Role

Chapter 7

Taenya stood beneath a waterfall, her eyes closed, feeling the water rush over
her body and hearing the voice of the water whispering sweet words. Ever since
she had allowed the voice to flow through her to others, it had become
clearer. She was learning to trust her interpretation of that voice more and
more, translating images and feelings to poetry. She had never felt so
focused, so pure in her embrace of Thar-Eris. She opened herself more fully to
the voice, composing the words in her mind. Then, she heard another voice
cutting through... not even really a voice, but a sound like... a whinny?

She opened her eyes and turned toward the sound to see a horse standing at the
edge of the mountain pool, drinking. The sun was low in the sky behind the
animal, silhouetting its form against the sunrise. Taenya took a step toward
the horse, and it raised its head to look at her, blocking the sun that was in
her eyes. She saw then that it was not just a horse at all! A twisting, silver
horn protruded from the creature's forehead, and its mane also glinted in the
sunlight like gleaming metal strands. A unicorn! Taenya gasped in
astonishment.

Teanya took another tentative step toward the animal, and it looked back at
her calmly, tossing its head. She moved closer, fascinated but also wary of
the creature's sharp horn. Finally, Taenya was only feet from the unicorn,
standing below the creature, knee deep in the mountain pool. She reached her
hand out and the unicorn bent its head down toward her. Then, just before her
fingers touched the animal's nose, it lowered its chin and instead touched her
gently with its horn. Taenya felt an energy spread through her, overwhelming,
and she fell to her knees in the water, closing her eyes.

The voice of the land was amplified. The water, the wind, the rocks, the trees
sang. When she opened her eyes again, she had no idea how much time had
passed. The unicorn was gone. But the music she had heard echoed in Taenya's
mind. What did it all mean?