As Anne and Paul arrived at madame Illusia's compound after another day of traveling they discovered that madame Illusia was in the process of moving her whole carnival.
As soon as Anne saw this she said: This is perfect for you, well,sort of. On the one hand you're probably going to have hooves for the rest of your life, but on the other hand you might be able to get a job pulling one of her carts to where ever she is going next.
Paul whinnied happily and started to make his way to the main tent that was being disassembled.
As he got there he was greeted by one of the employees: Hi there, if you're looking for madame Illusia she is in the next cart.
After they had learned this they made their way to the next cart.
When Paul got there he saw a fairly small cart that looked like a home which could be pulled by an animal.
The earth was wet as it had just rained and other horses had a hard time getting grip on the mud that was sliding under their hooves. On the other hand Paul had an excellent grip due to the fact that he was heavier than the other horses and the fact that he was shoed as well so he waisted no time in stopping right in front of madame Illusia's cart without skidding at all.
When madame Illusia heard this she opened her door making all sorts of hanging objects ring above her head,and said:
Who are you and what business do you have with me?
My name is Anne and this is Paul,do you remember him?
Ah, oh yes Paul, were you able to help your family with the land?
As Madame Illusia asked this Anne said:
Yes he was, he worked very hard and was able to get his family through that though period of time,but now he's looking for something to do.
Well I assume you want me to turn you back right?
No, no, on the contrary he wants to work for you. When he finished helping his family instead of coming to you to turn him back he decided to embrace his hooves and shoe them to be more efficient.
Ah, I see, well I normally don't turn people back anyway, but in your case, you have horseshoes on your hooves and that impedes me from transforming you back without tearing apart your hands and feet. So, you have sealed your transformation by yourself, the likelyhood of you ever being a human again is very small. My senses tell me that the steel that your horseshoes are made out of is very hard, and nobody will pay to have good horseshoes removed from a horse.
Well in spite of this I'm still looking for a horse to pull my wagon anyway, natural born or transformed, but I wouldn't mind to have an intelligent soul that has well and truly accepted his new place in life pull my wagon.
Paul happily whinnied at her suggestion.
Well I'll take that as a yes!
Anne was very happy for Paul but very soon she realised she'll be left alone in the middle of nowhere if she doesn't say anything.
Ahm, madame Illusia, do you have anything to do for me? being stranded here is not on my bucket list.
Well you could come with me if you want. I was debating training an assistant for my shows,if that is what you wish...
I would love to be your assistant.
Ok,hop on! said madame Illusia.
As she said that to men placed a harness on Paul and strapped him to madame Illusia's cart giving her the go ahead with a thumbs up.
What do we do with him? said madame Illusia referring to Paul.
Well, speaking out of experience, you can't destinguish him from a normal horse if he doesn't want you to, and he is fairly pleasant to ride as well.
I was thinking of starting a campaign with him as a role model. He's everything a farmer would want, he is young, healthy and most importantly shoed. Other people might want that for themselves of course at a price, either for work or for recreational purposes.
You could set up a cart for him alone that says: Do you want to be a draft horse like Paul? And have like a 50% chance of being a mare or a stallion for the people that volunteer. You can keep some for yourself and the rest you just rent to farmers or sell.
That is a really good ideea,i should probably promote you to internal affairs adviser.said madame Illusia.
I'm glad I could be of help.
As for Paul I think he is going to be a good addition to my carnival. said madame Illusia as she gave the go ahead for the carnival to roll out. As Paul heard this he started pulling with all of his might at first, but after a while it became much easier to keep that wagon in line with the other horses without even breaking a sweat, cementing what he'll roughly be doing for the rest of his life.