Walking was... interesting, now. Used to only two legs, it was weird needing to think about four, but perhaps the strangest part was that Christoph didn't have to think about it at all. Like when Keldan had slapped his ass to get him out of the stall last night, and he'd just trotted out. The less he thought about walking, the easier it was to walk. But that was a tall order, because how could he not think about walking around on hooves when he had two perfectly normal legs just yesterday?
So, after he'd eaten a very unfulfilling bowl of porridge that Kella had helpfully brought him, he spent an hour just walking around the yard, trying not to think about walking at all, to not think about putting one foot in front of the other like he had all his life, or about moving four hooves in a pattern he'd only ever seen from the outside. Certainly not about his lack of toes.
That was easily the weirdest part, sensation-wise. But at the same time, it wasn't like he had no toes, but that he had one big toe for each foot, and walked directly on it. Very strange and precarious and if he thought too much about it...
"You're on the ground again," Kella pointed out after the third time he fell over, leaning against the barn, her grey homespun shirt tucked into into a similar skirt. On some girls it might have looked something like a loose bag, but Kella had always been a curvy girl, and somehow only got curvier over the year that Christoph had known her. Not that she'd ever really looked at him that way before, though he had admired her when he thought she wasn't looking. The way she was admiring him now regardless of if he was looking or not.
"Thanks I hadn't noticed," he grumbled, rolling upright and standing again. One good thing about all his uncertainties about his legs was that he got a lot of practice getting up from the ground.
"Happy to help, stud," she said with a grin.
"Beg your pardon?" he asked, sure he must have misheard her, but before she could answer Keldor came out of the house and headed straight for them.
"Later," she mouthed before disappearing into the barn.
"Christoph, good, yer up an' about," the older man said as he gave his farm hand another appraising look. "Jo's gettin' on in years, yeah? So I figured what with yer, uh, horse thing goin' on here, ya might be able to lighten his load? 'Specially since ya can't do any house chores that need ya smaller and lighter an' such."
"You're not gonna make me haul the plow, are you sir?" he said, unconsciously pawing at the ground as he wrung his hands. He didn't want to haul that rusty old plowshare across a field. He had enough trouble pushing the damn thing behind Jo!
"Nah, nah, not until Jo drops at least," Keldor assured him with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But I was plannin' on sendin' someone inta town with him soon ta fetch supplies. Figured you could just hitch yerself to the cart an' go on yer own."
"Well, I suppose I could do that," he said slowly, running the idea through his head. He hadn't been to town in weeks, wisely choosing to save most of his pay instead of spending it on drink and whores like the hired hands on other farms might, though now he thought of it he figured he could use a drink or two.
"Then it's settled," Keldor said, giving his hand a shake. "I saw Kella go in the barn, so have her hitch you up while I write a list a' what we need."
Inside the barn, Jo was drowsing in his stall while Kella was making sure the straps on the cart's harness were long enough for Christoph.
"Lucky Jo's so big," she said, even as she removed a few pieces of the harness and hung them up. "You'll fit just fine. And we won't have to worry about the tug, the collar, the bit, or the reins. Just the girth strap!"
"Yeah, lucky," he agreed, even as he turned and backed up between the connecting poles and let Kella tighten the strap around his second chest, just behind his forelegs.
"Can you reach that to adjust it?"
"I think so," he said, twisting at the waist to tug on the strap. "Yeah, I got it."
"Great," she said, crouching down to look at something underneath him, tilting her head as she observed.
"What, uh, what are you looking at?" he asked, suddenly a little nervous at his lack of ability to slide away from her gaze.
"They look bigger than they did last night," she commented idly.
"Welp, I'm going out into the yard now!" he said tightly as he marched forward, barely noticing the extra weight of the two-wheeled cart as it rolled behind him.
"Quite the draft horse, you are," she commented as she rose and followed him out, biting her lip, the sight of which made something lurch beneath him until he looked away to find Keldor and his son approaching from the house, the one with a piece of paper in his hand, the other with Christoph's wide-brimmed hat and coat.
"Good, good, everything fits then?" Keldor asked, waiting for him to finish slipping on his coat before handing him the list.
"Yes sir," he said, adjusting his hat as he gave the list a once over.
"Good, you should be able to find everything at the general store, so it'll be an easy trip. I put the coin in yer coat, so you get goin' now, Christoph, I'll have the kids get yer stuff set up in the barn while yer gone, leastwise 'til we can figure out somethin' more comfortable."
With a wave and a farewell, he was off at a brisk walk, wondering if he could make it all the way to town without breaking a sweat, just like Jo did, faster than his old legs could carry him.
It was a long distance from the farm to town, but the road was wide, and mercifully empty, giving him some time to think about how the townsfolk might react to seeing a centaur ambling in. Would they be scared?
Intrigued?
Would they react with a strange... touchy curiosity, like the twins?
He hadn't noticed he was starting to trot until the jingling of the links that held the connector posts to the cart caught his attention and reminded him to pace himself, just like he would if Jo started going too fast.
He had no need to go galloping down the road, since the little farm town of Plowman's Rest(named for the tavern) was already in view as he crested a small rise.
For the most part, it was really just the tavern-cum-inn, the general store, the smithy, and the houses belonging to the people who ran those businesses. Those, the Mayor's house, and the well, made up the entirety of the small 'town'. Not even enough buildings to warrant more streets branching off the main crossroad they were built around, but it was the closest thing to civilization for almost a hundred miles in any direction, and it was home.
Still, as he came closer to the cluster of buildings, he felt his nerves creeping up on him again. It seemed awfully crowded today...
"Christoph? Iszat you up there?"
Looking down, he saw the Mayor himself, a fat little man with a balding head that sat almost directly on his shoulders, walking towards him from the direction of the inn.
"Yes sir, mister Mayor," he said, snatching his hat from his head politely as they met each other in the middle of the road. "Just, uh, just getting a few things from the general store, sir."
"Uh... right, good lad," the Mayor replied, looking as if he desperately wanted to ask the obvious question but having no idea how to do so. So instead, he chose to ignore it. "Always nice to see the youth working hard."
"Thank you sir," Christoph said with a sigh of relief. If everyone decided it was just too weird to talk about, that would suit him just fine.
"I'll run ahead and let Murray know to send his boy out to you," the Mayor said as he jogged ahead of him and disappeared into the store, but when Christoph pulled up in front of the sturdy two-story building, careful not to smack his face into the swinging sign as he did, it wasn't Murray's boy who came out, at least, not just him. It was the boy, his father, and his mother.
"Well then," the shopkeeper said, staring wide eyed. "You've uh... well, you're um..."
"You've grown," his wife supplied with a strained politeness as she goggled at him right alongside her husband.
"Thank you, Misses Cordell," Christoph said, holding out the list for the silently-gawking boy between them. "Just need a few things and I'll be on my way."
"Right," Murray said with a sharp nod, knocked out of his shock by his keen sense of business. "Get to it, Piter."
The young boy had to jump to snatch the list from Christoph's hand, but took only a moment to memorize it before running inside to fill it after handing it to his father.
"Keldor give you enough to pay for all this?" Murray asked, perusing the list even as his son started hauling things out of the store and into the cart, placing them with practiced care before running back for more.
"He did," Christoph said as he pulled a sack of coins from his pocket, making to hand them to the shopkeep before Murray held up his hand.
"Never hand over the money before ya have all the goods loaded and ready to go, boy," he explained. "Otherwise I'd cheat ya, and old Keldor would tan your hide, then come down here for mine!"
They shared a laugh at that, at first because the idea of Keldor coming into town to pick a fight over a miscalculated price was based more on history than anything else, and then because the idea of Keldor beating the now massive Christoph was just hilarious.
When he'd stopped laughing, Christoph saw that it wasn't just the Cordells keeping him company while there son came in and out of the store with supplies, but the whole town had gathered close to get a look, most pouring out of the tavern.
"Is that Christoph?"
