Everything changed quickly, Marcus left for the academy, Pin started to ride for Holloway, Brightfield's got a new trainer and Harper's dad was trying to change into a better dad.
Harper knew that it would take time for her to forgive her dad and to start trusting him, change can't happen overnight. But she was willing to wait. A clear sign that he was starting to change was the apple that Harper found on the bench that had a carved smiley-face on it, he always used to carve her apples and put them into her school lunches.
It was a sunny morning, so Harper pulled on her black jeans and a cream shirt. She wasn't wearing riding gear as she was entering maid of the island and she would change into clothes that she could ride in later in the day, she didn't like riding in jeans; it was too hard to move around in them. Maggie had gotten excited when Harper mentioned that she was entering and had prepared her some clothes that she had promised that she would like.
Quickly, Harper slipped her boots on and started to walk down the lane. As Robin had spent the night in the field, he could be in any state, covered in dirt or completely clean. The yard was alive with laughter and people running around in a frantic state trying to get ready, even with all the time left before they had to arrive at the event. Practically all the girls were entering, and the boys were already placing bets on who would win, they leant heavily towards Mia.
Harper grabbed Robin's brushes from the tack room and took his headcollar off of the hook by the door. She walked over to the field and whistled for Robin to come, his head raised in the air quickly and he cantered over happily. Harper sighed heavily when she saw that his legs were covered almost completely in mud and his tail was knotted.
Once she put his headcollar onto him, she walked him back over to the hose and began to shampoo his legs to remove the mud. It took her a half hour to completely clean Robin, she led him over to the main post and began to groom him normal. It always calmed her to groom Robin until he was shining.
To let Robin have time to completely dry and avoid getting water onto his travel wraps, Harper began to plait his main and tail. She put a running braid into his hair and did a simple one in his tail. By that point, the summer sun had completely dried his coat. Harper brushed over his legs and picked out his hooves and gave them a polish.
Harper was reminded by Mia that they needed to start loading the horses for the event, so she wrapped his legs and tail so that he wouldn't get dirty and a light fleece onto his back. The yard all loaded their horses quickly and then went back for their tack; the saddle pads had a sort of medieval theme that made Harper smile.
Once they were ready to leave, the yard piled into the horse trucks and cars and set off for the castle where the event was being held. They were a choir of laughter as they headed into the event.
The horses were unloaded quickly and tied up to their allocated spaces, Harper unwrapped Robin's legs and tail and took his rug off and put them back into the horse truck. Zoe grabbed Harper and led her towards the maids tent so that the two of them could get changed together.
Harper's costume was fairly basic, it was a pair of black leggings with a white button-up shirt tucked into the waist, leather guards on her wrists and a leather band around her middle that was similar to Mia's and a big silver necklace that was partially hidden underneath the shirt and was only visible through the top two buttons that she had undone. Zoe had helped her to braid silver strands into her hair in the style of two French plaits.
Zoe squealed that the two of them looked great and dragged Harper back into the main part of the event. In the time that the two of them were changing, more people had arrived at the Maid of the Island event. Zoe and Harper weaved their way around people and eventually found Jade and Becky, who were stood by Bob.
"I can't believe you challenged Mia for the maid of the island!" Jade swung around the post that the horses were tied to so that she could get closer to the girls.
Harper cocked an eyebrow, "what? Why? That's like asking to be burnt alive."
Zoe rolled her eyes playfully, "if I win, James has to leave. It was worth it."
"It's her thing, she's like a nightmare in shining armour." Becky explained further, "she's won It for the last two years, if she wins this year it'll be the first time anybody has won three years in a row."
The group turned around when Zoe opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself, they saw the team from Holloway. There was Pin, who was leading Elvis, Gabby, Callum and the boy that Harper still didn't know the name of. When Harper made eye contact with Pin, Pin smiled at her and Harper made a mental note to herself to go and see him later.
The bell for the first round of the competition rang throughout the grounds of the competition. Zoe led the girls towards the archery area, and they all grabbed a bow and quiver.
Everyone was allowed to have a few practice shots, they headed down the line and Harper went after Becky made her shot. Harper pulled back the string of the bow with the arrow attached and let the arrow shoot from her hands. It landed not too far from the bullseye and Harper let out a sigh of relief. After another shot of Harper's, it was Jade's turn.
Elliot announced that the round was actually starting, and the audience clapped politely as the girls started to shoot their arrows. Slowly, they moved down the line again until it was Harper's turn.
After a deep inhale, Harper pulled back the bowstring with the arrow attached and rested it by her cheek for a moment before she released the arrow. It sailed through the air before it implanted into the target and it rested upon the target half an inch away from the bullseye. As the competition was based upon a single shot, that fateful arrow would decide her score, she didn't mind too much as she wasn't truly playing to win.
Once the round was over, Harper wandered back alone to where the horses were tied. The other girls had run off, but Harper didn't mind being alone as it gave her a chance to find Pin and talk to him. She checked over the horses and made sure that they all had enough water and hay, she was quickly retying Bob's lead rope when she felt someone grab her around the waist.
A shriek escaped her as she twisted around to see Pin's face smiling down on her. He kissed her gently on the forehead and Harper smiled softly.
"You scared me." Harper giggled as Pin moved them towards a haybale for them to sit on.
"I didn't mean to!" Pin defended as he grabbed Harper's hand, "you've got a guard falling off there."
Harper looked down and saw that her leather guard was nearly hanging completely off of her arm. She sighed and moved to fix it herself, but Pin grabbed her wrist gently and started to do it for her.
Pin interlaced their fingers once he had completed lacing it up, "I watched it falling off, you didn't even notice."
Harper gasped in fake hurt and she bumped her shoulders into Pin's, "you saw me struggling and didn't come to help me? Such a terrible boyfriend."
"It was top quality entertainment!" Pin quickly ducked from Harper's half-hearted attempt at hitting him with her arm.
They fell into silence that blanketed them in a feeling of comfort for a few minutes. They watched the world pass in front of them and Harper leant her head onto Pin's shoulder to relax a little further.
"I got something for you." Pin's voice was soft as not to shatter the bubble around them, "It's small but I thought that you would like it."
"I always love what you get for me, minus the chores you give me at the yard." Harper's face lit up as Pin placed a small, silver bag into her spare palm. As she unentwined her hand with Pins, it left a cold void on her hand. Harper opened the bag gently and tipped out a small, silver ring that had clouds engraved on it and it was clearly meant for her pinkie finger.
Harper slipped it onto her left pinkie finger and twirled it around on her finger, "I absolutely adore it, where did you get it."
"One of the stands," Pin interlaced their fingers again and traced over the ring that now sat on Harper's fingers, "I just saw it and thought of you."
Her heart felt on the brink of explosion as she leant over and enveloped Pin into a hug and mumbled repeated 'thank you' into his chest. She nuzzled into his neck for a moment before Pin put his fingers under her chin and tilted her lips to his. Pin pecked her on the lips for a few times before he smiled with such fondness that Harper felt she could die happy at that moment.
An announcement of the second event that started in fifteen minutes shattered their moment and made them groan in anguish.
Harper pushed herself up off the hay bale and let their hands swing between them, "help me tack up Robin or help the enemy?"
"Technically you're the enemy here, little bird." Pin stood up and looked towards his team, "but I'm afraid that it's them, they've been glaring for a little while."
Harper leaned up and gave Pin one last kiss, when she went to pull away, he chased after her lips and prolonged the kiss for a few more moments. They separated with a giggle and a small pout formed on Pin's lips that Harper gave a small kiss to.
Harper let their hands fall apart, "go, you big dork."
Pin walked back to his team as Harper started to tack Robin up for jousting. She put his saddle pad on and then added a medieval themed drape that went over his back and under his saddle. Harper slipped the bit into his mouth and pulled the bridle over his head, his browband had a small, yet again, medieval themed pattern on it.
She led him over to where the horses were held for the moment before the jousting. The nerves started to eat away at her as the people before her went and either won or fell off. Elliot said her name over the intercom and the name of another girl from Holloway.
The girls all gave her encouragement as she mounted onto Robin and took the metal helmet that Jade handed her. It wasn't on the side of safety but rather aesthetics. Someone handed her a shield and a joust stick. Harper took a sharp inhale when she saw that she was up against one of the most violent girls from Holloway, one of the girls that would do anything to win.
"Holloway ready" Elliot yelled into the microphone, "Brightfields ready!"
"Commence!"
Harper made a walk to canter transition and worked her way towards the other girl. She attempted to get the girls target put chose to veer Robin away so that she would miss. The crowd clapped as they made sharp turns and prepared to go again.
Even behind the metal helmet, Harper could tell that the girl wasn't going to prolong this game anymore. The girl was determined to win. The girl pointed her pole in front of her correctly before she sharply moved it to the side to not only hit Harper's target, but also strike across the front of her body.
The ground rushed up to meet her. The wind rushed out of her lungs as she collided against the earth harshly, the bruises felt as if they were already forming. Harper pushed the metal helmet off quickly and sat up to try and draw more air into her lungs. Her lungs coughed harshly as the wind moved back into her chest and the world spun around her slightly.
As she started to stand up to look for Robin, the world took a sharp turn sideways and Harper started to fall again only to be caught by Pin who had clearly made his way over when she had fallen. Even though the world was still turning harshly on its axis, Harper was looking frantically for Robin. She calmed when she realised that Jade had caught him.
Pin supported her as they made their way over to one of the haybales more away from the jousting arena. Slowly, the movement slowed around Harper and the world returned to how it should've been.
"Wait," Harper realised, "no, no, no, I need to get back to Robin! I need to check on him." Harper attempted to stand back up, but Pin pressed her back gently onto the haybale.
"No, they need to check you for a concussion." Pin brushed back a strand of hair behind her ear and pressed a kiss to her temple. "You had quite the fall."
Harper grumbled but let the medical team check her over, they deemed that she didn't have a concussion, but she should take it easy and she would have some bruises. Pin was just happy that she was okay.
"Let me see Robin now, please Pinny?" Harper turned to Pin and turned on the puppy eyes.
Pin rolled his eyes, "calling me Pinny doesn't help your case, but come on then."
The two of them walked slowly over to where Jade had tied a, now calmed down, Robin. Harper stroked over his neck gently and had a look for any visible injuries, upon finding none; she started to untack him and take the tack back to the truck.
Pin and Harper made their way back over to the jousting arena just in time for the finale between Gabby and Zoe. In order not to cause a civil war, the couple separated back to their teams. Harper handed Zoe her helmet as the other girls checked everything over and gave her encouragement.
The tension was high as they circled around a couple of times before halfway through, Bob got free of where the horses were tied up. Through some sort of magic, Bob had a few chairs attached to his lead rope. He got onto the field which caused Raven to rear and chaos to erupt. In the midst, Holloway and brightfields charged at each other.
"Never in the history of this competition has there ever been such unbridled violence." Elliot scolded both of the stables in front of everyone, "so, none of you have one."
Instead of one of the stables getting the crown, Elliot handed it to Wilma, who was the longest standing maid on the island. Mia was not happy about not getting the crown but was even more angry that no one in the stables even got it.
"This is war." Mia announced after Gabby poked fun at their stables, Harper agreed slightly.
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Once Harper got home that night, she was greeted by her brother who had been exploring the island for the day.
"Hey Miles" Harper smiled as she started to get out pots and pans to make some dinner, "how was the town?"
Miles smiled up from where he was bent over his laptop, "It's so beautiful, this place walked straight out of a nineteenth century novel."
"It is beautiful," Harper chopped vegetables quickly, "I would spend more time there, but Robin takes up all my days."
They slipped into a comfortable silence as Harper made dinner for the both of them, she gave Miles less vegetables than she did to herself, he's always hated them. They filled their meal with chatter and Miles offered to clean up so that Harper could head upstairs.
Harper headed upstairs and flopped face first down onto her bed as the exhaustion of the day washed over her. She slowly was getting up to get changed before she saw that her phone was ringing.
She checked and saw that Pin was video calling her, she picked the phone up with a smile and rolled onto her side.
"Today was fun?" Pin laughed as he appeared onto her screen, he was in his room and was sat on his bed. His phone was likely propped up on his pillows, there were sketchbooks scattered on the bed in front of him and a capped pen was resting on a half-done drawing.
Harper giggled, "dramatic is probably a better word for it."
They talked anything and everything for a while before it was late, and they had to sleep as they were so tired.
"I'll come and see you tomorrow, we can go on a hack." Pin suggested as he stacked his drawings up.
Harper smiled brightly, "I'd love to."
- - - - - - - -
[UNEDITED]
This was really hard to put out, feeling uninspired lately. I wrote some of this at midnight so there may be some errors or sentences that just plain don't make sense.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
- Angelica