Author's Note: If by some miracle someone's been watching my account this whole time...um...sorry for not uploading? I don't upload much stuff anymore. I'm only putting this up here because some online friends of mine wanted to read it, and I wasn't about to put a 25 page story on a forum and then have to go through and edit in all the italics and etc.I wrote this story for my Creative Writing 200 class in my first year of college. If someone manages to find this story that I don't link it too, I hope you enjoy it anyway! And for all the rest of you that I do link to, you enjoy it as well.

“A Tale of Copper Water”

The sun was just reaching its high point in the sky and was casting minimal shadows throughout his forest. A boy, still young by his own standards, sat still on a large stone covered in moss, clothed in nothing more than a loincloth woven from broad grass and tied at the waste by a grape vine. His hair was white; it reached to his chin when left alone, though a clump by the right side of his face was tied loosely by a strand of long grass. His ear, slightly pointed at the top, was exposed on that side and covered on his left by loose hair.

Dark green eyes contrasted starkly against the white of his hair, as did the black fur that covered the boy entirely. There was a white stripe in the fur that spanned across his face and underneath his eyes; the end half of each of his fingers were white furred as well. The boy had a tail resting on the stone beside him; it lion-like in appearance, black, and the tuft at the end was the same color as his hair.

His legs, hung over the edge of the bolder, were shaped differently than a humans; they were formed in a way that made it possible for him to walk normally with the white cloven hooves that he had where his feet should have been. His black fur was a bit longer towards the back of his leg just above the hooves, and it hung down in a mildly shaggy manner to create what would be called ‘feathers’ on a horse. Placed in the center of his forehead and parting the hair that lay there messily was a spiraling horn; it was around six inches long, and glimmered in the light with an opalescent sheen.

The strange features gave him a regal look and he carried a calm and serene air around, though at the moment he looked anything but calm. His legs were bent so that his hooves were pressed against the side of the stone, and his fingers were gripping at the moss in a way that made it seem he was trying to keep himself from floating away. The boy’s eyes were locked in a hard stare off into the forest, though he closed them a moment later and took in a tense breath.

In all the years he’d spent alone in this forest, in all the years since he’d barely escaped with his life from the travesty that wiped out the rest of his people, Adonai had never encountered this situation before. There had been plenty of other families that had come to camp in his forest over the years, and many of them had young daughters. He’d been drawn to speak to them and to trust them, but it’d never been any stronger than the pull he’d felt towards all children – boy or girl. Adonai even felt comfortable enough with those situations to bring up a disguise and step out and talk to the families at times. It was often uncomfortable to be near the older humans, but he’d always found it worth it to speak with the children. When he did, he’d never had a problem with keeping his thoughts clear; he’d never had trouble leaving when he wanted to leave, or making the choice to not go in the first place.

This time, though, was different. It wasn’t even a group of campers. Adonai had been walking through his forest when he happened to see a young girl walking in a clearing nearer towards the outskirts than he usually went. She was older than most of the children, though not quite as old as the youngest of the adults Adonai had ever seen. The boy had decided he wanted to speak to her, and a moment later he’d realized that he had been about to step out of the forest and into plain sight with no disguise.

The situation had frightened him more than anything had since the days when humans knew of his people. He’d ran, and he hadn’t stopped running until he’d arrived at the very stone he was seated on now. Usually that was all it took. If he found himself, after spending quite some time with one of the camping families, playing with the idea of staying with them simply to stay near their young daughter all he’d ever had to do was brush the thought aside and leave. The thoughts stopped occurring, and as soon as they were out of sight he didn’t feel the pull to speak to them.

Yet now…just knowing that this new girl was in the forest tugged at his mind, at his whole being. Adonai gripped more tightly to the moss on the stone and pressed his eyes closed more 

fiercely. From the direction she’d been headed he could imagine exactly where she would be right now and where she would end up in a few minutes. If she continued following the path he knew precisely which clearing she would stumble across. The knowledge was intoxicating, and before he realized it he’d leapt off the stone and ran quietly through the trees until he came upon that very spot.

She was just lying there, apparently having decided that the clearing was a good place to nap. He was still drawn to her. The way she felt. It was so…innocent, or something very akin to it, so easy to trust. When he watched the older humans from afar, he felt more compelled to stay away from them, and the very young children neither repelled nor drew him in. This girl though…something about her made it impossible for him to keep away.

Adonai was afraid he knew exactly what that ‘something’ might be.

The thought was there for only a moment before he was overtaken once more by the compulsion towards the girl. He approached her silently, his white cloven hooves making barely a sound on the thick grass, and bent to sit on his knees once he was close. He stared at her. She looked to be around his age, or at least the human equivalent. Her hair was brown, and her skin also had a light brown tint to it from the sun. Her shirt was made out of the same human-made material that he always saw on the families that came to spend a few days in his forest. It was dark blue, with swirling patterns of gold, and the clothes she wore on her bottom half – jeans, the humans called them – were a dark blue that almost matched the shirt. Her feet were bare. There were a few dark specs of color along her face, freckles. Her eyelashes created little flickering shadows along the freckles as her eyes fluttered open to reveal a dark brown iris that matched her hair.

She stared dazedly up at him, and he stared back as if in a trance. She blinked once, and again. Then – as if suddenly realizing that she no longer had her eyes closed – she let out a startled cry and threw her hand up to push him away, sitting up quickly in the process. They stared at each other again, though this time the girl’s expression was more wild-eyed than it’d been a moment before.

“I’ve got to be dreaming.” She spoke, and her voice was just as captivating as her very presence.

“You can’t be.” He replied, “Your eyes are open, and you’re awake.”

“But…” Her eyes softened from their surprised look a moment ago. She tucked her legs under to sit on her knees and sat a smidge closer to him, “What are you, then?”

“What am I?” The conversation was forcing him to think, and thus bringing him out of the trance-like state he’d fallen into. Adonai’s eyes flashed wide in the same moment and he realized he hadn’t put any sort of illusion to disguise his form. This girl was seeing him – the real him. His hooves, his tail, his fur, and his horn. He remembered, years and years ago, what had happened the last time his kind had come into contact with humans. The thought terrified him, but the fuzz at the edges of his mind spread once more when he noticed her hand reaching towards his face. She wasn’t scared of him; he realized she didn’t have any reason to be.

Shifting her gaze down, she reached for his hand where it lay in the grass and lifted it. “I don’t know what you’re supposed to be,” she said, and she lifted her eyes – now filled with wonder – back to his face, to his forehead. Her hand followed, and her fingers brushed feather-light against his horn. “I know what you look like, though.”

He flinched away. Even the second of contact was enough to send thoughts rampaging chaotically into his mind. She pulled her hand back at the flinch, chewing on her lip for a moment. “Who are you, then?” He stared, and her eyes squinted at the silence. “Your name?”

Adonai grasped desperately at the window of clear thinking that her invading thoughts had given him. He’d never had any problems with giving his name to any of the others that had come to camp in his forest, but suddenly he was reluctant to tell this girl. What if knowing his name only gave her all the more ability to pull him into a trance? “I…don’t think I can.”

“You can’t tell me your name?” the girl asked; she quirked an eyebrow in disbelief. “How hard is it?” He only stared at her in reply. She sighed and shook her head. “Look, like this. I’m Vallari.” She waited a moment and then nodded again in his direction. “And you are…?”

The boy was lost once more in her voice and in her eyes. “I’m Adonai,” he replied.

She nodded. “There,” she said, “That wasn’t hard, right?” Vallari offered a smile, “It’s a nice name, anyway.”

Adonai smiled when she smiled, subconsciously leaning forward slightly from his kneeled position. “I’m glad you like it, “he replied. “Yours is wonderful, too.”

Vallari blinked and leaned back a fraction. “Oh,” she said, “Well…thank you.” She smiled again, and seemed to bask in the compliment. “So, where do you come from?”

“I live here,” he replied.

“In the forest?” she asked. “I’ve been coming here for years, and I’ve never seen you before.”

“It’s a big forest,” he answered. “I’m good at hiding. If I don’t want to be seen, then I’m not.”

“Oh.” She replied, smiling once more, “Wait,” she muttered under her breath, “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.” Vallari then shook her head, and let it fall forward to rest against her palm. “This is too much.”

“What is?” Adonai asked, leaning forward to try and look into her face when she turned her head up again.

“You!” She threw her hands up with the word, and Adonai recoiled in surprise. “I went for a walk like I do every week in this normal forest, with real-world trees and regular forest animals, and…and now I’m just sitting here have a casual conversation with something that’s not supposed to exist!” She shook her head and again buried her face into her palm. “It’s too much to take in.” She confessed to her hand.

The shouting caught him off guard and startled him into another bout of clear thinking. It struck him again that he was holding this conversation with no disguise, but Adonai reminded himself that there was nothing he could do about that part. He closed his eyes and tried to think quickly before he was pulled back into the strange trance. He’d seen her before. He knew he must have if she’d been coming since she was small. Adonai opened his eyes and stared at the grass.

He remembered a small girl that he’d always been particularly drawn to speak to. He remembered not thinking anything of it because she was so young and girls were never maidens at such a young age. Yet now here he was, caught in the very situation he’d been trying to avoid since he’d been warned of human maidens by his parents so long ago.

“How long have you been here?” His thoughts were interrupted by the question, and he looked quickly up to see Vallari scrutinizing him.

“Since I was small.” He answered, confused as to where such a question came from but too drawn into the trance once more to refuse an answer.

“How long?” she insisted, “How many years?”

Adonai shook his head and looked down, “It’s been so long, I’m not sure I remember exactly…” He thought for a moment, then looked at her again. “Two hundred summers? Maybe a bit more…”

“Two hundred?” she gawked. “How old are you?”

He stared at her for a moment, struggling to regain clear thought. So many questions. He wasn’t sure he should be revealing this much about himself to someone that might hold some control over him – even if she wasn’t aware of that fact.

“How old are you?” Vallari pressed, and his resolve disappeared.

“Five hundred seventy eight, I believe,” he replied. “Or very close to that.”

Vallari stared for a moment. A moment during which Adonai found himself unable to do anything but stare directly back at her. She shifted under his gaze after a moment, then seemed ready to resume her questioning. “Are there others like you?”

Warning bells sounded in his mind and broke through the fog clouding his thoughts once more. The question was one that sounded far too similar to the situation he remembered from his childhood. “No,” he said sternly, and she seemed taken by surprise at the change in his voice. The expression only proved to pull him once more into a trance.

“You’ve been alone out here for over two hundred years?” Her eyes squinted. “That’s horrible.”

“I’m not alone.” He said, “There are families that come to camp by the river. They’re very interesting. I like talking to them.”

“You talk to them?” she asked. “Even with the way you look?”

Adonai blinked. “I don’t look unusual to them. I use illusions to appear just as human as they are.”

“I see…” She squinted an eye slightly. “Why didn’t you do that with me?”

It was the very same question he’d been asking himself ever since he’d followed her into the clearing. “I trust you.” It was a lie. The words left his mouth without the consent of his mind. The pull he felt towards her made him want to believe that he could trust her. He wondered if he was just being paranoid. He wondered if he really could trust her; maybe she wasn’t his maiden at all.

“You just met me…” Her eyebrows rose in surprise, but her smile showed that she once again appreciated the comment. “Never mind.” She pushed onward, “Does that mean you never leave the forest?” A nod in reply. “Do you even know what the world’s like outside of here?”

The boy thought for a moment and then shook his head. “I’ve never left the forest.” He blinked. “I did when I was younger, but I haven’t for a long time.” He let his gaze wander and stared into the trees for a moment. “I don’t think I trust the world outside my forest. It’s been so long that I’m sure it’s changed…but I’ve never had the courage to go and look for myself.”

“Well that’s stupid.” Vallari raised an eyebrow. “You talk to people when they come into the forest and they haven’t done anything to you. The world isn’t perfect out there, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth seeing. You’re really just going to go on staying in this forest for your whole life because you don’t think you could trust anywhere else? How do you know if you never go and look?” Adonai only stared at her, and she heaved a sigh. “That’s not really living.”

Her words brought up a new desire. She was right, in a strange way. He’d seen nothing aside from inside of this forest since that day so long ago. Obviously the world had forgotten about his kind. Maybe it was safe to go out and explore after all. Besides, if he wanted to figure out if he really could trust this girl then he would need to stay in contact with her for longer than one conversation. “I could go with you,” he spoke at last, and he fixated his gaze on her face. “You could show me some of where you live. You could teach me about the world outside my forest.”

Vallari turned to look at Alicorn and then shook her head. “That…that wouldn’t work.” She got to her feet, “I should go back. My walks don’t usually last this long.”

“Wait.” He pleaded, grabbing hold of her wrist gently, “Please. Why wouldn’t it work?” Adonai told himself he was only being so persistent because he wanted to further access the situation. He wanted to know if he really was only being paranoid. If he was, then maybe there was something more to the reasoning behind why he couldn’t seem to look away from her.

She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked back at him, “Are you kidding?” She tugged her hand free and motioned with her hands to him. “Look at you! Look at me. You’d stick out like a sore thumb. There’s no way. I told you in my world you’re not supposed to exist. How do you think everyone’ll react to you just…just walking down the street?”

“They won’t be able to tell,” he assured her, rising easily to his hooves and reaching forward to take her hand in both of his. “Remember? I’ll illusion them. I promise. Please, Vallari. Let me go with you. I want to see you again. I need to.”

She was caught in his pleading gaze for a moment, chewing gently on her lip again. “I…but…” she shook her head once, “I have to go. But I’ll come back! I will, and then I’ll show you, okay?”

“All right,” Adonai agreed. “Okay, I can wait.” But he didn’t free her hand of his grip, and instead continued to stand there in his still transfixed state.

Vallari tugged her hand free, “Good.” She replied, taking a step back. “I’ll see you then.” And without another word she turned and made her way through the forest. Adonai had to fight the urge to follow her, but the longer he stood there after she left, the less intense that sensation became. His head cleared, and within a few moments he was able to think clearly. What had he just asked of her? Did he truly believe that the reason he was so compelled to be near her didn’t mean she was his maiden?

He was stupid to want to see her again. Stupid to even play with the idea that his unwillingness to trust her was just his paranoia. Even if she did turn out to be trustworthy it was too dangerous for him to be around her. Adonai had practically no free will with her there. As much as he hated to admit it he would likely agree with whatever she said, likely do whatever she told him to. She was dangerous, even if she didn’t intend to be. He couldn’t see her again. The next time she came to the forest he would simply have to work harder at avoiding her.

If only convincing himself of that truth was as easy as it seemed.

He felt discouraged when she didn’t return the day after, or the day following that, and he began to wonder if she’d lied to him about returning. Of course part of him knew that it would be better for him if she had lied, but it was getting easier to brush aside those rational thoughts. Vallari came back to the forest on the third day, catching his attention somewhere around midday with her clumsy footsteps through the underbrush. Adonai came up behind her far more quietly. He shouldn’t have. He should have turned and run as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

“Vallari,” he spoke quietly, and he reached a hand out to tap her gently on the shoulder. He told himself that after he was given a tour of the city he would cease to talk with her. After she told him a bit about the world he’d been ignoring all these years he would force himself to stay away.

She spun around in a startled manner, almost dropping the bundle of cloth she had in her arms, but relaxed when she saw that it was him. “Hey,” she greeted.

His face was pulled up in a wide grin, and his eyes were once again trained on her. “I was worried you weren’t coming back,” he admitted, and then reached out to grab her hand, apparently oblivious to the bundle she carried. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go right away.” Vallari took a step back in time to dodge the hand, successfully keeping the cloth held in her arms.

“We can’t!” she replied, and at the suddenly confused look on his face quickly added, “Not yet. You’re not even disguised.”

“Is that all?” he asked, and his smile returned. “That doesn’t take long.” Only a moment after he spoke, his appearance changed to that of a darkly tanned human, the skin tone looking far more Native American than African. His hair and eye color remained the same, and the markings along his face now matched his skin tone closely enough to where they were barely noticeable. Vallari stared for a moment, looking just as surprised now as she had when she’d first laid eyes upon him.

“You can change your appearance? Just like that?” she asked, her voice giving away a bit of the awe she was experiencing. Alicorn smiled again.

“Not quite.” He replied, “I told you, I use illusions.” The boy reached forward and ran the back of his hand along her arm; she took in a surprised breath at the contact with his fur. “See? I’m still myself.”

“That’s kinda awesome.” Vallari replied after a moment.

Adonai nodded, though he’d never thought of his telepathic abilities in such a way. “Well, it’s not quite complete, I don’t think.” he said. Usually when he went to talk to the families camping, he would add something that a previous camper wore to his illusion. When he was younger his people had been able to make clothing out of plants far better than he was able to on his own. All Adonai had been able to manage was the grass loincloth that often needed to be replaced. “I haven’t seen anyone camping in awhile,” he went on, “so I’m not sure what clothing to add to the illusion.”

Vallari blinked. “Well…yeah” she glanced down for a moment, looking a bit flustered. “You can’t go into the city dressed like that.” The girl held out the cloth in her hands, pushing it towards Alicorn. “Here, I wasn’t sure what size you were, so I hope they’ll fit.” She blinked once more, noticing the puzzled look that Alicorn had taken on. “Something wrong?”

The boy looked up from the pile now in his arms. “It’s so strange…I’m not sure how to get it on.”

“You’re…not sure?” Vallari repeated with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Alicorn nodded.

“That’s what I said, yes,” the boy confirmed.

“It’s…it’s just clothing,” she replied, and she furrowed her brows when she received yet another blank look. “It’s not so different from…Well, it’s like your…” she lost her words, lifting a hand to motion awkwardly to the loincloth of grass that he wore, “Like your clothes. They’re just a little different.”

Alicorn had squinted an eye slightly when as she spoke, looking then to the cloth in his arms for a moment afterwards before turning his attention back to Vallari. “You want me to wear these? I can’t just add them into the illusion?” Vallari nodded. “And you won’t show me the city until I do…” She nodded again. He smiled with his next reply. “All right,” he said, and lifted one of the pieces off the pile. It was a piece of clothing that mildly resembled the loincloth he wore, or the sort of clothing he remembered from his childhood, but with two long tube-looking pieces instead of simply a front and back. Adonai blinked, and then looked once more to Vallari. “How do I…” he trailed off, and then asked, “Where are you going?”

Vallari turned to look back at him, “Just over there. I can’t exactly stand and watch while you change.” She squinted one eye a bit, “Why do you look so confused? I’ll be right back once you’re done.”

“How do I put them on?” he asked, holding up the piece of clothing to indicate them. Vallari chewed on her lip for a moment, her face turning a peculiar shade of red.

“I can help you with most of it…but you’ve gotta put the pants on yourself.” She stepped over to him and lifted one of the long tubular pieces, “Your legs go through these, and,” an indication to the front where it opened, “Make sure this is in front. And…eh…” she stumbled in her words, crouching to pick up another piece of clothing. “You need to put these on.” Vallari handed him what looked like a shorter version of the pants made of a different material. “It’s the same concept. Just…Well, you’ll figure it out.”

Alicorn watched as she turned and stepped behind a clump of underbrush and a tree. He turned his attention to the two pieces of clothing in his hands, and stared at it for a moment. With her out of his sight he was able to think clearly once more, and he realized that the clothing didn’t look nearly as strange as he’d initially thought. The make up was a bit different from what he remembered, but not so different that he wasn’t able to figure it out. Again he wondered why he was going through with this. Adonai shouldn’t have even come, and yet there he was willingly putting human clothing on so that he could follow a girl who was very likely his maiden out of his forest and into a world he hadn’t entered since all of his people had been slaughtered by it.

He started to put the clothing on anyway. What she had called pants, and the other piece of clothing she’d said went with it, were easy enough. Adonai was able to get the other piece of clothing on easily enough, but the fastenings in the front were smaller than the one on the pants had been. It took him a few moments, and Vallari had already come back before he’d even gotten halfway finished with the shirt. True to her word, Vallari helped him with the rest of the last piece of clothing; she called it a shirt.

“Shoot.” She muttered, looking down as she did so. “I forgot shoes.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what the word meant, but he’d heard it used enough with the families that went camping to understand what it was a name for. “I couldn’t wear them anyway,” he assured her, and in a moment he’d added shoes to the mirage of his appearance. Vallari looked down to the copy of her own shoes with an unsure expression.

“Make them black. Guys don’t normally walk around with powder blue Sketchers.”

With the final touches now finished, Vallari was willing to lead him back to her city. She led him through the forest on a narrow path, and not long after she’d started to lead they came out in a sudden break of the tree line. The ground shifted from soft earth to hard grey rock with a black rock ahead of that. Adonai let his gaze wander up from the ground, and they widened as he took in the rest of the view ahead of him.

“Well, Adonai.” Vallari said, stepping in front of him and waiting on the edge of the lighter stone. She gave a nod towards the scene spread out before him. “Welcome to the city of Raggana.”

The day turned out to be the most fascinating that Adonai could remember. Within a few short moments of being outside the forest he’d completely forgotten about any worries he’d had about the trip. He followed her willingly wherever she led him, and agreed to anything she asked. It was just as he’d been afraid it would be; he would no doubt be horribly worried about the whole situation later. At that moment, though, all he cared about was that he was with Vallari. He enjoyed her presence, and she certainly seemed to enjoy his comments and compliments.

He had to assure Vallari numerous times that she was wrong because she kept insisting that ‘for a city’ Raggana wasn’t much. She would continuously talk about how there were much more impressive places that he could have seen and how she wished she could show them to him. Adonai didn’t want to see any of the other cities, and he’d assured her of this many times. This was Vallari’s city; it was where she’d grown up and where she lived. Nothing could have been more impressive to him.

Even if he hadn’t been entranced by her presence Adonai would have been in awe of many of the things in the city. Vallari took him to see televisions in stores. She’d taken him for pizza, ice cream, and many other different foods with names stranger than he ever thought he could imagine. She’d spoken on a small device she called a cell phone, which she explained was a portable version of something that was in every home. Vallari told him that televisions were in every home as well and seemed unable to believe that Adonai was so intrigued by everything in the city.

Adonai hadn’t expected himself to be so interested either. He’d heard the campers mention all of these things and more during their conversations and had always acted as if he knew what they were talking about. He’d always thought that the things they spoke of must have been strange and would make no sense, but now that he’d seen some of them for himself he couldn’t begin to imagine what the other things mentioned must have been like. The end of the day saw the two back at the edge of the forest.

“So, now you’ve seen it,” Vallari said. “I don’t think my tour really did any good. I probably missed a ton of stuff, but at least seeing it must’ve told you enough about the place, right?”

“Your tour was wonderful,” Adonai assured her. He’d let the telepathic guise fall so that his appearance was back to his norm, with the exception of the clothing that she’d given him. “If you think of anything that you did miss, you can always show me tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Vallari looked confused. “But I thought…I mean, I didn’t expect you’d want to go back again.”

Adonai’s expression turned to mirror her own. “Can’t I?”

“I…I guess,” she replied. “If you want to.”

Adonai quickly nodded. “I’d love to come back. I’d love to come and visit your city every day, if you’ll let me.”

The girl stared at him for a moment. “I thought you didn’t like the city? You said you didn’t think you trusted it out there.”

She was right, he realized. Adonai let his gaze fall to the ground as he thought for a moment. It was strange how such a simple fact had seemingly slipped his mind. It was strange how many simple facts seemed to slip his mind when he was in conversation with Vallari. It wasn’t strange, though; it only made it more difficult for him to deny that she was his maiden. “I don’t mind it so much after today,” he answered; that much was the truth. “It’s mostly the people in the city, I think. I don’t think I could trust most of them,” practically all of them, he added to himself, “but I don’t feel as though they’re a threat to me.” It was only their mental patterns that put him on guard, that small something that made it so easy for him to trust children and yet was missing in the adults. Adonai looked back up to Vallari “I’ll be fine. I’m not going to your city to see them, anyway. I’m going to see you.” She said nothing for a long moment, but she smiled as she always did when he made the complimentary comment.

“Just don’t go into the city on your own,” she said. “I’ll come and get you when I can, after school on week days, and when I have free time on the weekends. Just don’t…go wandering on your own.”

“Why not? I wouldn’t get lost, if that’s what you’re worried about. I could find you easily.” He offered a warm smile with his comment, though it faltered and bled into a confused expression at the mildly disturbed look that crossed Vallari’s face. It was a drastic change from her appreciative expression of a moment before. “Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, no. Just…just don’t, okay? I’ll come get you.”

“All right,” he agreed. “I’ll wait for you.”

And so he did every day without fail. Every time she left and he was able once more to think clearly he was angry with himself for having gone to meet her. Each time he convinced himself that he wouldn’t see her again, and yet as soon as she was near enough for him to sense her mental patterns he was running to her side. He would spend the day entranced by her presence, and he would tell her that much every chance he got. She enjoyed his company, and so while they were together he didn’t remember anything of the problem that his compulsion towards her meant.

At the end of each day it was becoming more and more difficult for him to convince himself that he wouldn’t see her again, and that only proved what he’d been afraid of all along. She was his maiden; there was no question about this. Finally admitting to that didn’t help anything. The very fact that she was his maiden made it impossible for him to force himself away from her. There were only two ways to break the connection that held him bonded to her presence. She would have to cease being a maiden. Or, more likely, she would have to reject him entirely; considering how fond she seemed to be of his time with her, he doubted that would happen.

Day by day his resolve to even think about never seeing her again began to fade. Adonai no longer worried about the fact that she was his maiden. Eventually it got to be so that he only cared about seeing Vallari. Talking to Vallari. Being with Vallari. He looked forward to her visits as if they were air. Yet it seemed that the more he came to enjoy their visits, the more she came to avoid and dislike them.

Days turned into weeks, and Vallari’s attitude toward her continued visits seemed to change. She explained that it was becoming more and more difficult to find time out of her life to go to his forest for anything other than a very brief visit.

“There are…thing’s that I need to do, and…people that I need to spend time with.”

“Who?”

“Nobody in particular! Just…I can’t see you all the time anymore. I’ll come when I can.”

Conversations on the subject rarely went any farther than that.

After a few moons Vallari began to talk of how excited she was for a coming date. She explained that it was her birthday and spoke of how much she looked forward to finally being an adult. He didn’t know why she wanted to be an adult so badly; Adonai never liked adults, or their mental patterns. The few times he tried to mention this to her the conversation was swiftly changed before he could, and of course he was glad to talk about whatever Vallari wanted to. She spoke of how she couldn’t wait for all the privileges that came with being an adult, and how she looked forward to being able to do all the things then that were illegal for her to do now. She went on about how wonderful it would be to make plans for living on her own.

“It’s not so amazing,” he answered her one day when she asked what it was like to live by his own rules.

“Well, it’s different for you,” she’d replied. “You’ve always lived like that.”

It was easy for him to see how special her birthday was for her, and it wasn’t long before he had the date committed to memory; it was the third day of the third moon since he’d come to know her. When he further understood what birthdays entailed in human tradition, he began to wonder what he could do for her. Sometimes he would wonder why she seemed to be so distressed over managing to visit him, and he would ask her why it was.

“It’d be easier if you lived in the city,” she’d often explain to him. “It’s just coming out to the forest all the time that’s hard. That’s all.” The reply gave him an idea for a solution, though it was one that he would never have contemplated if he hadn’t been completely absorbed in Vallari.

He could move into the city. It would mean a constant state of being illusioned when he was out and around, but the private dwellings that Vallari pointed out on his first visit would allow him to be himself enough of the time. It would mean learning how to live in her city by the rules of the humans. It would mean learning how to ignore the untrustworthy feeling he got from practically everyone who lived there, and trying to figure out a way to explain away or hide the way he aged compared to them.

It would mean leaving his forest behind, possibly forever.

The last fact was the most difficult to bear with, but the time that he spent with Vallari always proved to make the idea of moving into her city all the more appealing. When her birthday drew closer she spent less and less time on her visits to his forest, and the visits became less frequent.

“I would come more,” she explained apologetically. “But I’ve been making plans for my birthday. Times to meet, places to go.”

“Go where?” he’d ask. “With who?”

“Nobody, really. Just a friend – a…a few friends.”

Every time he asked about her plans she seemed more distressed than the time before. It only made him surer in his decision to move into her city. To Adonai, it seemed that most of her distress was caused by her having to go to his forest in order to meet with him. When the day of her birthday had finally arrived, his decision had been finalized. He decided before the fact that he wasn’t going to tell Vallari about his moving into her city. By now he’d seen it enough to know his way around, and he was confident anyway that he would be able to find her.

He became confused as he left the edge of the forest because he wasn’t able to pick up on the particular kind of mental pattern of Vallari’s that made it so easy for him to locate her. It made him doubt his plan; it made him wonder if the birthday activities she’d been planning had brought her out of her city and thus too far for him to sense. If it’d been what she called a week day, he’d have been able to wait for her outside her school, but it was one day shy of those and so he was at a loss on where to find her.

Adonai thought of asking another human where she might be. He thought perhaps one of them would know her, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak to any of them. Their mental patterns brought back too many memories of so long ago. Now that he was in the city without Vallari’s presence pulling at him he couldn’t ignore how many adults were around him. It was almost too much to simply be in the city, let alone to go up and speak to someone.

The children, however, were something different entirely. Their mental patterns were comforting. They held an extra something that the patterns of the adults lacked, something that Adonai had always enjoyed being around. It wasn’t so much that his mind was clouded as it was around Vallari, but enough to where he could speak to them and see if he might get information from them.

“Hello there.” He greeted a group of them in the park that sat between the forest and the city. The few other times he’d been there, Vallari had steered clear of the people in the park as well as the children. She’d explained that she wasn’t fond of the younger humans, but he couldn’t imagine why. One of children, a small boy with brown hair, looked over to a group of humans before turning back to Adonai.

“We’re not s’pose to talk to strangers,” he explained, though his eyes were trained with interest on Adonai as the illusioned unicorn boy came to crouch next to his group.

“Well, why not?” the older boy blinked in reply. “I’m not dangerous.” Of course he knew why. Human children were taught to be untrusting of older humans they didn’t know. He, of all people, understood that perfectly. He offered a warm smile and held his hand out in the way he’d seen humans often greet each other. They seemed hesitant at first, but soon enough a small brown haired girl stepped over to take his hand. Adonai laughed gently when she gasped in surprise.

“You’re so soft!” she shrieked delightedly, “Like my puppy, Max.” The first boy that had spoken quickly stepped forward to see what his friend was talking about, and the other two children did the same.

“Why are you soft like that?” another girl asked, “You don’t got fur!” Adonai took his hand back from the group of children, carefully avoiding the question. He wasn’t terribly worried, as he’d heard Vallari talk often about her younger brother and how wild his imagination was; he assumed that the parents of these children would simply think the same.

“I’m looking for someone,” he spoke. “Do any of you know an older girl named Vallari? She lives in this city, I just can’t seem to find her today.”

“There’s a girl named Vallari that lives next door to me,” the brown haired girl spoke up. She pointed across the street from the park; Adonai followed the gesture, smiled, and turned back to the children.

“Why thank you!” he replied, lifting a hand to ruffle the girl’s hair playfully. “You’ve all been very helpful. I think I’ll leave you to continue playing.” There were a few complaints over his departure, but he said goodbye again and turned in the direction the girl had pointed out.

A few minutes and another careful crossing of the street later found Adonai walking along the front of a line of houses. Not until this point had he realized that through all the visits he’d had with Vallari, she’d never once told him where she lived. All he had to go off of now was the word of the small girl, and the hope that her neighbor and his maiden were the same Vallari. However, judging on how he had still not sensed her presence, his hope was wearing thin.

He stood there on the sidewalk in front of the house that the girl had pointed out and suddenly realized what he’d been thinking. Why should he be going through all this trouble to find the girl who was his maiden? Now that he could no longer feel the pull of Vallari’s mental pattern he was thinking clearly once more, and the past few moons came sharply into focus. Adonai felt a wave of panic wash over him as he realized how immersed he’d been in Vallari’s presence for the past few moons; he felt the cold hand of terror grasping something inside his chest when he realized how easily he’d become putty in this maiden’s hands.

“Adonai?”

The voice caught him by surprise, and he spun around quickly to look towards the owner. The fear and panic still had a grip on him, and he could only stare at who he saw there. It didn’t make sense. He should have sensed her coming far before this point, but it was still Vallari standing before him.

“Who’s this guy?” The question was posed by a taller boy standing beside Vallari. She looked unsurely from Adonai to the boy, stepping so that she was facing both of them.

“Seth, this is that friend I mentioned. The one I go to visit sometimes?” Vallari looked back to the dumbstruck unicorn boy. “Adonai, this is my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” he repeated questioningly. It was a word he was unfamiliar with, but it only took a moment for the meaning to become clear to him. Vallari was familiar with this boy. His mental patterns were lacking the same strand of innocence that all the adults were, and now so were Vallari’s. She wasn’t his maiden anymore; she was no longer a maiden at all. Adonai should have been happy for that fact. He should have been relieved that he could feel his free will bleeding back into existence. He shook his head and took a step back.

“Are you okay?” Vallari asked. She took a step towards Adonai, and he immediately took another step back. He shook his head again.

“Don’t – Don’t do that,” he protested, lifting his gaze to meet her own. His mind was buzzing with a hurricane of confusion. He wasn’t sure what to do.

“Is he all right?” Seth asked. “The guy looks kind of freaked out.” Vallari waved her hand once to silence him and took another step towards Adonai.

“Don’t do what?” she asked. “What’s wrong?” She chewed her lip lightly and furrowed her eyebrows. “Did I do something?”

Again he took a step back when she took one forward, shaking his head yet again. “No, it’s just…something’s not right.” Adonai looked up to meet Vallari’s eyes, glancing to Seth for a moment, and then back to her. He willed her to understand even though he knew she couldn’t. Even though the answer was obvious to him.

Vallari stepped forward quickly, reaching out to grasp his wrist before he could back away. “Adonai, tell me what’s – ” She looked quickly down to where her hand touched his wrist. She stared for a moment before meeting his gaze once more and asked in a whispered tone, “Where’d your fur go?”

Warning shot up through his arm at Vallari’s touch, and Adonai instinctively pulled away. When she asked where his fur had gone, it only made the situation worse; the strand of innocence embedded into someone’s mental patterns always weakened the illusion. To those with such a strand in their mental patterns it was just that, an illusion. To all the others – to all the adults – it was stronger. It tricked their mind into believing the illusion down to the sense of touch. He shook his head again, tearing his wrist away from her. “Nowhere,” he replied, taking a few stumbling steps back. “Vallari, I…I only came to tell you that…”

The words fell away. His plans were gone. Adonai was glad, in a way. He was relieved that he was now able to think clearly enough to decide against moving into a city. It would’ve been too much for him to take. Being surrounded by so many humans would only have caused him to relive the incident from so long ago.

“Well?” she asked, “Tell me what?”

“That I’m leaving,” he said. It was what he’d intended on doing all along, after all. He turned to walk quickly across the street after he spoke. Vallari started after him.

“Where are you – ” Seth started to ask.

“Just wait here!” Vallari replied, reaching where Adonai stood just inside the park and grabbing hold of his wrist once more. He tore it away from her but stopped walking. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked again, “Did I hurt you, or something?”

Adonai took a few steps back to put distance between them. “No,” he replied. “Yes,” he shook his head once more. “It’s complicated, Vallari. The first time I met you I never wanted to see you again. I shouldn’t have seen you again.” He finally looked up to her, “I’m going back to my forest.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, and her tone stopped him again. He’d expected her to be hurt, or at least mildly scorned. She sounded angry at him. “You never wanted to see me again? That doesn’t make any sense! You were always so…”

He turned to face her as her shouting lost steam. Adonai realized now why it was she’d enjoyed his doting conversation – because it was just that, doting. “Adoring?” he asked with the thought, “Entranced by your very presence? Compulsively drawn to be as near to you as possible?” 

The fear and panic he’d been feeling earlier was gone. There was no more danger of him losing himself in Vallari’s presence, and now he’d figured out the real reason she’d continued to visit him.

“Well…yes,” Vallari replied. “All of that. It was…it was nice.”

Adonai narrowed his eyes at her. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been angry – living alone in the forest didn’t bring around many enraging situations. It didn’t happen often, but this was an exception. She’d taken advantage of the situation, even if she couldn’t have known why he’d been so drawn to her. It could have ended far worse, much as similar situations did in a time when humans knew of his kind. He was grateful that it hadn’t, but still upset.

“Of course it was nice,” he said. “Knowing you had someone to go and talk to who would do nothing but agree with you. Knowing you had someone to visit who would say nothing but compliments.” Adonai shook his head, “If I’d been thinking, I wouldn’t have said any of those things. If I’d been thinking – I told you – I wouldn’t have wanted to see you again.”

“How was I suppose to know anything was wrong?” she replied, and this time her voice did sound hurt. The anger had disappeared as quickly as it’d shown itself. “You’ve been like that since the first day I met you, how was I suppose to know the difference?” He said nothing, and she took a step towards him. “Please, Adonai. You’re a good friend of mine.”

“Don’t.” He took a step back to counter her step forward. “I don’t know you, not really. And you don’t know me. You couldn’t, I haven’t…all this time…” He shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” she replied.

Adonai shook his head. “Don’t be. You don’t…there’s no need to be. It’s not your fault. It’s just…bad circumstances.” He turned to start away again.

“Vallari!” the other boy called from across the street.

She looked over to where Seth stood; she waved at him and then turned back to Adonai. “Will I see you again?”

“I’ll still be in my forest,” he answered. “I might travel along the river sometimes, but I’ll always go back to my forest.”

“So,” she said, “I will then, right? You’ll be in the forest, so I can find you.”

He looked into the park and back towards where the children were still playing. Their mental patterns soothed his mind a bit. He knew he could trust her enough. She wouldn’t hurt him…but she was young, and obviously still changing. How could he be sure she wouldn’t tell someone about what he really was? How could he be certain she wouldn’t tell Seth?

“I…don’t think so,” he said after a moment.

Vallari stared at him. “It’s not fair,” she said. “You’ve been my friend for months now. I thought you…I thought we…” She shook her head and lowered her voice. “I wasn’t even sure about Seth. I thought…I mean…” Vallari looked up to Adonai then; her eyes were glossy. “You were always so nice. You were so…well, like you said, so adoring of me. And you’re trying to tell me I’ll never see you again?” She clenched her fists by her side, “It’s not fair!”

“You were my maiden,” he admitted reluctantly. “I know you don’t understand that. It means I cared for you, even if it was against my will. It means I wanted nothing more over these past moons than to make sure you were as happy as you could possibly be. That’s all true.” He glanced up and saw her expression had softened once more. She seemed pleased at his words; he realized again that she’d always seemed pleased when he spoke of how captivated he was by her. He knew now that it was likely the only reason she’d come to see him so often.

“So why not now?” she asked, “You trusted me before! Why not now?”

Adonai looked back to the group of children in the park while he thought over the answer. After a moment he looked back to Vallari. “It’s because you got what you’ve wanted this whole time. You’re an adult now. Congratulations. You won’t see me again.” He didn’t wait for her to respond, but instead turned towards the forest and broke into a run.