Cass smiled sweetly and nodded, squeezing between Adam and Bradin, pausing long enough to take the keys from Bradin and opened a large, shiny door. "No one goes in here, except for Anna when she's upset. I wanna have it re-done for her..." she said, letting the door swing open. The faint scent of stale blood made Cass scrunch up her nose as she flicked on the light.

Bradin watched Cass carefully. Okay, so what on earth was this room? "So it's basically Anna's 'cool down' room" he replied as he looked unside.

Cass nodded. "I guess so. I don't see how, though...it isn't a nice memory for her..." she said, swiping dust off of her.

Bradin shrugged. "Neither are the remains of Westerly but I still go there to cool down" he admitted. "Sometimes even the places where the worst things happened help" he finished. It was true. Although he almost died at Westerly it still managed to calm him down because he grew up there.

Cass sighed and pulled away the curtains from the window and let dusty sunlight inside. Cass sat on the window seat and looked up at the two boys. "Anna was sitting here at ten years old while her father's side of her family was lined up and killed. But I guess you're right...I was the same way for a while when it came to my parents' bedroom...I'd sit there and calm down...." she said, then shook her head fiercly, trying to not think about it.

Bradin stayed stood where he was. "It's the good memories that calm people down" he told her.

Cass nodded. "Yeah, it is"

Bradin smiled slightly. Well that was that conversation dead. "So where else in this place needs fixing up?"

Cass snorted in laughter. "The entire place, really. But the real thing I'm concerned with is the stables" she gazed out to see the rain had stopped. "You can come see it if you'd like" she offered, standing up.

Bradin raised an eyebrow. "The stables are the first thing that get done" he demanded. Animal lover much?

Cass smiled and led Bradin and Adam back downstairs. "Wanna see it? You really will be shocked at the condition. The horses themselves are in perfect condition, but the stables..."

Bradin nodded. "The horses won't stay in perfect condition if their living conditions aren't very good" he replied truthfully.

Cass nodded. "I know. C'mon" she said, leading them outside and down to the stables. Her horse, Saph, walked up to the fencing the edged the pasture and nudged her face.

Bradin followed Cass outside followed by Adam. He smiled at the horse that walked toward Cass. "Hey gorgeous" he whispered as he approached the horse.

Cass looked up at Bradin and smiled. "This is Saph. I've raised him since he was a foal" she said, stroking his neck and running her fingers through Saph's soft, silvery mane.

She looked up when she heard hooves on grass and saw Anna's chestnut mare approaching.

Bradin kept stroking Saph softly until he noticed another, slightly younger horse approaching them. He held his hand out for her to nuzzle before he could stroke her gently. Four years of horse training sessions paid off after all. "And who's this?" he asked.

Cass smiled. That's Adriana, Anna's mare. Drina, as she's oh-so affectionately called, has a rather dark personality, hence the name Adriana" she said, reaching back into the Spanish lessons from Anna.

Bradin kept stroking the mare's neck affectionately. "Depends on how well the horse takes to a person" he replied.

Cass smiled. "She's like it a lot. She won't let anyone ride her but Anna" she said. And it had nothing to do with the rider, either. There was some unseen connection between the mare and Anna. Something no one could explain. "Maybe it's the Spanish background. No one knows" she said. "Drina was injured when Anna got her. She had fractured her leg and was sold to a cousin of hers, who gave Drina to Anna. But Drina has always been able to run as long as I've known her" Cass explained giggling when Adriana nudged away Bradin's hand and threw her head back, turning around to go back to the stables.

"Be that way, then. Anna will be out soon to walk you down to the stream" Cass told the mare, shaking her head.

Bradin and Justin both have stallion's called Midnight
 

Bradin listened as Cass spoke. "Midnight's the same though. I'm not sure what the connection is between us both but he won't let anybody but me or Nikki touch him let alone ride him" he explained. But Midnight was the most amazing stallion ever to grace the green land. He looked at Adriana as she nudged his hand away and smiled. Obviously, she's had enough of the stroking.

Cass smiled. "Adriana lets people stroke her, but no one rides her. Anna herself has had a few injuries herself from being thrown off" Cass said, giggling again as Saph nudged her cheek. "The latest one was actually a while ago...I was about fifteen and a snake in the pasture spooked her and threw Anna off...she was in the hospital with some pretty bad injuries for a while

Bradin raised an eyebrow. A snake in the paddock. "Maybe it'd be a good idea to do as much as you can to keep snakes away. They spook all horses" he replied.

Cass nodded. "There hasn't been any snake in here since then" she said, nodding.

Bradin smiled. "Good to know" he replied.

Cass smiled back. "Come on" she said, leading them into the disaster they had to call stables. Ad had cleaned all four horses' stalls when she stormed out, Cass noted, and jumped as Noir, a pale grey mare, a relative of Saph's, nudged her. Her black mane glistened as she tossed her head slightly.

"This is Noir, she doesn't really belong to anybody, but on a good day, Ad will come out and ride her. We have hurdles we set up for her as well. And this one-" she approached a slightly younger male, her father's horse, and nuzzled his nose. "-this is Valente, my father's horse. Daddy doesn't ride, but he'll lead Valente out to the river and just sit and talk. Daddy loves talking to his horse" she explained, giggling.