Chapter 3

Two weeks later, I rode Twilight Queen with Amy riding pillion, out of the city we were born in and had lived in all our life. We were traveling with a group of wagoner's that made this trip twice a year and would be stopping at Blue Lake. They were not too happy with Twilight Queen because she was so big she would be easy to spot by thieves. However, they had some work from Mr. Blake's stable so the story came out, and a Mr. Green came to see us a lot over the trip he would even have supper with us at times, helped with saddle sores, and even helped keep us in a good mood. He even noticed how I tended to stay quiet and away from everyone. I am a loner and tend to stray away from people even my family at times.

He came to me one day and asks, "So you are a loner, right?" I look at him I might as well tell him the truth. "Yes, I am a loner. I do not talk much and tend to sit away from others. I do eat and talk with my family but they know I prefer to be alone at times." He looks like he understands this. "I am a loner to. I tend to be alone except when there are people that do not know how to tend for themselves. See I am called the nursemaid I take care of those people. Your family is fast a learning the ways that I do not have to be a nursemaid but I do like to have company at times and they remind me of my family, my six older sisters that is, I am the only son out of seven children. That is why I am told I am lucky to have been born a boy. My Father wanted a son so much that my mother kept having kids to try and give him a son," said Mr. Green.

Wow, he had six sisters and I thought I had it bad being to only boy of four. "So why are you sitting out here on our own?" said Mr. Green. I might as well tell him the truth. "Well it is like this see I am quiet and I know if I am quiet around my family they might think I am sad. Well I am not sad I am glad see I wanted to move I disliked the city to many people. I had been looking for a place with an interesting history, strange legions, or just stories. Blue Lake has some interesting stories. A forest that looks to be over a hundred years old but is only forty years old, I have not yet found out how that could be but it is true I have heard it from several different people. I wish I could find out how in a night a huge forest could appear. I have heard some stories saying it was a spell on a family that lived in a rich estate. I do not if that is what happened." He looked shocked that I knew so much or that I talked so much or maybe my interest in the strange. "You have heard the stories and yet you are not scared of Blue Lake forest stories? You still are willing to move to Blue Lake?" wow he is shocked that I am not scared of stories?

"Well their only stories right and stories cannot hurt you." I really wish I could find out why he is scared. "Josh, when we reach Blue Lake I want to introduce you to one of my brother-in-laws. He can tell you the full story of the forest, because it is the story of his family. He might even hire you to work at his store, only his sons will work for him because of the very story you know only bits of and he knows the full story." and with that Mr. Green walked away. So there is someone that knows the full story. I cannot wait until we get to Blue Lake. So that I can meet him and find out the full story, I have been trying to get since I heard just a part of it, see one story says that a princess was put under a spell that morphed her into a beast. She was supposed to be beautiful, kind, gentle, and loving. She helped the poor, famers, even servants at times. So I have no idea why she was changed into a beast. "Josh something is making Twilight Queen jumpy can you check on her?" called Lucas. "Sure, she might just hear something in the bushes again." I call back to him. Twilight Queen does not like owls, frogs, or even cats, put a dog next to her and she is good.

I get to her and find a fox playing with Twilight Queen's tail and she seems to like the fox but not when it gets a hold of her tail. "Hey there little fox what are you doing next to my friend?" I ask to fox and it looks at me, comes to me, and plays with my pants leg. "Well now you are friendly now run on a long and be good," I turn a head to back to the campfire and I notice that the fox is coming with me right to the fire. "Looks like you have a shadow Josh," laughed Lucas. "I know that fox it lives not too far from Blue Lake if we are seeing her then we will reach Blue Lake by tomorrow around noon. Well, I might warn you that fox might follow you all the way to Blue Lake maybe even to your new home as well," and with a chuckle Mr. Green walked away.

And he was right we arrived in Blue Lake the next day around noon, and the fox did follow us to town and even rode in the wagon with Father, Maria, Alanna, and Lucas. Lucas found his aunt and left with her oldest son to his new home. Mr. Green went off to see his family but promised to find us and help us move our stuff into our new home. Lucas's aunt decided to help us find our way to our new home and even told us that her oldest had been going up to it to clean every day so that it would be clean and fresh for us when we moved in. She asked questions about the city and even tried to get me to come and meet her oldest girl. "She is about your age; she is 17 all most of marring age and has found no one here. You are not the best looking but you will do see she wants to move to the city and you can give her that. You will no doubt be moving back in a few years what with you being from there and all. So the two of you marry and when you move back she goes to, it is a win-win for everyone," said Mrs. Cross. She rode a small pony even tough Father offered her a spot in the wagon she refused.

Now she is trying to get me to marry her daughter! I do not know her or her daughter and they do not know me, she should get to know someone before trying to marry off her daughter. "Mrs. Cross, I do not plan on moving back to the city. I did not fit in with the young men my age there, nor did I find the life the life for me. I do not know why you wish to marry your daughter to a stranger either. However, maybe someone who is not happy here will move to the city and marry her before moving, but know this few men that live in the city ever stay true to their wives. My Father was one of the few men in the city that did stay true even after Mother died, few would do that and that is why I am glad to be out of the city maybe I will fit in here." I can see the shock on her face after I said this. "Well that is not what I thought of the city men. So, what is the name of your little pony," she asked.

"Twilight Queen, Mrs. Cross. She was a gift from a friend of mine that breeds horses. Her mother died in birth he said that she might live if someone had the time to bottle-feed her, so I did. She lived and I named her Twilight Queen because will she looked like a queen and was born at twilight." Again, with the shocked face I guess that I will not find any one here to marry just as I could not find someone in the city to marry. "Her name is Twilight Queen, that is a name for a king's horse," she said. Well I now know that Twilight Queen will not get many people to like me here unlike in the city where they thought it meant I was a prince.

We arrived at our new home and I cannot help but like it. The house is not as big as our old home in the city but big enough for the five of us. It looked like it was well built and not to much the worse for wear as it had not been lived in for might near ten years. I can see that there is an apple grove, a stable, remains of an old garden, and another little building that I did not know if it was a shed or chicken pin. I even saw three people standing at the edge of the forest as we approached the house I saw one place a bundle of roses near the forest edge. When we got close to them, I realized that one of them was Mr. Green. I did not expect to see him this soon. When they realized that they were not alone then did, they stop talking to each other and turned to greet us. "Hello again I did not think I would see all of you again this soon. Is this the house you bought?" asked Mr. Green.

"Yes it is and it is nice to see you again Mr. Green. Who is with you?" asked Father. "This is my second brother-in-law Mr. Beast and his oldest son Mark. We come here every year on this day to place roses on the edge of the forest in honor of his aunt's birthday," said Mr. Green. "Mr. Beast, I am shocked that you would even think of your aunt. She should not even be mentioned here, and do not go telling her story to these good people. They just moved here and do not need to hear what your aunt brought on herself," said an angry Mrs. Cross. "That is not very polite Mrs. Cross. It is his aunt after all and he should honor his family," said Father, who sounds like he is getting angry about her attitude. "Well I will not stay here were I am not welcomed. Nice meeting all of you and your son better stay away from my daughter," said a very angry Mrs. Cross. "I hope you did not wish to actually marry her daughter Josh, because I will not approve of it after what she just said," said a stunned Father. "Do not worry Father, I did not wish to marry her, if her mother is trying to marry her to strangers. Then there might be a reason for her to be doing that, and I do not want to find out." I really do not want to find out but I am wondering why her mother is like this, and why did she get mad at Mr. Beast for talking about his aunt.