The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Trepeeset woke up again. Remembering
that he was angry with Chotsalak because he stole the medallion, Trepeeset got up to
check if he had returned. His teepee was still empty. His angry face softened into a face of
concern. Chotsalak was gone nearly all night. What if something happened to him? Where
(or what) was he?
Concerned, Trepeeset walked briskly towards the lake, the place where his father met his
mother. Passing the tree where Chotsalak had his first Change, Trepeeset looked around
for his friend, and also on the ground for his magic medallion. He made it to the lake,
seeing nothing except the rising sun, reddening the sky around it. Trepeeset frowned. A
red sky in the morning usually meant bad luck.
"Chotsalak!" Trepeeset called. "Where are you?" There was no answer. He walked along the
lake, continuing to call Chotsalak's name. There was an eerie quiet to the morning, there
was not even much noise or rustling by the animals in the forest. Trepeeset felt helpless
without his medallion and best friend.
Trepeeset walked past the small pasture where the horseman kept his horses. The
Weecoosak people only had a few horses, but the horseman took good care of them. With
worry on his mind, Trepeeset glanced into the horse pasture. Two paint stallions stood
inside the fence, heads down and eating the grass. There were some brown mares behind,
as well. Trepeeset kept walking ahead, wondering where on earth Chotsalak was.
Wait...
Trepeeset dashed back a few steps and stared at the horses. Was he seeing things? The
Weecoosak people only had one stallion in their horses, but there were two paint stallions,
the same size and with identical markings!
"Chotsalak!" Trepeeset hollered. "Is that you?!" One horse and then the other slowly looked
up at the stunned Trepeeset. Both then continued to eat. One horse walked away.
Trepeeset hopped the fence to inspect the stallion. He rumbled a warning and stamped the
ground as Trepeeset approached. The horse was called Galk'hay, meaning "arrow", for one
of the blotches of orange-brown fur on its otherwise white body which looked like an
arrow. If this indeed was Chotsalak, he was clearly lost to the strong instincts of the horse.
He was not wearing the medallion. If he had it on his neck when he changed, then the
hemp string surely would have broken around his massive neck.
Trepeeset cautiously stroked the horse. He wasn't even sure if this was Chotsalak, but the
horse allowed him to pet him, his flank quivering in sections as the beast contnued to eat
the grass. There was only one Galk'hay yesterday, so one of the stallions in the pasture
must have been Chotsalak. But they were both acting like horses! Trepeeset knew that once
Chotsalak touched the medallion again his human thoughts would return, but where was
the medallion?
Trepeeset had an idea. He decided to let himself relax by taking a few deep breaths. Then,
he tried to connect to the medallion mentally. He was trying to tap into the essence of the
medallion, trying to feel its magic. Trepeeset felt a strange pull in a certain direction. He
began to walk towards the mares and the feeling became stronger. The mares scattered as
Trepeeset walked amongst them.
The sensation that he was feeling was like a beacon from the medallion. When it was at its
strongest, he looked down and spotted the medallion, standing on its side inside a rut.
Trepeeset pulled it out and brushed the dirt off of it. Heart beating, he cracked it open and
spotted a long hair, unmistakably a horse's.
Trepeeset sprinted back to the paint horse closer to the fence. When he got there he held
the medallion against the horse's rear. A shudder went through its great body and it kicked
its back legs. Trepeeset ducked out of the way just in time. "Hey! Chotsalak, is that you?"
The horse's head snapped around, bending its neck completely around, to look at
Trepeeset. Wide-eyed, it nodded its head. Then, it closed its eyes and began to shrink. Its
long muzzle pulled back into its face and its white and brown hair dissolved back into soft
human flesh. Chotsalak's arms grew shorter as his hooves softened to hands and feet. The
last thing to change was his long tail disappearing, shedding the long hairs as the bone
pulled back into his body. Chotsalak stood there naked, throwing his arms around
Trepeeset.
"My friend! I am so glad to see you! You have saved me!"
Trepeeset shoved Chotsalak away. "Why did you steal my medallion?!" He demanded. "So
reckless! You could have been lost forever if I didn't find you!"
Tears began to form in Chotsalak's eyes. "I am sorry, my friend. I was wrong to take your
medallion." He heaved a very long sigh. "I...I always wanted to be a horse, alright?"
Chotsalak wiped his eyes. The scowl disappeared from Trepeeset's face. "I always
wondered what it was like to gallop through the meadows. I would often look at Galk'hay
when I walked by here and I yearned to be him." He looked Trepeeset in the eyes. "I just
wanted to know what it was like."
"You should have asked," Trepeeset said gently.
"I know," Chotsalak sniffed. "But I was embarrassed."
There was a long silence. Trepeeset soon showed a crooked smile. "How was it?"
Chotsalak grinned. "Great," he said. "I had so much power. I could run so fast and breathe
so deep. But I didn't know that the medallion had fallen off. Soon the horse took over and I
was lost. I don't remember most of the time I was a horse. Where was it?"
"In a ditch. It was strange, I could sense where it was."
"That's lucky." The real Galk'hey trotted over to Chotsalak. He scratched him under the
head. "Hello, friend."
Trepeeset tried to tie the broken string on the medallion into a knot to repair it. He then
wrapped the string around his hand and held the medallion in his palm. "I've always
wanted to be a horse too," Trepeeset told Chotsalak. "And now we both have the
opportunity."
Trepeeset began to pet the horse with the same hand that held the medallion. The horse
shook its head and then stared at Chotsalak. All of a sudden, the horse began to Change!
Trepeeset and Chotsalak backed away in surprise as the spotted fur was replaced by
tanned human flesh, and the elongated head shrunk into something more compact. After
mere seconds, the large stallion was gone, and a copy of Chotsalak was in its place!
The former horse made a whinny sound, which sounded strange indeed from a human
mouth. Trepeeset and especially Chotsalak were gobsmacked. Chotsalak stared into the
eyes of his clone. "Did the horse become...me!?"
The former horse stared at his new body, feeling himself with unsure hands. It bent its
fingers and looked in wonder behind itself at its bare butt. It was obviously dealing with
the influx of human intelligence quite well. There were two naked Chotsalaks in front of
the speechless Trepeeset. Trepeeset stared the ex-horse in the eyes as it said "What you
do?!"