The door opened, drawing Anna's eyes up from her book. Two sets of shoes clacked onto the wooden boards of the foyer as hinges squealed and the wind blew in from the street. Muttered conversation came as her heart quickened, images from an event not months prior flashing through her mind.

Her father stepped around the corner, and her hackles dropped. With a gloved hand, he took off his fedora and shrugged off his coat, looking towards Anna casually, "Hey, Anna. Where's the sitter?"

Mutely, Anna pointed with a hoof towards one of the doors, where the babysitter's rear end was barely visible as she crouched over the stove.

Indiana called out, "Miss Gallagher?"

"I'll be out in a moment, Mr Jones, just finishing cleaning the stovetop like you asked!" she called back.

While the exchange went forward, Anna's eyes wandered back towards the door, where another figure entered, silhouetted against the late-morning sun shining through the front windows of their apartment. He was a man with a complexion almost ashen in color, his nose extended far from his face and hung with extra skin, a pair of glasses sat on his nose, and he was clean shaven but his bare cheeks sagged almost like those of a bulldog's. His black hair was cut short and brushed back and topped off by a bowler hat. A red, warm-looking scarf wrapped around his neck, a coat that matched the color of his skin was wrapped over a cotton undershirt, and a pair of woolen gloves protected his hands from the climate outside. Slung over his shoulder was a bag, laden with books.

His eyes focused on her, in a way that reminded Anna too much of Him.

"Daad..." Anna called out, shrinking away and hiding her head under the lip of the table.

"Huh?" Indiana answered, walking back over and placing a hand on her shoulder, cooling her nerves slightly, "Oh. Anna, this is your new tutor. This is Mr Sanders, he's your new teacher."

Sanders raised his nose as he regarded her, reaching down to unbuckle the clasps on his bag. With his other hand, he took off his hat and hung it on the rack.

Indiana reached into his pocket, taking out a bill and handing it to the babysitter, who herself was packing her bags in preparation to leave. After paying her, he turned back to the strange man and his daughter, "Is there anything you need to know, Mr Sanders?"

"You were not understating your daughter's level of oddity," Sanders muttered, peering down through his glasses at Anna.

A chill ran down her spine, and her stomach tossed. She lowered her head underneath the table again at his glare.

"I'm fighting for her rights as a living person as we speak, don't worry. I assure you in every other way she is very human," Indiana assured, flexing his hands, before looking down to Anna and patting her on the shoulder, "It's okay. This is a good man. Not a naughty man."

Sanders looked down at her still, though slowly began to orbit the table to pull out a chair and sit down across from her.

"Say hi," Indiana urged.

Anna peeked her head up over the side of the table and whispered, "...Hi."

"She's a bit shy. She was nearly kidnapped by someone a few months ago, so she's a bit scared-" Indiana began, but was interrupted.

"I have dealt with children of all kinds of disposition, Mr Jones. Bratty, angry, unruly, and... shy," he cleared his throat, unslinging his book bag and placing it on the table, "I am sure your child will have nothing I cannot handle."

Anna's ears flattened. Her tail whipped instinctively.

"Well, that's great," Indiana tapped his fingers against the back of Anna's chair, before stepping away and towards the door, "I'll leave you two to it. Be back at around five?"

"As arranged, yes," Sanders nodded impassively, focusing his full attention back on Anna as Indiana made for the door.

"Bye honey!" Indiana bid as he put on his hat and placed his hand on the doorknob, "Have a good first day of school!" a pause, "I love you!"

"...Love you too, Dad," Anna said, barely managing to conjure a voice louder than a whisper.

As the door clicked closed behind Indiana Jones, Mr Sanders fished out a notebook from his bag. On the front, several elegantly hand-written words and sentences had been laid out. He laid both his hands on top of the book and fixed her gaze, "Mr Jones has entrusted your care to me. My full name is Philip Myron Sanders, I am a masters of education, and have taught in many upper class homes and to many families of better breeding than... yours.

"Even though you may be of lower standing than my usual charge, I will be holding you to the same standard as all the rest of my students who have come before you. If your unique... body should pose any obstacles, you shall tell me when they come up and I shall adjust as necessary. Otherwise, you will do what I say and attend to your studies to the maximum level. Do I make myself clear?"

Anna, in all honesty, did not understand the implications of half of what was said to her. However, fear kept her glued to her seat, and anxiety kept her from bringing up any of her concerns. Instead, with a dry mouth and a croak in her throat, she whispered, "...Okay..."

Sanders kept his eyes on her for a moment longer, before nodding and looking down to the notebook, "Miss Jones, despite you being a part of the feminine sex, I have been instructed to teach you as a boy. This means you will be learning Greek as part of your studies and will be educated on the arts and the sciences as if you were a man. This may be more challenging than usual, but if your load be too heavy, it should be your father that you complain to, not I."

"Why should it matter if I was a boy or a girl..." Anna muttered, head still low.

"Men should engage in manly things, such as holding a job with good salary, buying a house, finding a well-mannered wife, and protecting their family. Women should engage in feminine things, such as learning proper etiquette, finding themselves a responsible husband, and raising children. These days, women sometimes need to hold jobs of their own, which means they must learn their mathematics and sciences as the men do. Yet, they still have less need for it," Sanders lectured, before pursing his lips and, for the first time, giving ground on something, "Your father may have a point in your path of education, though. I would doubt you would ever manage to achieve a family."

Anna swallowed a lump in her throat. She considered the repercussions of flying away up into her room and blocking the door until her father came back.

"Do not be afraid. These need not be things a child should be worried about," Sanders eventually said, pushing forward the notebook and turned it to face her, "You are starting late into schooling. I would usually start with my students a year younger. I must assess your reading level. Read everything that you can back to me."

Anna adjusted her seating. The chair that was hers on the table had a large set of extra pillows on it, in order to give her the height necessary to see things on the table. Her picture-book had been pushed aside, replaced by the notebook with words on it. Her father and sitters had always said she was a good reader.

Opening her mouth, she began to recite the first few words, only to be silenced as her tutor spoke again, saying: "Sit up straight. Keep your chin level as you read. Straighten that long neck of yours as well."

And so, she did.

School was hard.

Picture books were fun, short, and had words that weren't so complicated. Schoolwork books were long, had very few pictures, the words were very small, and the sentences were very long. Still, her tutor had lightened up somewhat after hearing her recite most of the words on the page. He had told her he had seen nine year olds with worse reading comprehension.

Then, came the mathematics. She'd been taught to count to twenty over the last year from her father and from one of her books (the most boring one), but Mr Sanders had just taken that weakness as an excuse to push her harder in that field. She'd been given a lecture based on a textbook, then quizzed a few times on numbers until she felt like she was going to be sick.

By five PM, Sanders had fortunately moved on from the subject of numbers to the subject of hand-writing. He showed his first sign of humor when she picked up a pen, shaking his head and muttering to himself about holding pens improperly. Still, she seemed to be able to write well enough to complete the lesson, being given a mere five minutes to breathe before the door opened and her father walked back through the door.

"See you tomorrow," Indiana had wished as the tutor walked out the door.

Tomorrow!?

Yes, tomorrow. She was to see the tutor every single day of the week, except Sundays. On Saturdays, she was to learn Greek. Every other day of the week, she was to learn from her normal curriculum.

"Your father has to go to school every day as well, Anna," Indiana had explained as he kicked the snow off his boots and took off his hat, "And I've got to teach school as well."

Anna hated school.

Today was Sunday. That meant that Mr Sanders was off at church, praying to God. That meant Anna was free all day, and Indiana was home to take care of her as well while he did paperwork. In the afternoon, Indiana would take her to the park and let her fly around.

That meant that day was already a day for celebration, because she didn't have to sit in one place all day and read things. It was a day where she could be allowed to fly around, which was still her most favorite thing to do in the world - especially because now, after she'd touched clouds over the ocean, her father trusted her enough to fly around without a rope attached. He'd not even bothered to buy a new rope when he got to England, and spent all of his money on a new bullwhip instead (He really liked his bullwhip. Anna had asked how much it cost, and he'd simply told her it was 'about as expensive as paying Mr Sanders for the month'. She'd told him that it was okay, she didn't like Mr Sanders that much anyway. He'd laughed her off).

This Sunday, however, was to be particularly celebrated. at around 10 in the morning, two men appeared at their door. Indiana met them, Anna squeezing between his legs as their front door swung open.

"HI UNCLE BRODY! HI UNCLE JOHAN!" Anna screamed as soon as the door opened.

The former tipped his hat, growing a wide smile as he prioritized holding his hand out towards Indiana for a shake. The second immediately crouched and opened his arms, allowing Anna to jump into them and squeeze tight.

"Ohhh, Anna, you are growing bigger every time I see you!" Johan said, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her wings tightly to her side.

Anna pulled her head away from Johan's shoulder, looking towards Marcus, who opened his arms in a similar way. Hopping from Johan to the Marcus, they shared another hug, eliciting a groan as Marcus took on her weight.

"How have you been bearing up, Anna? I hear you've started your schooling?" Marcus asked, allowing her to slip gently out of his grip and back onto the slightly icy front steps of the building.

"Mhm..." Anna muttered, walking back up the steps and turning to stand behind Indiana again.

"You're being taught ancient greek, yes?" Marcus asked, stepping inside as he was gestured within by Indiana, "Can you say hello in it yet? Geiá sou?"

"Gay sou..." Anna said shyly, ears flattening once again.

"Ah, close enough," Marcus said, much to the relief of Anna. She'd been drilled enough on her pronunciation.

"Und wie ist Ihr Deutsch?" Johan asked, stepping inside just after Marcus.

"Sehr gut!" Anna said, a bit more enthusiastically. That was a language she knew a lot more about.

"A few more years, and she'll be an omniglot just like you!" Marcus chuckled, pinching Indiana on the shoulder as they walked by.

They went to eat lunch, which thankfully Indiana had not prepared himself. A few pies from the bakery, then some French-styled donuts (the ones that Anna had picked up a solid taste for during their stay in Paris). The only thing that Indiana had made was orange juice, though it had a weird gritty taste that Anna didn't quite like.

Then, Johan did his usual checkup. He asked her how she was doing in terms of her health. She'd gotten a cold once or twice, but was otherwise fine. Her weight was evening up again after starving on the ocean, and her fur was still noticeably thick even as spring approached outdoors. He checked her teeth, then her wings, then took samples of her mane and tail, then declared her to be in 'perfect health', gave her a lollipop, and instructed her to continue brushing her teeth.

"You should start instructing her on how to maintain her own hooves, Mr Jones," Johan said, packing up his doctor's bag.

"How would you like that, Anna?" Indiana asked, "You learned how to brush and floss last year. How would you like to learn how to trim your own hoovsies?"

Anna simply nodded.

As usual, Marcus had a gift for her. It was always small - unless it was Anna's birthday, in which case Marcus always gave the best, fanciest presents. This year, it was something called a 'colouring book'. Marcus sat beside her while she tried it out, while Indiana and Johan had an 'adult talk' on the floor below.

Anna suspected the grownups underestimated exactly how much she could hear. Her ears, perked and alert, caught every single word of the conversation below.

"They will be convening an investigatorial board to confirm my evidence," Johan said in his serious, grown-up tone, "They will need Anna for live experiments. Nothing invasive, I assure you. They just need to confirm that she is... comparable to a human in intelligence. They will be conducting a series of psychological evalutations, mostly."

"It's been eight months already. Johan, I'm honestly already sick of it. Lawyers, documents, discoveries, witnesses... it's really exhausting. And expensive. Marcus puts on a brave face, but it's costing him a lot to constantly bankroll me... I feel like a big, fat failure sometimes," Indiana responded, his voice also low and serious.

Anna lowered her book, looking up towards the entrance to the stairs leading down.

"I'm afraid the case will get worse before it gets better. The Supreme Court... the judges, even on a decision so seemingly obvious as this, they will drag their feet, Indy," Johan muttered, "But, things will get better."

"It's always going to 'be better later'," Indiana growled, "Being a doctor will have returns later, not now. Getting Anna her citizenship will be better later, but not now. The money will be better later, but not now. Every single thing I do, it seems like it's just... out of my control.."

Anna's shoulders drooped, and so did her ears. She heard no more of the conversation. She thanked Marcus quietly for her new book and went to her room.

Anna was hiding behind the dresser again. Rain roared outside, lightning flashed, and her ears rang. Not there, anywhere but there. Anywhere but this again...

The cabin door was thundering as a thousand fists beat on the other side. A voice screamed out from the other side, "YOU LISTEN HERE, CHILD! DO WHAT I SAY! OPEN THE DOOR!"

Tears streamed down her face. The ship swayed back and forth, making the dresser slide with it, despite all of her weak attempts to remain behind it. An explosion rang through the air, making her ears ring again. Her father lay on the ground a few feet away from her, bleeding from a gaping hole in his gut. She could see his insides, squirming around like they were worms.

Suddenly, his intestines shot out towards her, wrapping around her barrel and legs, dragging her kicking and screaming towards his body. She could hear his wheezing breath, feel the blood soak into her fur, and feel the cold, clammy embrace of his wound swallowing her whole.

Lightning struck again, and she was in her room. However, she was not alone in that room.

The street lamp outside shone through her window, illuminating his face against the pitch black of her bedroom. Glasses, a goatee, and a cruel smile. He stood there, blood staining the area around his gut. Her shirt was crumpled up in his left fist. She couldn't scream or move, powerless in front of the man as he stared down at her, like some sort of predator.

Suddenly, everything broke through. She screamed, the vision disappeared, and she tossed around in her bed, trying to escape her sheets to hide.

Footsteps thundered outside, before the door burst open. However, on the other side was not a vision from her dreams. It was, instead, her father. His ill-trimmed beard, jacket, and shoes still on from when he came home that previous afternoon.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She was too choked up in tears to answer, but she held out her forehooves towards him anyways.

Walking over to the side of her bed, he took her into an embrace, "Bad dreams?"

"Mhm..." Anna muttered pitifully, nodding and smearing tears across the shoulder of his jacket.

Indiana stroked the back of her neck and mane, in a way that sent good tingles down her spine. In a soft voice, he reassured her, "Dad has a lot of bad dreams as well. They aren't real. They can't hurt you."

Anna sniffled, before cracking an eye open towards the far end of her room, where lamplight shone through her window and illuminated a small square on the wall. There was no face there, but she couldn't stop thinking about what had been there.

Later, she drew her curtains to eliminate that shaft of light. However, that didn't stop him from appearing anyway.

When Indiana told her that she didn't need to see Sanders on Wednesdays, she was initially overjoyed. Then, Sanders himself explained that the rest of her days would simply be more heavy with work, any joy she had was promptly squashed. Then, Wednesday rolled around, and she was taken with her father to some sort of institute in the college.

There, men she didn't recognize orbited her constantly. They did all sorts of tests. They checked her teeth, measured her muzzle, plucked a few feathers from her wings, and made her run on a track in circles a bunch of times. Then, they locked her in a room and asked her a ton of questions.

Then, they did that again and again and again, every Wednesday, until it was summer. When she went back to seeing Sanders every Wednesday, she felt relieved. But, it wasn't the kind of relieved that was the good kind, it was the kind that came when a tummy ache passed - she wasn't happy, things were just back to normal.

And normal was BORING. She sat at the table all day, being stared down by that cold, clammy old man who didn't warm up a lick even as the sun began to shine. She had to recite her books back and forth, write until it like her foreleg felt like it was going to fall off, then count backwards and forwards by fives, tens, and twos.

At the height of summer, Sanders gave her an 'examination'. With no input or assistance from him, she was to answer questions from a book about numbers and words, all under the time restraint of a stopwatch Sanders had in his pocket. She answered to the best of her abilities, until eventually Sanders hit a button on the top of his watch.

Sanders moved the notebook she had written her answers on and looked down upon it with a careful eye. Eventually, he nodded to himself, "You have done well with your studies, Miss Jones. Dare I say, you are a bright, young girl."

"...Huh?" Anna blinked, looking up at him. He'd very, very rarely had anything good to say about her. He rarely had anything to say about her at all, and when he did comment on her work it was usually negatively.

"Indeed. You are bright," Sanders took his book bag and began to pack away their textbooks - something they usually only did at the very end of the day, "Do not grow too prideful about yourself, Miss Jones, you have simply exceeded the expectations for a child your age. You are still behind in your mathematics, and your Greek is abysmal. However... if I do not reward merit where I see it, brilliance shall be erased entirely."

Anna blinked again.

"Your father tells me you like to be outdoors, and that you like ice cream and french donuts," Sanders closed the clasps on his briefcase, "Come. We shall go outdoors, get ice cream, eat donuts, and speak frankly with each other."

Anna's jaw nearly hit the table as the man walked over to the door, grabbed his hat, and began to shrug on his light coat. She stared in disbelief so long, in fact, that her teacher had to pause by the door and directly instruct her to go and get on her coat and shoes.

She didn't have shoes. That's what hooves were for, after all. Still, she put on her nice, beige-colored coat and followed Sanders out the front door.

They walked through the college town of Oxford, leaving their area of townhouses and condos to walk the streets. A man of his word, Sanders lead her first to the bakery, where she was instructed to choose her favorite pastries. She needed no encouragement, picking out what she wanted immediately, for which the man immediately payed out of his pocket for.

Anna ate her full donut, sitting on the outdoors seating and watching the horses trot by and the pedestrians alongside them. Once, she messed up and got some cream plastered over her nose, yet she wasn't scolded about her 'etiquette', and was instead just handed a napkin to clean up with. She took the offered napkin and stared at Sanders, passively wondering what sort of illness had made him act this way - and if she could ensure he was infected all year long.

"Have you ever interacted with a horse, Miss Jones?" Sanders asked, slicing a part of his meringue with a fork and raising it to his lips. His eyes followed a carriage as it walked by.

Anna had, indeed, seen plenty of horses back in Paris. She'd apparently seen some in Chicago, though she didn't remember them at all. Her father had told her that it was normal to not remember things from when you were a baby, "I've never touched one. I've seen plenty," she responded, only remembering to swallow after she had finished her sentence.

"They are very similar to you, albeit much larger," Sanders responded, "Four hooves. A muzzle. Though, I would note, they have eyes that face to the sides rather than forward."

"Dad says they're animals. He says I'm not an animal," Anna muttered, taking another bite of her donut after wiping her muzzle again.

"He is likely right," Sanders nodded, taking another delicate slice of his pastry, "I have heard of a horse who learned how to count, yet never one who could recite the alphabet to me aloud."

Anna thought about that one, long and hard. She gave another glance towards a horse as it trotted on by, remembering what the man on the ship had said. About her being nothing but an animal and being property. One of the horses caught her eye, and she looked at the ropes clasped around its muzzle and body. How the rider in the carriage cracked the reins against its back. How it wore nothing.

The horse looked at her for a moment, before whinnying and speeding up, almost as if it was perturbed by the eye contact. Anna reached down into her coat, fumbling at the buttons that kept her shirt secure. They were still closed. She felt her heart racing.

"I appear to have ruined your appetite," Sanders said, snapping Anna out of her reverie, "My apologies. We will bring your donut home to eat later. If you are willing to continue, I will take you to eat ice cream, then I will show you a film."

"..A... what?" Anna asked as her donut was taken away and bagged.

"A film," Sanders said, "Have you never seen a film before?"

Anna shook her head.

"I was sure even lower-income families these days saw films," Sanders huffed, taking both his bagged treat and hers into one hand, before gesturing for her to stand up, "Come along. We will see one now. Whatever's on at the theatre, as long as it has good moral character."

As it turned out, what they were going to see was something called 'King of Kings', which was a movie about somebody called Jesus Christ. He was a very very very old person, who was very important to religious people who went to church. Sanders told her that He was still alive, which made Anna think he must be older than most people she knew. Even older than Marcus, that was for sure. They had gotten ice cream from a concessions stand, and were ushered into a seating area to see the film.

First was a section called the Newsreels. It was, apparently, something you could pay to see separately from the film, but Sanders had insisted he wished to see the 'News' by himself. It was all very boring, and she fidgeted until Sander's firm hand made her to sit still. If she could do it at home for school, she could do it in a theater.

This was true, and eventually the newsreels did end, and the film began. Music began to play as words appeared on screen, which Sanders ordered Anna to read, quietly. Images of characters and places were shone on the screen, and whenever the character's mouths moved more words would appear on the screen - which apparently represented what they were saying.

The film followed Jesus, who didn't look old at all, as he went around healing people. He took something called a demon out of a child, saved a woman from getting rocks thrown at her, and refused an offer of a kingdom from Satan - who Sanders said was a very, very, very naughty man. The naughtiest of men, even. All the naughty men in the world, he said, were naughty because of Satan.

Anna remembered the Man from the Ship's goatee and could instantly see the resemblance.

The film ended with Jesus being nailed to a big, wooden cross by people called Romans. Romans, apparently, were an ancient civilization that her father studied from time to time - a lot like the Egyptians, except older... or at least she thought they were older. The Egyptians were still around, but the Romans weren't, except for a place called the Vatican City, which was a place she recognized from her maps.

Jesus, however, came back from the dead, something apparently only he could do successfully. He proclaimed that "I am with you always", and then the words faded into an image of a real life city.

Anna didn't really get it, but she had to admit she was pretty enamoured by the images, the music, and the story. Sanders simply patted her on the shoulder and helped her clean up as they left the theater, the sun being significantly lower into the sky than it had been when they first entered. To top the entire day off, when they returned home, Sanders offered to read Anna's favorite book to her. That was how Indiana found them as he came home - with her bouncing on his leg as they read together.

The next day, it was back to normal. Sanders had his serious face on again as Anna read, counted, and wrote. The promise, however, that there would be another day like that by the end of the year if she continued to be a 'brilliant student', made her just a little bit more energetic.

Maybe school wasn't so bad.

The latter parts of the year were filled with quite the hullaballoo. First, she was taken to some place called the British Broadcasting Company to talk to someone called a reporter. Indiana was there to make her less nervous, but soon a microphone was shoved into her face and she was made to answer a bunch of questions. They started simple, asking her for her name, to tell them about herself, and about what she did on a daily basis.

"My name is Anna Jones. I look like a little horse, but really I'm just a normal girl. Most of the time, I do schooling with my tutor, Mr Sanders. I like to fly around in the park and eat ice cream."

The reporter's questions got more and more complicated and personal. They asked her if she was able to talk to horses (horses couldn't talk, of course), they asked her how far she could fly (very far), and asked her about how the court case was going.

She didn't know the first thing about any 'court case', but fortunately Indiana answered for her. He told the reporters she would be travelling to the United States to go to 'Supreme Court' next month.

Sure enough, they boarded a ship the next month to travel back across the Atlantic to New York. Then, they travelled by train to Washington D.C., which Anna already knew was the capital of the United States of America. She vaguely remembered being there once before with Uncle Brody, who was there to greet them and watch over Anna as Indiana did important, grown-up stuff.

While in Washington D.C., a lot more reporters came to talk to her. She was invited to another radio station, which Indiana came along with her to. There, they asked many of the same questions they had back in London. Anna answered almost exactly the same way, though she still didn't know much about any court case. Nobody seemed to care that she didn't know much, which was strange because it seemed to be all they wanted to talk about with Indiana.

Grownups were weird.

Johan came over with new clothes. These weren't the clothes Anna was used to, though. This was a pretty dress. She'd not gotten any dresses before, and she knew why. Whenever she tried to walk around in them, she'd keep stepping on the cloth, which she was told not to do. This resulted in her having to move painfully slowly, which was made extra annoying when they placed a frilly hat on her head.

"Anna. This is really important that you look pretty and proper, okay? If we impress the judges enough, they'll give you a Citizenship. That means that if someone tries to steal you again, the policemen will go and help me stop them. I need you to be really, really brave, okay?" Indiana assured.

Anna swallowed a lump in her throat.

After being given an extra long bath and being trussed up into her dress again, she was taken to the Supreme Court. It was a giant, fancy building made out of white stone. A crowd of reporters stood out front, camera bulbs exploding with flashes of light as they took photographs.

Anna was at serious risk of getting stepped on as reporters crowded around her, so at some point she ended up taking flight to be above their heads. There, though, she was exposed to hundreds of flashes as thousands of muddled words were shouted at her by the reporters, their notebooks and cameras following her all the way up the stairs, even as the policemen came in to hold the crowd back.

Then, after a very, very long wait that made Anna very bored, they were ushered into an inner sanctum. A panel of men, all in funny looking robes, watched her and Indiana entered. A greasy-looking man sat next to Indiana, a huge array of documents and notebooks out in front of him. He yammered away to the men in robes for a very long time about a manner of subjects Anna could never understand.

Eventually, one of the men in robes leaned forward and said in a commanding voice: "Anna Jones will approach the bench to be examined."

Indiana gave his daughter a reassuring nod, "It's okay. Just go up and tell the truth."

She looked forward, up at the men in robes. Her heart thundered and her ears rang. Somewhere deep inside, though, she firmed herself. She was going to be brave. Everything was going to be okay. She was smart, strong, pretty, and could outfly everything in the room with her!

Anna, rather than awkwardly step out of her seat in her dress and walk out into the big space between the chairs and the judge's 'bench', made the logical decision of spreading her wings and flying up to them. The men in uniforms in the wings of the courtroom seemed to be made nervous by the move, and several whispers and murmurs filled the hall from the audience members lining the rows behind them.

Anna landed atop the desk, right next to a nameplate, making the robed man sitting at it raise an eyebrow, "Hi," she said.

"Hello," the robed man offered in return. The other robed men to his sides leaned towards each other and whispered, though he ignored them as he leaned forward and adjusted his glasses, "Miss Jones."

"That's me!" Anna said, puffing out her chest.

"Are you aware of the gravity of your situation?" the robed man asked, steepling his hands in front of him.

"I dunno what gravity means," Anna said, honestly.

The robed man, fortunately, just chuckled, "How important do you think this situation is?"

"Very important! Dad needs the policemen to help steal me back if someone ever tries to hurt me!" Anna said, voice squeaking a bit at 'hurt me'. She re-firmed herself, though, shuffling her wings at her sides.

The robed man nodded, "The law says that something that isn't human can't receive help from the policemen. The law says that everything living that isn't human is something called chattel. That means whoever has chattel can treat that chattel however they want, without policemen saying how they do it," a pause, "Do you understand what I'm saying, miss?"

"Because I'm an animal, the policemen can't stop people from hurting me," Anna said, lips turning into a deep frown. Her ears began to droop.

"Very perceptive," the robed man nodded, smiling slightly, "Do you think that's fair?"

"Nuh uh!" Anna insisted, ears perking again as she shook her head, "I'm not an animal. Horses are animals, but a horse can't talk, or recite the alphabet, or watch moving pictures, or wear clothes, or read."

"They can't do most of those things, yes," the robed man admitted, "Miss Jones. Do you think you're a human?"

"Mhm!" Anna nodded.

"Why? Humans don't have hooves or wings."

"Some apples are green, some are red. Just cause they're one way or the other, doesn't mean they're not an apple," Anna posited, "An apple is an apple if it grows on an apple tree and tastes like an apple. My dad is a human, which is kinda like growing from an apple tree, and if you tasted me I might taste a lot like a human!"

Laughter echoed across the courtroom, confusing Anna slightly as she glanced around the room. Even the men in robes chuckled a bit.

"Do you think there might be others like you out there?" the robed man asked, as soon as the laughter had died down.

Anna had never, ever before in her life, really considered that. She scrunched up her muzzle, "...I dunno."

The man in robes slowly nodded, before his hand made a shooing motion, "You are dismissed. You may return to your seat, Miss Jones."

Anna didn't return to the courthouse for two entire weeks. Most of the time in those weeks, she stayed with Marcus as her father continued to do more and more adult stuff, inside the courthouse and elsewhere. One day, though, she was told to dress up again, and was carted back off to the courtroom.

Somehow, EVEN MORE reporters crowded the steps of the Supreme Court. Cameras flashed at such a rate that Anna was left with spots in her eyes. There were even these fancy cameras with two, big reels that went round and round as they recorded. Farther back, away from the reporters, there were people with signs shouting at the top of their lungs all sorts of things. Indiana instructed her sternly not to read their signs as they marched up the steps of the courthouse. This time, policemen weren't the ones to part the crowd, it was soldiers with helmets and rifles.

The same, robed men greeted them within the courthouse. Looking down imperiously upon them, there was no boisterous talking from the greasy man with all the papers. There was no chatter from the crowd, or instructions from Indiana aside from "be quiet".

"Mr Jones, Miss Jones," the robed man from before said, as soon as everyone was seated, "The Supreme Court is no stranger to strange cases. However, this, I must say, is a first not only for our young nation but for the world as a whole. The very prospect of allowing a non-human the rights of a human as outlined within the Constitution and the Declaration is a step to a dimly lit platform over a very dark and unknowable abyss."

Indiana nodded. Anna mimicked him, even though she didn't understand the words.

"The evidence, however, is undeniable. In terms of psychology, Miss Anna Jones is in every way a human girl's equal. Therefore, with this court's decision, I am afraid we must open our eyes to the possibility of things non-human being deserving of the rights of a human," the robed man reached for a gavel, "The Supreme Court has decided to rule in favor of the Joneses, against the Department of State. The defendant will make, with all haste, to grant Miss Anna Jones the citizenship she has been so undeservedly been withheld."

Suddenly, Indiana clutched Anna close. His hands dug grooves into her shoulder as he shook with joy. Cheers came from around the courthouse as the gavel struck, causing Anna to smile as well.

She would be able to take off the dress now!

The Joneses prepared to leave Washington D.C. shortly after. Reporters besieged their hotel room, though they only got two opportunities to lob their questions - once when they left for the photo studio, and once when they got back.

Eventually, Indiana came into their room, giddy with excitement as he held out an envelope towards Anna. She opened it with curiosity, revealing a small, leatherbound book. On the front page was the photograph they had taken, along with a big, circular stamp. She was told to quickly sign her name, something she had learned how to do from Sanders, in an indicated space then read what was on it.

PASSPORT
-***-
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

NAME OF BEARER: Anna Katie Jones
SIGNATURE OF BEARER: A.K. Jones
BEARER'S ADDRESS IN THE UNITED STATES: 25 Pine Road, Ferndale, New York
BEARER'S FOREIGN ADDRESS: 22 Symonds Street, Oxford, United Kingdom
In case of death or accident notify:
NAME OF PERSON TO BE NOTIFIED: Henry Walton Jones, Jr.
EXACT ADDRESS: 22 Symonds Street, Oxford, United Kingdom

Author's Note

fun fact:

Pretty much every deity canonically exists in some way in the Indiana Jones universe.

another fun fact:

The United States address listed on the passport may be familiar to hardcore fans.