It was Joella’s full intention to do a lot of things this summer holiday. In August she’d be thirteen, officially a teenager by her books, and she wanted people to recognize the difference - in both her physical appearance and the way they generally viewed her attitude and behaviour. She needed to grow up, quite frankly. She wanted to move away from being the baby of the family. If she had thought about it beforehand, Joella might have considered that she would be rather too busy this summer to be concerning herself over making and sticking to new resolutions of character but she was determined to make a bold start in her new class in September. If she was to work with fifth years, surely she needed to act at least a little like them?
With everyone ridiculously busy preparing for the upcoming wedding, Joella was pretty much free to slip off and do her own thing for the first part of the holidays. Of course, there were a few bridesmaid duties that required her presence but mostly she was seen as more of a hindrance than anything. She spent the first couple of weeks of the summer staying in Virginia with her friend Audrey Montague which was, quite expectedly, incredibly fun. Audrey’s parents were Abraxan horse breeders so there never seemed to be a dull moment at their home. Not only did they have many Abraxans, but they also owned several Granians and Aethonans (although generally not for breeding), all of which fascinated Joella considerably.
“So who’s your favourite?” asked Audrey with a grin one day when they were taking her personal Granian mare, Jorunnr, out into one of the corrals. Audrey and Jorunnr had been to a race earlier that day and had placed second, a performance which had particularly impressed Joella.
Joella was a competent rider herself, growing up using non-magical horses as a useful method of transport around the Curtis farm, but she didn’t feel as though she had the same deep knowledge and understanding of these winged creatures that seemed to be in Audrey’s blood. She did, however, love riding the horses at Abraxas Ridge Farm - it was always a wonderful sensation to be flying on the back of a horse, a combination of her two dominant passions.
“Snorri,” Joella smiled in return. She liked all the horses at the Montague’s farm, all of them perfectly bred and trained, but in terms of breed she thought she liked Granians best. Audrey’s beloved Jorunnr was a particularly nice Granian with a really sweet temperament but it was another grey horse who Joella had found herself developing a real affection for during her stay. She hadn’t visited Abraxas Ridge for quite some time so there were a large number of unfamiliar horses and also many absent that she remembered fondly. Snorri was a more recent addition to the Montague’s small Granian family and particularly speedy but without the same charming character that Jorunnr had. Even so, he was easily Joella’s favourite and not just because he was the first she had ridden this summer but because she liked his cheekiness and his forwardness, even if he wasn’t the friendliest horse on the farm.
“Really?” Audrey raised her eyebrows. “He is nice to ride, I must admit.”
“He’s lovely,” said Joella as Audrey let her horse go and closed the corral gate.
Audrey gave a snort but it was partly in jest. “I wouldn’t go that far - he’s quite the grump in the barn.”
Joella shrugged. It was true, she supposed, but it didn’t bother her. “He’s well behaved, though.” Snorri was, of course, trained by the Montagues so by default he was well behaved because they were renown for their high quality training. Not only did the Montagues produce good stock, many people would send their horses to them for training in whatever they wanted to use them for.
“I take it you like Granians best?” Audrey leant against the rails, watching her horse nibbling at the short grass.
“Yes,” Joella nodded. Abraxans were magnificent creatures and there were some mares at the farm that Joella had known for some time because there were several broodmares which the Montagues never sold. The family had a few Aethonans for personal use and also some for sale, although these were never quite as popular. Joella personally was particularly partial to the pretty chestnut colouring of Aethonans. Audrey had recently been given an Aethonan, named Arkadios, who she and her parents were currently training to play what seemed to be some strange version of Quidditch on winged horses that Joella wasn’t familiar with. It wasn’t very widely known or played, Audrey had told her, but something that the only child had decided she wanted to try out and hopefully join a team for if she could find one. Apparently it was marginally more popular in the UK but still a sport that had never really caught on. Audrey always seemed to be taking on new things in the winged horse world and Joella often wondered how she managed to find the time for her studies. Audrey was a year older than Joella and home tutored by her mother and Joella was often surprised at how clever and knowledgeable she was considering how busy the Montagues were with their horse business and also Audrey’s competing (which they often used to show off new horses as well as for recreation).
“What about Brandr or Ragna then?”
“They’re nice too,” replied Joella. She wondered if perhaps Snorri wasn’t supposed to be her favourite but then Audrey could have just been genuinely bemused by her choice. “They’re all nice here. But Snorri’s my favourite.”