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Isibel has never seen an odder collection of fauna. She has not traveled extensively, but she is sure that creatures of this size - lizards as heavy as ten elves together, beavers eight and nine feet long, turtles with shells the size of small houses - are not customary. Yet the island is riddled with them.
The creatures have no particular fear of elves, but nor do they seek them, and none of her party have been attacked; she feels safe enough traveling through the forest on her own, stepping lightly, looking for the sweep of the treeline and any springs that might be useful for settlers if elves settle here. Besides, she is a student of the small magics, some of which may be cast quite rapidly if there is need; she could frighten away an animal that took too much interest in her. The ribbons tied around each of her knees and ankles (blending seamlessly with the rest of her travel outfit) are some of her finest small magic, guiding her steps so that she may place her feet as elves ought to be able to and bring no embarrassment to her House. They don't make her truly graceful, but she can walk, and care will do the rest.
She's deep into the forested part of the Unknown Island when she starts finding statues. Old statues. The trees have grown up around them, it looks like, they've been here that long; they're worn and weathered and have lichen growing on them.
And they're all of unicorns.
The oldest sculptures are none too skillful, but as she proceeds inward towards the center of the island, they become newer and better and it's plain to see that they're not of unicorns, but a unicorn. A unicorn with a broken horn; this is not, it soon becomes apparent, random damage to early statues. Someone has carved a specific unicorn, dozens - hundreds? thousands? - of times. And the art has been made with such intense love, and the newest of the statues are so delicately done that they look almost like real unicorns, with all the magic that implies, though they hold still and are on closer inspection all still carved from stone.
Someone loved this unicorn, and lived on this island, and made a thousand statues of her, and now the place is inhabited only by giant animals that certainly could have done no such thing. Isibel wonders what happened to the sculptor. To the unicorn, too.
On she walks.
small_magics
small_magics
"I was born in Silverbranch, and my mother teaches little elves - she travels, when there are small elves five or six years old in other cities, and she teaches them there, and then she comes home to Silverbranch, and the rest of the time she makes shoes," says Isibel. "My father is a knight, but there have been no wars in our time, and so sometimes he catches fish for the elves in Silverbranch to eat. And I am the youngest person in Silverbranch - everyone else there has lived for more years than me; they are older than I am - and I read books, and I write about my thoughts, and I study the small magic, and I am also the person who talks to people who come to Silverbranch and are not elves - visitors, usually humans, sometimes centaurs or other people. And three moonturns ago there was a letter-rider - letters are written by one person, then brought to another town for someone there to read, and letter-riders are the ones who bring them where they need to go - who brought a letter to the elves of Silverbranch that said there was going to be an expedition - a traveling of many elves - to this island, to see if it would be a good island for elves to live on. And they wanted young elves, who might move away from their homes, and they wanted someone who knew the small magic well, and so I went along, and then I came here, and then I found you." She spreads her hands. "That's my life."
endragoned
He shrugs, his wing lifting away briefly and then coming back to settle on her again.
"I don't know."
"I don't know."
small_magics
"You learn very quickly," she comments. "Most people would forget most of the words, but you remember almost all of them and then learn more."
small_magics
And then Isibel thinks of something else to teach him, and so passes the rest of the day until she returns to camp for supper and to perform small magics according to requests that have accumulated throughout the day.
She brings the blue fruit with her, and everyone likes it.
Isibel continues to visit the demon for most of each day until the expedition's time is up after three weeks. They are all to get on a boat and go home at first light the next morning.
"We're leaving tomorrow," Isibel tells the demon when she goes in to see him.
She brings the blue fruit with her, and everyone likes it.
Isibel continues to visit the demon for most of each day until the expedition's time is up after three weeks. They are all to get on a boat and go home at first light the next morning.
"We're leaving tomorrow," Isibel tells the demon when she goes in to see him.
small_magics
"I'll miss you, but we're probably going to come back," Isibel says. "In a moonturn or two." She sighs. "If we come back, it will be with more elves, and we'll stay."
endragoned
He looks at her for a few seconds.
Then he steps closer and gently folds his wings around her.
Then he steps closer and gently folds his wings around her.
endragoned
He spreads his wings and lets her go.
"...You could fly," he says. "I can fly. I could fly with you."
"...You could fly," he says. "I can fly. I could fly with you."
small_magics
"If you picked me up and carried me?" she says uncertainly. "...If you fly too high the other elves will see you."
endragoned
He beams, and holds out a hand to her, and leads her to a place not far away where he has room to take off.
And then he scoops her up and holds her gently but securely in his arms, and wraps magic around them both that makes them seem as insubstantial as wisps of smoke to the eye, and he flies.
And then he scoops her up and holds her gently but securely in his arms, and wraps magic around them both that makes them seem as insubstantial as wisps of smoke to the eye, and he flies.
endragoned
"I like my island," he adds, soaring over it in lazy circles. "I'm - I don't know the word. I like that I made it this way."
small_magics
"You're proud of it," Isibel suggests. "You worked hard on it and now it's how you like it."