Depression

Both herds knew it was too late. The purple mare's carcass was already torn to pieces. All the unicorns turned away except Lell and the blue stallion. He noticed her for the first time. She looked up at him and saw the recognition in his eyes. The stallion looked back at the pards and trumpeted a warning. When they ignored him he prepared to charge, but one of his herd members came and muscled him back and pushed him away.

It was then that Lell noticed that he wasn't full grown, probably her own age. She met his eyes once more, his pleading for her to do the impossible and rescue Senna. She looked away, worried of what was between the older mare and the blue stallion, and when she looked back he was staring at the feather entwined in her mane.



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Lell was miserable the rest of the day. The others were upset but not as much as she. Her golden mane and hooves were dull and her coat dusty. Her head drooped and her feet dragged. There was no Senna to come back and cheer her up, and no Senna to talk to. None of the other unicorns made an attempt, most already back to chattering happily amongst themselves.

That night they bedded down by the same stream, only this time off in the distance further down stream was a small stand of trees, exactly the same as from Lell's dream. Normally Lell would have noticed and been intrigued, but this time she was too depressed to care.

Lying down heavily on the ground on the extreme fringes of the herd she tried to sleep. Jan came over. He lay down near her, Tek beside him.

"Little sister, I know it was hard on you today, losing your friend," he said. "But things like this happen, you have to move on. In another day we will be at the Summer Sea, and you will probably have a mate."

Lell tried to disagree but Jan hushed her with a look.

"As I said, in another day you will probably have a mate, or a young stallion chasing after you. Try to forget what happened with Senna and rest. Besides, this is what comes of being alone." Jan and Tek stood and walked back into the center of the herd.

It took Lell a moment to comprehend what he meant. Then, when she did, she got angry. How dare he say that Senna brought it upon herself because she was solitary! Lell thought.

Soon after she fell into a troubled sleep. In her dreams something was calling her. She tried to follow but she seemed to be in a mind-boggling white mist. She tried to move her legs but they were frozen. She tried to call out but couldn't speak. She awoke sweating. Standing up, she walked to the stream and drank deeply, barely glancing at the sleeping forms around her, not caring if she woke them up.

Lell knew she would not be able to sleep again that night, at least not now. She noticed the trees now, and started toward them. She was almost there when something stirred in the copse. Not a breeze, not even anything real, it was more like something stirring in her mind, something like recognition.

The blue stallion slowly stepped out of the trees and stopped upon seeing her. He whickered to her. "Hello."