Feathers



Aljan led the group of unicorns up over the rim of the Hallow Hills out into the world. The herd first traveled into the Plains. Lell walked sedately behind the group, trying to hide her despair. She had argued and fought against going to the Summer Sea, and yet here she was, on her way. Not that she expected to find a mate.

I will hide and escape from the group whenever I can, she thought to herself.

The herd was now traveling through the tall brown grass common to the Plains. Many of the other five-year-olds who had never been through the Plains shied at every stir in the grass or crunch of dry weeds, thinking they were pards, the big cats of the Plains. Lell was too depressed to care. She dragged her feet, kicking up dust into the hot, dry air. Finally, coughing from the dust, an older mare came back to Lell.

"Hey, what's wrong?" the mare asked.

"Nothing, except I don't want to go," Lell replied.

"Why? I am eight and have gone for three years and I still have no mate. It's really not that bad. My name's Senna by the way." She was a deep purple mare with a white mane and tail and a few tiny white dots on her haunches.

"What do you do the whole time you are there then?" Lell asked.

"I have danced and sung with the herd, stomping out the rhythm of the mating dance."

"But isn't it awfully boring when everyone starts pairing off?" Lell was curious.

"Not really. I like being alone."

Lell soon realized that this was the truth because Senna walked off only to return hours later as the herd bedded down by a stream for the night.

That night as she slept by the slowly trickling stream, Lell had a very vivid dream. In it she was standing by the stream at twilight, but it couldn't have been at the same point where they were right now, because there was a small stand of trees a few yards off the bank. The herd was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the trees moved as if a light breeze had blown through, but there was none. Lell was staring at the trees when a shadow stepped out of them. It was a young stallion, with a midnight blue coat, mane, and tail. White feathers lined with black were woven into the wavy mane that fell to his heavily muscled shoulder and the long wavy tail that fell past his hocks.

Lell looked closer. Something was shining on his haunches. She gasped when she realized that they were tiny white dots, shimmering like stars, tracing a path along his haunches and over his back. They reminded her of Senna's spots.

Something else she noticed about the stallion as she watched him walk to the stream and drink was that he was built differently than the unicorns of her herd. She knew he had to be a Renegade, a unicorn of the Plains, but the difference was striking. While the unicorns of her herd ranged from fine boned and light, like her, to big boned and heavy, like Jan and his mate Tek, this unicorn was neither. He was refined, with an arched neck and delicate legs, but heavily muscled from shoulders to haunches, rippling and glistening in the moonlight. Also, the unicorns in her herd had straight manes and tails, while his was incredibly wavy.

He lifted his head as he finished drinking and suddenly turned and looked straight at her, before galloping away into the trees, leaving her alone by the stream.

Lell had the distinct feeling that she had been hit by lightning, before all went black.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



When she woke up it was dawn and the sun was just breaking over the horizon. Her herdmates surrounded her, giving her comfort as she remembered the strange dream from that night. Standing quietly so as not to rouse the other unicorns, she walked to the edge of the stream and looked at her reflection before drinking deeply.

She was startled to realize that she was sad that the blue unicorn had turned out to be just a dream. But as she walked back to where she had slept at the edge of the herd, she saw something lying on the ground where she had slept. She crept closer and saw that lying there was a beautiful white feather, lined with black.