» The Tree of Light

ЯIKYN We hadn't come to the call of Kisamoa. This feminine bellow, however, hadn't made my belly clench fast with rancor, or make my eyes immediately narrow upon where it came from with loathing. Instead, I stop, and look towards the summons with lifted ears, and some measure of interest. Duir, too, looks out at it, a soft snort filling the growingly potent silence between us. Most often, he could only express a single word, or a thought; even then, it only seemed to break through if he really meant it. This is not one of those times. Distracted, I don't notice he's trying to communicate with me until he snorts again. Looking at him quickly, I find his green and gold eyes looking at me with annoyance and concern, at first (a look all too common these days), before it melds into a softer expression. His dark muzzle bobs towards the sound, the ivy on his antlers wavering pitifully in the searing heat. We leave together, and arrive the same. At first, its only the matrons I see. Their size alongside the dead, towering tree is magnanimous, and they provide such a presence that its hard to take note of anything else. When the snow crunches beneath my hooves, however, light and crisp, the smell of home wafting up with each step, reality presses in on me, heavily, as it seems to want to do these days. It's like the Giving Tree, from home; the same one I'd been to the years I'd lived happily in Helovia, before I'd arrived in hell. The people around it are smiling; Kiada and a stranger I don't know even play in the snow, their laughter like music, after so long in this world of howling wickedness. Dancing around their bodies are golden orbs of light; Duir watches them, their shapes reflected in his green eyes. And moving away from the tree, perfect and alive, is Gwyn. A feeling of relief and joy floods me, seconded by a solemn, cold fear, as I watch her stand alongside some... dragon-man. Maybe I should be glad he's kept her safe, but I'm too upset by the thought that I've been replaced by some dragon. My ears flip back, and though I initially want to charge the asshole and run him through, it seems the gifts of the tree are not yet done being given. Honestly, he'd fight wind, if hurt his feelings, a haughty, familiar voice chimes through my head. Duir? I ask, stunned, looking towards him with amazement, too delighted to have him back to care he'd just insulted me, assuming I wouldn't hear. Pausing from where he'd been trotting over to Gwyn, the deer looks back over his shoulder with shock on his face. You heard? he answers, gold-flecked eyes wide; as he realizes he'd heard me too, his features bloom with elation, and he adds, I heard! Looking over at the elephant-like animals, Duir asks me if I think that they may have had something to do with it; I can't help but think that they did, like he seems to. Together, we step towards the tree, occasionally looking over at my daughter with a sly grin, anticipating her girlish cry as she notices us standing beneath the tall tree and its guardians. As I'd done last year in Helovia, I take off my horn ring, and put it on one of the boughs; Duir, too, does as he'd done before. Though his vines are wilted and not quite as grand as they might have been otherwise, he leaves a strand of the ivy which grows through his golden lined, cream antlers among the jutting limbs of the tree. Rikyn's wishes: Enchantment: The Black Mirror | Would like his mirror (already owned) enchanted to hold the souls of those who have died nearby it. The user can later summon the souls, who appear as spectral beings within the mirror's face, in order to ask them questions. Enchantment: Expanding Bronze Alloy Armor | Would like his shoulder plate (already owned) enchanted so that it expands with a verbal cue into a larger set, which protects his full chest, back, belly, and sides. Enchantment: Bronze Horn Band | Would like to enchant this item (already owned) so that inanimate objects he touches with his horn are temporarily turned into Fool's Gold. call me a safe bet I'm betting I'm not

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