Meeting Cimarron



"Hello." Lell said. "How did you know Senna?"

"She was my sister," he replied.

Lell gazed at him in shock. "But she was . . . of the Ring!"

"And? So am I," he said.

"How is it possible? Unless you left the Ring? Then you are to be an outcast."

"No, not an outcast. My mother was of the Ring. So was my father. When my mother had Senna she didn't have another foal for three years . . ."

Lell smiled to herself, she had been right about his age.

". . . and then she had me and"-

"What's your name?" Lell asked.

"Cimarron. Anyway, my mother took me and left the Ring but my sister stayed. I do not know what became of my father. So I really am of the Ring and did not leave of my own accord, so therefore can it be held against me?"

Lell could tell he was going to win this argument.

"So what's your name, since you know so much about me?" he asked.

"Lell."

"And why are you and your unicorns out traveling, little Lell?"

"I'm as old as you are."

"Of that I have no doubt, I just like the way it sounds, would you prefer lovely Lell?"

"No more lovely than any of the unicorns in our group, probably not even equal to most of them. Our group is going to the Summer Sea," she said.

"Oh, mating time is it?" he sounded down.

"Yes." Lell wanted to get off the subject. She didn't want to discuss this with him.

"Are you and a stallion planning to be bound by the Pledge?" he asked.

"Oh, no! Of course not, no one likes me anyway." She was really uncomfortable now and she didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"I just wanted to make sure it was okay for me to talk to you and some stallion wasn't about to charge out of the woods and kill me, thinking I was stealing you from him."

Lell breathed a sigh of relief.

"Actually, though, there is something I'm curious about." he said.

"And what is that?" she inquired.

"Your coloring. It's not natural, is it?"

Lell looked at her coat, darkamber flecked with gold and gold patches here and there. Her mane and tail were light with gold streaks and she had gold hooves and a gold horn. "When I was three our Prince, Aljan Moonbrow, the Firebringer, my brother, helped us return from the Vale to our Hallow Hills. In doing so, his mate, Tek, and he had to drive out the evil wyrms, the wyverns, from their tunnels in our lovely Hills. My friend the gryphon tercel, Illishar, and I were badly burned and he carried me to safety, we dropped from the sky as a burning ball of flame, or so I am told, and we landed in the sacred Mirror of the Moon, a pond with healing powers among others."

Cimarron looked shocked, though about what she didn't know.

"What?" she asked, her sweet voice pulling him from his trance.

"You're a princess. I shouldn't be talking to you. I - I could get in huge trouble. We aren't supposed to talk to any of the unicorns of the Ring especially not Royals." Cimarron was almost shaking in fear.

"Cimarron, stop it. Please." Lell pleaded. "You are of the Ring, you're not a Renegade, the rules don't apply."

He started backing away from her.

"Cimarron." Lell was almost whimpering. She had known this stallion for less than an hour and already she liked him, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. "Cimarron, please, wait, don't go!"

But he had already disappeared into the stand of trees.