41 The Woods' Master

The grove had an oddly refreshing energy to it. Willow had disappeared and left them alone. But there was a feeling that they were being watched. Despite that there was no feelings of any hostility.

The rest of the day passed in the quiet grove. The children all loved it and played among the trees, even ignoring Raven. Raven looked relaxed and had not moved in hours, sitting away from everyone else. He had been sitting there for a few hours before Dawn had looked over to see if he was still sitting there and what she saw made her actually feel astonished. He was covered in animals now. A snake had draped itself across his shoulders, a robin perched on his knee, a fawn had climbed into his lap, and a wolf pup had curled up next to him. And she also noticed that she could actually see several dryads looking at him curiously.

The others were all relaxing as well. Vixen had fallen asleep leaning against Tira's shoulder as Lowks read a map nearby to them. Gysen was keeping a close eye on Aldresh and keeping the pyro out of trouble. Miria was talking with her cousin in quiet tones. The twins were in a huddle with Fendrel discussing something seriously, at least they looked it. And Brilma and Colton were flirting with each other subtly with their jabs that neither of them took seriously.

Dawn smiled to herself. Perhaps it was good that they could unwind for a bit, especially after traipsing through that desert. She was not sure what to do herself though. She would have gone to sit with Raven but she did not want to disturb him and his menagerie of animals that he was collecting.

As evening fell she felt another presence and turned to look. And her eyes widened. How beautiful…

The creature was majestic looking with a soft silver coat, and a mane that flowed down in fluttering folds. Its horn was regal, and threaded with gold along its silver length. Dawn had never seen a unicorn but she had believed them to have existed, though they were rather rare.

The unicorn did not seem to be all that surprised to see them but instead dipped its head in acknowledgement of their presence before speaking, "Welcome, travelers. You must be hungry, after the long journey that indubitably brought you to these woods. Rest easy, tonight we will protect you."

The presence of the unicorn did explain some of the friendliness of the dryads. They had a protector and as such did not have to worry as much.

It was at the unicorns' signal that some of the dryads came out of the woods carrying plates of food. It was all vegetables and fruits but it looked delicious and as they had not really eaten anything fresh in a while it was very much mouthwatering.

The unicorn bid them to help themselves and all of them went to do so except Raven who had become even more buried in animals. The unicorn, noticing this, let out a silvery laugh and then walked over and shooed the animals away, "Hello little druid. And welcome. It is not often we get someone so attuned with nature coming here. Well, of course the Twins but they are special."

Dawn had no idea who the twins were but she did not really dwell on that. It did not really surprise her to learn that Raven was a druid. His ability to understand animals was not exactly common and it made tons of sense to her.

Druids were not exactly rare, but they did have a tendency to keep to themselves, with a few exceptions. He was not actually the first druid she had met. She had known several, with Arrion being the cream of the crop. Of course, Arrion was someone very special to her so she was bias on that. And, honestly, as he was a king, he had never been able to fully pursue his interest in the forests and wildernesses that he had so loved.

Hearing the word druid though brought to mind all of her husband's various pets he had kept. Some of them were quite dangerous but they had all loved him. Looking at Raven and how much he attracted wild animals she figured it was a commonality among druids.

But she did not really think on it much as she found herself just thinking of Arrion instead. He would have loved to meet a unicorn. She was sure of it, just as she was sure that Arrion had deeply loved her with everything he had. If he was here, he would be wrapping an arm around her, kissing the top of her head and whispering to her, 'Look, my love, a unicorn. How lucky we must be to see one so close up. Don't you agree?' To which she probably would have pushed him away, but secretly enjoyed it, whether she realized that or not. Now though, she would have just embraced him back and just be glad to have him.