Shade Lumina, Lumina Ranch, 8:30am
The morning had gone quite well up until that point. He and his sister had risen on time and with a good energy about them and enjoyed their breakfast together before going their separate ways. She to tend to the horses, dogs, and cat, he to tend to the alpacas, sheep, cows, and goat. The cows were always the easiest to deal with. Cooperative, calm, and well-mannered, he was always glad to tackle the milking, brushing, and putting out to pasture of the animals. His routine would then call for him to tend to the sheep, the next most compliant of his livestock. Then he would tenderly care for the shy, playful alpacas that seemed to thrive off an eternal game of evasion, despite their trusting him quite well. Last, well, last was his most loathed part of his morning routine - the one he was tending to now. In the corner of the barn, stomping and pawing at the ground, was the wretched goat his sister had convinced him to buy four years ago.
"
Mrrrraaahhhh!"
"
Easy now Patches, easy girl."
"
MRAHH!"
"
Just stay calm, I just need to get those knots out of your coat and get you out to pasture. It's beautiful outside, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself this time!" It was then that the goat charged him, sending him barreling into a stall, under one of Skye's three horses for safety. The animal nickered in surprise but was infinitely more well-behaved than the blasted goat.
Sighing, Shade crawled out the other end of the stall and let out a long breath, glaring at the goat who was now gnawing on one of his hats. "
Miserable old girl.." he mumbled to himself. Shaking his head, he gave up, just like he did every other day, and let the goat have its way while he went to retrieve the mate of Skye's prized herding dog, Kyumi. The male was named Avalon and was a talented hound in his own right. Every morning, when Skye was out walking Kyumi, Avalon did Shade the favor of forcing Patches out into the pasture where the fresh air and long grass would encourage a long, healthy, and miserably grumpy life for the animal. Sighing, he sat back and watched the dog work, doing what he was eternally incapable of.
As the goat angrily stormed outside, chased closely by Avalon, Shade made his way out into the bright morning air, taking in a deep breath and smelling the oncoming Autumn all about the meadow. "
Hmm." He said quietly to himself. He'd felt the changes in the land over the last two years, there was no doubt about that. But Autumn was hitting harder, faster this year, than any other year that he'd been in the valley. All throughout Moonrise there was talk of a change happening to the Tree of Seasons. The Winter portion seemed to be growing, pushing back through the Autumn, Summer, and Spring regions of the ancient boughs. What this meant for the small forest village was certainly unclear. For the time being, Shade would simply do his duty to his herds and whatever he could for the rest of the villagers.
As he noticed the sun's location, rising up beyond the horizon now, he closed the barn doors and made his way back to the house. He collected his shopping bag and basket from the patio and made his way off the homestead, embarking on the short but pleasant walk towards the grocers to buy eggs.
It was odd, really. There were two ranches besides the Lumina ranch. One had been turned into the mayor's home and the property was pretty much going to waste, for she certainly didn't work the land. Mayor Prudence had a respiratory illness that prevented her from getting into the nitty gritty of farming, so it wasn't that Shade didn't understand, rather he, as a rancher, felt a shame for the wasted, rich land. The other ranch was abandoned and completely overrun by weeds. Another darn shame. That land had once belonged to a poultry farmer, but since the owner's retirement to the city, nobody in town supplied eggs! Shade would have bought some chickens to have at the ranch, except that Skye was terribly afraid of the feathered critters.
And so, Shade, and the rest of the town, were stuck buying eggs that had been shipped in from the city. At least it made for a reason to get off the ranch and socialize a bit along the way.
