It was a nice day, a week after Edward had freed the unicorn from her bonds. She hadn't truly sought him out much, in fact, if not for the occasional white shimmer in the night it might have almost been evident that the unicorn had abandoned him, and he hadn't seen any sign of her the last two nights. The forest here didn't possess the vigor the unicorn's had had, while still a pleasant and beautiful forest almost anything would pale in comparison to what he'd left behind.
Edward's journey thus far has been a pleasant one; his supplies have been well-stocked, enough so that he could occasionally spare a handful of oats for one of the horses, whose moods are mild and warm, and so the wizard's is, as well. He has stopped his travel for a short bit of respite, having come across those parts of the road that were rougher, less-traveled and wild, and sits now with his pipe and an open journal. The horses wander nearby, sampling the grass and basking in the sunlight.
With only the softest of sounds the unicorn emerges from the forest her long soft mane shines the colour of spring grass as the light of the sun gently washes over it. She still smells like the forest she'd left behind. While the wizard's nose might not be able to distinguish it, she and the horses do and to her it gives her the fond memories of seasons past. Xiana does not hesitate, after assuring no other human can see her she trots towards Edward, green eyes staring merry as a foal. "I greet you, human wizard. It has been many days since I last looked upon you in the light of the sun." She sings softly, her voice carrying over the clearing.
When any other voice might have startled Edward for being so sudden, the unicorn's comes upon him like a song instead of a sound, and he looks up with the bright expectancy of a hopeful child. When his eyes are drawn instantly to Xiana, he makes a small, delighted noise. Hastily, he caps his ink, staining his fingers, and puts out his pipe before hopping down from his seat to stand across from her merely for the sake of respect. "Oh, a--a-a-a w-week, Lady Xiana," says the wizard, having settled on the title some days before as a happy medium between his strong desire to denote reverence and the unicorn's own mild apathy towards so human a construct. "I d-did, er, d-did begin to--t-t-to think you h-had gone off on your own w-wild way."
Xiana seems to laugh at that, a soft whinny that sounds just enough like a laugh to identify it as such and she looks with clear fondness at the wizard. "I have watched you from where you could not see me several times." She tells simply and honestly. " The unicorn comes to a halt about a foot away from the wizard, as close as she dares come. She seems confident of their safety, unlike the last time he'd seen her she does not look out towards the forest every two seconds.
Edward longs to reach out and touch her, but he knows better. "It--i-it is a great honor, t-t-to be--to be watched by a unicorn," he says in breathless amazement. But then he pauses, and sincerely adds, "But i-i-it has--it h-has troubled me s-s-so with wonder, this--th-this curiosity of mine, my lady, and--a-and if you see f-f-fit to answer, oh, p-please tell me why?" He slowly removes his hat from his head, to give his inky fingers something with which to fidget. The sun shines quite bright on his red hair, and the rims of his glasses.
The unicorn seems slightly puzzled by his question and even tilts her head slightly as she clearly tries to think of an appropriate answer to this question. "I have watched travellers for many a season, in many a forest. And I watch you to see if you are safe." The unicorn turns into the direction they've left behind. "Without you I would have lost my freedom and you have asked nothing in return for granting it..." Her kind green gaze returns to Edward, regarding him head to toes "I have never seen a human wizard with a heart quite like yours. It is most intriguing..." The unicorn's voice has a certain calm to it it didn't have before, this time there was no Summer Lord to worry about after all.
This answer brings a thoughtful look to Edward's eyes, and a shy smile to his lips. He lowers his gaze from her horn to her hooves, and turns his hat in his hands by the brim, looking much more like a sheepish boy than a grown, middle-aged man. Perhaps words have failed him, because, abashed by her honoring words, he does not offer any.
The unicorn patiently waits a moment to see if the wizard wants to speak. When he just keeps looking at her hooves though, she herself throws a glance down to them, seeing if there's perhaps something at them she had failed to notice, but nothing is there. "What is it that made you be a wizard?" Xiana then asks suddenly, her voice a tone of unusual curiousity. "Had you the gift of magic when you were born? Like the wizards of the elves?" The unicorns eyes travel up to look at Edward again, now that she is quite certain there is nothing but grass and a few harmless bugs at her hooves.
This question brings Edward's eyes back to the unicorn's face, and a small crease appears between his brows--a smidge of worry, or perhaps merely difficult thought. "Oh," he says, as though he had only just understood the question, and the crease vanishes. His smile relaxes with a warmth he has so far reserved only for the unicorn, and thoughts of her. "Perhaps--p-perhaps I had," he muses slowly, as though he had never heard or considered the question before. "I-I did play with... with s-s-small magics, as a boy--cantrips, t-tricks, simple, silly foolery. Indeed, I have used magic f-for--for as long as I can remember."
Xiana's keeps an ear turned to Edward as he talks, although the other one keeps scouting the noises of the forest. Her attention does clearly focus on him as he talks though. When he is done the unicorn smiles, although she doesn't respond to anything in his tale. Perhaps she just accepts it for what it is, and needs not know more. "Is it a distant place where you were born? Or do no you not remember where that place was?" The next question comes.
"Across the sea," Edward sighs, but his smile is still there. "I-I have wandered quite... quite far from it, b-but I... I do still hold it in my heart with a f-f-fondness."
A sort of wonder fills the unicorns eyes, for a moment she seems almost a young filly. "Across the sea.." She repeats, her soft voice thick with curiousity. "It has been many seasons since I last laid eyes upon the sea..." And Xiana pauses for a moment, gaze slightly averted from the wizard as she recalls the salty smell and the distant sound of water crashing upon rocks. "What do the lands across the sea look like?" She asks then, eyes returning to the wizard's face.
The horses, who had gone quite still and grown alert in the unicorn's presence, slowly wander towards the two, as though they wish to listen--or merely desire to be close to Xiana, and had grown past their shyness. Edward reaches out to rest his hand on the nose of one, but his eyes remain on the unicorn's. "Oh, wh-why... green," he says wistfully. "Green, green, green, g-green like the deepest, lushest d-d-depths of the most lively forest, green l-like the sea itself. Greener than this grass, or any g-grass I--I-I have seen anywhere else--but grey, t-too, with fog and rain. Oh, and r-rolling--rolling, all hills and-and-and lazy m-mountains. It's--i-it's been so long since I have seen it, but, oh, I remember."
The unicorn gives fond looks at the two horses as they draw near, although they follow a human master they seem free, they seem to carry him with joy and that fills Xiana with joy as well. Her attention returns to Edward though, her full attention, even her second ear, as he reminces about the lands across the sea. "I wish to go there.." She says as he finishes talking. "One day... How I shall cross the sea I do not know." Her voice is tinged with a bit of sorrow there. "There across the sea where the Summer Lord cannot find me. In the lands green like you tell their story." Her eyes are drawn into the direction of the sea, or at least where the thought it to be.
A strange happiness shows itself on the wizard's face--disbelief and gladness coupled with amazement and delight. "Oh, m-my lady," he says, suddenly elated, "My lady, y-you have given me purpose! I w-w-wander, now, without any aim but the quiet appreciation of simple life--but if I were to return home to dear Eriu, I-I may show you the way!"
Xiana looks at the wizard, for a moment she seems to share his joy, she is certainly glad she made him smile. But her own joy is quickly replaced by a tinge of disappointment. "I would travel with you to those lands. Keep you safe on the roads to reach the lands that green. But I can not cross the sea. Even on those crafts of wood you make, no human would see me wander without attempting to do harm to me." She shakes her head, although sad the unicorn seems to accept it.
This realization causes Edward's smile to fall, because it is very true. "Not all mortals covet you so," he quietly says, looking down at his boots and gently twisting his hat between his fingers, "but--but m-many of them do, I know. It is--i-it--it d-distresses me." But then he smiles again, wrinkling the corners of his eyes, and there is a strange determination there, now. "Re--r-regardless, I-I am a wizard, and--w-well, what use would a wizard be if he c-could not aid a unicorn?"
The unicorn's expression remains much the same for a while, a big sorrowful but accepting of her lot. But then when the wizard suddenly makes his determined promise her eyes widen and she seems truly speechless, in fact for a moment her green eyes narrow ever so slightly and she steps forward towards the wizard. "You may lay your hand upon my snout." She says softly but slightly commanding, she wants to feel his touch as then Xiana might know whether or not he is truly speaking the truth, and if there is not some darker intent he is concealing deep within.
This invitation delights Edward, for he has nothing to hide but his secret desire to touch the unicorn, which he is still quite sure is not something he ought to be able to do. Still, she had asked him to, and it makes him glad; and so, once again painfully aware of how crude a creature he is compared to her, he slowly extends his arm. His fingers hesitate by the fair face as he remembers the ink on them, but it is dry, now, and even ink would do little to mar Xiana's beauty. Shutting his eyes and turning his head, as though afraid, he finally rests them meekly on her muzzle with the gentlest of contact.
As Edward touches her the unicorn softens her looks and she visibly becomes happy again. She knows it now that he speaks truth, that he truly wishes to bring her to the greenest land over the sea. "Very well then. May all the trees in this forest be witness. We shall travel together to the lands you spoke off, all of us." She looks over the two horses as well, she does not only make this promise to Edward. "Until we arrive I shall keep you safe from any harm and you shall keep me safe in return. I will trust you for this one journey, this I swear." And the moment she is done, Edward should know her words were as true as his were.
Edward slowly turns his head to look at her, and opens his eyes. His hand still on her snout, as though he were swearing by the unicorn herself, he solemnly says, "A-and I the same; I shall do everything within m-my power to ensure it." But quickly, the seriousness fades back into boyish giddiness, and the wizard looks at her in admiration and wonder, savoring the feel of her soft fur, but then he reluctantly withdraws his hand, for he has an infallible sense of time, and therefore also the sense to recognize when too much is too much. It would never do to offend a unicorn. "I--I-I am honored, Lady Xiana, that--th-that you would have me w-with you for any journey at all."
Xiana doesn't seem to mind him touching her fur and even when he withdraws his hand she doesn't immediatley take some distance from the freckled giddy man like before. "I will run far along the road you will travel to seek out any danger. Although I am feeling the end of the forest draw near, where the trees are replaced by the land culvated by hands. Once out of the forest you will have to uphold your word, that is where I am powerless."
Edward nods with firm resolution, though there is the faintest waver of worry at the corner of his mouth. It is gone as quickly as the most subtle ripple on a pond, but lingers instead on his eyes, alongside solemn wisdom. "If we t-t-travel close, I will be able to aid you, always, and the horses, as well; they are f-fierce and--and strong when... wh-when roused to act."
Xiana starts to trot off towards the forest, although she looks back at Edward before she disappears into the woods. "I shall trust that. I will seek the safest way to the edge of the forest now. It would be wise to avoid the evil men who rob and kill other men for wealth. Who call the woods their home like the animals, and prey much like them." She nears the edge and in a few moments she'd be gone, off into the woods again. But with the promise of a soon return, it would no longer take a week.
Edward's journey thus far has been a pleasant one; his supplies have been well-stocked, enough so that he could occasionally spare a handful of oats for one of the horses, whose moods are mild and warm, and so the wizard's is, as well. He has stopped his travel for a short bit of respite, having come across those parts of the road that were rougher, less-traveled and wild, and sits now with his pipe and an open journal. The horses wander nearby, sampling the grass and basking in the sunlight.
With only the softest of sounds the unicorn emerges from the forest her long soft mane shines the colour of spring grass as the light of the sun gently washes over it. She still smells like the forest she'd left behind. While the wizard's nose might not be able to distinguish it, she and the horses do and to her it gives her the fond memories of seasons past. Xiana does not hesitate, after assuring no other human can see her she trots towards Edward, green eyes staring merry as a foal. "I greet you, human wizard. It has been many days since I last looked upon you in the light of the sun." She sings softly, her voice carrying over the clearing.
When any other voice might have startled Edward for being so sudden, the unicorn's comes upon him like a song instead of a sound, and he looks up with the bright expectancy of a hopeful child. When his eyes are drawn instantly to Xiana, he makes a small, delighted noise. Hastily, he caps his ink, staining his fingers, and puts out his pipe before hopping down from his seat to stand across from her merely for the sake of respect. "Oh, a--a-a-a w-week, Lady Xiana," says the wizard, having settled on the title some days before as a happy medium between his strong desire to denote reverence and the unicorn's own mild apathy towards so human a construct. "I d-did, er, d-did begin to--t-t-to think you h-had gone off on your own w-wild way."
Xiana seems to laugh at that, a soft whinny that sounds just enough like a laugh to identify it as such and she looks with clear fondness at the wizard. "I have watched you from where you could not see me several times." She tells simply and honestly. " The unicorn comes to a halt about a foot away from the wizard, as close as she dares come. She seems confident of their safety, unlike the last time he'd seen her she does not look out towards the forest every two seconds.
Edward longs to reach out and touch her, but he knows better. "It--i-it is a great honor, t-t-to be--to be watched by a unicorn," he says in breathless amazement. But then he pauses, and sincerely adds, "But i-i-it has--it h-has troubled me s-s-so with wonder, this--th-this curiosity of mine, my lady, and--a-and if you see f-f-fit to answer, oh, p-please tell me why?" He slowly removes his hat from his head, to give his inky fingers something with which to fidget. The sun shines quite bright on his red hair, and the rims of his glasses.
The unicorn seems slightly puzzled by his question and even tilts her head slightly as she clearly tries to think of an appropriate answer to this question. "I have watched travellers for many a season, in many a forest. And I watch you to see if you are safe." The unicorn turns into the direction they've left behind. "Without you I would have lost my freedom and you have asked nothing in return for granting it..." Her kind green gaze returns to Edward, regarding him head to toes "I have never seen a human wizard with a heart quite like yours. It is most intriguing..." The unicorn's voice has a certain calm to it it didn't have before, this time there was no Summer Lord to worry about after all.
This answer brings a thoughtful look to Edward's eyes, and a shy smile to his lips. He lowers his gaze from her horn to her hooves, and turns his hat in his hands by the brim, looking much more like a sheepish boy than a grown, middle-aged man. Perhaps words have failed him, because, abashed by her honoring words, he does not offer any.
The unicorn patiently waits a moment to see if the wizard wants to speak. When he just keeps looking at her hooves though, she herself throws a glance down to them, seeing if there's perhaps something at them she had failed to notice, but nothing is there. "What is it that made you be a wizard?" Xiana then asks suddenly, her voice a tone of unusual curiousity. "Had you the gift of magic when you were born? Like the wizards of the elves?" The unicorns eyes travel up to look at Edward again, now that she is quite certain there is nothing but grass and a few harmless bugs at her hooves.
This question brings Edward's eyes back to the unicorn's face, and a small crease appears between his brows--a smidge of worry, or perhaps merely difficult thought. "Oh," he says, as though he had only just understood the question, and the crease vanishes. His smile relaxes with a warmth he has so far reserved only for the unicorn, and thoughts of her. "Perhaps--p-perhaps I had," he muses slowly, as though he had never heard or considered the question before. "I-I did play with... with s-s-small magics, as a boy--cantrips, t-tricks, simple, silly foolery. Indeed, I have used magic f-for--for as long as I can remember."
Xiana's keeps an ear turned to Edward as he talks, although the other one keeps scouting the noises of the forest. Her attention does clearly focus on him as he talks though. When he is done the unicorn smiles, although she doesn't respond to anything in his tale. Perhaps she just accepts it for what it is, and needs not know more. "Is it a distant place where you were born? Or do no you not remember where that place was?" The next question comes.
"Across the sea," Edward sighs, but his smile is still there. "I-I have wandered quite... quite far from it, b-but I... I do still hold it in my heart with a f-f-fondness."
A sort of wonder fills the unicorns eyes, for a moment she seems almost a young filly. "Across the sea.." She repeats, her soft voice thick with curiousity. "It has been many seasons since I last laid eyes upon the sea..." And Xiana pauses for a moment, gaze slightly averted from the wizard as she recalls the salty smell and the distant sound of water crashing upon rocks. "What do the lands across the sea look like?" She asks then, eyes returning to the wizard's face.
The horses, who had gone quite still and grown alert in the unicorn's presence, slowly wander towards the two, as though they wish to listen--or merely desire to be close to Xiana, and had grown past their shyness. Edward reaches out to rest his hand on the nose of one, but his eyes remain on the unicorn's. "Oh, wh-why... green," he says wistfully. "Green, green, green, g-green like the deepest, lushest d-d-depths of the most lively forest, green l-like the sea itself. Greener than this grass, or any g-grass I--I-I have seen anywhere else--but grey, t-too, with fog and rain. Oh, and r-rolling--rolling, all hills and-and-and lazy m-mountains. It's--i-it's been so long since I have seen it, but, oh, I remember."
The unicorn gives fond looks at the two horses as they draw near, although they follow a human master they seem free, they seem to carry him with joy and that fills Xiana with joy as well. Her attention returns to Edward though, her full attention, even her second ear, as he reminces about the lands across the sea. "I wish to go there.." She says as he finishes talking. "One day... How I shall cross the sea I do not know." Her voice is tinged with a bit of sorrow there. "There across the sea where the Summer Lord cannot find me. In the lands green like you tell their story." Her eyes are drawn into the direction of the sea, or at least where the thought it to be.
A strange happiness shows itself on the wizard's face--disbelief and gladness coupled with amazement and delight. "Oh, m-my lady," he says, suddenly elated, "My lady, y-you have given me purpose! I w-w-wander, now, without any aim but the quiet appreciation of simple life--but if I were to return home to dear Eriu, I-I may show you the way!"
Xiana looks at the wizard, for a moment she seems to share his joy, she is certainly glad she made him smile. But her own joy is quickly replaced by a tinge of disappointment. "I would travel with you to those lands. Keep you safe on the roads to reach the lands that green. But I can not cross the sea. Even on those crafts of wood you make, no human would see me wander without attempting to do harm to me." She shakes her head, although sad the unicorn seems to accept it.
This realization causes Edward's smile to fall, because it is very true. "Not all mortals covet you so," he quietly says, looking down at his boots and gently twisting his hat between his fingers, "but--but m-many of them do, I know. It is--i-it--it d-distresses me." But then he smiles again, wrinkling the corners of his eyes, and there is a strange determination there, now. "Re--r-regardless, I-I am a wizard, and--w-well, what use would a wizard be if he c-could not aid a unicorn?"
The unicorn's expression remains much the same for a while, a big sorrowful but accepting of her lot. But then when the wizard suddenly makes his determined promise her eyes widen and she seems truly speechless, in fact for a moment her green eyes narrow ever so slightly and she steps forward towards the wizard. "You may lay your hand upon my snout." She says softly but slightly commanding, she wants to feel his touch as then Xiana might know whether or not he is truly speaking the truth, and if there is not some darker intent he is concealing deep within.
This invitation delights Edward, for he has nothing to hide but his secret desire to touch the unicorn, which he is still quite sure is not something he ought to be able to do. Still, she had asked him to, and it makes him glad; and so, once again painfully aware of how crude a creature he is compared to her, he slowly extends his arm. His fingers hesitate by the fair face as he remembers the ink on them, but it is dry, now, and even ink would do little to mar Xiana's beauty. Shutting his eyes and turning his head, as though afraid, he finally rests them meekly on her muzzle with the gentlest of contact.
As Edward touches her the unicorn softens her looks and she visibly becomes happy again. She knows it now that he speaks truth, that he truly wishes to bring her to the greenest land over the sea. "Very well then. May all the trees in this forest be witness. We shall travel together to the lands you spoke off, all of us." She looks over the two horses as well, she does not only make this promise to Edward. "Until we arrive I shall keep you safe from any harm and you shall keep me safe in return. I will trust you for this one journey, this I swear." And the moment she is done, Edward should know her words were as true as his were.
Edward slowly turns his head to look at her, and opens his eyes. His hand still on her snout, as though he were swearing by the unicorn herself, he solemnly says, "A-and I the same; I shall do everything within m-my power to ensure it." But quickly, the seriousness fades back into boyish giddiness, and the wizard looks at her in admiration and wonder, savoring the feel of her soft fur, but then he reluctantly withdraws his hand, for he has an infallible sense of time, and therefore also the sense to recognize when too much is too much. It would never do to offend a unicorn. "I--I-I am honored, Lady Xiana, that--th-that you would have me w-with you for any journey at all."
Xiana doesn't seem to mind him touching her fur and even when he withdraws his hand she doesn't immediatley take some distance from the freckled giddy man like before. "I will run far along the road you will travel to seek out any danger. Although I am feeling the end of the forest draw near, where the trees are replaced by the land culvated by hands. Once out of the forest you will have to uphold your word, that is where I am powerless."
Edward nods with firm resolution, though there is the faintest waver of worry at the corner of his mouth. It is gone as quickly as the most subtle ripple on a pond, but lingers instead on his eyes, alongside solemn wisdom. "If we t-t-travel close, I will be able to aid you, always, and the horses, as well; they are f-fierce and--and strong when... wh-when roused to act."
Xiana starts to trot off towards the forest, although she looks back at Edward before she disappears into the woods. "I shall trust that. I will seek the safest way to the edge of the forest now. It would be wise to avoid the evil men who rob and kill other men for wealth. Who call the woods their home like the animals, and prey much like them." She nears the edge and in a few moments she'd be gone, off into the woods again. But with the promise of a soon return, it would no longer take a week.