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Yunigoni looked down at her reflection in the cool stream, having found a refuge place beneath a willow tree, she didn't like to be afraid, but she was still unsure of her surroundings, and of it's inhabitences. Everyone was either cold, overly arrogant, or overly hyperactive, and none seemed to want to understand where she came from, or rather seemed to care.

-

Macaria gazed out from the top of a nearby hill at all the Azerin who had seemed to so suddenly gathered at the river. One in particular had caught her attention: a lonely-looking white Azerin with a curious golden horn, who was standing under a williow. Poor thing, she looks so lonely even though there are all these others around... Not that she'd probably appreciate Macaria's company, but...

Despite herself, she trotted over to the unicorn. "What's the matter? Too proud of your pretty horn to talk to anyone else, or are you just too busy moping to bother?"

-

Yunigoni jumped, startled by the mare that seemingly just appeared out of nowhere. She shuddered and shied away a little bit, bowing her head at what she thought was a mockery of her horn. "I... I am not proud... I... I'm scared..." She replied, somewhat ashamed of herself.

-

Macaria rolled her eyes, more at herself than at the unicorn. She was such an idiot for introducing herself like that...! Of course, it was too late now to apologize; and even if she did she'd just make things worse.

"Of course you're scared. One of the noble, legendary unicorns, scared of a couple of normal, dirty Azrein... Pffft!" Wait a minute... Mancaria could see a glint of gold when the unicorn bowed her head.

"Wait," suddenly her voice was no longer dripping sarcasm, but very serious. "Is that... Is that a chain?"

-

Yunigoni winced again at the sarcasm that dripped from the new mare's voice, adding more to her shame. But when asked about her chain around her neck, she swallowed and lifted her head showing the collar and the broken chain attached to it. She turned away, bowing her head again, "Yes, I've had this since I was captured when I was foal... I was only just recently rescued and set loose, but, everywhere I go..." she stopped herself, she doubted the mare would want to hear her sob story, already having a feeling she was being judged and mocked as it was.

-

Macaria could tell she had hit a sore spot even before the unicorn started speaking. She was almost guilty for bring up such obviously painful memories, but... If this mare had actually been captured, that was horrible... No, horrible couldn't even come close.

All the pain and suffering she must have gone through... It was unspeakable that a human might've done such a thing! This time when she spoke, her voice was almost gentle. "Did a human try to make you Choose them?"

-

"I was a foal when they took me from my dam and sire... Far away from here... I was taken to what the humans called a castle, there I was given to their... Prince, I guess that's what they call little Kings... But he really wasn't nice... Only road me a few times and just... Left me," she bowed her head again a tear rolling down her cheek. "I was saved by a young woman, one of his servants from a land faraway too, said she understood me, spoke to me for many a moon as she took care of me, she's the only human I trust, because she freed me... She freed me and brought me here, said she'd return once the other humans stopped looking for her..."

-

Poor thing... But was this human prince a son of the King?! Macaria couldn't believe that he'd allow such a thing after all that preaching other Azrein had claimed he had done about how the humans needed to be Chosen by the Azrein and not the other way around, but... If it was, there was something horribly wrong going on.

"Listen here, crybaby, and listen well." Her words weren't quite as sarcastic as they had been when she had first talked to her, but they still had some bite to them. "I can't overlook this if you're talking about who I think you are. We're going to Regalis."

-

"W-who...w-who is that?" the unicorn asked wondering who this mare was talking about, something told her her story probably misinformed the mare about where she was from.

-


"Regalis? It's a herd that answers directly to the Azrein who Chose the King. There's only one King with any real authority that I know of on the island. What, did they make you live under a rock?!" The she thought about it the harder it became for Macaria to believe the King would let any human do such a thing; but it couldn't hurt to check. If it wasn't, then she had the feeling the leader of the herd would want to know of a prince that the King knew naught of.

If it was, they'd have one seriously pissed off mare and probably a quite a few others to deal with.

-

Yunigoni looked around, then back at the mare. "I was never from this place..." she said a puzzled look on her face. "My human friend brought me here from a land faraway, across a great water called a Sea... She said this was where I belonged and said I would happy here..."

-


Never from... Never from the island...? Was that even possible?! Sure, Macaria knew there was a world below them, one with humans as abundant as ants and the Azrein's stupider horse counterparts... But an Azrein who came from the world below?

Maybe it would be a good idea to bring her to Regalis anyway until she learned to, well, socialize. Or if she still didn't like humans (Macaria certainly wouldn't blame her if she didn't!), then maybe one of those random neutral herds. Then she could leave the unicorn in their care without having to worry about the Six or the humans from below getting her.

"Uh-huh. We're still going, crybaby. Follow me if you know what's good for you." She started following the river upstream. "Oh, and what did you say your name was...?"

-

Macaria looked back at the mare following her. Yunigoni, huh...? That definately didn't sound like it came from the island; or at least she had never heard it before. She snorted. "What a strange name, and where the heck did 'Una' come from? They don't sound alike at all."

There she went again, running her mouth off. At this rate Macaria was beginning to feel like she was becoming a first-class jerk...! Why even bother worrying about it? It wasn't like anyone cared, anyway.

"I'm Macaria."

Macaria turned her head back to the river to hide the pained expression she couldn't help. They had even made it so she hated her own name...? "Then I'll call you Una, if you can't stand your own birth-name." She hesitated for a moment, thinking about how Una had been given the nickname by her Chosen. If she had a Chosen, then a peaceful herd wouldn't accept her... Which left Regalis as the only option if this mare wanted the protection of a herd.

Now she stopped dead in her tracks, realizing her idiocy. They would be walking right into a war zone...! "How stupid an you get, Macaria...?!"

Oh, what had she done, getting Una all worked up like that...?! Not that Macaria could see what was so alarming; if they were under attack or anything she would have grabbed her flighty friend by the chain and ran. "You're a nervous piece of work, aren't you?" she muttered after the mare had calmed down.

"It's just that I realized that you Chose the human who saved you, didn't you? That makes things... Complicated."

"Tch..." Did Una really know so little about the herds? Where to start... "If you've got a Chosen, then the Six see you as an enemy and might come after you. If they do they'll probably kill you." Macaria begain with the basic reason that Una should seek a herd. "So it's safest for you to find a herd for protection. Everybody knows that."

"But the thing is, no nutral herd will accept you for fear of the Six; and all the herds that would accept you are constantly at war." And Una didn't really strike Macaria the type of mare with the nerve for battle. Not to mention Macaria would just be a burden if they had to pass through the site of a recent battle...

"In a nutshell, the Six and their agents are tratorious scum who want to kill off the humans who've been Chosen and inslave the rest. It's better that your human isn't here." Macaria's voice had a strange hardness to it; and she hoped Una wouldn't think it was directed at her.

"Regalis is a herd dedicated to fighting the Six and they're the only herd I can think of that accepts those who've Chosen a human, but if you go there I probably wont be able to guide you the whole way."

"Then we'll find someone else to take you! I'd just get to two of us killed if we get sucked into one of their stupid fights!" Macaria couldn't stand the thought of someone else getting themselves killed because she didn't have the guts to look at blood.

She gritted her teeth. "I'll take you as far as I can, alright?"

Macaria looked at Yunigoni. They could stay underneath one of the big willows by the bank, and she was already heading towards one as she started talking.

"So now you're scared of the dark, too? Well, we can stay underneath here for the night."