Heavy lidded eyes opened slowly, revealing a shadowy encampment. A dark fire flickered nearby. She was too young to understand yet, but Heliola felt calm as she gazed around upon her immediate world for the first time.
To her left, Liola saw her mother, sleeping in fatigue, smiling secretly to herself in a dream. Her flanks rose and fell and sweet chords sounded in tune with her mind’s images. She sensed the importance of being a unicorn like her, somehow. Nearby, on a pillock, stood a pair of hooved brown legs belonging to a fellow who looked like a goatish man with twin horns atop his head. He was carrying a rough cloth sack over his shoulder, and an odd device in his hands. He was having difficulty manipulating it with his thorny hands, but the light in his eyes indicated that he was nearly successful, periodically at least. He would probably come through soon.
Liola closed her eyes wearily. She’d just plunged through a dark tunnel, seeking a yellowish light.
Then she heard a click, but she saw naught.