Shuler was always sure to mind his manners. He watched quietly as Myrrdin submerged his old, rickety body into the warm waters of the hot springs. He himself was reluctant to leave the warmth the Basin’s little hidden oasis provided, preferring it over the lingering chill that still held onto the land in the early days of Birdsong. As the old unicorn began his story, Shuler paid close attention, listening with all the eagerness of a child being told an old legend. Little did the dun stallion know that the unicorn wading in the hot springs with him was a bit of legend himself.

Stories of kings and queens, lovers and quests, all melded and meshed into a vibrant, bright image in Shuler’s head as Myr told his tale. He puzzled over what the old stallion meant when he spoke of being different, and Shuler tried his best to warp his often straight lined logic around what he would have otherwise deemed impossible. He soaked up the words that came from the white stallion like a proverbial sponge, wondering in genuine earnest at the idea of dragons and prophecies and war, all in the name of that quizzical, impossible, four-lettered word that individuals often did not mean, and spoke too much. Shuler sensed that there was much, much more to Myrrdin’s story, but he did not push for further information. The little taste of the tale the older stallion did give him to would be enough to satiate his curiosity’s hunger for now. Perhaps once a better ground work was laid, and a better friendship was struck with this unique individual, Shuler would be privy to more the rather interesting story.

One thing was certain, he would forget nothing he had been told.

If you know what it is that you're looking for, then you do in fact know it, and do not need to search. But if you truly do not know, then how can you be sure if and when you've found it?"

There was no denying the blatant truth in Myrrdin’s words, and Shuler nodded gravely, having great respect for the earnest honesty with which the wise, old unicorn spoke. Shuler himself had often pondered over similar questions himself, wondering where he was going, and what he was after. It still remained a question that lingered with annoying frequency in the back of his mind, and while he still did not know what exactly he searched for, or what it was he wanted, he did feel he had found a part of that here in the Basin. The young, gold stallion gave himself a hearty shake, throwing spinning, spiraling droplets of water into the Basin air. They caught the light and in the brief moments they were suspended in the air, one might have noticed the reflection of the two unicorns in the water below them, and the iridescent shimmering of a rainbow like a vibrant, multicolored prism, before they fell back at gravity’s bidding into the water once more.

"There is more truth in your words than you know, Sir Myrrdin." Shuler appraised, “I do hope you know it is the greatest honor that you would choose to share your history with me.”


The younger stallion shifted his hooves in the waters, soft, murky sand shifting, sliding and sticky beneath him. He looked at his own reflection peering back at him blankly from the hot springs otherwise quiet surface, surprised at the sudden shadow of uncertainty that had come to surface at Myrrdin’s talk of knowing, or not.

“Do you wish to seek out our healer?” Shuler interrupted his own personal contemplations and turned his attention back to the pale eyed stallion who stood across from him, observing Myr’s scrapes and scratches that he could see above the water he was submerged in. “If so, I’m sure I could aid you in finding him, from what I have heard he is the very best.”