Home, home on the range... [Paganchick!]

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ah, the fresh smell of the open range!

For someone who looked like such a city gal, Naomi never felt more at home than when she was up on a horse and out on the frontier. Riding her horse, a black mare named Ebony (predictable name, but Naomi never claimed to be original) and glanced down at the map in her hands and then gazed out at the flat land that stretched out on the horizon.

Technically, she was on vacation right now, so of course she decided to spend said vacation taking a long, old fashioned trip back home to visit her parents. She could have driven there, sure, but it wouldn't be very practical; too many unpaved roads, too many roads that had been destroyed by the weather, too few fueling stations in between, too many places a car couldn't go but a horse could. Besides, it was an excuse to rough it and just enjoy being outside and at one with the elements or whatever.

Finished checking her map, she lowered it to put it away--and that was when she saw it. A figure in the distance.

Hmmm...

Urging her horse forward, it wasn't long before she caught up to the figure--and saw her to be a young, skinny girl.

"Hello! You there!" she called, pulling her horse up beside her. "Need some help there?"

[paganchick]

Madaline had been in the desert for a while, and it had played more than a few tricks on her, so when she first say the figure of the woman riding towards her she refused to believe it was real. She shook her head at it, thinking it must be nothing more than a mirage.

Finally when she could see her almost there she fell to her knees in both prayer and relief. She prayed it wasn't someone who was going to try to use her or kill her and felt relief at the fact that it was at least someone. She wasn't alone, that was something wasn't it?

As the woman drew nearer to Madaline she would be able to see the scars around Madaline's neck and wrist, and that fact that she was completely barefoot in the desert. It also wouldn't be very hard to tell how badly dehydrated Madaline was, with her severely chapped lips and the dazed look in her eyes.

"Please help," Madaline spoke, her voice rough, dry and strained.

[Rhi-Rhi]

In retrospect, that had been a silly question to ask.

The girl was in bad shape. Desperately bad shape. Looking at her then, Naomi felt certain that if she hadn't found her when she did, the poor thing wouldn't have lasted the rest of the day.

With a gasp, she swung down from her horse and pulled her canteen from her saddlebag, then knelt down beside the girl. "You poor thing," she said, holding the canteen out to her. "What happened to you? No, never mind. You can tell me later. Here, drink this--but slowly. Just a little, much as you want to chug it. If you chug it, dear, you're just gonna throw it back up. Little sips."

[paganchick]

Madaline looked up at the woman, still half believing that she was a hallucination, that was until the woman handed her her canteen. She could feel it in her trembling hands. It was cool to the touch, why would this woman give this to her?
"T-thank you," She spoke as she moved the canteen to her lips slowly.

Madaline couldn't remember a better sensation she had felt, the cool water running over her chapped lips into her dry mouth. The woman was correct, she did want to chug the entire thing, her body almost all be demanding it from her, she listened to the woman though.

She drank the water very slowly, small sips, looking up at the woman every once in a while to make sure she wasn't completely crazy, to make sure she was there.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"You're okay now," Naomi said, and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, a gesture she hoped she would find grounding. But after a moment she reached out and took the canteen back just to make sure the girl got a pause in there.

"Sorry. Just take a small break there, alright? Let your body process that a bit, then you can have some more. Now, why don't we get outta this sun? And if you feel up to it, why don't you tell me a little about what's going on and what happened to you."

Capping the canteen and slipping it back into her saddlebag, she held out a hand to help the girl stand. "There's a town not far from here. We'll get you there, get you rested and patched. How's that sound?"

[paganchick]

Madaline natural jerked back at the woman's touch, she wasn't used to affection, she didn't even know what affection was. She grew up in abuse and struggle, that was all she knew. Once she realized the woman wasn't going to hit her she seemed to relax a bit though, trying to enjoy this weird new contact.

Looking up at the woman, Madaline looked a bit confused at first, the woman was taking away her means of life, her means of survival. She reached up for the canteen instinctively but quickly withdrew her hand not wanting the woman to leave her because of misbehavior.

Madaline took the woman's hand and stood up, still a bit wobbly on her feet. She didn't speak, not wanting any of the precious moisture in her mouth to escape, so instead she simply nodded. She wondered what this woman would want from her in return once she had helped her back to health.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Naomi grimaced at the girl's reaction. She flinched like an abused dog--oh.

She connected the dots then. The scars, lack of shoes...

The girl was a runaway. The only question was from what? Out here in the rugged terrain, it didn't take long for a person to fall into a bad state, with the harsh sun beating down on you and draining your body of its liquids. If she hadn't gotten very far, there was a good chance she was being pursued.

Naomi glanced out toward the horizon, chewing on her lip. Well, if anyone came, she'd just have to deal with it.

"It's okay, dear. I'm not going to hurt you," she said, and guided her toward Ebony. Swinging up onto the saddle herself, Naomi offered out her hand. "Here now, I'll help you up. Can you get your foot in the stirrup? You do that, and I'll do the rest, alright?"

[paganchick]

Madaline followed the woman to her horse, a large beast that she had never seen before. She wasn't scared of anyone following her, she had left most of everyone dead. She was a deadly force and she knew it. She hadn't meant to be born the way she was, with the gifts she had, she would almost rather not be. Like this she could be used, she was a tool.

She had been locked away in a place since her birth and she knew nothing about this place she was in. Would the woman kill her if she knew that she had magic? She didn't know and the thought scared her, was everyone like the people who had held her captive for so long? She prayed not but feared the worse.

Watching the woman get into the saddle, she nodded, she should be able to put her foot in the stirrup at least. She raised her foot, placing in in the stirrup before reaching up to take the woman's hand.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Alright now, I'm gonna pull you up and you just get right on behind me. On three. One, two, three, and up you go!" Grasping the girl's hand in her own, Naomi hauled her up and into the saddle behind her. It was a good thing the girl was so light.

Ebony danced a little, shifting under the extra weight, but Naomi took her by the reins and brought her back under control. "Easy, girl. It's only for a few more miles."

Reaching into her saddlebag again, Naomi once again brought out the canteen and handed it to the girl. "You can have a little more, now. Just go slow, remember. Now, do you have a name?"

[paganchick]

Madaline nodded even though she felt nervous, she didn't know what to expect and that frightened her quite a bit. What if she fell of the beast did something? Her heart was pounding as the woman began to count.

Once on the horse Madaline tightly wrapped her arms around the woman as the horse danced, she was panicked. What if the beast through them and ran off? Then they would both be stuck and that terrified Madaline quite a bit. She was close to death as it was, it wouldn't take long for her to die if they were both trapped in the elements.

It took Madaline a few minutes to grab the canteen, too afraid of letting go of the woman and falling off. She would almost prefer walking. Finally she did grab the canteen though, opening it and taking a drink before pausing to answer the woman.
"My name is Madaline," She spoke softly, clearly timid.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ah, so she did speak!

"Nice to meetcha, Madaline. I'm Naomi," she answered, glancing back at the girl from over her shoulder. Poor thing looked terrified.

Facing straight ahead again, she nudged Ebony into a canter.

"Where do you come from, Madaline, if you don't mind my asking?"

[paganchick]

As the horse began to move her expression only grew more worried, more tense. The woman seemed to be perfectly fine with the situation, but she was not. She started to grow a bit queasy, but didn't say anything, thinking she could at least keep that under control.

Madaline shrugged at the question, she honestly didn't know, she was never told by her captors. She didn't want to discuss this with Naomi though, it felt too personal, too soon. For all she knew, if she told the woman what she had escaped from she might take her back.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Silence was her answer, and Naomi took that as her hint not to further pry. After all, she'd said, "If you don't mind my asking," so clearly she minded. That was all right, though. She could respect that. Besides, she looked like she'd been through hell and back, so it was understandable i she wasn't feeling very conversational at the moment.

"That's okay, dear. Now, just hang on. We'll be to town soon."

Naomi spent the rest of the trip in silence, but it didn't take much longer before they'd reached the town. It was a tiny frontier village, modest with several spread out homes and a ranch, and the few people out and about eyed them curiously as they rode in.

Naomi waved to them. "Hey, just passing through. Wondering if you folks have a place we could stay for a night?"

[paganchick]

If Madaline did anything, it was holding on, her arms wrapped around the woman tightly, she was scared. She closed her eyes tightly and started to count in her head, something she had done since she was little to keep her calm while she was frightened. It did help, and Madaline was thankful for that.

When Madaline heard Naomi speak again she opened her eyes, finding she was at what seemed to be a small town. She was relieved when it wasn't the place she had come from, where she was a slave, she never wanted to return there ever.

She looked over the people suspiciously though, she had to be suspicious if she wanted to live, if she wanted to survive, or at least that is what she had figured in her head.

[Rhi-Rhi]

As it turned out, the place was so small yet that they didn't even have an inn, but one man pointed out a farmhouse down the way and suggested they try there, because they'd had visitors before and they had let them stay in the barn. With a smile and a wave, Naomi thanked the man and then swung down off of Ebony so she could walk the horse instead.

"You stay up there; you're in no condition to walk," she said, not that she expected an argument there.

Soon they'd arrived at the farmhouse. There were a couple of men laboring outside, and they paused and looked up from their work as they approached.

Naomi gave them a little salute. "Don't reckon you got any spare rooms you could offer a couple gals?"

Given Madaline's obvious state of distress, they were quick to fetch their boss, an older woman who, after some discussion, agreed to let them come inside while a stable hand came over to collect her horse and waited patiently for Madaline to get off of it so he could.

"What on earth are two young women like you doing out there by yourselves?" the woman was saying. "Oh, you come on inside when you're ready! I'll get you some iced tea and clean clothes ready!"

As the woman bustled off, Naomi shook her head. She reminded her of her grandma.

Reaching a hand up to Madaline, Naomi nodded to her. "Here, dear, I'll help you down."

[paganchick]

Madaline was completely okay with letting Naomi do all the talking. She preferred staying silent, that was what had kept her alive that long.  Madaline on the other hand didn't like being up on the horse by herself, whether the woman was leading it or not, she was all but petrified, her eyes wide open in fear, her body tense.

"I-i don't like riding horses," She spoke softly as Naomi guided the horse to the farm house.

When they got to the farm house she looked at the men working, and how once they saw her they hurried off, did she really look that bad? She couldn't know, she hadn't been able to look at herself for a while considering she had been stuck out in the desert.

Then the old woman came out, one that seemed rather concerned about them, something that Madaline hadn't really ever experience, and she kind of liked it.

Madaline reached down and took Naomi's hand, Madaline hoped she didn't notice the scars on her wrist, if one looked it was easy to tell what it was from. Shackles can leave a very tale tell scar, ones that she had. She wondered if Naomi saw this if she would return her.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Naomi did notice; she would have been blind not to see it.

Hand still gripping Madaline's, Naomi stared at the girl's wrist for a moment, and then looked up at her, concern in her violet eyes. "What happened?" she asked quietly, her stomach clenching.

[paganchick]

Once Madaline was off of the horse she jerked her hand away, trying to cover the scars as best she could. Not only did she fear if anyone found out that they would return her. She also felt ashamed of it, who would want to admit that they were a slave, especially to a stranger one had just met. The woman had saved her life, and that made her feel a bit bad, but still, she didn't feel like she could tell.

"N-nothing," She spoke quickly, her eyes shooting to the ground as she spoke.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Naomi didn't believe it, and her expression--brow furrowed, lips pressed together--showed as much. She offered the girl a hand if she needed it, knowing that the girl was weak and might not to be able to make it to the barn on her own.

"Let's get inside, hm?" she said with a thin smile, letting Madaline keep her secret for now.

They would talk later.

[paganchick]

Madaline caught the expression on the woman's face, it made her feel worse. She was afraid to take the woman's hand, what if she forced her to show the woman the scar, then she would have to explain.

"O-okay," She spoke softly, following the woman slowly.