By: Mionikoi

That night Briggit was thankful she had the ability to essentially make things ignore her. Glamors were not something she was an expert in, but the fact that she walked up on and past a pack of those many eyed bat things with little more than a gasp on her part and them carrying on eating their prey….

Well it worked out well enough for her. Better this than risk burning down a forest when they tried to eat her. She might get lucky with a patch of moss. No, better not test that. So, food. She needed food.

There were berries that were ripe this time of the year. Whatever time of the year it was. She could vaguely tell what ones were fit to eat from them. It was a strange sensation.

Poisonous ones had a particular but varying attitudes while edible ones were… Indifferent. Her sisters told her this was because edible ones were used to having their seeds eaten and carried off to sprout elsewhere, while poisonous berries had ulterior motives. Some of them wanted to be eaten so they would later kill their victims and have plenty of nutrients to use. Others offered edible flesh but the seeds themselves were poisonous and didn’t want those to be eaten. And more had poisonous flesh but only the seeds were edible. They wanted to be let be.

It wasn’t words. At least, she didn’t think plants had words. They had a language, and she didn’t understand it entirely. But she got the jist of it. Poisons were medicines if you knew them well enough. Sure. But she wasn’t an Apothecary. She just knew maybe enough to not eat something that would make her sick.

Mushrooms were a different story. None of them wanted to be eaten. Fair enough. What was above ground were just their flowers and buds anyways. Her sisters didn’t have any good advice on them. Other than just don’t. Some mushroom poison couldn’t be cooked out into the ‘sauce’ so it was best to leave them be or face possible and sometimes certain excruciating death. And Briggit couldn’t tell a morel from a deathcap anyways.

Then there were the trees. Not many here seemed to be fruit bearing. Her sisters said that trees were often more jovial. They often offered their edible fruit freely, wanting their seeds carried far. Those that were not so friendly were very noticeable. Spine like thorns, acidic sap. Some even aligned with insects to chase off would be pests. Others had fruit so poisonous biting them could kill you.

Trees were more honest though. If they didn’t like you, they let you know it. Nut bearing trees were the best. So many they didn’t mind you taking what you wanted. You couldn’t eat all of them after all. And they didn’t produce their fruit every year. They cycled things to make you move on. Sure, the nuts could be bitter if you didn’t know how to blanch them. Acorns in particular. But nut bread was wonderful! Especially when you were low on flour.

What did that leave? Ah, yes. Flowers. Briggit thought about it. They were complicated. Probably the most complicated. Most didn’t have edible fruit because they themselves were edible. The stem, the leaves, flower, roots and all. Some. Flowers were even more complicated. They liked and disliked being eaten. Some were nasty, others were sweet. Some would murder everything. Marigolds and dandelions in contrast to devil’s trumpet.

She knew one that liked her kin because they spread and overtook everything through fire. They were a beautiful ethereal blue trumpet with an inner cyan and red pistils. She found their scent heavenly. When they were ready to seed they built up a lot of combustible oils. Great for perfume, terrible in a garden. But, you could cultivate them. And they grew all along the island she was raised on.

Her ears pricked up. A stream. Fish? Well, at least running water. She hurried. Yes. It was a small running stream gurgling over some rocks. Nice clean water. Not exactly sweet, but that was okay. Didn’t that human have some weird canteens? Why did they stop using water bladders anyways? She didn’t know. They were better than pots. Maybe better than glass bottles?

She stayed knelt by the stream looking for anything edible. No crayfish, no shrimp, no salamanders or frogs. Crabs? No watercress either. There was also a distinctly white horned horse watching her with annoyance. Her glamor was not going to work on a unicorn. She just hoped the mere presence of one wasn’t going to completely dispel it.

She heard a snort. She was sure the… Mare, wanted to know why she was here. A search through her mind was a standard affair. She didn’t even bother to try and hide anything, but she could feel annoyance radiating from the horse. She didn’t exactly like anything with a fire affinity being in her forest and this vixen had more than just a fire affinity.

The girl winced. This was why she rarely spoke aloud. She could. Safely. Lessers of her kind could yammer on. It just wasn’t her or her family. Control of their voice was very important after all. Talking was safe, singing was not. Non-verbal communication became easier and habitual. It was easy to read.

But no, she had no intention of burning anything if she could avoid it. If anything, she could always just bite whatever threatened her and more than likely that would handle things. But it would be better if she avoided the situation entirely. The horse didn’t seem too interested in who her charge was. The intention was that if he came to her forest and did anything to warrant her attention she would see to him herself.

So Briggit should feel special. She did not. In fact, she wished she could have escaped the horse’s notice entirely. But even now, her warm feet touching the moss betrayed her presence to a creature truly of the forest. It was made painfully clear the Unicorn did not want her to linger long. The forest ended quickly in a particular direction and if she needed to eat, go for the berry bushes by the cliff, she’s making the poor deer nervous.

The horse made it particularly clear. Make this her first and last jaunt in the mare’s woods. She really did not like the idea of the vixen staying long. The girl agreed. She didn’t exactly like being in woods as much as a coast line anyways. It felt claustrophobic, dank, and a little dreary. She preferred open meadows, fields, crags, cliffs. Sunny places.

And then the horse left. The girl gave a grimace. She wanted to ask about fish! Oh well. Maybe she could come to the border and ask where the closest ocean was! But later. Horse was not in a good mood.At least she was kind enough to point her towards a source of foo…d… Yes, these were edible berries.

They tasted nasty! Worse than black berries and lemon. They were like choke berries! Or un-ripened mulberry. Nasty! The girl whined. ‘Why?!?’ She screamed internally. Horse would just have to put up with her foraging until she found suitable food. Not something so acrid tasting that it made her gag. Oh, hey. This word had wild strawberries! Or something like it. Oooh! There was a lot here.

Happy nights! Maybe, horse meant this way? Maybe the horse was a nice person after all? She knew the horse did not, but the girl did not want to think the unicorn was just being mean. She had older sisters for that.

The following morning they all came back. Briggit had long since folded up and stored the blanket where she had found it. She had debated over refolding his clothes and blanket too. To be neater than he had it. But she elected to simply refold it in the method she found it. She knew they would be busy reorganizing the human’s things, and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to make it obvious she had been borrowing his things. Even if he would benefit from someone tidying things up a bit more.

The friends made a place for the injured one to lay down upon. A mat they could put air in to inflate and be more comfortable for resting on. Briggit still had someplace to put her trunk and thus some place to lay down on. Still, she felt like their eyes were on her now and again. Maybe it was just her. Or something past her. She’d look around but they were soon distracted with something else. They seemed eager to see how the petrol-engined-four wheeled-bike-thing worked.

It was the strangest thing seeing no steam.

She vaguely knew what an internal combustion engine was. She vaguely knew about motor bikes. This was not a motor bike. Four wheels. Her family had no books about these either. And it was pulling the cart she was on. It was also not slow. The human showed off what it could do earlier. Doing tricks even. But soon it was time to go.

She couldn’t nap though. Two of the dragon people were going back and forth talking and giggling, making the human blush. They were teasing him. She didn’t understand their language, but their body language was easy enough to get the gist. The one sitting behind her charge even began to sing! It was a lovely voice.

Then the human pulled out a thing that played music. She wanted to join. She almost wanted to try and pull out her lyre… But… It was okay. Listen and enjoy. Still though, how did the small thing he had play music?

Soon though, they were out of the forest. It was trees, trees, trees, and then an open field for as far as the eye could see. And it got bumpier. They started going faster. It was like this for a while, maybe an hour before they stopped. Oh thank goodness! She could get off and stretch! It wasn’t long before the fly worthy ones came back with a bunch of prey. The deer was put mostly on the four wheeled bike thing and a bunch of small animals around the injured one on the cart.

She watched them unload the bike, she was going to call it a bike. They undid the cart and apparently were racing. So much work to load just to unload it… For a race.

He lost. The human. The big winged person the human raced was faster. But it wasn’t anything short of a close call. That was fast though. Faster than any horse she had ever seen…. Well, normal horses. She was sure there were a few fae horses that they couldn’t hold a bees wax candle to. She contemplated if she could outrun the bike or not. Could she? She started to think about it but the human’s antics caught her attention.

Briggit tilted her head when the human decided to start dancing using the bike. Wheelies. Briggit remembered the technique was called wheelies. So that’s what they looked like. It was absolutely goofy!

Eventually he got off and congratulated the tall one. She in turn picked him up, gave him a hug and ruffled his hair. Briggit was happy that they were not able to see her. If the human’s hair attracted this much of their attention, she worried about the nature of hers. They were soon back on the ‘road’ so to speak.

One of the dragon people, one with gold bands on their horns, was barking orders. Well, perhaps not barking. They hooked the cart back up and away they went. It was the big one that was riding with the human this time. Briggit wanted to take a nap, but she was worried her and her trunk would fly off. So she was stuck with her eyes half lidded looking aimlessly out into the distance like a sleepy cat soaking in the sun.

This worry was made a valid one when the big dragon person became bored. The human suggested maybe tying a rope to the back bars of his bike and soon enough there was a trail of living kites trailing along after the others joined in.

At first Briggit found it painful trying to keep herself from laughing. But not long into watching the display Briggit found herself airborne when a sudden gust of wind blew the ‘kites’ in a bad direction. To the right. And things wanted to go straight. The girl was wondering just how lucky she was on being airborne.

Tuck and roll. Tuck and roll. Tuck and roll you silly girl! Pretend like some of your clothes caught fire and roll. Protect your neck and make sure it doesn’t turn the wrong way. Briggit hit the ground back first with her trunk in her arms before rolling several times. The sensation for her was like falling on a patch of fine sand or snow. The ground wanted to give under her so her body wouldn’t be injured, but otherwise retaining its shape.

She came to a stop briefly after her rather forceful removal from the cart. She was glad she was loved by the earth. A fall into water or a tree would have broken something. Several somethings. But her things were not earth loved. That was her biggest concern right now.

She checked her trunk. It was a bit scratched up and scuffed, but sound and solid. The panels held. The reinforcements were good. It still opened and closed. She sighed in relief. Next would be thoroughly checking over the contents after they stopped moving for the day. A glance told her nothing major. Her lyre had all it’s strings and it didn’t look misshapen. She had to wait for the others to upright the cart and bike. She had packed her lyre between her clothes and her toiletries. So it should have been fine. Just a bit rattled was all.

Oh… She looked at the injured one. It did not look pleasant, landing on that already injured wing! Briggit took a step towards the dragon person before remembering she wasn’t supposed to interfere. She contemplated. She wanted to help… But.. Maybe she could make an offering later. A salve?

Yes that she could do. She was allowed to do that much. Right?

Fortunately the rest of the journey to the building that became bigger and bigger the closer they came was uneventful. When a bellowing sound rang through the air the gold banded one flew on ahead. It happened once they approached farmland and what could have been a ranch? No fish ponds though. Or apiaries. Nor orchards. Just animal pens for livestock. She thought she might have spotted some coops? She’ll investigate later.

Briggit looked at the two who came with the gold-bannded-one. They were in some kind of armor. Police? No, guards. They had spears. The girl was busy watching everything else that she barely caught on that the human was being carried up.

The girl looked at the building. She considered her options. The door was open and she could get herself lost in the keep and lose sight of the human… Or she could try to find her own way up the building.

The girl hopped down from her perch. Stone masonry. It wasn’t something she was familiar with. But it wasn’t plastered brick, so more footholds. She approached the base of the cliff that was the keep’s foundation.

What was the worst that could happen? Fall?

“I am born from fire, loved by the earth, destined to be wed to the sky and be envied by the sea.” The girl softly whispered.

It was like the game of running up the light house wall.

Hike your skirt up a wee bit like your collecting seaweed in the shallows, bend forward a little like your bracing against a sudden gale. And run like you’re trying not to be the last one to the dinner table.

She almost wanted to giggle. No, she did giggle. It felt odd hitting the stone wall of the cliff full force only to be sent upward, no shock, no crunch. Just an immediate change of momentum that became the beginning of her ascent. Like and so unlike a ball bouncing off a wall at a weird angle. The pull of gravity was now towards her back, but also towards her feet. She almost was up-righted when she reached her first ledge of the cliff side. She pushed off when her feet hit stone only to go up again. To the next ledge, to the first stone brick, to the small cracks, ledges, jutting stone blocks and window slits. All these things made it so much easier than the smooth surface of the lighthouse she was used to. Going up only to slide down and land on her back side.

Up. The feeling of going up, the feel of wind tugging at her hair, of the earth pulling her both down to where she belonged and her feet towards where she wanted to go. The feeling of her legs beginning to burn. That her lungs began to hurt. And the exhilaration ended almost abruptly when she hopped onto a rather sizable ledge. Platform? She skidded to a halt before glancing back down. The keep was definitely taller than her lighthouse. By a lot. And it was not a small lighthouse!

She took in a deep breath and immediately covered her mouth to keep her gasp silent. There were a lot of people there to greet them. The human and his friends that is. They wouldn’t greet her! Of course not!

She could have sworn she was being stared at! But the gold-banded-one spoke to a silver colored dragon person. Words were spoken that the girl didn’t understand. What she did know was that she needed to follow the human until he was in bed. She could find herself a place to sleep, explore, and maybe even gather herself some food. She glanced back down again taking in more deep breaths. It was a long way up. Next time, she’d take the stairs up. If they had stairs.She followed after the human and his escort. Surely they would be getting him cleaned up and food right?

What ended up happening was she found herself ‘locked’ in an infirmary with the injured one and the human… who were sent straight to bed after the wing was tended to, set along with the injured one’s leg. The human had more focus on his gut. Briggit watched all this with fascination and was lost in thought until she heard the door close for the final time.

A door with iron handles had been closed behind the lady, ensuring Briggit was trapped. Luckily there were empty beds to choose from.Oh… Would the injured one still appreciate the salve? …