Jess sat with her back straight, her bare feet pressed against the cold tile floor. She shivered as the cold from the floor traveled from her feet up her legs and back to the base of her skull.<br/>The feeling of cold woke her from her memories and she heard the notes floating from the large piano in front of her. The notes sounded like a babbling brook and then wind in the trees, the sound of animals moving around, the sound of the forest she had lived in for years.<br/>Being blind made her useless to her parents who were artists and the trade of the parents was passed to the eldest child.<br/>Jess was the eldest girl, and she had been blinded as a young one. She had been knocked off a horse and had struck her head on a rock, at the age of six.<br/>With a sigh, she banged her fingers on the keys making a mess of notes.<br/>"Well now." A voice said. "That sounds nothing like the woods." The man said. His voice was deep and rich. Jess could hear someone moving towards her. The light steps she had come to know as his, a second four footed pair followed, Cyrus, the Irish wolf hound.<br/>"What happened, Jess? Why did you stop?" A hand gently touched her shoulder in a fatherly way. This was, after all, the man who took her in and raised her.<br/>"I don't know, grandpa. I was thinking of my parents." She said, taking her hands off the keys and laying them in her lap. "How are the horses?" She asked, holding a hand out toward her grandfather and another with her palm up for Cyrus, who happily licked her hand and then stuck his furry head to her sticky palm.<br/>"They are good. We need a new worker though. This one is lazy and treats my horses wrong." The slight edge of anger was shocking to hear from her grandfather.<br/>"Where are you going to look?" She asked. "I don't know yet." He answered after a moment.<br/>As if on queue, there was a loud knock at the door. "I'll get it." Jess said and stood up.<br/>She walked to the door with Cyrus on her heels. As she ran her hand along the wood for the handle, she felt Cyrus's wet nose resting on the handle. "Thank you, Cyrus." She opened the door.<br/>"Can I help you?" She asked, careful to keep her eyes closed. Through past experience, she had learned that her eyes were not a normal color and seemed to spook people so she now kept them closed.