Snow was always a delight to the horses. Rolling in it, racing in it, or just socializing while the flakes drifted around them were favorite pastimes. Watching the humans enjoying the snow was also fun. Why the frustration about eagles was a bit mysterious, though.
Certain individuals did not approve of the snow, however. Since Autumn Leaves had died in it, perhaps that only made sense.
Mare number ten was purchased. To mark the milestone in her project, Katie decided to get a special mare, and to surprise Bill, she selected a Fjord. Unlike Wolfe, this one was the standard brown dun, although darker in shade than many. Her name was Henrietta. Bill was delighted.
Meanwhile Electrum continued to court Honeysuckle, who was gradually becoming less ornery toward him, at least.
Kevin rode Badger downtown to check out the new pet store. An animal lover to the core, he delighted in the animals displayed and closely inspected the various cage features.
A new Sgnoman turned up overnight, and the whole family spent Snow Day at the festival.
Bill was still stalking the wild paint mare. She was gradually becoming less shy, especially when the liver mare was not around. He had named her Annie.
By the time Bill was able to whisper Annie's name in her ear, Tarnish had grown into a surprisingly slim mare. Clearly she hadn't inherited much of her dam's draft build.
Spring arrived with a wave of showers that wiped the snow from the landscape like spilled milk. And with the spring, Gilt Orchid - stripeless, but with spotted stockings.
Bill continued to keep up his acquaintance with Annie, sometimes in company with the black unicorn stallion. Apples from Katie's garden were always kept handy.
One misty, moisty morning, Kevin looked through his telescope and spotted his father and Tarnish leading a parade up the nearby hill.
That evening, Bill came home proudly leading a wild paint mare. Annie was now part of the Sparrow herd. Tarnish, fully trained, was sold for $9300.
Honeysuckle was a devoted mother, and her temperament around the humans was improving steadily with good training. A few evenings after Annie arrived, Gilt Orchid grew up.
Still has his spotty stockings! Bill gave a photo shoot for an article on behavior modification in horses, then took Honeysuckle off to be sold. As a much more mannerly broodmare, she brought $6000.
Strange invaders appeared in the kitchen one night.
Annie now needed training, and Bill took her back to her old haunts, where an new, splashed white brindle had joined the band. Then he rode her to his old haunts, where he had lived with Wolfe.
Kevin grew up, and Katie discovered an unexpected inhabitant in an old lamp. While his parents bargained for longer life, Kevin exercised Henrietta.
Electrum set his sights on foal number ten, and Henrietta seemed a willing conspirator. Katie and Bill were eying the town's current equine population and working on plans for after the tenth foal was born. Shouldn't be long now!
Thanks. I was all set to adopt the original wild pinto mare, but then both of the mares turned out to be elders and died within a day of each other. Fortunately I liked the new pinto, because I really don't like the liver chestnut that replaced the black mare. I had the relationship set, and was just waiting for an open slot so I could adopt the first one . . . when she died. The original story was going to be that she and her foal were released back into the wild, but Annie arrived too late for that plot line. What I thought was really funny, though, was that Annie was replaced by a mustang mare that I designed for this challenge (although with the wrong mane/tail) but wasn't planning to use until later!
Gilt Orchid reached the end of his training, and was taken down to the EC to sell. Perhaps because of his zebra blood, or maybe just because he hadn't all the bad stories about him that his dam had, he sold for nearly twice as much as Honeysuckle - $9900.
Bill, rather unexpectedly had a birthday and became an elder. He was determined not to get out of shape though, and kept up his strength exercises. (This was really quite strange, as Katie was supposed to be several days older than he was, but still had a week until she became an elder. I think there's some sort of aging glitch in this game. And she later asked for 'long life' from the genie, which further skewed things.)
Meanwhile, it had become quite clear that the zebra project was working. Many of the local horses were now related to Electrum through his older sons and daughters, and the ones born to Sundance and later foals often carried their heritage boldly. The infection rate of trypanosomiasis had fallen drastically - few of the part-zebras fell ill, and those that did usually recovered, unlike the high mortality seen in pure horses. Stripes were clearly in this season, but even the stripeless zorses were protected.
And late one evening, Henrietta added one more set of stripes to the population: Edsel.
With so many zorses around town - and the EC having actually purchased an unrelated zebra stallion to stand at stud - Bill and Katie had decided that once Henrietta foaled, they would move to a new town where trypanosomes were still a problem. Although the Appaloosa Plains horse breeders had been won over by Electrum's resistances and his talents, other places still doubted that the zebra infusion could be beneficial - or that it would solve more problems than it helped. ('Zebras are wild and unpredictable! We don't want foals that might grow up to be intractable, or even dangerous!') They had selected the town of Riverview, as the tsetse flies thrived in the humidity from the river, and the town had a large population of working draft horses, which had been hard hit by the disease. They'd take Annie with them, to be the dam of the first of the next ten foals, and had already arranged for a Belgian mare from a less skeptical farmer. Or perhaps he was simply more desperate - he'd had seven horses before the fly invasion and now had only the mare and a single gelding. So after sending the furniture on ahead, and putting the barn in order for the new owners, Bill, Katie, and Kevin saddled up and rode out, with Edsel galloping along after.
Bill, Katie, and Kevin reined the horses up in front of a white-shingled, two-story farmhouse. "Hey! No more sleeping in a barn!" cheered Kevin. Or sharing a 'room' with my parents, he added privately. Behind the house were a stable for the horses, a chicken coop, and a cow byre. The stable was empty, the other two were not.
Animal-loving Kevin went straight on back to talk to the cows and chickens, while Katie and Bill organized the furniture installation. Katie also ensured that the horses were settled into their new territory. Then she checked out the chickens herself.
Somehow along the way they had become celebrities, and paparazzi turned up at their door as soon as they moved in. One woman apparently found the story of poor Wolfe heartbreaking, while another guy spontaneously burst into flame while getting ready to dive into the new pool. (Bill had decided they lacked a swimming pool and had also built a small shed to shield it partly from the road. He hadn't expected Katie and Kevin to immediately take the shed over for their new hobbies!)
The fences did need some maintenance. Edsel was found, alarmingly, sleeping in the road one evening.
Bill went exploring the local fishing sites and met a wonder in the woods, early one morning. Unlike the black unicorn in Appaloosa Plains, this one was both white and a mare.
Katie set about planting a new garden, in a somewhat less haphazard fashion.
Kevin had decided to learn to sculpt, and really got into his work. He was a bit annoyed that he couldn't even do that in private, and had to start locking the door even when he was in the shed. Katie had taken up inventing at the same time.
Even the spirit of Autumn Leaves had come along from the old home!
And ex-Wild Horse Annie celebrated the final settling-in with the first Riverview foal! Eliza Pied, filly.
Edsel seemed quite happy to have a little sister. Like all big brothers he told her stories and showed off.
Kevin was out looking for a new dog. He tried the neighbor-adoption route, but their 'big, tough terrier' may have been tough, but was not at all big. . .
So Bill adopted one from the shelter that was guaranteed to grow into some big paws.
Somehow, while the dog had been Kevin's idea, it became Bill's best friend.
And while everyone was admiring Smokey, Edsel quietly grew up. The local newspaper sent out a reporter to photograph the first produce of the newly arrived horse breeders. Katie demonstrated how to start a young horse under saddle.
Henrietta was sold, and Blondie, one of the local draft mares, was brought in. She was another boarder, and arrangements had already been made to breed her offspring and their descendants back to Belgians with an eye to introducing the trypanosome-resistant genes into the breed. But first, a descendant was needed. Bill brushed the gentle giantess out and introduced her to the herd.
Then he went to the cemetery. Apparently the sudden onset of old age had made him start thinking about death.
Katie spent several days working with Edsel, who really had become a gorgeous stallion. She'd thought he had cream stripes as a foal, but as an adult, it became clear he'd inherited the same gold-tinted stripes Electrum had passed to all his stripey offspring. There was already a bit of a bidding war going on, after the newspaper article, even though it had clearly stated that the blood tests for the antibodies weren't back yet. She was going to be particularly sorry to see this one go.
Training with Edsel was going almost too well; he learned everything so readily that Katie was afraid she'd have to sell him before she was ready to let him go. But two stallions were more than the farm needed. Meanwhile, her own local fame was increasing, and she'd been asked to try out a new restaurant. So she took a break from training and rode the young stallion on a roundabout route to 'downtown' (or at least what Riverview called downtown).
The meal was actually very good, so she set about her assigned task of recommending it to at least three new potential patrons. Although evening had set in, there were plenty of people around. As a bit of a joke, the first person she talked up about the restaurant was one of the Paparazzi who tended to plague her household. She'd not be well able to afford a meal, but neither could she dismiss the recommendation. Perhaps she'd add it to her expense account. The next person she talked to turned out to be a vampire - oops!
She made it home safely, and the next morning, in spite of the rain, Kevin picked out the new mare's hooves and rode Blondie to the autumn festival. Soon after, Katie followed on Edsel. Bill preferred to stay home and train Smokey.
They arrived home to find that Eliza Pied had grown up. Her mother congratulated her, at least.
Katie went to do a bit of inventing but things got a little too hot for her.
Bill got dressed up and went to the fish hatchery to try to woo the local unicorn. Such a magical mare, she was!
He came home to find the sink broken and had an uninvited audience while he repaired it. Welcome back to reality!
Edsel was now fully trained, and regretfully Katie took him down to sell. He brought a record $12,000! The next mare arrived with an unexpected bonus. They'd contracted for a splashed-white paint mare, who was well known on the eventing circuit. But her breeders dropped her off with her untrained sister. "She was born all-white with blue eyes, and we thought at first she was lethal white, even though the parents tested clear. But then she didn't die, and her nose and legs got dark hair on them. We couldn't sell her as a paint, but you can have her to breed as a grade mare." The didn't want her back; didn't want her associated with their farm at all. Bill and Katie weren't thrilled with the reaction, but at least the breeders hadn't killed the unusual filly out of hand. The Sparrows named her Siamouse, because of her pointed coloring and meek temper, and turned her and her sister Splash out into the field. Electrum was pleased to see both mares, regardless of color.
The next morning started early with the new mares getting acquainted with Electrum and the pasture.
A bit later, Bill saddled up Eliza Pied to start her training. Since his tuxedo was obviously not suitable training attire, he put on his bathing suit.
The next day, despite the rain, Katie took the young mare downtown to the hospital. As a 'local celebrity', she'd been nominated to present a ridiculously large check to the hospital Children's Fund. She wasn't certain she'd earned the fame, but apparently there were enough news stories about her 'successful experiment against sleeping sickness' that people considered her a celebrity. And helping sick children was a worthy cause.
While she was out, tiny Smokey woke up and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d into a very not-tiny dog.
When not working with the horses Kevin was working hard on his sculpting, so much so that he forgot it was his birthday. Welcome to adulthood!
Newly adult Kevin and Smokey celebrated early in the morning with a rousing game of tug. Little did they know it was going to be a disastrous day.
After the sun rose, Katie went out to visit another celebrity. She might not have wanted to be famous, but if it could be used to help the fight against trypanosomiasis, she'd make use of it. The gnomes gathered for a conference . . .
. . . and Bill woke up dead. He was very surprised, to say the least, but he shortly had a visitor that enforced the reality of his new state.
Kevin and Smokey ran up the stairs, but it was too late. Bill and the Grim Reaper vanished, and only an urn was left.
Katie, who had discovered that her new acquaintance was a vampire, was unaware of Bill's death as yet. Suddenly she aged to an elder - not a welcome event while in the house of a predator. The urgent call from Kevin gave her a perfect excuse to leave.
Meanwhile sorrow spread around the farm. The cows didn't care, but as rain started to pour down, the gnomes gathered for a memorial service, and the horses grieved.
Blondie offered a counter to the sorrow: Jaune d'Or.
Smokey was particularly heartbroken, as Bill had been his best friend. Kevin consoled him as well as he could, and sent him out to hunt, which usually cheered the dog up. Jaune d'Or was a curious onlooker, at least until the last command. Apparently hunting wasn't to her taste.
Katie was a bit dismayed at how much Bill had been Smokey's caretaker; she and Kevin really hardly knew the dog at all. So while they couldn't bring his beloved master back, they set about trying to build their own bonds with the dog.
It was a bit of a slow time at the stable anyway, since the only horse needing training was the new filly. Caring for the adults and putting manners on her was relatively light work. She had a cheerful disposition anyway, the legacy of her 'gentle giant' ancestors.
Katie returned to her inventing. One of her inventions ended most peculiarly. The gnome loitered around the workbench for a few days, then joined the pack traveling around the ranch.
Among Bill's belongings they found the forgotten magic lamp. Katie and Kevin decided to set the genie free, but apparently that was a wish that could only be made by a friend. So they set about befriending Everett.
The gnomes seemed to enjoy the snow. Katie had an additional task, the semi-annual thinning out of Zenyattas, which multiplied faster than her horse herd. The equine gnomes sold well, save for a few originals which were considered part of the family.
Katie also decided that she didn't want to die as abruptly as Bill had - there were still too many zebrorse foals to raise! An unusual benefit of a long, happy life was a small vial. She and Electrum had both earned one, so she went out one gray morning and quickly drank hers down. Magical sparkles swarmed around her.
Although this outfit wouldn't do at all. Quickly she tipped the other vial into Electrum's mouth.
Although the change was much less visible on his pale coat, his eyes cleared and the white hairs that had invaded his facial stripes cleared away. Electrum immediately trotted off to show the mares. Katie went inside to change into something more sensible. She passed Everett on the way. He seemed much impressed by the 'new' Katie.
Katie was rather impressed by him as well. She gave herself a mental shake as she put on her cold-weather gear. She was, after all, a recent widow! But, she did have to befriend him to set him free. She led him on outside, where they added a few snowmen to the collection and had a spur-of-the-moment snowball fight.
[
But somehow she found herself asking if he were single (A reasonable question, she insisted, since she didn't know how genies lived inside those lamps. He might have a whole family in there somewhere. Would they need to be freed as well?) He assured her he was single. Only freed genies were able to have families, it seemed. Each lamp was a solo prison. And then they sat down to admire the stars, which Everett did not get to see in the lamp.
Oops, just realized I'd never finished with Edsel! Added a sales note to the appropriate post above and uploaded him to the exchange. Eliza Pied, however cannot be put up, because I forgot to export her before she was sold.
Katie decided that she'd return Annie - and her striped daughter - to the wild herd back in Appaloosa Plains. "Pity she wasn't a colt; she could have become herd stallion and passed on her protective genes to all the foals in the herd. But at least she can pass them on to some." When she returned, she proposed to Everett that she set him free from his lamp forever. He explained that the lamp must first be chilled, then heated - easily done - then must be taken deep underground in the realm of Death, to kill the curse. So after freezing the lamp for a day, then baking it for a second, she bid him farewell as she set out for the cemetery.
Deep under the mausoleum, she face starvation and terrible perils. Upon her rather singed escape, she paused for a plum, scarcely noticing that she was really wearing nothing but soot.
Everett appeared almost immediately to announce that he was now free!
Whether by chance or Grim direction, Bill was waiting at home for them. Kevin was shocked; Smokey was pleased. The ghost himself seemed unhappy about something.
Outside, Jaune d'Or grew into a lovely young mare, even if she did, as one reporter had put it, 'look like an orange quagga'.
A few days later, Everett and the Sparrows celebrated his release by throwing a Christmas party.
Bill fortunately did not turn up for that, but the following evening Kevin found his late dad in the kitchen. And then the ghost stormed up the stairs in a rage, to accuse his wife of cheating on him!
Everett tactfully disappeared, while Katie faced the difficult task of breaking up with her husband's ghost. Feeling rather miserable, she wandered out to a nearby park, and met another reminder of Bill. This one was too magical to resent, however. Katie silently vowed to add Misty to the herd before leaving Riverview, and began to court the pale mare for that purpose.
Kevin had taken over a lot of training tasks even before his father died, but now he had full responsibility. Working with the part-Belgian filly was interesting, since she seemed to have inherited little of her dam's bulk or steady temper. Then again, perhaps he shouldn't try to train a green horse with a loud ringtone on his phone!
Fortunately, Jaune d'Or was fairly easy to calm once she had startled. Kevin had apparently inherited the family tendency to train horses in his pajamas. Meanwhile, Katie was finding herself more and more interested in Everett, now that he was free. He had a lot to learn about the world, but he enjoyed learning new songs. And kissing . . .
The horses were still doing their part. Splash foaled in the bright morning, for a change, delivering an attractively striped filly that Katie named Electra. Her black mane and brown back provided striking contrast to her golden stripes.
Kevin was keeping up with Jaune's training, both roadwork and racing. She had an innate skill at jumping that she certainly hadn't inherited from her painstakingly trained sire or her bulky dam. And yet, while pleased with her progress, Kevin found himself getting rather bored.
Changes were aloft, however. A brilliant light appeared in the sky one morning, and a strange object fell out of it, sending the mares fleeing to the back of the pasture.
Kevin took the now-trained Jaune d'Or to Blondie's owner and recieved $8685 as compensation for her care and training. The next task was gentling Splash's little filly so she'd be ready for saddle training when she was old enough. Not to be outdone by her sister, Siamouse presented a young tiger-horse to the family. He was easily named: Tigger. He didn't inherit his mother's dark face, but combined diagonal dark legs with Daddy's stripes.
Katie kept up her association with Misty. There was a list of mares still to be delivered to the farm and crossed to Electrum, but she hoped to bring the unicorn home eventually. Whether unicorns were vulnerable to typanosomes was unknown, but a striped unicorn would certainly be interesting!
Tigger and Electra had a grand time playing together. Colt and filly seemed inseparable, but too soon Electra had to grow up. She was a striking young mare. (I'm not sure why so many foals grow up with the fjord mane. As soon as they go into 'Edit Saddle' mode it clicks to the correct one.)
The strange gnomes Bill had found beneath the cemetery crypt were very strange. Unlike the others, they had both aged and now carried canes. They were quite spry, however.
Katie and Everett hadn't had a chance to actually get married yet, but they were very close. So close, that Katie came home one day with a new daughter. Somehow the paparazzi hadn't picked up on that tidbit yet!
Everett couldn't quite believe it. His new life was so far from his isolated existence in the lamp. And now he had a daughter of his own! And so life continued on the farm
Electra was now supposedly Kevin's responsibility, but he seemed to prefer to let her get used to the saddle on her own time. Tigger found her new gear most curious, though he wondered if it was heavy like rocks.
Kevin was more interested in the strange device that had fallen from the sky. He discovered that it took him to a new, spacious, but horseless world. The fishing was wonderful, though. The paparazzi were robotic.
After meeting his distant descendants - strange feeling, that!- he paused for a bit of reflection and chess. Then he returned to what appeared to be a communal house for time travelers and tried out the "future bed".
No horses, dogs or cats, but there were virtual pets, at least. They ate strange little things that could allegedly be found in the Wasteland, which he was told was just the other side of the city wall. Kevin determined to explore this Wasteland, but first he did a bit of shopping. Although no one seemed to mind him picking up things like a jet pack and a hover board from the communal house, it seemed rather like stealing. Strangely, his money was not only acceptable in this future world, it was in great demand.
However, the next morning a nasty storm had begun, so Kevin decided to return to his own time for a bit, and explore the Wasteland at another time. It was decidedly cheering to see Siamouse running to greet him. Perhaps home wasn't so bad after all.
Electra was still waiting for Kevin to train her, but her dam Splash had been taken to the EC while he was away - ahead? - and sold for a respectable $8,000. Keeping with tradition, Katie went looking for a new Fjord mare to be number 15, and lucked onto a lovely red dun fittingly named Rose. Everett approved of the tradition, and suggested that since she'd acquired three different colors of Fjord, they try to get future 'fifth mares' to cover all the available colors. Katie agreed, although she warned him that the three they had gotten so far were the easy ones: the vast majority of Fjords were the yellow dun of Henrietta, and most of the rest were either Wolfe's blue dun or Rose's red. If they were going to land a 'white' (actually buckskin) dun or a yellow dun, they'd better start looking very early. The other potential color was the cream dun 'kvit', but since they were frowned upon, it wasn't likely a kvit mare of suitable quality could be found. Breeders who knew their business didn't produce them. Anyway, shortly after Kevin came back from the future, Rose arrived at the farm.
She immediately made herself at home, discovering that the garden fence couldn't be gotten past to steal veggies, and eating the newspaper instead.
The other thing that had happened while Kevin was away was that a mysterious 'aunt' of Everett's (to his knowledge he HAD no relatives) had sent Wren a strange doll. A very strange doll, which appeared to be itself related to the gnomes. Like them, it turned up in very strange places and often in odd poses.
Tigger grew up into a rather striking stallion, with a long pale mane and dark tail. Since Kevin was still laggard about training Electra, Katie decided to train the young stallion herself.
It seemed more appropriate to approach Misty on horseback rather than by car. And Katie was scrupulously maintaining her friendship with the pale unicorn.
Kevin hustled through training Electra, who was fortunately both smart and friendly, and sold her at the EC for $11,580, second only to Sundance's price. Then he traveled ahead to the future again and visited the Wasteland. He did indeed find some of the strange viroid creatures that the virtual pets ate. He also discovered a number of fragments that fit together to form a key, which unlocked a crashed ship. Inside he found a bright-colored toy llama made of a strange material that wasn't plastic, nor metal, nor ceramic.
While he was gone, Katie and Everett rode Siamouse and the now-trained Tigger to the EC together, and sold the pair for about $8,500 apiece. They also made arrangements for a new mare, a chestnut grade named Lipsey, who was dropped off at the farm that afternoon.
A swarm of paparazzi came with her, and while interviewing Katie and Everett the reporters revealed that a new wave of trypanosomiasis was infecting horses in nearby counties. This wave didn't seem to be quite as lethal, but left its equine victims so weak that many had to be euthanized anyway, due to persistent inability to stand. The zorses were probably going to experience a surge in demand.
In the evening, after the reporters finally left, Katie proposed to Everett. He accepted with delight. Life in the real world was so immeasurably better than that in the lamp, even with mysterious, unknown aunts.
At this point, there were only three horses on the farm: Electrum, Rose, and Lipsey.
Fourteen foals had been born and trained; eight of them had stripes and all had inherited resistance to trypanosomes. Kevin was distracted by his new travels to the future, which turned out to be not always so wondrous. Toilets still clogged, for instance.
Back at home, Katie had reached a new level of invention, and created a splendid drilling machine - which unfortunately made so much noise the neighbors hated it. Not in the least deterred, she set out tunneling early in the morning, even before getting dressed.
Somewhere below her house, she encountered a catacomb of tunnels, and could not resist the lure of the golden lights. Off she went on her own adventure.
Everett busied himself with teaching his daughter new skills and tending to the horses.
When Kevin returned this time, he seemed happier about being home than before. He readily helped out with the mares. Then he asked if he could have a floor of the house for himself. Since funds were now plentiful, Katie and Everett had the roof raised, and allowed Kevin free rein on decor. He fitted his new 'apartment' out in future style, with furniture he'd purchased and brought back with him. But still he felt he was missing something.
The summer sun was blazing down, and Kevin decided to head to the festival grounds. A blonde head on the balcony above caught his attention, and he raced up the stairs to introduce himself. She told him her name was Jocelyn and recognized him immediately. Not only was she aware of the family's general fame, she was a horsewoman herself, although just recently arrived in town. After a bit of chatting, she asked after his parents and Wren. Then she challenged him to a hotdog eating contest.
Kevin managed to win the contest and on the spur of the moment kissed his new acquaintance. To his surprise, she kissed him right back!
At home, a tragedy had occurred! Katie had been hard at her inventing work when something went wrong and - fwsh! - Katie was a pile of ash on the floor. A shadowy figure appeared and escorted her ghost out through the wall.
However, Smokey was by no means going to allow this stranger to take his mistress away!
After some intense argument on the dog's part, he Grim Reaper conceded the point and summoned Katie's shade back.
Smokey got a lot of extra love and dinner that evening.
The celebration continued the next morning when Rose presented Fleur de Lis to the family.
Kevin was now dividing his time between his family and his girlfriend.
One of the downsides of being famous and from a famous family was the swarm of paparazzi that tended to follow one everywhere. There was also the risk of damaging reputations by doing something that could be misinterpreted. Therefore, as soon as Kevin was sure Jocelyn was the woman for him, he proposed, heading off rumors of indiscretion. After the proposal pictures were splashed across the local tabloids, they arranged for a very private wedding - just the two of them - to be sure no intruders could spoil or publish the event. (Who exactly invited the paparazzi in to sit on the couch while Kevin proposed?)
Following the wedding, they retired to Kevin's 3rd floor apartment to try out the privacy screen on his bed from the future.
The next morning, he whisked Jocelyn away to a honeymoon in the future. Karaoke, exploring the wasteland together, and investigating the strange 'nanites' they found out there provided excellent bonding time. They also uncovered enough more robotic llamas to assemble them into a new gnome.
By the time they returned, they had decided to move to a new house, as Jocelyn's was really too small for more than one person, and the Sparrow farm was just too crowded.
Kevin was pleased to see that Fleur de Lis had become a stallion, and Jocelyn absolutely adored Rose.
Leaving the gnome as a parting gift, Kevin bid farewell to his parents and Wren, and he and Jocelyn moved out, taking Rose and Fleur with them.
Electrum was being very attentive of Lipsey and did not seem to miss Rose. Katie and Everett were working on getting a Clydesdale mare; the breed society had approved a zebra cross to bring in the trypanosome resistant genes, but had not yet approved a specific mare. The foal would be bred back to carefully selected Clydesdales, and the three-quarter Clydesdale fillies that inherited the resistances would be bred further back into the breed, until the society accepted the final female progeny as pure Clydesdale. Stripes, if passed on, would need to be bred out; only the resistance was wanted.
But first there was time to attend the fall fair. Everett got a bit of a shock in the haunted house!
Shortly after they were alerted to expect delivery of a Clydes mare named Agnes, Lipsey bore a filly that Everett named Eloquence. Unlike Fleur, she was brilliantly striped. In fact, she bore a close resemblance to Edsel.
Everett decided to teach Smokey a few tricks. Since Smokey already knew 'sit' and 'shake', he started with 'speak', then progressed to 'play dead'. It was quite dramatic, how the genie collapsed and curled up, and it certainly kept Smokey intrigued!
Eloquence seemed to grow up extremely fast, becoming a lovely young mare who bore striking resemblance to her sire, save only the brown between her gold stripes. (The two were very close at times.)
:P
Katie received an invitation to a costume party from Kevin and Jocelyn. Everett couldn't go, but she took Wren. The young couple was renting a nice enough, but rather barren, house. Kevin intended to build a futuristic dwelling, as soon as he got the plans approved. For some reason the City Planner's office wasn't certain that some techniques he'd never heard of would actually work to build a safe house.
When she got home, she sent Smokey out hunting. He'd developed a remarkable knack for finding gems and rare metals.
With Eloquence in training, Lipsey was returned to her owner. A third draft mare was brought in, this one from the beautiful but rare American Cream Draft breed. She and Agnes got along as amiably as one could wish, and Electrum was quite willing to associate with both. Mary Cream was one of those horses whose presence suggested she was much larger than she actually was. She also possessed an unusual black blaze, particularly strange in a breed that had no black pigment.
A few days later, Agnes delivered Engus - possibly the best combination of sire and dam. A colt with no stripes to be bred out, who was proven to carry the desired resistances in his blood. The only external evidence of Electrum was the pale-tipped chestnut mane, and possibly the high rear stocking - although those were common in Clydesdales as well.
Mary dozed in the snow nearby, dreaming perhaps of her own zorse foal.
Comments
Certain individuals did not approve of the snow, however. Since Autumn Leaves had died in it, perhaps that only made sense.
Mare number ten was purchased. To mark the milestone in her project, Katie decided to get a special mare, and to surprise Bill, she selected a Fjord. Unlike Wolfe, this one was the standard brown dun, although darker in shade than many. Her name was Henrietta. Bill was delighted.
Meanwhile Electrum continued to court Honeysuckle, who was gradually becoming less ornery toward him, at least.
Kevin rode Badger downtown to check out the new pet store. An animal lover to the core, he delighted in the animals displayed and closely inspected the various cage features.
A new Sgnoman turned up overnight, and the whole family spent Snow Day at the festival.
Bill was still stalking the wild paint mare. She was gradually becoming less shy, especially when the liver mare was not around. He had named her Annie.
By the time Bill was able to whisper Annie's name in her ear, Tarnish had grown into a surprisingly slim mare. Clearly she hadn't inherited much of her dam's draft build.
Spring arrived with a wave of showers that wiped the snow from the landscape like spilled milk. And with the spring, Gilt Orchid - stripeless, but with spotted stockings.
Imaginary Friends Legacy: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/563003/baptiste-imaginary-friend-legacy-updated-6-18-new-baby/p1
One misty, moisty morning, Kevin looked through his telescope and spotted his father and Tarnish leading a parade up the nearby hill.
That evening, Bill came home proudly leading a wild paint mare. Annie was now part of the Sparrow herd. Tarnish, fully trained, was sold for $9300.
Honeysuckle was a devoted mother, and her temperament around the humans was improving steadily with good training. A few evenings after Annie arrived, Gilt Orchid grew up.
Still has his spotty stockings! Bill gave a photo shoot for an article on behavior modification in horses, then took Honeysuckle off to be sold. As a much more mannerly broodmare, she brought $6000.
Strange invaders appeared in the kitchen one night.
Annie now needed training, and Bill took her back to her old haunts, where an new, splashed white brindle had joined the band. Then he rode her to his old haunts, where he had lived with Wolfe.
Kevin grew up, and Katie discovered an unexpected inhabitant in an old lamp. While his parents bargained for longer life, Kevin exercised Henrietta.
Electrum set his sights on foal number ten, and Henrietta seemed a willing conspirator. Katie and Bill were eying the town's current equine population and working on plans for after the tenth foal was born. Shouldn't be long now!
Imaginary Friends Legacy: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/563003/baptiste-imaginary-friend-legacy-updated-6-18-new-baby/p1
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Gilt Orchid reached the end of his training, and was taken down to the EC to sell. Perhaps because of his zebra blood, or maybe just because he hadn't all the bad stories about him that his dam had, he sold for nearly twice as much as Honeysuckle - $9900.
Bill, rather unexpectedly had a birthday and became an elder. He was determined not to get out of shape though, and kept up his strength exercises. (This was really quite strange, as Katie was supposed to be several days older than he was, but still had a week until she became an elder. I think there's some sort of aging glitch in this game. And she later asked for 'long life' from the genie, which further skewed things.)
Meanwhile, it had become quite clear that the zebra project was working. Many of the local horses were now related to Electrum through his older sons and daughters, and the ones born to Sundance and later foals often carried their heritage boldly. The infection rate of trypanosomiasis had fallen drastically - few of the part-zebras fell ill, and those that did usually recovered, unlike the high mortality seen in pure horses. Stripes were clearly in this season, but even the stripeless zorses were protected.
And late one evening, Henrietta added one more set of stripes to the population: Edsel.
With so many zorses around town - and the EC having actually purchased an unrelated zebra stallion to stand at stud - Bill and Katie had decided that once Henrietta foaled, they would move to a new town where trypanosomes were still a problem. Although the Appaloosa Plains horse breeders had been won over by Electrum's resistances and his talents, other places still doubted that the zebra infusion could be beneficial - or that it would solve more problems than it helped. ('Zebras are wild and unpredictable! We don't want foals that might grow up to be intractable, or even dangerous!') They had selected the town of Riverview, as the tsetse flies thrived in the humidity from the river, and the town had a large population of working draft horses, which had been hard hit by the disease. They'd take Annie with them, to be the dam of the first of the next ten foals, and had already arranged for a Belgian mare from a less skeptical farmer. Or perhaps he was simply more desperate - he'd had seven horses before the fly invasion and now had only the mare and a single gelding. So after sending the furniture on ahead, and putting the barn in order for the new owners, Bill, Katie, and Kevin saddled up and rode out, with Edsel galloping along after.
Animal-loving Kevin went straight on back to talk to the cows and chickens, while Katie and Bill organized the furniture installation. Katie also ensured that the horses were settled into their new territory. Then she checked out the chickens herself.
Somehow along the way they had become celebrities, and paparazzi turned up at their door as soon as they moved in. One woman apparently found the story of poor Wolfe heartbreaking, while another guy spontaneously burst into flame while getting ready to dive into the new pool. (Bill had decided they lacked a swimming pool and had also built a small shed to shield it partly from the road. He hadn't expected Katie and Kevin to immediately take the shed over for their new hobbies!)
The fences did need some maintenance. Edsel was found, alarmingly, sleeping in the road one evening.
Bill went exploring the local fishing sites and met a wonder in the woods, early one morning. Unlike the black unicorn in Appaloosa Plains, this one was both white and a mare.
Katie set about planting a new garden, in a somewhat less haphazard fashion.
Kevin had decided to learn to sculpt, and really got into his work. He was a bit annoyed that he couldn't even do that in private, and had to start locking the door even when he was in the shed. Katie had taken up inventing at the same time.
Even the spirit of Autumn Leaves had come along from the old home!
And ex-Wild Horse Annie celebrated the final settling-in with the first Riverview foal! Eliza Pied, filly.
Imaginary Friends Legacy: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/563003/baptiste-imaginary-friend-legacy-updated-6-18-new-baby/p1
Kevin was out looking for a new dog. He tried the neighbor-adoption route, but their 'big, tough terrier' may have been tough, but was not at all big. . .
So Bill adopted one from the shelter that was guaranteed to grow into some big paws.
Somehow, while the dog had been Kevin's idea, it became Bill's best friend.
And while everyone was admiring Smokey, Edsel quietly grew up. The local newspaper sent out a reporter to photograph the first produce of the newly arrived horse breeders. Katie demonstrated how to start a young horse under saddle.
Henrietta was sold, and Blondie, one of the local draft mares, was brought in. She was another boarder, and arrangements had already been made to breed her offspring and their descendants back to Belgians with an eye to introducing the trypanosome-resistant genes into the breed. But first, a descendant was needed. Bill brushed the gentle giantess out and introduced her to the herd.
Then he went to the cemetery. Apparently the sudden onset of old age had made him start thinking about death.
Katie spent several days working with Edsel, who really had become a gorgeous stallion. She'd thought he had cream stripes as a foal, but as an adult, it became clear he'd inherited the same gold-tinted stripes Electrum had passed to all his stripey offspring. There was already a bit of a bidding war going on, after the newspaper article, even though it had clearly stated that the blood tests for the antibodies weren't back yet. She was going to be particularly sorry to see this one go.
The meal was actually very good, so she set about her assigned task of recommending it to at least three new potential patrons. Although evening had set in, there were plenty of people around. As a bit of a joke, the first person she talked up about the restaurant was one of the Paparazzi who tended to plague her household. She'd not be well able to afford a meal, but neither could she dismiss the recommendation. Perhaps she'd add it to her expense account. The next person she talked to turned out to be a vampire - oops!
She made it home safely, and the next morning, in spite of the rain, Kevin picked out the new mare's hooves and rode Blondie to the autumn festival. Soon after, Katie followed on Edsel. Bill preferred to stay home and train Smokey.
They arrived home to find that Eliza Pied had grown up. Her mother congratulated her, at least.
Katie went to do a bit of inventing but things got a little too hot for her.
Bill got dressed up and went to the fish hatchery to try to woo the local unicorn. Such a magical mare, she was!
He came home to find the sink broken and had an uninvited audience while he repaired it. Welcome back to reality!
Edsel was now fully trained, and regretfully Katie took him down to sell. He brought a record $12,000! The next mare arrived with an unexpected bonus. They'd contracted for a splashed-white paint mare, who was well known on the eventing circuit. But her breeders dropped her off with her untrained sister. "She was born all-white with blue eyes, and we thought at first she was lethal white, even though the parents tested clear. But then she didn't die, and her nose and legs got dark hair on them. We couldn't sell her as a paint, but you can have her to breed as a grade mare." The didn't want her back; didn't want her associated with their farm at all. Bill and Katie weren't thrilled with the reaction, but at least the breeders hadn't killed the unusual filly out of hand. The Sparrows named her Siamouse, because of her pointed coloring and meek temper, and turned her and her sister Splash out into the field. Electrum was pleased to see both mares, regardless of color.
A bit later, Bill saddled up Eliza Pied to start her training. Since his tuxedo was obviously not suitable training attire, he put on his bathing suit.
The next day, despite the rain, Katie took the young mare downtown to the hospital. As a 'local celebrity', she'd been nominated to present a ridiculously large check to the hospital Children's Fund. She wasn't certain she'd earned the fame, but apparently there were enough news stories about her 'successful experiment against sleeping sickness' that people considered her a celebrity. And helping sick children was a worthy cause.
While she was out, tiny Smokey woke up and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d into a very not-tiny dog.
When not working with the horses Kevin was working hard on his sculpting, so much so that he forgot it was his birthday. Welcome to adulthood!
After the sun rose, Katie went out to visit another celebrity. She might not have wanted to be famous, but if it could be used to help the fight against trypanosomiasis, she'd make use of it. The gnomes gathered for a conference . . .
. . . and Bill woke up dead. He was very surprised, to say the least, but he shortly had a visitor that enforced the reality of his new state.
Kevin and Smokey ran up the stairs, but it was too late. Bill and the Grim Reaper vanished, and only an urn was left.
Katie, who had discovered that her new acquaintance was a vampire, was unaware of Bill's death as yet. Suddenly she aged to an elder - not a welcome event while in the house of a predator. The urgent call from Kevin gave her a perfect excuse to leave.
Meanwhile sorrow spread around the farm. The cows didn't care, but as rain started to pour down, the gnomes gathered for a memorial service, and the horses grieved.
Blondie offered a counter to the sorrow: Jaune d'Or.
Smokey was particularly heartbroken, as Bill had been his best friend. Kevin consoled him as well as he could, and sent him out to hunt, which usually cheered the dog up. Jaune d'Or was a curious onlooker, at least until the last command. Apparently hunting wasn't to her taste.
It was a bit of a slow time at the stable anyway, since the only horse needing training was the new filly. Caring for the adults and putting manners on her was relatively light work. She had a cheerful disposition anyway, the legacy of her 'gentle giant' ancestors.
Katie returned to her inventing. One of her inventions ended most peculiarly. The gnome loitered around the workbench for a few days, then joined the pack traveling around the ranch.
Among Bill's belongings they found the forgotten magic lamp. Katie and Kevin decided to set the genie free, but apparently that was a wish that could only be made by a friend. So they set about befriending Everett.
The gnomes seemed to enjoy the snow. Katie had an additional task, the semi-annual thinning out of Zenyattas, which multiplied faster than her horse herd. The equine gnomes sold well, save for a few originals which were considered part of the family.
Katie also decided that she didn't want to die as abruptly as Bill had - there were still too many zebrorse foals to raise! An unusual benefit of a long, happy life was a small vial. She and Electrum had both earned one, so she went out one gray morning and quickly drank hers down. Magical sparkles swarmed around her.
Although this outfit wouldn't do at all. Quickly she tipped the other vial into Electrum's mouth.
Although the change was much less visible on his pale coat, his eyes cleared and the white hairs that had invaded his facial stripes cleared away. Electrum immediately trotted off to show the mares. Katie went inside to change into something more sensible. She passed Everett on the way. He seemed much impressed by the 'new' Katie.
Katie was rather impressed by him as well. She gave herself a mental shake as she put on her cold-weather gear. She was, after all, a recent widow! But, she did have to befriend him to set him free. She led him on outside, where they added a few snowmen to the collection and had a spur-of-the-moment snowball fight.
[
But somehow she found herself asking if he were single (A reasonable question, she insisted, since she didn't know how genies lived inside those lamps. He might have a whole family in there somewhere. Would they need to be freed as well?) He assured her he was single. Only freed genies were able to have families, it seemed. Each lamp was a solo prison. And then they sat down to admire the stars, which Everett did not get to see in the lamp.
Deep under the mausoleum, she face starvation and terrible perils. Upon her rather singed escape, she paused for a plum, scarcely noticing that she was really wearing nothing but soot.
Everett appeared almost immediately to announce that he was now free!
Whether by chance or Grim direction, Bill was waiting at home for them. Kevin was shocked; Smokey was pleased. The ghost himself seemed unhappy about something.
Outside, Jaune d'Or grew into a lovely young mare, even if she did, as one reporter had put it, 'look like an orange quagga'.
A few days later, Everett and the Sparrows celebrated his release by throwing a Christmas party.
Bill fortunately did not turn up for that, but the following evening Kevin found his late dad in the kitchen. And then the ghost stormed up the stairs in a rage, to accuse his wife of cheating on him!
Everett tactfully disappeared, while Katie faced the difficult task of breaking up with her husband's ghost. Feeling rather miserable, she wandered out to a nearby park, and met another reminder of Bill. This one was too magical to resent, however. Katie silently vowed to add Misty to the herd before leaving Riverview, and began to court the pale mare for that purpose.
Apples will fix anything!
Fortunately, Jaune d'Or was fairly easy to calm once she had startled. Kevin had apparently inherited the family tendency to train horses in his pajamas. Meanwhile, Katie was finding herself more and more interested in Everett, now that he was free. He had a lot to learn about the world, but he enjoyed learning new songs. And kissing . . .
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The horses were still doing their part. Splash foaled in the bright morning, for a change, delivering an attractively striped filly that Katie named Electra. Her black mane and brown back provided striking contrast to her golden stripes.
Kevin was keeping up with Jaune's training, both roadwork and racing. She had an innate skill at jumping that she certainly hadn't inherited from her painstakingly trained sire or her bulky dam. And yet, while pleased with her progress, Kevin found himself getting rather bored.
Changes were aloft, however. A brilliant light appeared in the sky one morning, and a strange object fell out of it, sending the mares fleeing to the back of the pasture.
Katie kept up her association with Misty. There was a list of mares still to be delivered to the farm and crossed to Electrum, but she hoped to bring the unicorn home eventually. Whether unicorns were vulnerable to typanosomes was unknown, but a striped unicorn would certainly be interesting!
Tigger and Electra had a grand time playing together. Colt and filly seemed inseparable, but too soon Electra had to grow up. She was a striking young mare. (I'm not sure why so many foals grow up with the fjord mane. As soon as they go into 'Edit Saddle' mode it clicks to the correct one.)
The strange gnomes Bill had found beneath the cemetery crypt were very strange. Unlike the others, they had both aged and now carried canes. They were quite spry, however.
Katie and Everett hadn't had a chance to actually get married yet, but they were very close. So close, that Katie came home one day with a new daughter. Somehow the paparazzi hadn't picked up on that tidbit yet!
Everett couldn't quite believe it. His new life was so far from his isolated existence in the lamp. And now he had a daughter of his own! And so life continued on the farm
Kevin was more interested in the strange device that had fallen from the sky. He discovered that it took him to a new, spacious, but horseless world. The fishing was wonderful, though. The paparazzi were robotic.
After meeting his distant descendants - strange feeling, that!- he paused for a bit of reflection and chess. Then he returned to what appeared to be a communal house for time travelers and tried out the "future bed".
No horses, dogs or cats, but there were virtual pets, at least. They ate strange little things that could allegedly be found in the Wasteland, which he was told was just the other side of the city wall. Kevin determined to explore this Wasteland, but first he did a bit of shopping. Although no one seemed to mind him picking up things like a jet pack and a hover board from the communal house, it seemed rather like stealing. Strangely, his money was not only acceptable in this future world, it was in great demand.
However, the next morning a nasty storm had begun, so Kevin decided to return to his own time for a bit, and explore the Wasteland at another time. It was decidedly cheering to see Siamouse running to greet him. Perhaps home wasn't so bad after all.
She immediately made herself at home, discovering that the garden fence couldn't be gotten past to steal veggies, and eating the newspaper instead.
The other thing that had happened while Kevin was away was that a mysterious 'aunt' of Everett's (to his knowledge he HAD no relatives) had sent Wren a strange doll. A very strange doll, which appeared to be itself related to the gnomes. Like them, it turned up in very strange places and often in odd poses.
Tigger grew up into a rather striking stallion, with a long pale mane and dark tail. Since Kevin was still laggard about training Electra, Katie decided to train the young stallion herself.
It seemed more appropriate to approach Misty on horseback rather than by car. And Katie was scrupulously maintaining her friendship with the pale unicorn.
Kevin hustled through training Electra, who was fortunately both smart and friendly, and sold her at the EC for $11,580, second only to Sundance's price. Then he traveled ahead to the future again and visited the Wasteland. He did indeed find some of the strange viroid creatures that the virtual pets ate. He also discovered a number of fragments that fit together to form a key, which unlocked a crashed ship. Inside he found a bright-colored toy llama made of a strange material that wasn't plastic, nor metal, nor ceramic.
While he was gone, Katie and Everett rode Siamouse and the now-trained Tigger to the EC together, and sold the pair for about $8,500 apiece. They also made arrangements for a new mare, a chestnut grade named Lipsey, who was dropped off at the farm that afternoon.
A swarm of paparazzi came with her, and while interviewing Katie and Everett the reporters revealed that a new wave of trypanosomiasis was infecting horses in nearby counties. This wave didn't seem to be quite as lethal, but left its equine victims so weak that many had to be euthanized anyway, due to persistent inability to stand. The zorses were probably going to experience a surge in demand.
In the evening, after the reporters finally left, Katie proposed to Everett. He accepted with delight. Life in the real world was so immeasurably better than that in the lamp, even with mysterious, unknown aunts.
Lipsey is actually a mare my niece created; I emailed her the foal back to her game.
Fourteen foals had been born and trained; eight of them had stripes and all had inherited resistance to trypanosomes. Kevin was distracted by his new travels to the future, which turned out to be not always so wondrous. Toilets still clogged, for instance.
Back at home, Katie had reached a new level of invention, and created a splendid drilling machine - which unfortunately made so much noise the neighbors hated it. Not in the least deterred, she set out tunneling early in the morning, even before getting dressed.
Somewhere below her house, she encountered a catacomb of tunnels, and could not resist the lure of the golden lights. Off she went on her own adventure.
Everett busied himself with teaching his daughter new skills and tending to the horses.
When Kevin returned this time, he seemed happier about being home than before. He readily helped out with the mares. Then he asked if he could have a floor of the house for himself. Since funds were now plentiful, Katie and Everett had the roof raised, and allowed Kevin free rein on decor. He fitted his new 'apartment' out in future style, with furniture he'd purchased and brought back with him. But still he felt he was missing something.
The summer sun was blazing down, and Kevin decided to head to the festival grounds. A blonde head on the balcony above caught his attention, and he raced up the stairs to introduce himself. She told him her name was Jocelyn and recognized him immediately. Not only was she aware of the family's general fame, she was a horsewoman herself, although just recently arrived in town. After a bit of chatting, she asked after his parents and Wren. Then she challenged him to a hotdog eating contest.
Kevin managed to win the contest and on the spur of the moment kissed his new acquaintance. To his surprise, she kissed him right back!
At home, a tragedy had occurred! Katie had been hard at her inventing work when something went wrong and - fwsh! - Katie was a pile of ash on the floor. A shadowy figure appeared and escorted her ghost out through the wall.
However, Smokey was by no means going to allow this stranger to take his mistress away!
After some intense argument on the dog's part, he Grim Reaper conceded the point and summoned Katie's shade back.
Smokey got a lot of extra love and dinner that evening.
The celebration continued the next morning when Rose presented Fleur de Lis to the family.
One of the downsides of being famous and from a famous family was the swarm of paparazzi that tended to follow one everywhere. There was also the risk of damaging reputations by doing something that could be misinterpreted. Therefore, as soon as Kevin was sure Jocelyn was the woman for him, he proposed, heading off rumors of indiscretion. After the proposal pictures were splashed across the local tabloids, they arranged for a very private wedding - just the two of them - to be sure no intruders could spoil or publish the event. (Who exactly invited the paparazzi in to sit on the couch while Kevin proposed?)
Following the wedding, they retired to Kevin's 3rd floor apartment to try out the privacy screen on his bed from the future.
The next morning, he whisked Jocelyn away to a honeymoon in the future. Karaoke, exploring the wasteland together, and investigating the strange 'nanites' they found out there provided excellent bonding time. They also uncovered enough more robotic llamas to assemble them into a new gnome.
By the time they returned, they had decided to move to a new house, as Jocelyn's was really too small for more than one person, and the Sparrow farm was just too crowded.
Kevin was pleased to see that Fleur de Lis had become a stallion, and Jocelyn absolutely adored Rose.
Leaving the gnome as a parting gift, Kevin bid farewell to his parents and Wren, and he and Jocelyn moved out, taking Rose and Fleur with them.
Electrum was being very attentive of Lipsey and did not seem to miss Rose. Katie and Everett were working on getting a Clydesdale mare; the breed society had approved a zebra cross to bring in the trypanosome resistant genes, but had not yet approved a specific mare. The foal would be bred back to carefully selected Clydesdales, and the three-quarter Clydesdale fillies that inherited the resistances would be bred further back into the breed, until the society accepted the final female progeny as pure Clydesdale. Stripes, if passed on, would need to be bred out; only the resistance was wanted.
But first there was time to attend the fall fair. Everett got a bit of a shock in the haunted house!
Shortly after they were alerted to expect delivery of a Clydes mare named Agnes, Lipsey bore a filly that Everett named Eloquence. Unlike Fleur, she was brilliantly striped. In fact, she bore a close resemblance to Edsel.
Eloquence seemed to grow up extremely fast, becoming a lovely young mare who bore striking resemblance to her sire, save only the brown between her gold stripes. (The two were very close at times.)
Katie received an invitation to a costume party from Kevin and Jocelyn. Everett couldn't go, but she took Wren. The young couple was renting a nice enough, but rather barren, house. Kevin intended to build a futuristic dwelling, as soon as he got the plans approved. For some reason the City Planner's office wasn't certain that some techniques he'd never heard of would actually work to build a safe house.
When she got home, she sent Smokey out hunting. He'd developed a remarkable knack for finding gems and rare metals.
With Eloquence in training, Lipsey was returned to her owner. A third draft mare was brought in, this one from the beautiful but rare American Cream Draft breed. She and Agnes got along as amiably as one could wish, and Electrum was quite willing to associate with both. Mary Cream was one of those horses whose presence suggested she was much larger than she actually was. She also possessed an unusual black blaze, particularly strange in a breed that had no black pigment.
A few days later, Agnes delivered Engus - possibly the best combination of sire and dam. A colt with no stripes to be bred out, who was proven to carry the desired resistances in his blood. The only external evidence of Electrum was the pale-tipped chestnut mane, and possibly the high rear stocking - although those were common in Clydesdales as well.
Mary dozed in the snow nearby, dreaming perhaps of her own zorse foal.