Wayfaring Stranger

[Emery Peyton]

Emery sighed out before getting onto that horse, her fears were confirmed, her horse was not there and tonight was going to be a long night for her.

"All right." She said looking at Laurent then the horse, petting her for a moment, again picking off some sort of muddy debris. "I guess we can go on back now, Laurent." She looked up at him and smiled, trying to hide the small pang of sadness inside of her. Her horse was gone. What else could she have done anyway.

"Come on, lets get you and your baby on back." She sighed out and felt that something wasn't right about this entire ordeal. She nodded and patted the horse for good measure. "We can go to the barn and see if they spotted her at all."

[Laurent Eades]

Laurent wasn't a comforter, but he understood what it felt like to lose your horse, especially not know to what you lost it. He didn't say anything, but instead laced his fingers together to give her a leg up, her weight nothing in his palms.

He climbed up behind her, and with a comforting squeeze of her shoulder, he clucked Byrd on. She began to walk, then lope, heading back towards the barn as Laurent leg steered her from his point, leaving her mane for Emery to hang on to.

The trip back to the barn meant a few antsy trips over mud puddles that Byrd wasn't keen on going over, but eventually they got back to the fence, and Byrd picked her way over it. Laurent urged her back into a lope and she arched her neck and headed straight for the open back door of the barn, where Laurent saw some of the men still milling, probably finishing up pumping the barn and getting all the horses back in, fed, watered, and dried off.

Laurent reached around Emery to grab Byrd's mane, slowing her down to a walk by the time they got to the barn and got inside, the rain finally being off of them. Laurent sat there for a long moment, Byrd taking a deep breath and sighing it out in a snort. After awhile, he slid down off of his horse, getting even more mud on the front of him and his gun which was in it's holster on his side, but still getting mud on it.

He reached up, offering his help to Emery.

[Emery Peyton]

Emery was surprised to have been helped up onto the horse, she took its mane and situated herself on the horse before feeling the man get on behind her. It was very interesting to be in this position, normally she pictured the leaders to be in the front rather than be in the back, then again she was probably making too much of it. He was just being curteous. at least it made her smile, espeically the little squeeze he had given her before they traipsed back to the barn.

Her mind was locked on worrying about her horse, worrying about the fence, and worrying about this horrible rain. If it didn't stop they'd have to figure out where to relocate the horses, water around their feet wasn't a very safe thing to have, especially when it could get into her office and get into the electircal outlets she had going.

She felt like she wasn't in her right mind, then agian she was tired, cold, hungry, and in dire need of a bath, especially this little one. She felt Laurent slide off after a long while, she immediately took his hand and heard the slosh of mud under her feet when it hit. She saw Poppy talkin on the phone with someone, looking out over the fencing, probably figuring out who he could get some wood from to fix it. She looked over at her other two horses and she smiled, walking over to one who was peeking at her. She pushed open his gate and walked inside, petting it lovingly, so happy to have at least two horses left. She rubbed his nose and gave it a kiss, happy to feel the large animal rub its head on her before putting her heavy head on her shoulder. She looked over at Laurent and suddenly she felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Thank you very much for what you did, Mister Eades," She felt that the situation had been cleared and it was time to go back to being professional. "I appreciate everything." She smiled at him and pushed her hat off, the drawstrings tightening around her neck. She kissed her horse and walked out, closing the gate and latching it.

"I am gonna head on up and take a shower. I will give you another night free for helpin' us." She smiled at him as she slowly walked backwards towards the end of the barn. "Tonight I'll make a hearty meal."

[Laurent Eades]

Laurent never took showers to relax. He figured he could just get in, get clean and get out. But after the day's events, he stayed in the shower for a little over an hour, just rinsing off the mud, nursing a couple of bruises and calming his mind down.

The event of the fence doing what it had done was very strange indeed. It looked somewhat like lightening damage, but certainly they would have heard it. And moreover, the wood would have been charred. Yet the wood was perfectly brown, just splintered all over. He was surprised the horses hadn't gotten wood in their legs.

When he finally got out of the shower, he dressed in grey exercise pants and a short sleeved undershirt, remembering that he had left his clothes in the washer downstairs and he would need to go down and get it. His partner had called earlier, leaving a message that Daddy wasn't happy and wanted a report from him. Laurent knew that Cyler would get the blame if he didn't turn in something soon, but he didn't care. He wanted to do his job uninhibited, without someone keeping tabs on him all the time.

He shook out his hair a little, grabbed his cell and headed out into the hallway to head and get his clothes.

[Emery Peyton]

Emery jerked awake at the sound of violent thunder, it practically jarred her out of the comfortable and cushy recliner she was in. She felt her hardback book land on her feet and she hissed, bending forward to pick it up. She was freezing, even though she had taken a blistering hot bath she just felt cold as could possibly be. She had on fresh yoga pants and a tank top, followed by a long sleeved shirt and then a hoodie. She was still freezing. She sighed out as she stood up, her body was aching. It had been about a week or so since she had been riding on a horse and she realized that that must have been too long for her body. That or she was getting old.

She groaned and closed the book and tossed it onto the seat and picked up the blanket that had fallen on the ground when she stood up. Another roll of thunder shook the windows and she looked up at the ceiling as if she coudl see what was goong on outside. She walked over to the window and pushed back the curtain to be startled by a bright flash of white and a streak across the sky. This was a bad night.

She walked away and back to the couch, lifting up one of the arms to grab the remote in the hidden compartment. She turned towards the large high def television she had bought for guests, and herself, and watched the Weather Channel, seeing nothing but pink and green. Bad weather it was. She shook her head and turned it on mute to hear what was going on outside.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." She said as she moved away after more flashes and rumbles. Her heart jumped even more when the lights flickered and the tv kicked off. "Great." She groaned. If there was anything she hated more than this kind of weather, it was the power going out. Generators were hooked up for the barn, but she hadn't been able to gather up the money to purchase some for the house. Something she was going to do before she realized the barn was in need of dire renovations.

"Better get out the flashlights."

[Laurent Eades]

Laurent was in the hallway, almost to the stairs when a large "THUMP!" rumbled through the house, and the lights went totally and utterly out.

Laurent Eades had always considered himself a reasonable man. Few things frightened him, he didn't let people get to him that often, he tended to deal with stress well, and rarely became depressed. But if there was one thing on God's beautiful, green Earth he couldn't stand, it was the darkness. He didn't know where the fear came from, he had had it since he was little. He still suffered from horrible nightmares if he went to sleep in total darkness. Generally leaving a TV on, or even his cell phone open kept things enough in sight that he was fine.

But total darkness he couldn't deal with.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and whispered a silent prayer to not lose his mind, opened his eyes and continued cautiously down the stairs again. He crept down to the first floor, hearing someone speaking in the next room. His brow furrowed.

"Better get out the flashlights," they said, and Laurent recognized Emery's voice. Oh good. Flashlights were good. Flashlights were very good. He didn't move from where he was, hoping to get her attention when she came by him. He didn't particularly want to explore this house at night, in the power outage. It was not on his list of things to do before he died.

It was embarrassing, a twenty-seven year old man this petrified of the dark. But he couldn't help it. It was engrained in who he was.

[Emery Peyton]

Emery sighed and moved out of the living room on back into the kitchen, lights flickering on and off. In her mind she already knew what was going to happen, it was just a matter of minutes before the entire thing kicked off. She hated this about the country, the generators that gave her electricity...so many miles in the boondocks it'd take all night until it was fixed and back on again. She shook her head, hating the fact she didn't get the house on a battery operated device that kept the lights and air on. She scavenged through drawers in the small kitchen, finding batteries she always kept in case the flashlights were about to go out. She took the large pack and headed back into the living room and down the small hallway into the lobby, almost screaming at the sight of Laurent standing on the steps. The look on his face something she couldn't quite recognize.

"You scared me!" She said after a very vocalized gasp. Still not used to people this time of year. She smiled and frowned at him. "Something wrong?" She walked to the small closet door under the stairs and grabbed the small black nylon bag that held all of her flash lights, matches, and small lighter fluid can. She figured she would go ahead and light the fire in the library knowing that it would give off enough heat to keep the place warm.

"Power's gunna go out." She said to him, closing the door and walking back over to find he had at least made it onto the first level. She untied the bag and handed him a small convinient black flashlight. "It's small, but it'll do. I keep my big ones in the basement. I figure we won't need those." She smiled.

"How good are you at starting fires?" As soon as she said the lights kicked out and she heard everything electric shut down. She looked around, waiting for her eyes to adjust before realizing the flashlight was on in a matter of seconds. A smile pursed her lips.

"Problems, Mister Eades?" She raised and eyebrown and grabbed the medium sized flash light that at least had a bigger range and bright bulb. She turned it on and took the small one out of his hand and replaced it with the other one. "I think you'll like that better." She laughed lightly and pointed the small orb of yellow down the hall towards the library.

"Come on, help me start a fire."