Xhemin walked through the west barn, the late afternoon sun glowing with yellow warmth in a cloudless blue sky. Birds flew about, dotting the horizon with fabulous colors and songs, yet none from the crowd of laborers in the west barn took notice because most were far too occupied with their tasks to waste their time appreciating the nature. The laborers where everywhere, each was doing something either pulling a horse or carrying a bunch of hay. Xhemin thought it was rather odd for the laborers to be as busy as this. She had been in this mansion for few days and so far, this was the busiest afternoon she had seen.

"h.e.l.lo Mister, can you tell me what's going on?" She asked one of the labors stationed nearby. He was trying to carry a bucket of water when Xhemin approached him. "The laborers seemed to be in frantic or something…." She added.

"Miss, we are expecting new breed of horses to arrive today" He answered before he held his face to one direction and looked back at Xhemin with utter seriousness "We are also expecting a very important horse to arrive with it"

"Oh…" that was the snappiest reply Xhemin could manage before another question suddenly occurred to her "An important horse?"

"That's what they said. I heard people saying it belong to the Lagdameo heir that's why everyone is in chaos making sure everything is perfect" He answered as he loosened up the red bandana tied around his neck.

"The Lagdameo heir?" She asked again drawing her eyebrows closer together.

The laborer seemed to have understood the girl's reaction, so he added up "They say the lady boss and the Lagdameo heir had a good relations.h.i.+p, friends or lovers maybe, I don't know. The only thing I knew is that everyone is expecting a Lagdameo horse round here"

'A friend or a lover? What? Did she hear the words right?'

"A lover?" she mumbled to herself unconsciously.

"Didn't you know? The news is everywhere. Everybody is talking about the Lagdameo heir's woman. Everyone was rooting it was the lady boss" he added before he was reminded that he had already spent enough time talking to the little sweetheart. "I'm sorry Miss but I have to leave you now. Still got some tasks to do" he said before he left carrying the bucket of water with him.

Xhemin still wanted to ask the man further but knowing how busy he was, she dared not delay him of his errands. So, she was left there glancing around, at the people, at the barn and the gardens that seemed to thrive in one corner, but not more that five minutes of just doing nothing, she heard a commotion nearby that arouse her curiosity.

A whirr of helicopter blades pounded over the forest mansion and over Xhemin's ears, echoing off the surroundings and the whole valley. Xhemin looked and squinted up ahead but the sun's glow prevented her from giving a good sight.

Then not far from where Xhemin was, trucks and trailers rustled in and the place turned into instant chaos. The sound of beefed-up engines, loud banging, laborer's yells and flurry of dust thundered everywhere the barn. Xhemin saw the laborers tugged their bandana over their mouths as a s.h.i.+eld against the dust then race towards the trailers.

Soon, the ground shuddered as horses started to emerge one by one in Xhemin's sight. The trucks and trailers carry with them few good number of horses and the laborers started to unload them carefully. Of course, the job wasn't as easy as Xhemin expected it to be, every pull of the laborers was accompanied by banging that shook the trailers. She guessed the animals inside those trailers hated their long hours of confinement.

Xhemin watched in awe, mesmerized by the power and majesty of the incoming horses. They were of different breeds and of different colors— brown, black and white. Xhemin as if hypnotized, walked forward to be near the maddening crowd of labors and horses never minding the dust, stench and chaos that filled the place. She was used to all of that anyway in Hamps.h.i.+re.

Xhemin studied the horses physically and she could tell all of them were sick. From where they came from, she didn't have an idea, but she was certain they brought the horses here in the forest facility to be treated.

"Hurry! We don't want to spend the rest of the day with this chaos, don't we?" Xhemin heard a man few meters from her shouting unnecessarily. He stood there demandingly, instructing the laborers to be careful with something. He was round-eye with short, oily hair, going prematurely gray and he was unshaven. He was particularly tall, a full head taller than anyone in the stables and he was wearing a cream-colored riding pants, a mauve s.h.i.+rt and a high leather booth sporting jaunty bra.s.s buckle.

"That's the stable master Miss, try not to mess up or he'll definitely cut your head off" Someone beside her warned Xhemin. She looked up and saw the same man she was talking to earlier. He had to yell at her despite their short distance in order to be heard above all the sound. He was about to pick up a shovel and leave the girl again.