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When they were a little way inside the forest, Katy pulled Desert Vixen down to a quick trot. She looked around, exclaiming about the scenery. The woods were full of scampering squirrels and twittering birds, and a thick carpet of pine needles and leaves softened the dirt trail that blazed through the serene place.  Katy caught a fleeting glimpse of a deer and her fawn dashing off into the woods. All around her were noises, pleasantly calming noises. Crickets chirped and birds called to each other, rabbits chased each other through the woods, and somewhere far off Katy could hear the soft rush of water in a creek. Tall pine trees and shrubs and all sorts of foliage dominated the forest. Katy spotted a patch of sunlight up ahead and was surprised when the trail abruptly turned into stones. There was a fairly long trail with no trees surrounding it. The sun-baked dirt cracked in placed and was covered with small, sharp stones.

'This place is great!' Katy said out loud wonderingly. 'There were no trails at all in New York,' she explained to the mare, who perked her ears at Katy's voice. 'That's because my old stable was in the city, and all there was room for was paddocks. There was only a little outdoor riding arena and an indoor riding arena. The whole place was surrounded by other buildings and apartments, and we obviously couldn't ride the horses out in the busy streets.'

The woods were thick. Katy stopped the mare and sat still for a moment. The sound of another horse's hooves clattering on the rocks shattered the tranquility. Katy sighed. 'Oh, well, so much for that idea. I wonder who else is riding. It sounds like they're going pretty fast, so it'll take a little while to catch up to them. Although it's unlikely, maybe it's a girl my age!'

At this incentive, Katy urged Desert Vixen into a fast jog. She didn't want to go too fast, because the rocks were thick and many, and Katy did not want to risk having the mare pick up a stone and go lame. The pair followed the path as it wound around through the trees. The foliage above them formed an arc over their heads and shaded them into the cooling shelter of the woods. Katy felt like she could go on forever.

All too soon, however, they came upon a large meadow. Katy sighted the other rider on the far side, disappearing into the forest again. She wanted to catch up to the other girl, so she signaled to her mount for a canter. Desert Vixen leaped into a quick run at Katy's command. She flattened over the ground at a gallop as they picked up speed over the long expanse of earth. Katy laughed with sheer delight. Her hair whipped around under her helmet as she and her horse flew over the land. Before long, though, they were nearing the woods again, so Katy reluctantly pulled Desert Vixen into a canter from the all-out gallop, then down to a jog.

Then she halted her mount. She slapped her hand to her forehead in a reprimand. 'What was I thinking? After all, this is totally new territory to me. For all I knew, this meadow could have been filled with gopher holes and glass!'

Still chastising herself, Katy slid off Desert Vixen's back and checked each of the mare's legs and hooves for injury. Finding nothing, she remounted and started the mare back up at a walk.

They entered the woods again, and Katy could hear the other rider's horse not too far ahead. It had slowed to a walk, so Katy reasoned that it wouldn't take long to catch up. Desert Vixen kept jogging, and soon Katy drew abreast of the other rider, who was mounted on a dappled gray gelding.

Katy made sure her own mount was under control before she looked over. The other girl was smiling at her, waiting for her to begin a conversation.

Katy drew back slightly as she realized that the girl looked a lot like her. The other rider was slim, and she had long light brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She had on worn jodhpurs and dirty jumping boots, indicating that she rode often.

Still a bit taken aback by the resemblances'but not enough to forget her manners, Katy spoke up. 'Hi. My name is Katy.' She saw that the other girl was looking at her curiously, as Katy was sure she herself had been doing.

'I'm Nicole. Are you new here?' the girl asked, still looking quizzical.

Katy laughed, considering the fact that she had only been at the stable for a couple of hours and in the state for a day. 'Yes. Are you?'

'Yes, I'm fairly new. I've been here for about a month or so. How old are you? And what's so funny?' asked Nicole, not knowing what Katy was laughing at. She was still studying the girl who rode so easily beside her. Was it just her imagination, or was looking over somewhat akin to glancing in a mirror?

'I'm sixteen. I'm laughing at the fact that I've only been here for a day. I mean, I've lived here for a day. I've only been here at the barn for a couple of hours, and someone's already asking me how new I am.' Katy chortled. 'Sorry. Let me get a hold of myself.' Katy stopped laughing when she saw that the other girl was looking at her strangely.

'How old are you? What horse is that? I didn't see him in any of the barns,' Katy asked. Then she paused. 'Of course, I was only in two of the barns. Is he an advanced horse?'

Nicole didn't mind that the other girl was talking a lot because she herself had a tendency to go on and on. It ran in the family, and she had definitely inherited the talking genes. 'I'm sixteen, too. And this is Chromium. He's sort of new here. You probably didn't see him because he was out in a paddock. He just arrived from Portland, Maine, which is where I moved from. I actually looked at buying him one time, but he was way out of my price range. He had some training in jumping when I tried him, and I liked him so much that I got him on trial for a couple of weeks. I finally decided that I liked him so much that I was going to buy him no matter how long it took me to pay for him. But by the time the trial was over, the owners refused to sell him. They had decided to keep him. That was about two years ago, though. I can't believe he actually ended up here. I never have that kind of luck, so I guess this is pretty creepy.'

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