After the short stay in church, everyone slowly filed out into village. The air filled with the salt of the nearby sea thanks to breeze on the wind. Looking up to see the clouds looking grey, yet blowing westward; there was going to be rain, but it won’t fall in Chiron’s Grove or the surrounding fields. This would allow those who volunteered to be farmers to continue to plow and sow the fields for crops needed to sustain them when winter comes. With Fred and Helios busy at the smithy; repairing farming tools and replacing the odd shoe that get thrown, their respective mates May and Aiko went off to get ready to perform their daily duties. Aiko was already farming yesterday while May opted to help work in the kitchen; baking fresh bread that now everyone has started to smell.
“Now that is making me hungry,” Marcus drooling as the Clydesdale centaur inhaling the rich aroma of warm bread as he approached the communal dining area. Like everyone else, they were all excited to taste fresh bread; some for the first time, for others, since they arrived at this new world.
“Easy now love,” June giving her mate a playful slap on the flanks; “save your energy for something more enjoyable.”
“What’s mare enjoyable than fresh baked bread,” Marcus lining up with his mate; watching as Chris and Amanda help out with serving food to the hungry haras.
“A possible afternoon delight,” June whispering into his equine like ear; “or a booty call if you want to be more direct.”
“My my,” Marcus nickering in delight; “you must be feeling randy. Did adopting Zack stir something in you?”
“No. Having him sleeping in the room next to us,” June taking a plate and waiting for her turn to be served as she walked closer to the buffet table; “made me miss out on a little before bed romp. I want my romp,” June looking at her mate; “After lunch in the mill.”
******
It was roughly ten in the morning, in a east coast city back on Earth. The overworked and under payed woman was already on her fourth cup of coffee examining legal briefs and sorting mail for the various partners. Working as a secretary for a small up and coming law firm gave her little time to relax. Having to work 16 hours a day for six months straight took a toll on the mentally exhausted woman. Her shoulder length hair already limp and thin; what little there was starting to turn grey from the light brown it once was.
She opens up a document meant for the lead partner and scowls; another frivolous lawsuit that has been dogging a client of his. What little she could recall, this client was once a member of a religious organization. Leaving this organization caused them to go after him and everyone he associated with. This resulted in the law firm she worked for getting harassed to no end. Having to spend several nights sleeping in the office was not what she signed up for. While the harassers have for the most part, backed off; thanks to several cease and desist letters and a restraining order signed off by a judge, they still continued to find ways around the orders. This new law suits was the latest attempt to use the court system to inflict abuse.
“I wish I could be somewhere else right now,” the woman sighing; taking another sip of her coffee. Putting down the paper and looking up, she was the only one in the office; everyone else had court and she would only unlock the door to process servers and clients she was personally familiar with. The rest were made to wait until one of the attorneys came back; she did not want to be alone if some religious nut job tried to enter and hurl verbal abuse at her for something she had no part in. Picking up the next piece of mail, she was curious as to what it was. Unlike all the other packages the mailman dropped off, this was in a tube roughly three feet in length. The rest was registered letters from clients, other attorneys and from the judges at various courts in the city they practiced in. Before she could open the package, the phone rang; giving her a mild scare before seeing the caller id and calming down.
“Good morning Lenny,” the woman speaking through the device; “how is court?”
“The judge granted a continuance,” the man on the other end speaking; “any mail that I should be aware of?”
“Just the usual frivolous lawsuit from big religion,” the woman answering; “it was served by registered letter.”
“It will get thrown out,” the attorney scoffing over the phone; “the judge overseeing the harassment suit will see to that. Anything else?”
“Just some checks and a few motions for you and the partners to deal with,” The secretary answering; omitting the tube she was holding; as if some force compelled her silence on the matter.
“Okay Rachael,” Lenny answering over the phone; “I should be back in the office by noon. Stay safe until then.”
Rachael didn’t have a chance to respond before the call disconnected. Putting the phone down, Rachael turns back to the tube with the office’s address on it. Seeing no other option, she rips off the tape and pulls off a top to see a roll of paper inside.
‘A poster,’ Rachael wonders as she unrolls the paper to see what looks like a single centaur silhouette in a field with a setting sun in the background. With no signature of information on the poster, Rachael looks to the package to see if there was a return address; curious to see who would send this to a law firm that dealt mostly with wills and estate probate. She was about to put the poster down when it began to feel warm and glow at the edges. The centaur in the image began to move and walk closer to Rachael. She wanted to put the paper down, run away but was transfixed at the image of the centaur still in silhouette reach through the poster to offer a hand to Rachael; beckoning her to take hold and enter.
“No way is this real,” Rachael wide awake from the adrenaline surging in her; watching the poster fly from her hands and float a foot away from her. The hand from the centaur, clearly out of the poster still beckoning her to take hold; Rachael soon hears a voice, feminine sounding and soothing.
“Take my hand and I’ll gift you a new life away from what is troubling you.”
“Who are you,” Rachael clearly hesitant at the hand and voice coming from the image.
“Someone who sensed your despair and only wants to help,” Rachael hears; “my name is Epona and I have a place where you can be happy. Free of what is making you age early under the mountain of stress you are dealing with.”
Rachael paused as she slowly reached out to the offered hand. What she could see was not much as the centaur was still a black indistinct shape; yet the hand out of the poster was clearly that of a woman and was porcelain white.
“I better not end up in a cult,” Rachael mutters as she grasps the hand and is soon pulled into the poster. Her vision goes black as she hears nothing but the rushing of wind in her ears, yet didn’t feel it on her face or body. Before she knew it, she was thrust through a blinding beam of light that appeared from nowhere and soon found herself standing on a cobblestone street next to buildings that resembled more like barns. Turning around she watches as several horse like creatures approach her just as she passes out from sheer shock at the group of centaurs looking surprised to see her there as well.