I woke up this morning to find that my body had changed. I feel magic stirring in my bones. I realize it has been a month since I was born. I think it is time to leave this place. I step into the light and I am not afraid. I am not a fawn anymore. I am not weak. I walk with a limp but I don’t care. I hold my head high. I reach the pond and drink from the cool clear water. It tastes amazing compared to the muddy puddle I have been drinking from. I see my reflection in the water and I am disturbed. I don’t want to look like this. I leave the pond. Later I see a group of deer gathered around a tree. I watch them cast spells on each other. This is what I want. It takes me a long time to reach them. My heart beats faster as I get closer. I remember what mother did when meeting other deer. I bow. No one bows back. I wait a moment and they ignore me. I don’t care. I push past them and cast a spell of my own. I am accepted and they continue casting. I feel my antlers bend and twist themselves into new shapes but none of them feel right. After some time I feel a new sensation. A new face! I see the caster run to another tree and I follow. I cannot tell if this is a doe or a buck. I decide it is a she. We cast new masks on each other. Suddenly I feel a great happiness well up inside me. This is the right mask. I nuzzle my new friend. We relish in the joy of this beautiful day. My new friend wants me to follow. I can’t keep up. She is confused and tries to imitate my limp. This is hurtful but I know she means well. We find a way to walk together and she leads me to a group of deer. They nuzzle her and I bow to them. This time they bow back. The group begins to prance in circles around me. I try to jump a few times but it hurts and I stop. The others look surprised when they see the way I walk. They laugh. My friend leads me away. We walk to the pond and she lies down. I lie next to her and fall asleep.

This is the ongoing story of my deer Niffles. The first chapters are in my blog entry "The Attack". The events in this story are based off of the experiences I have in the forest. If you realize that I interacted with you or I am talking about your deer in one of my entries please let me know!