As Jahrra gawked at the magical creatures before her, Phrym moved ever so slightly and Jahrra’s attention was shifted to a single animal. He had a mane and coat of gold and was slightly bigger than all of the others, and his horn was almost twice as long. This must be the stallion, Jahrra decided. He must’ve been the one we saw at the edge of the forest.
The stallion stood proud and tall, the filtered light of the forest glancing off him like a great bronze statue. His color was breathtaking; like the sun reflecting off rippling water in the late afternoon, like the dew drops on a spider web caught between the morning light and the fading darkness. Jahrra had never seen such a color on any living creature before, and she was captivated by it.
Jahrra twitched convulsively when, suddenly, the gilded animal before her slowly, yet attentively, turned his head to look directly at her and Phrym. The stallion’s gaze was cool and calculating, and Jahrra was sure he was debating whether or not the curious semequin and his rider were a threat to his mares. The stallion stared at the pair a bit longer and then turned his eyes back onto his herd. Jahrra realized, with a satisfied thrill, that they weren’t considered a threat and the herd kept on grazing in peace while she and Phrym watched in wonder.
Over the next half hour or so Jahrra carefully counted seventeen mares, the one stallion and about six foals. She especially liked the foals. They looked very much like Phrym had when he had been young. The youngest ones didn’t have horns yet and their feet were free of the fine, silky hair of the adults. The older foals had anything ranging from small nubs suggesting future horns, to several inches of new growth.
The colors of their coats were just as amazing as the creatures themselves. There was, of course, the golden stallion, but the mares and foals ranged anywhere from bright pearly white to dark silver, gold-red and copper. All of the unicorns had a metallic sheen to them and some of them had slightly darker manes than their bodies. Their hooves matched their coats, but appeared more metallic, as if made of pure gold or silver or bronze, and their horns were the same. The mares had horns that ranged between one and two feet and the stallion’s horn looked almost three and a half feet long.
Jahrra took it all in, every last detail, because she knew that she may never see this sight again. Suddenly she had an idea. She quietly took out the journal she kept in Phrym’s worn saddle bags and quickly began sketching the animals.
As she drew, Jahrra started looking around at all of the other details of this enchanted scene. The meadow the unicorns grazed in consisted of thick patches of dark green, mottled clover that was bursting with pink blossoms. Creamy yellow buttercups and periwinkle bluebells dotted the terrain and a faint burbling sound pulled her eyes towards the far end of the meadow where she spotted a shallow pool.
For the first time since arriving to this magical meadow, Jahrra noticed that the towering trees were not of the typical eucalyptus found in most of the Wreing Florenn. Aspen, elder and birch had taken their place, and instead of the thin, scraggly grass on the forest floor there grew the delicate clover, soft mosses and feathery ferns found near damper soil.
Butterflies, dragonflies and what Jahrra couldn’t help but imagine were fairies, fluttered around the meadow lazily in the filtered, mid-morning sun. The entire scene was exactly what Jahrra would imagine finding in Felldreim or Rhiim, but not here in Oescienne.
A soft breeze soughed through the golden-green leaves above and jerked Jahrra’s attention back to the stallion and his herd. He was looking back at Jahrra and Phrym again, bowing his noble head ever so slightly. The unusual gesture caught Jahrra off guard and she had to grab onto Phrym’s mane to keep from falling. Had the stallion really greeted them?
While Jahrra sat wondering about the unicorn’s acknowledgment, he reared up and emitted a melodic, chime-like whinny. The sound sent more shivers across Jahrra’s skin and she smiled, tears welling up in her eyes against her will. She had no idea the sound of unicorns could make someone feel so happy and carefree. It was such a beautiful resonance, and it held a joy that reached straight into the soul.
His mares answered back in various chime-like tones, and Jahrra felt every scrap of sadness lingering in her heart shatter like a thin sheet of ice upon a stone floor. The stallion then turned and slowly led his herd out of the meadow and deeper into the Wreing Florenn while Jahrra and Phrym watched them leave. Once the very last one disappeared into the beckoning trees, the magic that had buzzed in the meadow seemed to seep away with the breeze. The brilliant colors of the scene faded away into the dull, ordinary tints of the world. The rich emerald turned to olive, the bright bluebells faded to cobalt and the rosy pink clover blossoms blanched nearly white.
Phrym had no objections to Jahrra turning him around now; he seemed mesmerized by what had just occurred and was easily led. When Jahrra had Phrym faced the way they came, she was surprised to see a tiny trail leading through the underbrush and back around the tall eucalyptus trees. Jahrra smiled, knowing that the trail was probably there the entire time; she’d just been too distracted to notice it.
Several minutes after leaving the meadow they came out of the forest exactly where they had entered it and soon Phrym was running across the field, heading south towards Gieaun’s and Scede’s ranch. They approached the familiar fence surrounding the back pasture, and Jahrra was pleased to see the family was nearby with a group of ewes and their newly-born lambs.
Jahrra pulled Phrym right up to the fence and called out to her friends enthusiastically, “Gieaun! Scede! Wait until you hear what I saw!!”
The two siblings looked up and then glanced at their parents. Jahrra saw Kaihmen and Nuhra nod and Gieaun and Scede came trotting over on Bhun and Aimhe.
“Mother and father said we could be done for the day. So what did you see?” Scede said, not sounding too excited.
“Come on, I’ll tell you on the way,” Jahrra replied, smiling impishly.
“On the way to where?” Gieaun asked suspiciously, opening the gate from Aimhe’s back.
“You’ll see!” Jahrra replied in exasperation.
The three walked their horses down the dusty road for about a mile before Jahrra finally stopped Phrym.
“Alright, you have to promise you’ll believe me and promise you won’t tell anyone!” Jahrra hissed in all seriousness.
Gieaun and Scede both adopted a worried look on their faces that said, “Great, Jahrra has gone and done something foolish again”.
“Alright,” Gieaun finally said aloud.
“We promise,” Scede added, holding his hand to his heart.
Jahrra pulled out her journal and opened up to the page where she’d drawn the unicorns. “Look,” she said, holding up the book and smiling from ear to ear.
“Are those, unicorns!?” Scede gaped in disbelief, grasping Bhun’s saddle horn to keep from falling off.
“Jahrra! Where on Ethoes did you see unicorns!? Are you sure they’re unicorns?” Gieaun added, unable to contain her excitement.
“This is why you have to promise not to tell anybody!” Jahrra said sternly. “Phrym and I were riding in the fields and I happened to glance over to the edge of the Wreing Florenn. I know I promised not to go in there alone, but I thought that just going in a few yards wouldn’t hurt.”
“Oh, Jahrra! Are you crazy!?” Gieaun moaned in vexation. Aimhe shifted restlessly beneath her.
Jahrra just gave her a guilty look and continued on with her story, “Well, anyway, we only went in about ten feet, I swear. But then I saw something, something strange. I couldn’t resist going after it.”