“Why here?” he asked himself (having had no other to keep him company for a solid month or longer), stepping without regard for borderlines or the narrowing gaze of patrolling soldiers; suspicious, vigilant. Because she is here... easy, he answered with unmoving lips, shrugging casually. He remembered her well, the warmth of her blood, the pulse throbbing through her; he remembered the darkness, but mostly he remembered the memories, her horror, and all that had touched her life- for better or worse. They had lived here, he’d been born here- everyone we should know is here, and even though he felt like at any moment he might melt there and then beneath the blistering heat of the desert sun, he continued.

It was a bold presumption, childlike confidence, because really Kari had not the slightest idea where those from the caves had strayed too. The little colt sighed deeply, stepping with exaggerated care as he slogged towards the rippling blur of black and green across the horizon; placing each narrow hoof as though an eggshell lay beneath, nervously avoiding those visions which filled his thoughts and clouded his eyes whenever he was not well prepared to deal with them.

Undernourished and looking particularly dishevelled since the disappearance of any mother who’d offered to care for him, he had not the strength to travel quickly and the journey towards the oasis seemed endless... Kari grew tired quickly and his cool jaded gaze filled with frustration. “Why am I not any closer?” he vented, snorting as sharply as the narrow slit-nostrils at the end of his young face could manage.

He turned quietly, scuffing through the gravel, but he could no longer see the bridge across which he’d wandered to come here.

For a moment he thought to fly and opened his steel-grey wings, beating them for only seconds before he felt the weight of his fatigue and could bother no longer. The long tail behind him danced slowly, pensively left and right as he considered his options then- to rest awhile and risk roasting beneath the fury of the desert sun, or press on, chasing shadows like a fool, with perhaps the same result. That just won’t do... he thought quickly, not altogether keen to give up life without first tracking down his mother. He was hungry first, and grass just was not as sweet as the milk she withheld. Everything else had to wait.

“IS ANYONE THERE!” ...he resolved to shout at last, casting his small, boyish voice as far into the sky as he could with his face too flung upwards. Unfortunately the action was too sudden for the half-grown brittle horns upon his brow, and the left cracked, snapped and fell to the earth. Kari peered down at it, bothered and disappointed because it had taken much longer than a few seconds to grow so long. “Well that’s just great...” Carefully he knelt across buckled knees to retrieve it, and after passing another look around him, set off again after the mirage.

There was a flicker of movement, a blur still darker, looming on the horizon ahead, and the scrawny colt’s thin legs stiffened beneath. His neat, tapering face was lifted high into the hot, dry brackish breeze and his nostrils fluttered with interest. Teeth held tightly around his severed horn. Tired, ocean blue eyes gazed ahead, trying to discern the sky from the hard clay earth, struggling to find the owner of the movement; if they were a ravenous coyote, Kari knew he’d need to turn in the name of self preservation... The scent riding along the wind (that tousled the crimped mat of forelock tangled around his horn and a half) though, was not that of a predator, and the colt snorted sharply, impatience expanding with his discomfort; thirst, hunger, aching joints.

A mare returned the call and the sound of it was bright and vivacious, all of which overwhelmed him. Kari lingered in place, obeying the message conveyed and not shrinking away to hide mainly because he was lost- she was his lifeline now, and the oasis just seemed constantly to be out of his reach. He knew he needed help- he needed to find Shadow. The darkness grew and grew, and nervously switching ears caught soon enough the scuff of her quick stride along the parched, gravelly earth. Again she called but the gangly half-yearling stayed quiet, watching only, with now baited breath. He did not recognize her and shifted, unsettled by this hurdle in his quest.

She was clothed in many colours, a dizzying rainbow of vivid and contrasting hues; strange trees atop her brow and locks longer than on any he’d seen before. Kari staggered backwards awkwardly, taken aback by both her formidable size and nauseating dress, and his wide eyes roamed openly across her. She spoke tenderly, but dehydration numbed his ears and each word was only a rumble through his mind like the first call she had made across the distance. "Have you seen Shadow?" he asked carefully after a small delay, thoughts aligning when at last his focus came to rest upon the strange creature’s unusual pink-marked face.

Kari was indeed thin, frail, and he looked more fawn-like than foal. Hunger and fatigue were burdens he’d grown fairly used to mind due, so the worry running rampant through the coloured mare’s expression only served to unsettle his nerves. At first he thought her concern was centred around the small half stump of coal-black horn upon his brown. He placed carefully the broken section he’d been carrying, to rest by his tiny cloven hooves and peered back towards her with confusion straining his gaunt face. It will grow back... he thought impatiently, bemusedly to himself, tilting his young features broodingly- it had a number of times already.

The mare, Alija, buried suddenly her nose into the bag strapped to her forearm and the colt waited with twitching ears, intrigued instantly. Widening, fixed blue pools watched her with expanding interest, enough to pull him closer a small foal’s step or two, but she pulled out weeds, vegetables, and he screwed up his nose. A strangely enticing scent did fill his nostrils as they pinched in childish disdain though, and when Kari could not place it, he asked, “What are these?” He didn’t dare touch before he knew, strange folk had poisoned Shadow, and unable to forget that fact he cast a wary glance across the flora.

Seconds later he’d asked after his mother and the herb-collector’s mask began to shift disconcertingly. Kari’s lips stiffened as he presumed anxiously that she had not. If she wasn’t here, where in Helovia could she be? His balance swayed as he thought irrationally to just turn and wander back in the direction he’d come, but Alija’s bright voice filled his ears suddenly, and it bore nothing but good news. Perhaps a smile of delight, or giddy shriek, or some other sign of his dependence should have been the first reaction offered; but the little colt nodded instead soberly. She spoke slowly, and his eyes narrowed carefully as he turned one towards her.

Suddenly she was turning, insisting he follow, and Kari (collecting his horn along the way) did so quickly and obediently. He broke into a wobbly trot to keep pace, but it soon evened out, long silvery tail dragging like limp rope through the gravely sand. “Is she in the oasis?” He probed, stomach rumbling hopefully as he travelled, and he gazed ahead (around her much larger figure), to find the same blur he’d been following dancing across the horizon. “Are you sure it’s this way? There was no other choice but to follow. He couldn’t bear the heat any longer, and his throat was raspy, his tongue parched. Alija glanced back towards him with a smile, and he returned it half-heartedly.

For a long while he opted only to carry the supplements Alija had offered. The thought to eat them was tempting indeed, he was awfully hungry- peppermint, angel....a, something about lions, the weeds certainly smelled better than the wiry grass tussocks dotted throughout this desert. Saliva began to pool in his mouth, and his tongue fondled the tart wilting stems wedged between his young white teeth. Kari’s weary wings rustled by his flanks and hot air brushed by sweat-sodden skin as they walked, ambled along.

He drew another breath, concentration furrowing his meek features. Excellent... The elusive oasis. Still, he remained fairly sceptical; her eyes held apprehension that he couldn’t help but assume was related to this journey across the baked land, it was hard for him to take one so colourful seriously- like she epitomised nonsense. Deep, brooding blue pools looked carefully at her turned badger face, noting the smile with another half-curled one of his own. Carry me? “No...” Truthfully though, Kari could think of no idea better. His feeble knees trembled beneath the mass of his scrawny body, aching for respite, and the revoltingly hot sand exaggerated his discomfort enormously.

Alija assured him that their target lay in the direction she was taking them, and he nodded soberly, accepting finally that there was a chance she knew better. Perhaps. Before she turned away again however, Kari noticed the trinket caught up in her antlers, and his fine skull cocked to the side as he considered it. “What’s that? he asked without gesturing towards it. His eyes were trained to it though, betraying the focal point of his interest. The little colt had never seen a pendent like it, the symbol anyway, and he broke into a stumbling trot (rocks were scattered all across the desert, and Kari wasn’t minding his step) to view it better from the mare’s wingless side.

“Did you know... Shadow gave me an amulet, kinda like that. She told me that it held the fiery blood of the God of this place.” He told her in a matter of fact way, gazing ahead aimlessly, suddenly, with pricked ears (his shifting attitude resembled a being much older than the skin and bones his body portrayed). “She has a horn as well. She took it from an evil Unicorn...” he paused abruptly, but didn’t look at her. She’s a Unicorn too y’know... Kari didn’t apologise, and said nothing more about it.