Chenoa and the rest of her friends met at Goldie and Bear Jr's cottage in the woods after school. Thankfully, the first day had started on a Friday, so they could discuss what had happened at the school.
"Go on, Chenoa, just tell us what had happened. We're your family and friends, we want to help you." Goldie asked her goddaughter as her parents sat near her. Chenoa shook her head 'no' without a saying a word to anyone.
"Chenoa, please, talk to us. We understand you were scared, I was scared too on my first day at school." Nat said trying to offer some comfort to her friend. Chenoa looked at Nat but didn't say anything.
"Chenoa, please say something. None of us are mad at you. I'm not mad at you at all. I heard you say I was an Ocelot. I bet you thought I looked pretty cute, right?" Miles said trying to make his girlfriend happy but she still didn't look it.
"Chenoa, I can relate too. I mean, I have to hide what I look like all the time, but...." Amara began before Chenoa suddenly spoke up.
"NO! None of you can relate! Not in the slightest. Nat, you may be a vampire, but vampires can pretty much pass as human. Amara, maybe your human form isn't your true form, but you sure prefer it to your demon form. You know what I prefer? This!" Chenoa said as she made her legs look like deer legs.
"I love hearing my hooves as I walk along the ground, I love feeling the fur on my legs. It makes me feel closer to nature, it makes me feel like I'm back home. When I have to make it so I look like I have human legs, I feel trapped. I know I have to to fit, but I hate that I have to fit in like this. I'm a deer girl, I'm not a human girl, I'm proud of who I am. I'm proud of me because I love myself like that. And I'm sorry about the spell, but I didn't know, I didn't know I had shaman magic in me. When I saw the other students, I was concerned like Nat saw, but the more people I saw there who were animal hybrids like me, the more comfortable I grew, it felt like home. Sometimes I just miss the forest." Chenoa admitted all at once and she began to cry.
No one knew what to say now. They had discussed earlier what everyone was to lighten the mood a little. Travis had told Stephanie she was a sheep and a cute sheep to back it up. Stephanie apologized to Travis for hitting him, but she told him, he should still love her no matter how she looks. Miles was an Ocelot, Amara was a fat kitty, but Miranda found her cute when she was a jaguar. Spark was a lioness, while her boyfriend Connor was a horse with a lovely mane. Spark had said she wished she could've seen it as she thought Connor sounded sexy as a stallion. Rei had been a wolf, which she found very cool.
Now, Nat, Travis, Spark, and Amara lay hand on Chenoa's back to show they still cared for her.
"Chenoa, I'm going to start training you after school, unless you have something important planned. That doesn't include dates with Miles. But before I train you, I need you to completely understand that I know all too well how it feels to be like an outsider." Goldie said as she began to tell her full story.
*************************************************************
In the short years following the American revolution, more immigrants arrived from England, Goldie was just an 8 year old girl at this time. Her family had moved to America for a more prosperous life, though found difficult work at first. Goldie didn't have the same concerns as her parents, all she wanted to do was play and explore, but there were no children her age in the town they had settled in.
"Mama, may I go exploring?" Little Goldie asked her mother. "Yes dear, but do be careful out there." Mrs. Locke advised her as Goldie happily traveled out of her parents business shop.
Goldie would travel through their town seeing people and waving to them, though since she was a child, they payed her no mind most of the time. Goldie ventured off one day into the forest finding it serene and peaceful. She had many encounters with animals in these woods. She would feed squirrels, she witnessed a deer from afar, and she even saw a mother fox giving birth to her first cub. One day in the summer would change her life forever.
Goldie was still disappointed that there were no children her own age she could befriend and she found the animals in the forest her closest companions. One day while chasing a rabbit, she came across a cabin in the woods, it looked quite lovely or at least she suppose it had once, it looked like it had fallen into disrepair. Goldie took a deep breath and bravely ventured toward the cabin door.
"Hello? Is there anyone there?" Goldie asked as she opened the door. Goldie received no response and proceeded forward into the cabin. She was surprised to see it was outlined with some furniture as well as some kitchen utensils. The strange thing she found was that although it looked like a house like the one she lived in, it also looked like someone didn't keep the house too tidy noting some dust and things out of place.
Goldie found her stomach growling and suddenly her nose caught the aroma of porridge and saw three bowls on the table with varying chairs of height. She tried the porridge with the biggest chair, but found it was still too hot. The other bowls of porridge looked like they had cooled down some and tried them. The second one was a little in the middle, between cold and hot, but she found the third one and smallest one to be the best, even if it seemed have cooled the most. As she sat in the third chair and closest to her height, she found it broke and she fell down to the ground.
"Oh dear, I hate to leave it damaged. I suppose I'll wait for people who live here to come back and I'll apologize to them." Goldie thought aloud as she went to sit over in a bed that looked closest to her height. She lay in the bed waiting, and some time passed before she eventually fell asleep.
"Oh my stars! There's some kind of elf girl in our bed, she's come to ruin our home!" Goldie heard a female voice shout. "Let's toss her out, before she causes us more trouble." A male voice could be heard saying.
"Wait, mama, papa, she's not an elf, she's just a little human girl. She doesn't look any older than me." A young male voice could be heard saying.
Goldie rubbed her eyes and looked to see three bears in late 18th century clothes looking at her. Goldie screamed as did the bears. The small bear, calmed his parents down first before turning his attention to Goldie.
"Please! Please, don't panic, we didn't mean to frighten you, but we thought someone had broken into our home when we saw the mess you made with my chair and had eaten our porridge." The small bear explained.
"I-I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't know....bears lived here....and....you....you can talk." Goldie apologized while still in shock.
"Yes, we can. We're kind of part of a magical community of animals that once thrived here. Of course since more humans have been coming to the shores, many have left. We decided to stay but keep to the woods. Oh, I'm sorry, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Bear Jr." Bear Jr. introduced himself with a bow.
"Oh, uh, charmed to meet you. I'm Goldie Lock." Goldie introduced herself with a bow and curtsy.
"Goldilocks? I like that name." Bear Jr. complimented. "Uh, no. Not Goldilocks, my first name is Goldie and my last name is Locke. Goldie Lock." Goldie explained.
"Oh, well I like Goldilocks, it goes with your pretty hair." Bear Jr. said as Goldie thanked and blushed. "You're uh...very polite for a bear." Goldie complimented back.
"That's the way I raised my Baby Bear." Mrs. Bear said patting her young son on the head. "Mom! Don't call me that in front of guests." Bear Jr. said annoyed.
"It's okay, I think it's a cute name." Goldie said this time making Bear Jr. blush. Goldie looked outside to see the sun was coming close to sunset.
"I suppose I better go home or else my mother will worry. I can't wait to tell her about you three." Goldie said as she got up from the bed.
"You cant." Mr. Bear said to Goldie as a warning. "Men and women fear bears, and men hunt bears for fur. If you told your mother or any men or women about us, they would hunt us and kill us." Mr. Bear explained.
"Oh, that would be very wretched, I promise I won't tell a soul about you. But may I come visit you? I would ever so much love to play with your Bear, I haven't met another child I can be friends with." Goldie asked.
"Well....so long as you keep your promise to keep secret of us, you may visit and play with Baby." Mrs. Bear said as Goldie and Bear Jr. were happy at this.
After that day, Goldie visited Bear Jr. as much as she could. Hours would pass each day, and the days would turn into weeks, and the weeks into months, with the months finally becoming years. Things took a turn when one day, Goldie visited Bear Jr. in the spring when she had become a young beautiful woman. Bear had become smitten now with Goldie as had some others in the town she lived, but she turned down any suitors as she only had eyes for Bear Jr.
Eventually Goldie's parents passed and she quietly sold her family business and went to live in the woods with Bear Jr. Rumors began spreading of Goldie Locke and the rumors became stories and eventually a fairy tale.
Goldie and Bear Jr. married and the rest of the story, everyone already knew.
********************************************************
Goldie placed her hand into Bear Jr's hand and gave a gentle yet slightly long kiss to each other.
"There will always be someone out there who will accept you for who you are Chenoa, and one day there will come a time when you will not have to hide your beautiful deer legs.
Chenoa was touched by her friends and her godmother, she accepted that she had to hide her deer legs, but she was glad she could be her true self around her friends.