Temperamental

Chapter 4

Roan had been surviving.

He would not consider it living comfortably but all his basic needs had been met. Water- there was the pond and waterfall. Food- the plant life that grew in the forest seemed to be on steroids, especially around the pond where he got his water from. Security- for some strange reason predators were scared of him.

Roan had desperately tried to interact with his fellow herbivores. But herbivores aware naturally timid. He then tried to interact with the predators. His logic was that even if it was only fighting, at least it would be a form of entertainment. However no matter what animal he approached- whether he knew what it was or not- hid away from him.

He tolerated this lifestyle for an entire year. During that time he had undergone even more transformation. His hooves, which has originally been the same as a typical horses hooves, split into cloves. Roan briefly wondered if the unicorn was part goat or deer for it to have cloven feet but then dismissed the idea as no other changes had occurred. Also it should be impossible for different species to conceive fertile young and Roan refused to scare himself over the possibility that he might be infertile.

Roan listlessly survived and it wasn't until he heard familiar nickers that he realized he had lived in this world for little over two years. Roan decided that he couldn't stay in the cave behind the waterfall. He was lonely and not even the horned rabbits would keep him company. He also felt that his previous herd was a sore reminder about how much of an outcast he really was. So for the first time on his own he stepped past the safety of what he knew.

Despite exploring, Roan had never left the area where he could hear the waterfall. Doing this allowed Roan to realize just how amazing a horse's hearing was. He could move his ears around and focus on the sounds from a specific direction and could listen to just about anything in a one hundred and eighty degrees from the front of his head.

Although Roan had decided to truly enter the depths of the forest, he committed himself to following the stream. Roan knew the difficulties of searching out water sources and so decided to always keep the stream nearby as a safety precaution. This would also prevent him from getting too lost within the forest. It was easy for Roan to trek through the forest. This was because the dominant tree species were coniferous pine trees which did not give much opportunity to the shrubs and bushes.

Roan pushed onwards, his path was set to go upstream. He eventually left the area that he was familiar with. The boundary between where he had explored and new territory was defined by a large boulder. Roan hesitated briefly. Passed the boulder was the unknown while to stay before the boulder was the safety of monotony. Roan had been here before. He had hesitated before, and he couldn't help but continue hesitating.

Roan had never been ambitious. He had been easily satisfied so long as he could eat, sleep and draw. While he could no longer draw, he could still eat and sleep. He may have been bored but he never felt the need for purpose.

It was a familiar nicker that pushed him past the boundary. The nicker from the mother that brought him into this world. Roan knew that horses experienced love differently to humans. The perlino mare loved Roan in the way that horses loved each other. He didn't doubt the emotion was there, however he could tell that it was different to the sticky attachment that a parent child bond between humans enjoyed.

The difference was that she could let him go easier.

However Roan was a human soul. He wanted the messy and clingy type of love. He knew it would hurt if he stayed. His horse mother could only love him in the selfless and rejecting way no matter how much more he tried to seek out of the bond. And so Roan finally broke through the last restraint keeping him closer to the forest edge.