It was a chilly night in the Endless Forest, and Isaita couldn’t sleep. She started to pace back and forth, trying to settle, but the cold made her uncomfortable. A bit annoyed by this, she started wandering aimlessly through the Forest. There were deer all around, sleeping in their favorite places. She accidentally bumped into one with a hoof, who sat up and moaned, “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Not responding to the deer, she just kept going, hoping she would wear herself down to be able to sleep. As she walked, she noticed someone else was awake too, standing around idly. He was a small brown goat, with a pictogram that read ‘Victor’. ”Hello there…can’t sleep either huh?”, she asked the goat. Victor turned, and smiled to the doe with a nod. ”Victor? That’s an interesting name. I am Isaita.”, she said, wondering why he didn’t say anything. The goat nodded again, not saying a word but blinking a few times as he shifted his weight. There was a bit of an awkward silence, before the doe spoke again, ”You don’t…talk, do you?” The goat opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing really came out. He demonstrated that he was mute, but that he understood what she was saying. ”Oh…you really are…oh I’m sorry.”, Isaita immediately responded. Victor silently laughed and nodded.

The doe was about to speak again when something caught their eyes, and looking to the distance, they noticed an odd glow. Victor was so curious that he had to go toward it, and Isaita followed him, wondering what they were seeing herself. They found an odd area where the glow was coming from, it looked almost like a tear or rift in the air, glowing brightly and fluttering like rising steam. As they observed it, something dropped out – a candy cane. It landed on the ground between the two.

”This is odd…I think we should go tell the Twin Gods that…”, Isaita began to say when Victor approached the strange thing. ”H-hey, wait a minute! You’re not going to…”, she began, but the goat had already gotten too close and vanished. Isaita hesitated, gulping before she ran in after him.

It was a seamless transition, where her hooves went from dirt to plodding on pavement. Victor was close by, looking around as they had found themselves in an old town. The area was quaint, like an old farm village, but they had no idea exactly where they had ended up. Victor turned to the doe and motioned with his head that something was going on. In the distance was an open field, where a shepherd was watching a small group of sheep. But something wasn’t right, he was frantically looking all over for something, or someone.

The goat started to go toward the human, Isaita nervously following behind. She didn’t know what Victor was thinking in approaching, but as they got closer, one of the sheep spoke to them, “Oh hello there, you must be new around here.” Victor nodded his head, as he couldn’t speak, it was the only thing he could ‘say’, where Isaita added, ”Umm yes, we are just passing through…but what’s going on if you don’t mind us asking?”

The sheep looked back toward the frantic human, then said, “Oh…we lost another one of our own today. Little Isabelle, she got lost in the woods on the edge of the field. We’d go in after her but we’d get lost ourselves.”, the sheep replied. Victor looked over to Isaita, who gave a nod to him, before replying to the sheep, ”Let us help, we’ll find her for you.”

“Oh, you will? That’s wonderful, we really appreciate it!”, the sheep replied, and before she knew it, the goat and the doe were racing to the edge of the field to find the lost sheep. The shepherd watched them as they vanished into the tree line, he stayed behind to take care of the rest of his sheep while the odd newcomers went off to find the missing one.

Isaita was exceptionally perceptive in the forest, so she led the way with Victor following behind. They would slow as she perked her ears up, listening all around. She thought she heard something in the distance, and looking to the goat, he was looking in the same direction. They hurried to the sound, and sure enough, there was the lost Isabelle. She was lying on her side, breathing heavily. ”Isabelle! Oh dear, what happened to you?”, Isaita immediately asked. The sheep opened her eyes, straining to sit up. “Oh…who…who are you?”, she asked. ”My name is Isaita, and this is Victor. We came to find you.”, the doe spoke as she approached and tried to help the sheep to her hooves, but she cried out, “Please stop! My leg, it hurts!”

The doe gasped and backed away, the sheep laying back down and grimacing. Now Isaita noticed that Isabelle’s leg was broken. She didn’t know what to do, but before she could say another word, Victor stepped in to help. There was something special about the goat, as he had unique powers of healing, so he quickly began to rest his body along Isabelle’s broken leg. The physical touch of Victor’s fur on the leg began to make it heal, and once he finished, he stepped back. The sheep sat up and was able to stand again without any pain, “H-how…how did you…?”, she tried to ask, but she was so exhausted that she began to collapse. Isaita caught her, and helped her up onto the doe’s back. She turned to Victor, ”Come on, Victor, let’s take her home.” The goat nodded and followed her back to the farm.

They cleared the tree line and were surprised to see the town had gathered to see the sight. The doe and goat bringing Isabelle back was truly a miracle in their eyes. The shepherd approached and graciously received his lost sheep, and almost at once the townsfolk celebrated. The event was surprising to Isaita, but Victor smiled and enjoyed the reverie.

One by one the different townsfolk approached and petted the two for their generosity. The last to approach was a baker, who made peppermint candy in the shape of a shepherd’s cane. He had made plenty of the candy and passed them out to everyone in the town as well as to Isaita and Victor (though he didn’t consider if candy was bad for animals). The two smiled and accepted the treats, and as they saw the shepherd take Isabelle off to be cared for, they decided it was time for them to leave as well. They bowed to everyone from the town and made their way back to the place where they had somehow traveled through. Once they found the portal, Isaita went in first, followed by Victor.

When they had returned to the Endless Forest, the portal strangely closed behind them. Isaita smiled and bowed to the goat, ”Well that was fun. And I am quite tired now. So good night, Victor.”, and when the goat nodded and bowed back, they went their separate ways.

They would never realize they had traveled back in time, and that their generosity was what inspired the very first candy canes. It was all because of a goat and a doe that candy canes were made a tradition for the holiday season.

The End