The Scars On His Heart

Chapter 9 ~ Just Like Me

It had stopped raining by the evening and the sun was shining. It was still too early for dinner since lunch was just served. So wanting to take advantage of the nice weather I grabbed my backpack and made my way to the horses. I had taken it upon myself to help care for them since at the moment I couldn't help out much anywhere else. Kovu was having fun with the other ape children so I had let Maurice know where I was if he asked.

The area where the horses were at the moment was not too far from the colony. It was a small valley with plenty of trees for shade but, it also had plenty of open meadows to run around. I had been using the pond near it to bath or would just relax under the trees with the horses. It was my way of having some time to myself. Most of the apes were kind or seemed to not care if I was here but, I still felt alienated from them. They could do things a human couldn't do.

I couldn't climb as fast like the chimpanzees. Or swing as easily from tree to tree like the Orangutans. I had no great strength like the Gorillas. It made me feel useless most of the time.

I did help out with preparing food and helping cure pelts but, most of the time the skill and quality of the items I made were lacking. I was terrible at fishing. The only thing I seemed to be good with was taking care of the horses. They seemed to like me more than the apes. So in my free time, I took care of them.

I made my way slowly down the steep path to reach the bottom of the valley. Waving at a few of the guards they simply ignored me as I made my way to the horses.

One particular horse was very happy to see me as he spotted me. He raised his head from grazing and trotted towards me, his head and tail held high. When he reached me he blew in my face in hello waiting for me to pet him.

"Nice to see you too! " I laughed stroking his cheek at his excitement.

The other horses had finally noticed and started walking toward me for attention. I was soon surrounded by horses of all ages and colors. I took my time to great every horse though and scolded any who tried to bully the others away. Once I was done with that I made my way to the lake.

I wanted to wash my hair and body but was shy to be naked in front of the other apes. I didn't want a repeat of Koba eyeing me again. So I had decided to just soak my legs in since I was in a skirt loincloth thing. 

The horse that had first greeted me, which I had named Dark Knight since I didn't know if he had a name, followed me. I had named him that because he was the darkest and in the beginning the most introverted of the horses. It took me awhile to gain his trust and when I did he became very protective and jealous of any of the other horses. So I had decided to name him Dark Knight since he was like my silent bodyguard. 

Right now he was just looking at me wondering what I was doing. Deciding that he wanted to give me a bath he splashed into the water getting me wet from head to toe.

Sputtering and rubbing my face dry with my sleeve I glared at the stallion.

"Really Knight? Was that necessary?" I yelled as I felt embarrassed hearing the other apes hooting with laughter. Dark Knight didn't seem to care at my yelling as he tossed his wet hair at me and swam around the pond taunting me to join him.

Sighing I took off my wet hoodie and large t-shirt off. Leaving me in a tube like top I wore to sleep and my skirt. Setting my stuff aside I jumped into the pool making sure to splash the cheeky horse while I did it. He neighed trying to get away from me and so I chased him as fast as I could swim around.

When I reached him I pulled myself into his broad back holding on as much as possible without any reigns. This was the first time I had ever been on him. I was so short that it was difficult for me to get in any of the horses.