Fic: Quiet Sanctuary 3/14

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

Quiet Sanctuary
Chapter Three
Word Count: 3,470
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Tim/Marion, eventually... Lou/Scott and Ty/Amy.
Warnings: Non-graphic discussion of child abuse.
Disclaimer: I'm never going to grow up. That means... I'm not legally responsible for anything, right?
Summary: AU. Heartland is a refuge, not just for abused and neglected horses, but for all.
Author's Note: I can honestly say this chapter was not supposed to go this way. First I planned to skip some time, go ahead a few months, but it was too soon, and then the conversation with Huten got away from me. I can only shrug and say what I have said before, the stories tell themselves, and I'm just along for the ride.

I should add that Heartland has been transplanted from its Virginia locale in the books to somewhere more... west. I keep having the area from the Magnificent Seven television series in my mind as well as some stuff from the book I read about women homesteaders in North Dakota, and, of course, the Little House on the Prairie books.

---

First Impressions

 

"How is he, Doctor?" Marion Fleming asked, sounding desperate.

Scott Trewin watched his father work, knowing that he hesitated to answer right away. It wasn't an easy answer to give. He wouldn't want to do it, didn't want to be his father right now. He wondered if they would ever accept that he was not interested in following his father's footsteps. It wasn't that his father was a bad man, not at all. Doctor Trewin was one of the best men around, well-liked and respected, and Scott loved him, he really did. He just didn't want to be a doctor.

He had never been all that good with people, and he was very uncomfortable now, here, with the Flemings, watching them hope for good news that wasn't going to come. The miracle they desperately needed and wanted and prayed for was not coming. His father couldn't give them that. Tim Fleming would probably never walk again.

Scott could never be the one to tell them that, and so he slipped away quietly, making his way out of the house, away from Mrs. Fleming and her father, out to the yard. Matt was lucky. He was too young to have to accompany their father on these calls, he didn't have to deal with all this heartache. Scott didn't know how his father coped with being a rural doctor and all the bad stuff that he had to see all the time. Life out here was hard. Tim Fleming, for instance, he was crippled for life just because his horse stepped in the wrong place. Even the horse... They'd all said it should be put down.

Scott found himself in the barn, looking at Pegasus. Horses were so much easier to be around. He looked at the horse's face and stroked the gelding's ears. "How are you today?"

The horse snickered. He leaned over his stall and tried to get to Scoot, seeking some kind of treat. "Oh, has someone been spoiling you? I don't have anything with me; I'm afraid."

He heard something behind him and turned around. Though it was clear that he'd tried to hide, Scott had still seen the boy dodge out of sight. He frowned. The Flemings had two girls, right? He knew Lou. He'd gone to school with her until she went off to boarding school, and he didn't remember her very well, but she seemed nice enough. Little Amy was about Matt's age, and Scott had seen her around the last time he visited, but he remembered a bunch of girls and a messy dress. Had they gone ahead and done it, then, put her in boy's clothes? There were rumors around town about that, and his mother had been appalled by the idea. He didn't know what the problem was himself.

He walked towards the back of the barn. "Amy?"

What he found wasn't Amy, though. There was a boy there, older than Matt, but about his size, and Scott could see a very large bruise on the boy's neck. He'd never seen any bruises that bad before, not even when someone was thrown from their horse. "Hey. I don't think we've met. I'm Scott."

The boy just watched him, suspicion in his eyes. He seemed a bit scared. Scott wondered if someone had hurt him before and that was why he was trying to hide.

"There you are! You're too quiet. It's not fair. I can never find you when it's my turn," Amy said, rushing over to the boy. He looked at her, and she seemed to make him feel better, but he didn't seem any happier with Scott's presence. "Oh, hi, Scott. I guess you met Ty?"

"Sort of," Scott agreed. "He hasn't introduced himself yet."

"Oh, that's just Ty being shy," Amy said. She touched the boy's arm, and he rubbed it as though it hurt. "You're it. I'll go hide now."

Ty frowned at her as she ran off. He looked back at Scott, and Scott tried to smile reassuringly. He really did find it easier to deal with animals. "My father's the doctor. He's up with Tim right now."

The boy moved closer to Jake, the plow horse. "Is Tim going to get better?"

"I doubt it," Scott answered, and the boy seemed bothered again. He opened Jake's stall door and went inside. Scott saw him using small circles on the side of the horse's neck. The boy didn't look like one of the Indians from the reservation. He had dark hair, but the eyes were wrong. Still, he reminded Scott of the ones he knew Marion Fleming worked with to help her with the horses and even with Tim.

"What are you doing?"

Ty shrugged. "I don't know. I just do it."

Scott nodded. "He seems to like it. Do you do that with Pegasus, too?"

The boy looked over at Pegasus and shook his head. "He hurts too much. He won't let me touch him. He doesn't like me in there with him."

"You could try doing it on his face first. That might help him. Look at Jake. He's almost asleep over there. Pegasus seems restless," Scott said. He looked over at the other horse. He wished there was something that he could do. Ty looked at him. Scott shrugged. "I like horses."

"Me, too."

---

"You know it doesn't have to be like this, Tim," Marion said quietly, standing at the window. She could see Dr. Trewin collecting his son. Scott was a good boy, though she suspected that the doctor had no idea what he really wanted. He'd started talking about how his son would be a fine doctor someday, without even seeming to realize that Scott had left the room long before and had been uncomfortable before he did. Scott was smart, and he could be a doctor. His heart wasn't in it, though, and Marion knew that, even with as little time as she'd spent with him. She thought that he would be good with animals. A veterinarian. That would suit him well. "The doctor didn't say you couldn't walk."

"He may as well have," Tim spat angrily. "It's not like he said I was going to walk again. I won't. I should just... Never mind. Leave me alone, Marion."

"There are more options. There's more we can do, Tim. Please don't give up on me now," she pleaded with him. She looked back, seeing that set look to his jaw. He wasn't going to listen to her. Not now. She knew she'd married a stubborn man. She'd admired that about him years ago, but now it wasn't as appealing.

"Get out," he said coldly.

"Tim—"

"Get out," he repeated, louder this time. Angrier. She knew that in a minute, he'd start throwing anything that was within reach. All the good, the progress he'd made, it had been undone by Trewin's visit. He couldn't tell Tim what Tim needed to hear. He needed that confirmation. The assurance, without a doubt, that he would walk again, that was the only thing that Tim wanted to hear. Trewin could not give him that.

No one could.

"I'll leave you alone for now, Tim, but I promise you, I haven't given up, and I won't. There is a way to help you, and I will find it," she told him, kissing his forehead. He glared at her, but she wasn't about to give in to him. She'd let him have the time to himself, but she wasn't finished yet. She was not going to give up, not on Tim's health, on him, or on their marriage.

She walked downstairs, seeing her father in the kitchen. He was already cooking, but he looked up at her when she came down. "There you are. I heard some shouting."

"It's not that bad," she began. He gave her a look, and she shook her head. "Really, Dad. He just didn't get the news he wanted."

"Well, I hope that's all it is," Jack said quietly. "Trewin didn't say he wouldn't walk, did he?"

She shook her head. "No. He didn't say one way or another. It's still too soon to tell. I don't think we're done, not yet. If Tim would just work with me, if he would try, then I think he could do this. But he won't. He won't help himself."

"Maybe it's time for more drastic measures," Jack suggested. He shrugged. "In the meantime, I think that boy deserves a reward."

"What do you mean? You're not the type to spoil anyone."

Jack nodded. "I'm not. But he did pretty good with Scott today. When I heard them in the barn, I got a bit concerned, but he didn't spook, and he didn't run. He's doing better than that first week."

"I could make him a cake tomorrow," Marion began, and Jack looked at her. She laughed. "Fine. I won't make it. It is a shame that Lou is staying for the summer. I know that the extra education will be good for her, but I miss her. And it's not just her cooking."

"Of course not," Jack agreed. "You know that he'll have to meet the town sooner or later."

"Later," Marion said, looking out towards the yard. "Let the bruises have more time to fade."

"Scott saw them."

"He's not going to spread rumors."

"Maybe not," Jack agreed. He liked Scott as well. Still, he shrugged. "The boy shouldn't be hidden away here, Marion. He is never going to trust people again if we send him the message that the town can't be trusted, either."

"Let me start by taking him to the reservation," Marion began. "I need to go back for herbs for Tim, and I actually think they'd be more accepting and less... intimidating about it. Some people would say that it must have been his fault. That he did something wrong. I don't believe that. I can't. There's not a rebellious or difficult bone in that boy's body. Ty is not the unruly sort. It's not..."

"I know, Marion. There was no good reason for anyone to hurt him. But it won't happen again."

---

"You return," Huten said, smiling warmly at Marion. "Welcome again, She Who Talks to Horses, and the young Daughter of Horses as well. It is good to see you both. Who is this one?"

Marion smiled at the man's joke. He had been calling her that since she first came there, years ago, with her father after her mother's death. She'd been so scared she spent the entire time hiding behind her horse, speaking to it like a doll or a child, anything she could do to keep her mind off where she was. Huten had come over to her and asked, in English, which had surprised her at the time because all she knew were the stories, if the horse spoke back to her.

She had stared and then laughed, and they became friends for life. He taught her a lot about their people and ways and the healing that they did. Naming her had been his joke, a sign that he accepted her. Amy had demanded a name of her own. "This is Ty. He came to us recently."

Huten nodded. "You were wise to find this one. There are not many like her."

Ty's eyes took in the area around him, watching the others warily. He did not answer. Marion was used to that by now. He did not speak much, except to Amy. She knew they spoke quite often, though she knew little of what they said. He would get quiet when Marion and Jack were around. Clearly, he did not trust adults.

"You do not speak?" Huten asked, then he shrugged. "If you wish. She Who Talks to Horses must think highly of you to bring you here."

Ty shrugged in return. Marion smiled. "Ty doesn't say much. He has a gift with horses, though. Ty, why don't you show Huten what you can do? Jake's right there. He's your friend, right?"

The boy nodded and reached over to touch the horse. He didn't start in on the circles right away. He seemed self-conscious. Amy watched, folding her arms over her chest. Marion shook her head. In some sense, her little girl was a bully. Still, Ty had a quiet strength, and he stood up to her in his way. Starting a set of slow circles, he worked slowly with Jake while Huten and the other watched, appraising. After a while, he stepped away. "It is nothing."

"No, child, it is something," Huten told him. He turned to Marion. "You draw those with the gift to you. This was no accident."

Ty was bothered by that, and he moved away. Amy went to him and took his hand. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

He frowned, but he did not protest as she led him over to the other side of the camp. Huten's daughter and granddaughter would be there, and Marion knew that Amy liked to be around them, especially when they were cooking.

She turned to Huten. "The doctor has come and gone again."

"You are... displeased?"

"Tim is. I know that he will walk again. I am convinced. I know, I just know that he will," Marion said. She shook her head. "The doctor wouldn't say one way or the other. Tim thinks that means that he won't. He sunk into another depression. I just don't know... I don't know what to do."

Huten studied her for a moment. "The river flows even past the falls. It does not stop."

Marion frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean by that."

He just smiled at her. She should be used to that by now, too. He had a different way of speaking, of telling her what she needed to hear. It was frustrating sometimes, but she knew and trusted that his words would become clear later, and when she understood them, she would know what he meant and that meaning would impact her life in a good way. It always did. Sometimes it didn't feel that way at first, but his guidance was something she treasured, and she would not turn her back on it now, not when she needed it.

"Tell me of the child," Huten said, distracting her. She frowned at him. He nodded. "I know. Your mind is full of your husband. Some battles can only be fought from within. We are not those who fight, and yet we are not content with being the watchers. That is for another time. The boy is here now. I would hear of him, of how he came to be with you. He is of your family?"

She shook her head. "No, in fact, we know absolutely nothing of his family. He won't speak of them, not even to Amy. She's the best at getting him to talk, but apparently he resists even her on that subject. No, my father found him in the barn, with the horses. He was dirty and bruised and battered, scared and cold."

"But he remains with you."

"I was able to get him inside for food and a bath, but I think Amy's the reason we were able to keep him with us," Marion admitted. "Without her, I do not think that he would have stayed. I don't know where he came from or why he's so scared or who hurt him."

Huten looked across the camp. "That is great violence against a child."

"But you've seen him," Marion protested. "He's not a difficult child, not one that talks back or won't do what's asked of him. That boy would do anything he was asked and politely, too. I just don't understand it."

"The ways of a violent man often have no reason, not to the one hurt, but they have reason of a sort to him," Huten observed. "You intend to keep him?"

"For as long as he stays with us. He got Jake to plow, and without him, we'd never have been able to plant crops this year. If the crops fail... We'll lose everything. And without Tim... We need someone else around to help out. Of course, I don't mean just to make him work. He's still hurt and needs to rest. He's just... special. I can tell."

"He has a gift," Huten agreed. "The spirits have guided him to your side. It is for you to guide him further."

She studied Huten for a moment. "Why do I get the feeling you know something you're not telling me? Have you... met Ty before? Do you know where he came from?"

Huten shook his head. "I have not. I recognize the spirit within him."

"And what is that spirit?"

"That will reveal itself in time."

She shook her head. "You're frustrating me again. Are you sure that you don't know Ty? That you're telling me everything? That—I don't even know what to ask, I'm so confused! Ty's just an ordinary boy, isn't he? He's gifted with a unique understanding of horses, maybe other animals, too, but he's not... something else, right?"

"You would call him, in your terms, an angel, yes?" Huten asked, shrugging. "He is a blessing from the spirits in your time of need. A miracle, you would say. Do not mistake that for what he is."

"You mean, don't forget that he's a scared, troubled little boy because he can do extraordinary things and because he's here when we need an extra hand?" Marion tried to clarify. "Do you think... I'm already expecting too much of him?"

"Why did you bring him here?"

"To meet people. To meet you."

"Too much focus on what he could become and not enough focus on what he is." Huten started walking towards the other side of the camp, where Amy had taken Ty earlier. He stopped, and Marion stopped with him, watching Ty with the others. Though he made every attempt to seem like he was enjoying himself, he held his body stiffly, not at ease and quite possibly still in pain. "He would forget the language of humans. He would commune only with the animals. They are still creatures he can understand. Humans are not."

Marion bit her lip. It no longer surprised her that Huten could see so much in such a short time. "I feel like asking you what they did to him."

"The individual actions do not matter. It is the effect we see. The crush of the spirit. You see a child who obeys. At what price comes this obedience? What part of the spirit was denied to agree? Some there are who are gentle, and others who were broken."

Marion nodded. "And Ty was broken?"

"Much beneath the surface. Too much to read. The water moves over it, and it blurs what lies beneath. Do not stop searching."

She took a deep breath. Amy said something to Huten's daughter, causing the woman to laugh, and Ty to frown. He rubbed at his side as he rose and tried to walk away. Amy caught him, pulling him back, and he returned, but he did so reluctantly. Huten grunted. "Daughter of Horses would overshadow him. He would let her."

"Amy's the only one who reaches him," Marion repeated almost helplessly. "I don't know how to help any more than I have."

"Have you forgotten the lesson from the baskets already?"

Marion felt like glaring at the older man. "No, I haven't. I... I worry about his past because I worry about his future. I don't want him hurt again. He came to us, as you said, when we needed him."

"You would like to forget one worry and take another. It does not help. The child knows his path, and he will walk it regardless of your choice. Your husband must walk his."

"Except that he's not walking."

Huten just shook his head and walked away, towards Ty and the others. Marion stood where she was, unsettled and uncertain what she thought about all of this. She was full of doubt—not about Ty staying or about Tim walking again—but of herself.