A/N: Toby is now 12 years old in this chapter!
Toby whistled as he walked down through the stable and out the doors. He stopped there and turned to look at the Companion's Field. He always stopped to look. Companions he loved. He would work here his entire life if no one and nothing stopped him.
Toby sighed. That was the problem. Deep down, down where he would never bring it to light, in the bottom of his heart, he wanted something to interfere with this job. There was only one other thing he dreamed of being. A Herald. He watched so many Companions go off to Choose and come back with a smiling boy or girl on their back, sometimes scared, sometimes nervous, sometimes confused, but they always knew they had the Companion for them. Toby had no one. He wanted, more then anything to be Chosen by one of those magnificent horse like beings. He loved their white coats, their shining eyes, and their spirit. And there was one Companion, one Companion that he dreaded and loved seeing come in. He loved it because Ryu was his favorite. Ryu the strong. Ryu the brilliant. Ryu the gentle-hearted. Ryu almost always had Toby feed him, and groom him. Now a full adult Companion he was absolutely stunning. He had a friesian look to him, with his slightly wavy mane, and unusually fluffy fetlocks. He was tall, and definitely in his prime now. Although Ryu never actually spoke to him, Toby didn't mind. Companions rarely spoke to any other human but their Chosen. But Toby spoke to Ryu. He told Ryu everything, except, his secret wish to be a Herald. You couldn't tell a Companion you wanted to be Chosen. That was worse then telling a girl you thought she was really, really, cool, not to mention cute.
He dreaded it though; he dreaded it every time Ryu came in. Because although he might just be interested in being groomed, or being fed, or just wanting to take an indoor nap, or even having his tack cleaned, there was always the chance that Ryu wanted to be tacked up to go Choose someone. And a Companion wouldn't ask a stable hand to tack them up then Choose them. That was just plain silly. But it hadn't happened yet; although he was having his tack cleaned an awful lot. It was funny, the way Companions got humans to know their wishes. You could sense it. A Companion would come up, look around for a stable hand, spy you and then you would just know what they wanted. They didn't speak to stable hands; no they only spoke to other Companions and their Chosen ones. Toby knew that well. All too often he walk by and see a Herald deep in conversation with their Companion. That always stung. For his conversations with Ryu, were always one sided and most likely always would be. Toby doubted he'd be seeing much of Ryu anymore. He was acting differently, and the tack cleaning was a sure sign. Ryu was getting ready to Choose. Every time he thought those thoughts it hurt Toby, although he would never let anyone know that or show it. Not that he really had anymore to share it with.
The Heralds and Herald Trainees never paid attention to the stable hands… much. Some of them said hello occasionally, but they never were out to make friends out of him. The only time people came to the Stable was to be with their Companions, for some reason or another, and that made them too busy to talk to stable hands. It was depressing.
And it wasn't like he was always at the stable either. He wandered around the City when he had time off. Usually he worked from about nine-three, except when he had foal watch, then they gave him the entire day off and he had the entire night to watch the expecting mare. Foal watches were his favorite, because somehow, he seemed to get the nights when the mares had their foals. Fifty percent of his foal watches, had foals in them. The sad thing was, twenty-five percent of his foal watches, the foals didn't survive the birthing, or were born dead.
Well, tonight he didn't have foal watch and it was just three o'clock now, and Toby was heading out. He couldn't see any Companions in the visible part of the field now; they were all farther off. The field was huge. If you weren't riding it would take quite some time to walk the full of it.
He wasn't going anywhere in particular, just walking around. He headed up to the main road to the Palace, and more specifically, the Herald Collegium. He stopped suddenly. Rolan was back. He was walking up the street now, carrying a young girl in brown clothing on his back. She looked scared. And confused. Toby smiled slightly. Rolan was a great Companion. The girl, whoever she was, would be happy with Rolan. She got to be Queen's Own. Toby didn't think she looked much like one now, but Herald Training and Rolan would change that.
Toby smiled wryly. He had been the one who tacked up Rolan and sent him off. He hadn't really thought Rolan would Choose him, especially since he was looking for a Queen's Own.
Shrugging he decided to go up to the Herald Collegium and see if he could find out any more on Rolan's Chosen. He walked up the road, looking at his soft, worn boots, now covered in a bit of manure as he thought about the day. It had been basic. He brushed Ryu, brushed a few other Companions, including Leiko, Ryu's mother. One Companion, Toby believed her name was Roxanne, he tacked up to go Choose. He wondered when she would be back, and who she had Chosen. It wasn't really his business, but Toby, after knowing these Companions somewhat, was curious to see what kind of person they had Chosen.
Suddenly a person running down the streets, dressed as a Messenger, ran smack into him. Toby fell backwards and landed with a gasp of air leaving his lungs. The messenger landed next to him, and quickly got back to his feet, helping Toby back up.
"Sorry," he said, and leaned down to pick up some scrolls, "I didn't see you there."
He looked carefully at Toby with scrutinizing brown eyes, tucking the scrolls under his arm, and rubbing his elbows, which he had landed on.
"Do I know you?" he asked carefully.
"Probably. I work at the Companion's Stable and Field," Toby replied, looking at his feet, embarrassed.
The boy left in a hurry after nodding to Toby. People did that a lot. Ran into him, that is. It seemed that Toby just seemed to blend in. He was constantly being bumped, and once someone even sat on him. That was one of the most embarrassing parts of his entire life. And what made it even worse, was the fact that almost everyone knew who he was in an offhand sort of way. They recognized him, but just faintly because most people, especially the Heralds, saw him walking about at the Field and Stable, and other places too. It would have been really annoying had it not been going on ever since he came to the Stable and Field.
After that Toby was careful to make sure no one bumped into him. But someone did. Or at least, tried to by grabbing his arm as he walked past. Toby looked up to see a smiling face and white clothing. Herald Dirk.
"Ah, Toby. You're off duty?" the Herald asked.
Toby grinned. Herald Dirk was one of the nicest Heralds he knew. He actually took the time to find out Toby's name and who he was.
"Yeah, um, do you know who Rolan chose?" he asked, suddenly nervous. He was never comfortable talking to people, animals suited him much better, they actually noticed him.
"One of the Holderkin. Her name is Talia," Dirk replied, "that's all I know."
"Thanks," Toby said then added, "did you want me for something?"
"No, I just wanted to make sure that was you," Dirk said with a nod, "You're very hard to find for some reason."
Toby smiled shakily and shrugged, "I'm usually at the Stable."
"I know. I'm just heading there now. See you there I suppose," and with that Dirk left.
Toby sighed and stopped, looking up at the Herald Collegium. Someday, someday, he hoped he would be the one riding up there, getting his greys, and joining all the other Trainees. But that was just a dream. If he was going to be Chosen, he probably would have been Chosen by now, since he knew most of the Companions in the Field well enough.
With those depressing thoughts trudged over to the Gardens and sat down on a bench, looking at the sky and wondering where his life was going. It certainly didn't seem to going anywhere now. Was he destined to be at stable hand his entire life? It was a scary thought. Toby loved the work he did, but it really wasn't a job one wanted to make a career. He wanted to go out there, and do something. He wanted action, he wanted adventure. Sighing he watched a hawk soar past him, high, high above...