Custos Unicorium 1 ~Longe Aluid--Something Very Different~

Chapter Two: The Haven

"You're late," Koriun neighed at me when I approached. 

"Surprise surprise," I mumbled. "I still can't see you." 

The air let out a snorting sound. Glaring toward what was presumably Koriun, I tried to sense his presence. If I couldn't manage that, besides my tracking senses being highly insulted, it might mean I'm just crazy, and this whole damn thing was all a hallucination. Oh how one can hope.  

"Regina! You came back!" Hayden's cheery voice broke my concentration before I could sense Koriun. 

"I told you I would, kid," I half way growled. 

"Come on!" Hayden didn't seem at all phased by my rough tone. "I'll show you around." 

The unicorn haven was well known as far as word could reach, and fascinating to those further who happened to hear about it. Or so I had heard. My own reach had never been further than the outer edges of the forests surrounding the village. Well, except when I was on tracking missions. To say I didn't know where I had been on those missions would be blasphemy to my tracking ability, but those places didn't count. 

However well known the haven was, few knew what was inside it--besides the unicorns of course. The Keepers were very defensive about protecting their unicorn friends, and the Dispatchers didn't do too much social talking. 

Hayden showed me the basics. A large wooden barn, hidden just far enough into the forest to be concealed from the view of the village, held just about every supply you would need to care for a unicorn. As it turned out, that was a lot more than I had expected one would need. 

Normally the unicorns grazed, but there were piles of supplemental food. It looked like plain dried grass, but something about it told me that it wasn't. There were other kinds of food for other conditions, like unicorns with sensitive mouths, young unicorns, unicorns from far away, sick unicorns, and just about anything else you could think of.  

A room in the back held healing supplies. 

"Shandu can sense when someone uses anything from this room. He usually shows up to check on it," Hayden explained as we left the room. 

Grooming tools were in the next room, but Hayden made sure to explain that not every unicorn would let anyone groom them, and to be cautious. Always ask them if you're unsure. 

That was one thing strange to me. Horses can't talk to you. Sure, some people could speak horse, just as i can speak wolf, but to me, and other than human communication, horses only spoke the language of prey.  

Don't get in your head that horses were my prey, but to something they are prey, and everything that is shows signs of the language of prey. Heck, even humans speak the language of prey. Speak, not comprehend. Few know that they do it though. 

Unicorns can straight out talk to you. If I was going to keep this up, I knew I'd have to get used to it. I sighed. I was going to get sucked too far into this all if I didn't stop thinking like that. 

"Yeah, this room always amazed me too," Hayden's voice broke my thoughts. I hadn't been paying any attention to him. He thought my sigh was because of the room we had just entered, the magic room. Decidedly, it was better to let him think that. 

"Why is it so small?" I asked, cramped in the tiny room, "the magic is so important in a unicorn's life, I'd thought it'd have a bigger room." 

"There's not much us humans can do as far as their magic goes. Not that many supplies, not that big of a room," Hayden explained. 

"Makes sense," I mumbled, Hayden was right. Few of us humans could do any more with magic than, well, a unicorn's sperm cell. Pardon my raven. I hear they're rather vulgar, but I don't speak their language, so I wouldn't know for sure. If you ever came across a human knowing a decent amount of magic though, you were probably in trouble. All in all, it was probably better that the room was small.