Norman was nervous. Norman was so nervous that he felt like he was going to throw up. If he did throw up, it would be all over Scarf. That wouldn't be a good way to treat his ferret companion. 

Norman was a boy at this point, roughly 13 years of age and he didn't have any right to be set out into the world. He was too young, too ignorant and too naive. He was going off to school. He did have a tutor when he was growing up, teaching him to read, write and how to be "ethical" in school. Many might think that the tutorship was a luxury, but it was a necessity. A necessity that put his family in debt, and Norman felt guilty about that.  

Norman would have to be put through the test, going to a boarding school for magically gifted children. He would have to learn how to self advocate, which he did not know how to do at the time. He would have to learn how to make friends and he would have to learn how to fend for himself for the most part. Norman was slowly learning he would have to do these things and this is why he was so nervous. 

"Cheer up, lad!" Scarf said. "At least you have me!"

Norman smiled. Scarf had always been his friend, his best friend. Even though that Norman never said a word to Scarf this whole trip, he at least knew that Scarf could read his facial impressions very well. Ferrets were like that, you see.

"How much longer?" Norman asked the wagon driver.

"We'll probably get there in the morning." The dwarf driving the wagon said. "You had quite the send off, you did." The dwarf added sometime later.

"Yeah. That was my family."

"Where are you going that they can't follow, if you don't mind me asking?"

"School."

"Oh! How nice! Which school is it?"

"Cyrus's School of Magic." 

"Oh." The dwarf driving the wagon thought it was going to be somewhere he heard of. However the dwarf didn't know many magic schools, just the prestigious ones. "So you do you know what color you're going to focus on?"

Norman knew what he wanted his focus on magic to be, which was Emerald magic. He didn't realize that consciously though, so in the end, he answer with a "No". 

"That's alright lad. As my dad used to say, 'even I don't know what to be when I grow up!'" The dwarf laughed. He must of found that funny, but Norman didn't get it. Normand looked at Scarf for clarification but received none from his ferret friend. 

The dwarf must have sensed Norman's confusion. "What I'm saying is, lad, you have your whole life ahead of you. No need to rush to the end." The dwarf explained.

"Easy for you to say," scoffed Scarf "You live fifty times longer than I do!"

Norman coughed to signal that Scarf was being rude. 

"What?" Scarf protested "It's not like that dwarf can understand me!" In truth, the dwarf only heard squeaks from the critter. Norman could understand the weasel perfectly as if he was speaking common. As a matter of fact, Norman thought some animals could speak common growing up. It wasn't until Alex came and tried to teach Norman how animals talk to humans they trust that Norman realized that Alex couldn't hear what Norman was hearing.

-

"What do you mean Sheela speaks Common?" Alex asked 8 year old Normand. 

"I mean Sheela speaks common." Norman stated. 

"That's the most cotton-headed thing that I've heard of! Animals can't talk the way we can!" Alex was mad because she wished that were true. It would certainly make her job a lot easier.

"But Sheela can speak common. She ain't a dumb cow." Norman protested.

"Thank you!" Sheela said to Norman but moo'ed to everyone else. 

"You stay out of this!" Alex pouted. All her life Alex had been working with animals. Not one of them spoke common to her and she did not like that a boy was saying animal did in fact speak common. 

"So..." Alex wasn't sure where to go from here. "Sheela is pregnant, right?" 

"I don't know." Normand said. "Hey Sheela! Are you pregnant?"

"Yes, little one!" Sheela exclaimed. "Just so you know, the baby's name is Alfred."

"Sheela says the baby's name is Alfred. Oh, and that she is pregnant." translated Norman. 

Alex was getting more confused and less angry at this point. Alex had known Norman for two years and knew what Norman looked like when he was making something up and when he wasn't. Norman wasn't making things up this time. In any case, the name Alfred wasn't a common one in these parts and made Alex question some things. 

"Alfred.... Um, give me a second. Hey Boss!" Alex shouted for Norman's Pa. 

Norman's Pa was around the corner chopping wood for the fireplace. "What is it? Norman afraid to get his hands dirty again?" 

"No. I think Norman can talk to animals!" 

"Well I can talk to animals to! It's the talking back that's the worrying part!" 

"That's what I meant! The animals talk back to Norman!"

Pa stopped raising his axe at that point. He tossed it to the side and started marching to the barn where Norman was supposed to get a lesson about cows. "Are you saying my youngest son is off the level?" Pa shouted.

"No sir! I think he's perfectly sane!" Alex shouted.

This did not add up in Pa's mind. Animals could talk to animals and people could talk with people. People can try and speak to animals and vice versa, but only a simple language could be understood between the two, like dogs being trained to sit or dogs training their owners to get them food. 

On the other end of the farm, all the other animals were in a ruckus. Norman had one job, not to tell the grown ups that he could hear the animals talk. It seemed that his secret was out, and it was all hands, hooves, paws and claws on deck!

Pa finally arrived at the barn door and took a look at Norman. Norman thought he was in trouble. Since Alex wasn't family, he thought he could tell her at least. Now that wasn't looking like that was a good idea. 

"Norman? Can animals talk to you, son?" Pa said calmly. Normand knew his father and he wasn't angry at him, which confused him. 

"Y-Yes?" Norman stammered. 

"Oh boy." Sheela mooed. She didn't like where this was going. 

Pa nodded. "So when the birds tweet, what are they saying?" 

Norman shook his head. "I don't hear them speak common. Just the farm animals!"

At this point a gathering of animals where behind Pa. The ducks, the pigs, and even Scarf showed up to see if Norman needed protecting. After all, Norman was everyone's favorite. 

Pa looked behind him and saw the crowd that formed behind him. He pointed one out. "Can that one speak to you?"

"Don't tell him anything!" Exclaimed Dillan the Duck. Like all of the other farm animals, Norman could hear him just fine. Pa and Alex only heard quacking. Loud quacking, which gave a bit away to Pa. Pa could tell at that moment Dillan understood him. 

Norman didn't know what to do. He kept this secret as long as he could remember. He had a good streak keeping it a secret until now. He started to make something up about it, but both Alex and Pa knew what he looked like when he did that. 

"Now son," Pa started "You're not in trouble. So if the animals can speak to you, that helps us out plenty! We can tell who's sick, tell who's hurtin', and it means you can talk to them like they're your human friends."

Norman didn't know what that last part meant. Pa sort of knew what he meant. He was speaking to a child though, which could be a little hard sometimes. 

"The animals that trust me can talk to me." Norman confessed. 

"What does that mean?" Pa asked. He was confused.

"I can't hear what the birds sing about, but I hear Dillan and Scarf bickering, I can hear Sheela naming her calf, and I can hear Gerard cussin' all the cuss words!"

Pa turned around to the now crowd of animals on his farm. He looked over all of them. Yup, they were all there. Even the ones that were supposed to be fenced up got out. "Can they understand what I'm saying?" Pa inquired. 

"Only because they trust me, yes." Norman confessed. 

"How do you know because they trust you?" Alex asked.

"That's what Scarf told me. He has had other people talk to him before." Norman spoke the truth as he knew it. 

"We told you not to talk about that, boy!" Scarf shouted.

"Well I don't want to lie to them!" Norman responded.

Pa had a theory. He wasn't the brightest fork in the cabinet, but he had his moments. "Did the animals try and help you keep this a secret from us?"

 "Yes, sir." Norman was scared, but didn't know what else to say. 

"All of them?" Pa's tone was getting a little harsher.

"... Yes, sir."

"Well then! New rules! All of you listen up!" Pa was now in his addressing the whole farm. "No more secrets! Secrets hurt people in the end! From now on, if you have a problem, go to Norman and Norman will come to me, Ma or Alex! You!" Pa pointed to Gerard the goose. "No more cussing! My sons will learn them in time! He doesn't need your help with learning them quicker! You!" Pa pointed to Spike the dog. "I've been trying to tell you to leave your droppings in Carl's yard!"

"That's against code of doggy conduct, sir!" Spike half barked half howled.

Normand translated word for word. 

"Nevermind then! Sheep! No more arguing with Spike! He knows how to do his job and he's the best dog I've had!" Pa barked out some more orders, not naming names but eventually getting out all of his grievances to everyone on the farm. This got the attention of Ma, who had been wondering what all this shouting was about. She wandered over. 

When Pa was done addressing everyone, being rather proud at himself as pas are, Ma asked "Honey? Why are the animals out of the fence? And why are they listening to you all polite like?" Ma had never seen such order on the farm before.

"Norman can speak to animals!" Exclaimed Pa. 

"What?!" Ma screamed. Yes, screamed. 

Pa was taken aback, he thought this was a good thing but now.... "What?" Pa asked dumbfounded. 

"Do you mean to tell me our son knows magic?" Ma shouted.

Pa didn't think that far ahead. All he knew is that his son could talk to animals. He didn't think on why he could, just knew that Norman could. Once again, he felt as sharp as a tac to duller than mud, all thanks to his lovely wife. 

"It would appear that way, ma'am." Pa confessed.

"Well you know what that means, right?" Ma knew that her husband didn't know. He was a simple man with simple needs and desires, like most men. 

"Erm..." Pa thought. 

"It means he needs to go to school! It's the law!" Ma wasn't waiting for Pa's thinking to take all day. 

Pa was now immediately heartbroken. He looked to Norman. He didn't want to send his youngest son away, but the closest school was two towns over. Even he knew that. 

"Oh" Pa said trying to keep a straight face. "Erm...."

Ma now knew what she had done to her husband. She, too, was scared and worried about her youngest son. While boarding school was still not that dangerous, sending your child away earlier than expected can be heart wrenching for any parent.  

"Um..." Alex spoke up. She didn't know what this all meant. She knew about the law that all children with an aptitude toward magic needed to attend school, but she didn't see why this was a big problem. "Wouldn't he need to learn how to read?" She asked a simple question first. 

"Yes, dear." Mom answered. "We will need a tutor to teach him."

At this point, Scarf the ferret made his way over to the beyond confused Norman. Scarf looked up at Norman, "This, lad, is why I didn't want you to tell anybody." he said with a disapproving tone.