and changing. I just had a simple outfit of blue jeans and a blue and yellow plaid shirt. After that I just made myself some breakfast before heading out. I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing but just decided to take a walk around.