Shaping Our Fate

Chapter 8

The next morning I was woken up by someone shaking me.

I opened my eyes to see Leah leaning over my bed.

"Oh good, you're awake. Ames will be here to take you to training soon." Leah smiled down at me.

A groan escaped me and I pulled the blanket up to cover my face, causing Leah burst out laughing at me.

"Just get up." Leah turned and started making her cot.

I rolled off the cot, and pulled the blankets toward the pillow and smoothed out most of the wrinkles. Leah is very neat and likes to have her room clean. Since I am the newbie here, I decided it would be better to humor her. At least for now.

I tossed my pillow onto the top of my bed just as Ames stopped at our door.

"You ready yet?"

"Impatient as always I see. Just let me get dres... never mind I don't have any clothes to change into." I looked at my feet and said "If only you hadn't kidnapped me" under my breath.

"What did you expect me to do, calmly walk up to you and be like hey, you're a mimic like us! Come live with us on a farm!" He crossed his arms and took a few steps toward me.

"Well, that is basically what you did." I put my hands on my hips and shifted my weight onto one foot.

"You two need to just stop! Ames you promised me you would be civil!" Leah's voice was as serious as Mr. Parker's when the freshmen skipped most of the workout at practice.

I raised an eyebrow at Ames and smirked.

His glare was enough to set my hair on fire.

"Sorry Leah." Ames looked almost ashamed, I never thought I would see that.

"Sorry." I spoke as I pulled my hair up at the back of my head and then turned toward Ames, "I'm ready, let's just get this over with."

Ames nodded and smiled at Leah and smiled before heading back out through the door. I waved at Leah and then followed him.

When I caught up with Ames, he glanced at me but the kept walking without saying a word.

He lead me to the tack room, it had a wall covered with saddles, halters and saddle blankets. Another wall with hay and different feed for different animals. The wall with the door had all different tools that I would never know the names of. The last wall had lots of boxes labeled things like 'women's md.' and 'men's lg.'

"You can get some different changes of clothes here." Ames motioned towards the boxes and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I breathed out slowly and opened the women's md. I grabbed a few t-shirts and shorts, then changed into the cleanest pair. The mental note forming slowly that I ought to wash the rest.

Another glance around the room revealed a bin with plastic bags. I grabbed one and stuffed the rest of my new clothes in it.

I pulled the door open and spotted Ames leaning against the wall just past the door. He pulled a piece of hay apart slowly, and looked up slowly at the sound of the door creaking.

"Alright let's go," He said as he pushed himself off the wall and started walking away.

"Hey!" I exclaimed as he got ahead of me. "My legs aren't as long as yours, I can't walk that fast!"

He chuckled and slowed down enough that I could catch up.

"So, Stumpy, today I will teach you some basic hand to hand combat. You will need to know how to defend yourself even in your human form."

"Stumpy, really? Whatever, hand to hand combat sounds cool but now that the formalities are out of the way... you like Leah, you like Leah," I chanted.

"You are such a child," Ames sounded so exasperated.

"Firstly, you didn't even noticed I used formalities incorrectly. Secondly, I am a child and so are you. Actually, at least half the people here are!"

"Well, sorry I don't have enough time to go to school like you do." That seemed to really upset him. I wonder why.

I puffed out my cheeks and glanced around at the farm.

People were slopping the pigs, riding the horses out onto trails, riding horses around rings, and one person was giving a gray horse a bath. The suds dripped off his sides and he has his hoof cocked against the ground, relaxing. The cows grazed in their fields, two people were carrying buckets towards a well between one pasture and another. People milled around the picnic tables where we at last night, and some dogs, cats, and birds roamed the farm.

It is all very peaceful, if I wasn't worried about my family I could get used to this.

Ames led me to a shady spot under a tall maple tree. The grass was soft and still wet with dew.

"Alright, I'll start by showing you the basic stance."