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Isibel spends her last day on the island flying, and then she rejoins her expedition, and packs, and sleeps, and in the dawnlight she gets back on the boat to sail back to the Elven Lands.
She is kept quite occupied with small magics to keep the ship operating smoothly, and also with notebooking - writing quite small, as she brought more than enough notebooks for three weeks but then unexpectedly used many of them to draw and write with the demon and has only half of one left for several days at sea.
They land on the shore of the Elven Lands on schedule, and disembark.
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Very shortly after they leave the boat, it is made known to Isibel that there is a unicorn waiting for her nearby. 'Nearby' being relative, of course, since unicorns and population centers don't mix well.
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Isibel goes looking for the unicorn, puzzled. She isn't close personal friends with any unicorns, though of course she's one of the people in Silverbranch who can interact with them if they come by and require an intermediary.
The unicorn in question is drinking from a small forest spring when she finds him. His fur is blue-black, with three pale golden socks, and his hooves and horn are pearly white.
"Hi!" he says. "You're Isibel, r—I mean, you must be Isibel, I can tell." He straightens up and nods importantly, flicking his tail. "The Wild Magic sent me! I have to tell you that you need to bond with a dragon to save the world."
"Hi!" he says. "You're Isibel, r—I mean, you must be Isibel, I can tell." He straightens up and nods importantly, flicking his tail. "The Wild Magic sent me! I have to tell you that you need to bond with a dragon to save the world."
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"...I'm Isibel," says Isibel softly. "To save the world - I don't understand."
"I don't know everything," he says, "but I know some things! Someone's trying to raise Elemental Darkness again like they did when Mom was younger and it's not going to turn out so good this time, so you have to bond with a dragon and find them and stop them."
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"There are - several Elfmages, more experienced than I, who would of course not want the Elemental Darkness raised..." Isibel says. There's really no point in arguing with the unicorn, he's just a messenger, but she can't exactly address the Wild Magic personally. "I don't understand what would make it essential for me in particular to participate - surely there are others - who have the bond already, who want it -"
"You are a lot like Harrier," snorts the unicorn. "He didn't want to be the chosen champion of the Light either. Or bond with a dragon. But he did, and look how much better everything is now! I'm going to have to follow you around for months, I bet. Oh," he adds, "I'm Liselen. By the way."
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"You - you don't understand. I would like nothing better than to be an Elfmage; if the world needs saving I would be willing to devote my life to saving it - I don't think I can - I think if anyone, even a dragon who I'd come to love as life itself, could - spy on my thoughts like that - I don't think I'd survive it, I'd go madder than Bisochim the Deceived, I'd be in no condition to save the world," pleads Isibel. "I can't. I'll as good as die before I can accomplish anything."
"...I didn't know that," says Liselen. "I don't know what to do about that. Maybe the Wild Magic will find a way," he says hopefully. "It usually does. But will y—I mean, it would be good if you tried. Or thought about it. Or thought about it and then tried."
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"So there's - there's time," murmurs Isibel. "I have a while, I can -" She shakes her head. "Put my affairs in order. Talk to the Elfmages, perhaps, see if they have counsel for me. I don't have to go back to the boat and ask that it sail right now."
"...You found a dragon over the sea - that makes sense," says Liselen. "I don't have a deadline or anything, but I get the definite impression that ten years would be too late. A season or two would be fine."
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Isibel nods slowly. "It would be good to know what else I must do besides bond with the dragon I found," she murmurs.
"That's not part of what I know," says Liselen, shaking his head. "But I guess you'll find out when you need to."
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Isibel swallows. "Perhaps if you know more," she says, "you could tell me, and I could write it down." She produces her notebook, which has about three pages left.
"I know you have to bond with a dragon to save the world," he says, "and I guess it has to be the one you found, and it had better be sometime this year, and I'm supposed to stay with you until you decide you're definitely going to do it but I don't have to follow you all the way across the ocean or anything, which is good because I get really seasick, it's awful."
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Isibel writes.
This makes it all seem more final, somehow.
"I should talk to Magania. She's going to speak to the other dragons about the one on the island."
This makes it all seem more final, somehow.
"I should talk to Magania. She's going to speak to the other dragons about the one on the island."
"That name sounds familiar," says Liselen, and visibly bites back further utterances.
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"She used to be a Unicorn Knight," Isibel says, not sure what else would do it.
"Oh!" he says. "Yeah, now I remember. She was Mom's cousin's partner for a while."
"Okay!" says Liselen.
"I See you, Isibel," says Magania. "Anything you may wish to tell of what passed between you and Kareta's son would make good hearing."
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"I am supposed to Bond with a dragon," Isibel says softly, in no condition to weave layers of indirection, "and save the world. It's possible I'll survive this physically, but I hold little hope for the state of my soul. I do not even know if I will hold together well enough under such scrutiny to save the world in the first place."
"...I have no wisdom to offer you," says Magania.