The Unicorn's Forest

Charlie followed the one who the deer-kin seemed for afraid of than they appeared to be of her, even after the firestorm she made. The pronghorn-kin with her seemed relaxed in this newcomer's presence, so she didn't see any reason to be worried. The newcomer had red-brown hair, soft brown eyes, and looked on the heavy set side, but more along the lines of Jeff Taylor, just not to that level of bulk.

Besides, her goal had been to get those she was escorting somewhere where they'd be safe. Which meant wherever this person was leading her should be somewhere that would fulfill that requirement.

Though, she did wonder who they were, as well as why the presence of this person seemed to make even Aina and Bith stay rather quiet. She also wondered if while the pronghorn-kin would be safe where they were going, that she might not be as safe. Although, she did want to make sure that this person didn't have a reason to not trust her.

"Um, would you be willing to tell me what your name is?" Charlie asked after they'd been walking for a while after the sun went down behind the horizon. She also wasn't surprised to see how tired she was getting, seeing as she'd been walking all day, and now she was walking uphill. Again.

"Emea," came the response.

Charlie waited, but Emea didn't say anything else. So, she took a breath and smiled. "Are you the one in charge up here?" she asked, hoping that being friendly would get him to open up a little more.

Emea glanced at Charlie before looking ahead again, but didn't say anything. Charlie looked away, a little put out by his lack of response. Especially since he didn't seem to be resistant to Charlie's attempts at getting him to open up.

She idly considered the trees as they continued up the mountain, she looked at the birds who looked like they were either settling in for the night in their nests or getting ready for the night.

She hadn't noticed any small animals, like rabbits or squirrels, but saw signs of them periodically. Such as a swaying branch that was clearly not affected by the wind, since it was the only one moving.

Despite all of that, Charlie sighed. While she didn't mind walking to wherever the newcomer wanted her to go, she wished that he was at least a little more talkative. Part of it was the fact that she was tired and would like nothing more than to just sit down and sleep, while another would rather go back down to Petals' forest and sleep there, where she might be able to get more luxuries, and access to water, than she could here.

"Are you alright?" Aina whispered to Charlie.

Charlie looked at the little girl. She could see the worried expression on the little girl's face. "I'm alright," Charlie replied just as quietly to the girl, smiling at her and giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm just tired."

"Me too," the girl said. "Will we be able to stop soon?"

"I don't know," Charlie answered. "Emea would be the one to ask, but he doesn't seem very talkative."

"He doesn't," Aina agreed.

"Do you know anything about him?" Charlie asked, suddenly realizing that the pronghorn-kin might know something that could help her deal with him.

"He's a bear-kin," Aina said. "So, we don't know much. But I'm sure we're safe while we're with him."

Charlie smiled at Aina. "Thanks," she said. She'd already determined that much, but she didn't see the point on saying that to the girl. If nothing else, it would at least let the girl feel like she contributed something.

At which point, silence fell around them again. Aside from the ambient noises of animals and insects. Charlie wondered if she should just sit down and refuse to move unless Emea told her just how much farther they had to go, when suddenly the trees opened up ahead and Charlie could see that they were nearing the top of a rise.

"We'll be at the village soon," Emea suddenly said, startling Charlie. "They'll have the lights lit up soon, so we'll be able to see when it gets dark."

Charlie decided that she could walk just a little longer. She'd rather rest still, but she had a feeling that by 'close' Emea meant in a short period of time. Especially since the light from the sun was almost gone. Though, Charlie did notice two moons in the sky. One looked more blue and the other looked more pink. Both were in their crescent moon stage, though the blue moon's crescent was pointing to the right and the pink was pointing to the left.

As they reached the rise, Charlie had her breath taken away. Not just from the scenic view that extended tens of miles through the distance to the other mountains that she could see. Then there was the village. Not only had it been made from wood, like the pronghorn-kin's village, but it was crafted with an eye to aesthetics. It was almost like an artist had built the village.

Although, Charlie wondered if it really should be called a village. It looked like it spread out like a large town or small city. Even though she couldn't see, she had the feeling that the village was spread out down the slope of the mountain, though with how it was made, it blended into the trees very well. So, Charlie suspected that if she looked at the village from a distance, she wouldn't be able to distinguish it from the trees.

Emea led them down between buildings, though Charlie noticed a few other bear-kin, who when they looked at Charlie and the pronghorn-kin, their faces were full of curiosity, but didn't try to say anything. However, when they looked at Emea, their faces looked more annoyed and irritated.

Charlie had the feeling that Emea wasn't going to provide as much help as she might like. Especially since she also had the feeling that the fact that he was the one who first encountered her might actually count against her. However, she was at least confident that the pronghorn-kin would be fine. With that in mind, she knew that she'd be able to use her magic to escape easily if it became necessary. Although, the location of Petals' forest entrance would be an issue that she could deal with another time.

As they passed builiding after building, Charlie couldn't help but feel like she was lost. If it wasn't for the angle of the slope, she doubted that she'd have been able to recall which direction they'd come from.

Each building looked unique in its own way and Charlie was sure that she was too new to this village to be able to find her own way around, even if she had the directions to go.

Part of Charlie wished that she could stay there and maybe learn how to build buildings with that sort of art instilled in the design. Rather than the buildings she knew were in her own world. Another part of her wished she knew how to sraw so she could at least capture the aesthetics on paper if nothing else.

Suddenly, they came to a large building that had its large front doors open, this one no less ornate than all of the others. Yet, this one seemed to draw every part of the village, or so it felt to Charlie.

"This is where the elder lives," Emea explained as they walked towards this building. "She probably won't be happy to see me, but she should at least treat us like different matters."

Charlie wasn't sure how she felt about being referred to as a 'matter,' but decided to assume Emea wasn't trying to make it sound insulting. Rather, treat it like it was just the best he could describe it as.

As they entered the building, Charlie saw the inside was just as ornate as all the other buildings outside. However, the artwork here was a lot more imposing, and Charlie couldn't help but feel like she was around Aina and Bith's age herself as they walked down the halls.

When they reached a door that was almost twice as tall as Charlie, Emea stopped. "This is the elder's audience chamber. Please don't speak to her unless she speaks first. Also, whatever she decides is final. She doesn't like it when others second guess her, and she is very good getting back at others without you even realizing it until some time later."

Charlie nodded. "I'll behave, I promise," Charlie promised, not caring whether or not she actually was able to accomplish anything at this time of day, as she was more interested in getting somewhere where she could rest. Sleep also sounded good, but she wasn't sure how much she'd be able to get once she had the opportunity to do so. For one thing, she was pretty sure that this place almost seemed like it was where you came to get judged, even if you merely were passing through, or hadn't actually done anything wrong.

The room looked sparsely furnished and was as large as any of the classrooms at Charlie's school, which she had always figured they were mostly standard sized, not that she knew what the measurements were. If she had to guess, she'd estimate around fifty feet by forty, or something like that. The only entrance was the one they'd entered through.

There were a few tables that had flowers in vases, or maybe pots; Charlie couldn't really tell in the dim lighting. There were colored rugs on the floor, though Charlie couldn't make much out with the amount of light there was, but it did look like a rather intricate pattern.

There didn't seem to be any chairs of any sort, nor was there any place to specifically sit, so Charlie wasn't sure if she should go and sit in a corner or something while they waited. Especially since she didn't know how long they might have to wait.

As Charlie was seriously considering sitting down and letting herself take a short nap while she let go of Aina and Bith's hands, she noticed a window in the room. She walked over to it, and looked out of it. The window was placed so it was almost too high for her to look out without finding some way to get her head higher. As she looked out the window, she saw that it was just over what she thought looked like a flower garden.

The flowers were mostly varieties she'd never seen before with a host of different colors, even in the dark. In fact, a few of them even seemed like they had some luminescent qualities and gave off a little bit of light on their own. Although, they could be wildflowers, since she had no way of knowing anyway.

"What is the meaning of this, Emea?" a loud and very authoritative voice demanded, pulling Charlie's attention away from the flowers.

Charlie saw a woman enter the room, wearing not only a dress that was very modest, despite it being a very close fitting garment. She was a lot younger than Charlie would have expected, assuming she was the elder, as she looked to be in her forties. She had copper hair that shined an almost metallic luster in the lamp that she brought with her, her eyes were a mint green that felt like it could pierce through flesh with a sharp glance, and she had an almost commanding presence around her.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Emea said, looking downwards. "But I came across these people and-"

"If that's what happened then you should have just left them at the edge of the village," the woman snapped, cutting off what Emea saying.

"Excuse me," Charlie said, feeling rather irritated that the woman wasn't letting Emea say everything.

"What are you?" the woman demanded.

While Charlie felt she should be intimidated and back down, her irritation seemed to act as a buffer to that and help her keep moving forward, even when everything inside of her was screaming at her to back down.

"Charlie Rivers," she answered calmly.

"What do you have to do with Emea?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Nothing other than him being our guide to here," Charlie replied simply.

"Then you have no business interfering with the business of bear-kin," the woman told Charlie bluntly.

"If you were really concerned about that, you'd probably have let him say everything he had to say," Charlie remarked, wondering how much Ralph had rubbed off on her when she noticed the incredulous expressions everyone seemed to be giving her, including Emea, who hadn't given her much notice since the started coming here.

"If that's so, then what details was he going to tell me?" the woman asked.

Charlie glanced at Emea as she pulled on her magic to peek at his mind. As she sifted through his thoughts carefully, she found what she was looking for in a matter of seconds.

Finally, Charlie sighed and looked at the woman. "Well, first, there's the burn scar I caused," Charlie told the woman, ignoring the look of shock on her face. "Then there's the ambush the deer-kin had set up on your territory for me and the pronghorn-kin. Oh, and there's also the entrance to a unicorn's forest on your territory."

The last item hadn't been in Emea's thoughts, but Charlie felt she should put it in her list anyway. After all, she got the feeling that they'd need to discuss it with this elder at some point anyway.

The woman regarded Charlie carefully. Her eyes seeming to scan every inch of Charlie, from her hiking boots to her sweat coated t-shirt. When she looked into Charlie's eyes again, she felt like the woman was demanding that Charlie prostrate herself before the woman, but Charlie forced herself to stay where she was. She had a feeling that if she gave in, that might be the end of her expedition.

After what seemed like hours to Charlie, the woman looked back at Emea. As the woman's gaze freed Charlie, she felt like she could suddenly breathe again. Whatever just happened, it felt like Charlie was holding her own. Which also confused the crap out of her.

Speaking of which, Charlie realized it had been a while since she'd gone to the… uh bathroom. "Um, sorry to bother you, but is there anywhere I can, uh…" Charlie paused as she quickly scanned the elder's mind for what they'd refer to a bathroom as. "…a privy?"

The woman looked back at Charlie, but this time Charlie didn't fee like there was any challenge in her gaze. "Of course, my attendant will guide you," the woman said, clapping her hands together once.

A young man appeared, at the door. "You called?"

"Show this person to the privy, then escort her back," the elder told the boy, motioning towards Charlie.

"Of course," he replied, waiting for Charlie to start to leave before starting to show her the way.

"What can you tell me about the elder?" Charlie asked.

The only response the boy gave was silence, which Charlie couldn't help but feel a little annoyed about. Not that she could really complain. After all, as far as she knew, the boy was supposed to only talk to the elder or something. She really had no idea about anything going on. Although, he did show her to a small outhouse outside of the building.

Charlie couldn't say going in an outhouse, which was almost the same as a port-a-potty, was her favorite place to do her business, but it was better than taking care of it behind a bush.

When she finished, the young man escorted her back to the room with everyone she arrived with and the elder.

"…ure that's what happened?" the elder was asking Emea as Charlie returned, the elder's back to the entrance to the room.

"Yes, elder," Emea said. "I knew you would want to know about what I saw, regardless of what's happened with me in the past."

Charlie got the feeling that Emea had done something to really screw up in the past, but even though her curiosity was wanting to know what that was, she felt it would be more prudent to not say anything about it. After all, she had other things that were more pressing on her mind. Like finding a way to let her friends know she was here rather than in Petal's forest.

"Now," the elder said, turning to Charlie. Apparently aware she'd just returned, despite having been facing away from her when she entered the room. "Where did you come from and what tribe of beast-kin are you?"

Charlie wasn't sure exactly how to explain, but even an incoherent answer was probably better than not saying anything at all. Or at least she hoped it was in this case.

"My name is Charlie Rivers and I'm a human," she started, ignoring the raised eyebrow of the elder as she said the word 'human.' "I'm from an alternate world called Earth. My friends and I came here because we're looking for another world that has something that I accidentally dropped when I entered a gate. I can't use that same gate to get it because it's too dangerous to use that gate. So, my friends and I came through a unicorn's forest to get here."

The elder didn't say anything while Charlie spoke, despite her non-verbal communication, like her widening eyes as she talked about 'gates' and Petals' forest. When Charlie was done speaking, Aina and Bith ran over to her.

"What's a human?" Aina asked at the same moment Bith asked, "Where's Earth?"

"Children!" the elder snapped gently, causing both grils to jump and look at the elder, their faces looking like they were ready to get punished in some way. "Let me handle this and if my questions to satisfy yours, then you can ask them, alright?"

The girls looked like they were thinking hard over this, but in the end Charlie was pretty sure that the look the elder gave them made them decide to agree to her proposal.

The elder sighed. "Very well. Now, what do you mean by an 'alternate world?' Is this a distant country?"