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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.
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small_magics
small_magics
She peers at it.
"I - don't know why you're doing that," she says, and she lightens her hand's settled touch on his shoulder.
"I - don't know why you're doing that," she says, and she lightens her hand's settled touch on his shoulder.
small_magics
"I don't know why - I don't know what thing you want to get," she says, struggling with the limited vocabulary but not knowing what other words to introduce or how, "I don't know what you're thinking."
endragoned
"...I want my wing to be on you," he says. "You wanted your," he touches the back of her hand lightly with the pads of his fingers, "to be on me."
small_magics
"Hand, that's my hand," she says distractedly. "I wanted my hand to be on you because I was sorry about a thing that happened to you. I don't know why you want your wing to be on me."
endragoned
"Because you were sorry about a thing that happened to me," he says. "Because you made me happy."
small_magics
Isibel considers this.
"All right," she says. "You can put your wing on me."
"All right," she says. "You can put your wing on me."
endragoned
He smiles, and puts his wing on her.
It is very warm, and the skin of the membrane is smooth and soft, with a slightly different texture where he has scars.
It is very warm, and the skin of the membrane is smooth and soft, with a slightly different texture where he has scars.
small_magics
"I don't know if that's the end of your story," she points out, squirming a little.
endragoned
"I went away from the demons," he says. "I went away from people. I saw people, I went away from them. I did that for years. Then I saw my dragon. Then my dragon was my Bondmate. Then we went away together. We went here."
small_magics
"You avoided people," she supplies. "You only went places they weren't."
endragoned
"I avoided people," he agrees. "Demons would kill me. Other people would kill me. Every people would kill me. I avoided people."
small_magics
"Any kind of person would have killed you," she agrees soberly. "But not every individual person. I'm an elf, and elves might want to kill you, but I don't want to kill you."
small_magics
"I was afraid when I first saw you," she confesses. "I almost ran away."
small_magics
"I'm all right now," she says. "You didn't ever try to hurt me. And I didn't think anyone who loved a unicorn so much could be bad."
small_magics
"Oh. You and Tialle liked each other a lot, and remembered each other for hundreds and thousands of years," Isibel says. "When I saw the statues that you made of Tialle I knew that the person who made them loved her."