A/N: I really need to thank Fauna Greywolf for helping me write this chapter because I was struggling to get it written early on. Thanks Fauna, I owe you.
Also sorry for the long delay, I have no excuse but I finally force myself to finish this and post it hope you like what I have here.
Chapter 2: Discoveries
On an old farm, that had been well cared for through the years, a mare of equal age and stature was awake late at night. Her unborn foal had roused her from an otherwise peaceful sleep, so she stood, looking out towards the farm house from her stall. Long ago the stable had been filled with the sounds of her herd mates. Now her stall was the only one still occupied. The other horses had gone, sold to greener pastures where they could work or be ridden, until only the old mare was left with what would soon be her last foal.
The night was quiet and the young man who owned the farm, Travis, was up late as well. He sipped from a mug of coffee as he glanced out the window towards the barn. He ran a hand through his short brown hair to wipe the frosted morning dew from it then rubbed his hazel eyes to clear the sleep from them. At least he was in decent shape for his age, years of farm chores had seen to that.
“Any day now,” he said.
Travis finished his coffee and set the mug on the deck railing before heading out to the barn. He shivered slightly in the early spring chill and looked up at the clear night sky. A shooting star shot across the dark expanse and he smiled. “Might as well make a wish… I wish… this last foal will be special.” This whole pregnancy had him worried. Duchess had once been the crown jewel of his father’s farm and had given him many champion foals. Now she was in the twilight of her years and as some would say too old to be having foals still. But he felt he had to give her one last one. It was what his dad would have wanted. He waited for a moment, watching the stars, and then continued to the barn.
When Travis got to the barn he found the mare shuffling around uncomfortably. Concerned, he moved around to her front. “Duchess, is it time?” he asked. While she couldn’t speak, Travis got the hint from her actions that it was. “Alright, let’s see if I remember how to do this.”
Two hours later, Travis sat back on the barn stool and watched the newborn foal feeding from his mother. The little guy had made a smooth entrance into the world and had gotten to his feet in a good amount of time, filling the farmer with relief.
Travis smiled, “He’s healthy at least." Hearing this strange voice the foal stopped nursing and looked at him. In the next instance his nose crinkled and he let out a squeaky sneeze. Laughing Travis shook his head "I’ll give you two some privacy, Duchess.” Getting up he patted the old girl’s neck "You did good ol' gal. You did real good." Travis headed back to the house, had a quick shower and hauled himself to bed, where he fell asleep almost instantly.
Out in the barn, Duchess and her newborn foal had fallen asleep as well. In years past Duchess would have tried to convince the farmer to let her and her foal out, but for now she was too tired. As she and her foal slept, the foal was engulfed in a bright white light; when it faded the foal had changed. Oblivious to his change, he curled up into himself and stayed asleep.
~~~
The first thing on Travis’ mind the next morning was to check on Duchess and her new foal. He quickly dressed, grabbed an apple out of his fruit bowl and began munching on it as he headed for the barn. He dropped the apple’s core on the grass outside before he headed for Duchess’ stall. He peer over the edge and smiled when he saw Duchess still sleeping soundly. His gaze lowered to the purple foal sleeping next to his mother.
Any remaining grogginess from rising so early in the morning evaporated in that instant. Travis had to take a few step back, almost falling to the ground as his legs wobbled half from surprise and half from exhaustion. The creature lying on the ground next to Duchess didn’t look like the foal he helped deliver the previous night instead it looked like a cross between a horse and a baby human. He had purple fur, a multicolored mane and tail, and a small purple heart on the tip of his small white muzzle.
Duchess finally stirred, yawned and blinked away her drowsiness. When she looked down at her foal her eyes went wide and she shook her head, as if she were hallucinating. Confused and worried she looked up at Travis, her eye’s pleading with him for an explanation.
The humanlike foal stirred, sat up, yawned then stared up at first his mother then Travis. Travis just stared back in silence. The silence was finally broken when Duchess whinnied, which snapped Travis out of his stupor.
He looked up at Duchess and she looked back. “Is that your son, old girl?” Duchess snorted. “OK, I believe you,” Travis nodded then looked back at the foal, “What happened to him?” He put a hand to his head. “I need to call a vet, or would I need a doctor now?”
While Travis was contemplating his next action the foal started to cry, an astoundingly human sounding cry. Duchess nuzzled her son to quiet him down and then looked back up at Travis, who would swear she was glaring at him. “Sorry. I still need to call a vet.” He looked back at Duchess, “I promise, no one else will know, I’m not letting them take your last foal away.”
~~~
Dr. Harsk, the veterinarian, stepped out of Duchess’ stall. “When you said you had a unique case with Duchess’ foal this wasn’t quite what I was expecting.”
“I didn’t know who else I could call,” Travis said, “So what can you tell me?”
“That’s… a bit hard to explain, at least without a more invasive procedure, but… he’s mostly human,” Dr. Harsk said.
“Human?”
“Yes, at least as far as I can tell at the moment. The shape of his eyes, his tongue, the way his body has been built for bipedal movement it looks like he is more human than horse.” Dr. Harsk packed up his tools, “It might be better to get a pediatrician to look him over, or take him into a hospital.”
“I can’t do that,” Travis shook his head, “I don’t want even want to imagine what might happen, and I won’t let anyone take him away!”
“Calm down,” Dr. Harsk said. “I can recommend someone reliable if you want but he’s healthy as far as I can tell. What are you going to do?”
Travis took a deep breath, held I for a moment, then sighed, “I… don’t know.”
“Well then, I’ll leave it up to you. Let me know if Duchess needs any help.”
Once Dr. Harsk was outside the barn, Travis jogged up to him, “Dr. wait a sec!” he called.
“Was there something else?” Dr Harsk asked, raising and eyebrow.
“It’s Duchess, she’s been acting odd since she gave birth. More than mother horses usually do I mean,” Travis said.
“What do you mean exactly?”
“It’s as though she can understand what I’m saying now,” Travis grasped at how to describe it. “I know horses are smarter than most people think but now when I talk it’s like she’s listening to every word I say, it’s eerie.”
“Considering what happened to her foal that’s not exactly surprising. Whatever changed him might have had a similar effect on her,” Dr. Harsk said. “If there’s nothing else I need to go.”
Travis nodded and watched as the veterinarian drove off. He sighed and headed back to the barn.
Travis leaned over the stall door. The foal had fallen asleep after his checkup and Duchess stood over him. The mare looked up at Travis who looked back, then down at the foal.
“So now what?” he asked aloud, “I guess he needs a name. What do you think of Prince?”
Duchess snorted and glared at Travis.
“OK… how about… Joel?”
Duchess appeared to raise an eyebrow at Travis.
“If you have any suggestions I’m willing to listen,” Travis retorted.
Duchess sighed and then nodded.
Travis smiled, “Joel it is.”
~~~
From that day on, Travis made sure to visit Duchess and Joel every day. Despite the foal’s odd appearance he seemed to be in good health and Travis had taken it upon himself to bottle feed Joel, as Duchess was having difficulty keeping him fed.
One month later, Travis finished Joel’s morning feeding and got up, same as any other day but once he left the stall Joel kept staring at the closed door. The purple foal stood up, walked over to the stall door, stood on his tip toes and undid the latch. Duchess was still asleep and didn’t notice as her foal carefully slipped out and followed Travis back to the house.
Travis stepped into his house and rinsed out the feeding bottle. Behind him he heard a tap on his door and he froze. He turned around slowly and gaped when he saw Joel standing at the door, his hand pressed up against the glass.
Travis opened the door, stepped back outside, and crouched down in front of Joel. “Did you follow me here?” he asked. He looked at the red building then back to Joel, who put his hands on Travis’ knee.
Travis carefully picked the foal up and held him in his arms, “Do you want to come in?” he asked. Joel nodded. “OK, just for a bit. Don’t want your mom to worry about you.” He opened the door and re-entered the house with Joel in his arms.
Travis set Joel down in the living room and watched him. Joel just sat on the floor and stared back at Travis for a minute then stood up and began to walk around the room.
“I guess only having two legs doesn’t slow a foal down,” Travis said. He laughed as Joel picked up a kazoo from the coffee table and blew into the small end. Joel looked at the plastic instrument, shook it, and then dropped back on the coffee table. Travis stood up and followed Joel into the kitchen, keeping careful eye on the foal and steering him away from anything dangerous.
After two hours following Travis around the house, Joel yawned at sat down on the floor. “We should get you home, before Duchess starts to worry.” Joel just nodded as Travis lifted him into his arms and carried him back to the barn.
Duchess was standing with her head over the edge of the open stall when Travis returned. She glared at her foal. Joel clung to Travis’ shirt but Travis easily pried his hands free and set him down.
“Go on,” he nudged the foal forwards. Duchess kept her glare fixed on her son as he dragged his feet back into the stall.
Joel wilted under Duchess’ stare. “Sowwy mommy.”
Travis’ jaw dropped. “Did you just talk?”
“Sowwy daddy,” Joel said, scuffing the dirt with one of his hooves.
Duchess was also staring at her son, slack jawed much like Travis. Travis put a hand to his forehead. He had to be hearing things right? Yes, it was real. The odd little foal had just spoken. Joel stared up and his “mommy” and “daddy” as they stared back at him.
It was a full minute before Travis broke the silence, “I’m heading back inside, take care.”
Travis was deep in thought for the rest of the day, carefully considering what he would do with this new development. Joel was clearly intelligent, not that that was ever in doubt, but the fact that he spoke meant he was learning and had grown up quickly in the last month. He wasn’t sure how it worked for horses but if he were human he wouldn’t be speaking for almost a year, well normally he wouldn’t but this was far from normal.
“I think my old textbook was here.” He dug through the old bookcase in his dad’s old room. “I just hope he doesn’t call me ‘daddy’ if anyone sees him. Last thing I want people to think,” Travis shuddered then shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that right now.
~~~
Over the next week Travis went through his old school textbooks. From the notes he took, and memories of his own elementary school days, he was able to assemble a rough lesson plan he hoped wouldn’t be too difficult for Joel to understand. After proofreading his work, Travis headed out to the barn.
“You heard Joel speak yesterday too, so I wanted to try and teach him.” Travis waited for Duchess to give a sign that she was listening. She gave him a look that told him to keep talking. “I found the old textbooks from school that my dad saved for me from school so I thought I could teach him how to read, write, do math and stuff.” Duchess stared back at him impassively. “If you still want him to sleep out here that’s fine, I mean just…” he trailed off as Duchess made a motion, tapping the latch on the stall with his muzzle then looking back at Travis, and flicking her muzzle upwards once then staring at Travis again.
Travis blinked a few times, “You want to be able to roam around whenever you want?”
Duchess nodded.
Travis sighed and put a hand to his head. “A few months ago I would have been crazy to let you do that but now…” He looked her over, staring back at her eyes which were full of human-like understanding, “Considering how you’ve behaved like over the last month I guess I can trust you to stay nearby. But you can’t fit in the house.”
Duchess rolled her eyes and snorted then motioned to the latch with her muzzle again.
Travis groaned, “Alright fine, you win, Duchess. Just be happy almost no one comes out here and keep watch for other people, can’t let them find out about Joel just yet.” Travis reached for the latch but Duchess beat him to it, using her muzzle to expertly flip the wooden bar up and over, unlocking the gate.
Travis gaped, “You mean you could do that all along? Or just this last month?” Duchess gave him a smirk. Travis stared for a moment then laughed. “Heheh, alright you’ve made your point.”
Travis stepped into the pen and knelt down to where Joel was napping. He gently shook the foal awake and waited until Joel sat up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and stared up at him.
“Good morning Joel,” Travis whispered.
“Mo-nin daddy,” Joel mumbled.
“Joel, do you want to come to the house with me?” Travis asked. Joel nodded. Travis smiled and offered his hand to the foal, who grasped it tightly as Travis pulled him to his feet.
Joel practically clung to Travis’ leg on the walk back to the farmhouse, so much that Travis had to stop occasionally to make sure he wasn’t accidentally hitting him. Joel almost tripped over the floor as he stepped into the farmhouse, which still held wonder for him. Travis shut the door behind him and headed for the living room, with Joel following behind him.
“Now Joel, I do have another reason for bring you here. I want to start teaching you some things.” Travis set the papers he’d made up on the coffee table, “there’s a big world out there and you should be ready for it. I don’t know everything but I can help you be ready for what’s out there.”
Joel just stared at Travis then nodded, not quite understanding. “Okay.”
“Sorry if this gets a bit dull, but I’ve never done this before,” Travis sat down and began…
~~~
Teaching Joel was far from easy, and at first Joel struggled with the text on the pages. For the first couple weeks he just squinted and tried to sound out the words on the pages in front of him but slowly, he made progress.
After a month, Joel was finished with the board books and was learning to write. His somewhat stubby and wide fingers didn’t seem to impede him as much as Travis was afraid it would.
As spring finally ran into summer, Travis decided it was time to offer Joel a place to sleep in the house, after a short discussion with Duchess of course. Joel was a bit apprehensive but he agreed, as long as he could visit his mom every day, which he did, and Joel was set up in Travis’ old room from when he was a child.
For her part, Duchess was happier with the increased freedom she now had. Though wandering around the now deserted farm was eerily quiet she made the most of it and returned to her stall when night fell.
Once Joel had a basic handle on reading, writing and math he took off like a flash, easily tearing through all of Travis’ old workbooks in little more than sixth months. Joel was growing fast too; by the end of those six months he was more than half of Travis’ height, though finding clothes that fit the foal was still beyond Travis’ ability and he was too afraid to take the foal into town to get clothes tailored for him.
~~~
One year later. On one day that Joel was given time off from his studies, Travis decided to dig out an old guitar from his attic. After telling Joel he would be going into town for a couple hours, and to stay with Duchess, Travis departed to get his old instrument repaired and tuned.
Joel sat on a hay bale in the stall where he had been born and kicked his legs while looking up at his mother.
“Hi mom, was winter hard for you?” he asked.
Duchess nodded.
Joel frowned, “Sorry mom, I wish you could spend winter in the farm house, and I wish I could come out and see you but I don’t have any winter clothes and it’s too cold for me.”
Duchess just nodded again then reached down to nuzzle her son. Joel hugged her muzzle, “I wish you were more like me so you could live in the house with me and dad.” He didn’t let go.
Travis returned a little over two hours later and as he stepped out of his car holding his guitar case and a reusable shopping bag. He took a deep breath of the country air before he called out.
“Joel! I’m home!”
Joel awoke from his trance and stood up. “I’ll see you later mom,” he gave Duchess a kiss on her nose and left the stall to meet Travis. Duchess watched him go, her head resting on the stall door, then sighed and lay down for a nap.
Travis stood by his car until he saw Joel jogging towards him. Once he was close enough, Travis held up his guitar case, “I have a present for you, Joel.”
Joel slowed to a walk and looked at the black guitar case, “What is it?” he asked.
Travis smiled then began walking towards the house with Joel following close behind, “Something my father gave me when I was younger.”
Joel sat down on the couch next to Travis as he set a guitar tuner on the table, undid the latches on the case and lifted out the guitar. Joel stared at the varnished reddish wooden instrument as Travis lifted it up carefully and tested each of the six copper and zinc strings, making minute adjustments to the tuning keys until he was satisfied.
“My dad bought this for me. It cost a fair bit but I took guitar lessons and I enjoyed them. I might have done more if I didn’t have to help around the farm so much.” He smiled and blinked away a tear, “This thing is still good after almost a decade in the attic, it didn’t take as long to fix it as I thought it would.” He carefully passed the instrument to Joel, who was carefully took it into his hands. The guitar was a bit big for him. Travis smiled, seeing himself in Joel’s place the first time he’d held the instrument many years ago.
Joel touched the strings carefully for a moment then looked up at Travis. “What am I supposed to do, dad?”
Travis chuckled, “I’m going to teach you how to play the guitar. You don’t have to but I think you should have some sort of creative outlet.” Travis reached into his shopping bag and pulled out a beginner’s guitar lesson book, “I still mostly remember how to play but this should make things easier. I’ll teach you something new every Saturday and you can practise every day after regular lessons.” He passed a guitar pick to Joel, “Use this. It’ll make it a bit easier on your fingers.”
Joel took the pick carefully between his fingers and plucked the guitar’s strings a few times, getting a feel for the instrument. Travis smiled as he picked out the first of the lesson books, “Let’s begin, shall we?”
~~~
Joel took to music like nothing else. At first he was content to learn one new lesson per week and spent most of his free time practising. After a month, however, he started trying new lessons every three days, and his skill with the guitar picked up speed; he even figured out how to tune the guitar with Travis’ help and it wasn’t long before he figured out how to tune the instrument to his liking on his own.
It wasn’t quite perfect. Travis had to remind Joel a few times to do his school work when his practise sessions went on too long and they argued about what Joel needed to spend more time on. Joel began to sneak out to play what he’d learned for Duchess and get in practise. Travis caught on quickly but never objected directly, settling instead for keeping Joel on task during his lessons.
~~~
Three years later…
Joel stood on the house’s front porch, trying to stare through the darkness at the woods she knew were there, just a few kilometers away but hidden by the darkness before dawn. He took a breath, sighed and then took a careful drink from his coffee mug. He was fully grown now, a little over four feet tall and much stronger than he used to be.
Duchess was still alive, healthy, and running around daily which was a miracle at her age. Whatever had changed Joel when he was born had helped her keep going for so long; she didn’t appear to have aged a day.
“You’re up early,” Travis said as he emerged onto the porch.
Joel smiled, “I wanted to see the sunrise.”
Travis chuckled, “I couldn’t pay you to get up before sunrise any other day of summer, so why today?”
Joel finished off his coffee then set the mug on the railing. “A dream woke me up.”
Travis leaned over and gave Joel a worried look, “A nightmare?”
Joel shook his head then stared down at the railing, “No, not exactly. Some parts of it were scary but… it felt like it was trying to lead me somewhere.” As the sun finally broke over the horizon Joel looked out towards the now visible forest in the distance, raised his right arm and pointed at the forest. “I feel that, it’s trying to lead me there.”
Travis’ eyes widened, “What? Out there?”
Joel nodded as he kept staring at the forest. “Don’t ask me how I know, I just do. I have to go, I just…” Joel turned to his father, who had his mouth hanging open. “Dad, please… I have to do this.”
Travis wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth then sighed. “I need to think about this Joel. Just promise me you won’t leave without telling me or Duchess.”
Joel nodded, “I promise.”
“Good.” Travis nodded then re-entered the house. He sat on the couch and picked up the book he’d left on the side table. After half an hour of trying to read, Travis set the book down and groaned, putting a hand to his face and leaning backwards on the couch.
~~~
“What do I tell him?” Travis asked Duchess while sitting on a stool in her stall. “He’s been doing this for a week now, up at the crack of dawn every morning to stare at that forest. I’m scared that if I tell him no he’s eventually just going to disappear one morning and I’ll never see him again or worse, that he won’t and he’ll start hating me.”
Duchess nodded then looked out the barn door to where she could see her son, still standing on the front porch, staring out at the forest as he had every morning that week. After a few minutes of silence, Travis spoke again.
“I guess… if he feels he has to go then I should at least do what I can to help,” Travis stood up and headed back to the house. “Joel, come in. We need to pack,” Joel said.
“Dad?” Joel’s eyes, hooded in the early morning light, opened wide as his father passed. “Pack for what?”
“For you,” Travis said. He disappeared into the storage room and exited with a backpack. “I don’t know how long you’ll have to travel but I’ll do what I can to help you.”
Joel gave Travis a quick hug, “Thanks dad,” before he moved to grab what he considered essential for travel.
~~~
An hour later, Travis’ car pulled over at the edge of the forest and both he and Joel stepped out. Joel wore a hiking pack overstuffed with food and clothes; he stumbled slightly before he gained his balance. He stared at the dim sun-dappled floor of the forest and took a deep breath.
“Well, here I am,” Joel said. He stood there for a few minutes before his father tapped him on the shoulder.
“Nervous?” he asked. Joel could only manage a nod. “I understand,” Travis went around behind the car, opened the trunk, and pulled out a guitar case. “Here, you should have this.”
“Dad, your guitar?” Joel stared, open mouthed as he received the slightly too big for him guitar case.
“I never really used it and you’ve taken to your lessons like a duck to water. If nothing else keep it to remember me by.” Travis said.
Joel stared at the case in his arms, tears welling in his eyes before he finally set it down. “Dad!” he flung himself at his father and grasped him in a tight hug. “Thank you! Thank you for everything!”
“You’re welcome. I love you son and I’ll miss you.” Joel and Travis held each other for a time, “If you ever feel scared, or change your mind. You can always come home. Right now if you want,” Travis said before he finally released him.
“Daaad…” Joel said, “Thank you.” Joel quickly picked up the guitar case and walked into the forest, fear that if he lingered even a moment longer he wouldn’t have been able to leave.
Travis watched his son disappearing into the trees for a few minutes. He wanted to stop him, to chase Joel down and drag him back home but something held him back. He couldn’t explain it but he just knew his son had to do this. He sighed, got back into his car, and drove home.
