A Visiting Herd

1207, Summer

Etienne thought it was the same herd as they had seen before, and his suspicion was confirmed when he saw the girl-child perhaps half a mile closer than the herd, staring at the water and the earliest rising fishermen who were already out on the lake.

Rubbing his eyes to make sure he was indeed awake, Etienne quickly got dressed and rushed from his cottage. The fisherman went to Alain to wake him and looked for someone to send word to the covenant.

Finding no one, and hoping to not lose sight of the herd and girl Etienne took off for the Portal to alert the magi and left Alain to stand watch. Lilia lost interest in her morning tea as she hurriedly left the caverns to join Alain outside.

"Is it as it was before? Have they done anything unusual?" She stopped for a moment, a quizzical look on her face. "More unusual than running up a sheer cliff or standing on a pebble, I mean. Unusual for them?"

Lilia, Alain and Etienne stood watching the herd in the distance, a half a mile away and the strange girl much closer, watching the boats.

The girl approached the lake slowly, apparently curious at either the fishermen or their boats. She stopped as she noticed Etienne at a distance, then shook her head back and forth while makeing a decent attempt at a horses whinny.

"It is as if," whispered Etienne, "she is trying to communicate in the only language she knows." He knelt to one knee to appear less threatening and spoke to Lilia softly without taking his eyes off the girl. "Is there some way you can speak with her? She must have followed us here, or the herd led her."

"The herd seems... interested in Lakehome, somehow. We have tried speaking with her, but the only language she seems to speak is horse. She seemed to take in interest in singing, but it did little more than hold her attention. Can we get a carrot or an apple? Perhaps recognisable food would spark some friendly feel ing."

Lilia began to sing again, a song of racing horses that seemed appropriate to he r audience.

The girl stood upright and responded with a curious look. She approached a bit, perhaps to hear better, but stopped at 30 paces, looking worriedly at the rest.

Seeing the girl's hesitation Etienne slowly backed away from Lilia.

This brought the girl a few steps closer. She smiled once at Lilia's song, then casually looked back at the herd.

Alain backed away, but moved to the side instead of directly back. While he was an equal distance from the young mage, he had an angle on the girl in case of t rouble.

"A girl that age should be learning a trade or helping on a farm, not playing li ke she were a horse," he said softly toward the others. "What enchantment has g iven her the mind of a foal?"

Lilia felt her companions back off and slowly stretched her hand out to the child, making a nickering, horsey sound as she did.

She slowly approached, peering over her shoulder at the herd multiple times. Th e closer she got, the more cautious she became. She stopped 7 paces in front of Lilia. She attempted to hum along, but the attempt was poor almost as if her v oice had never hummed before.

Lilia smiled, careful not to show her teeth. Who knew how deep the animal ran i n the girl? She tried another horse noise, then put the fingertips of one hand on her chest and said, "Lilia."

The girl cocked her head to the side at the strange sou nds of human speech. She looked curiously at Lilia's clothing, then she looked at her own, naked body. She came closer, just barely within reach. Cautiously leaning forward, she stretched out her right arm towards Lilia. She jerked back a couple of times, still very cautious, but eventually touched Lilia's sleeve. After a quick feel of Lilia's clothing, she then jerked back quick and took one step backwards. She smiled as she shook her hea d back and forth, as a horse might.

Lilia stood very still through the introduction. When the girl had backed away, she unfastened her cloak and laid it on the ground in front of her, backing of a couple of steps and gesturing for the girl to take it.

The girl stepped forward, took one end of the cloak, and rubbed her face with the cloth, while the other end remained on the ground. Sh e smiled as she felt the softness of the cloth. Nothing felt like that to her b efore. It might make one wonder what keeps the girl warm in the winter.

Lilia motioned for the girl to wrap the cloak around herself.

The girl seemed to understand Lilia's intent. She wrapped herself in the cloak and smiled gratefully at Lilia, tilting her head slightly.

"We are making friends," said Lilia quietly, over her shoulder to her companions . "What now?"

She then smiled back at the girl and stepped forward a single step, then knelt d own to put herself on eye level with the child.

"No sense in towering over, is there?" she said.

She looked up at the others, making sure they had not mo ved closer. She was cautious, but her curiosity allowed Lilia closer without an y retreat. She looked oddly at Lilia's question, then suddenly peered over her shoulder as a horse from the herd whinnied. She realized the herd had moved far ther away. She smiled at Lilia as she begun to remove the cloak.

Lilia shook her head and motioned for the girl to keep the cloak. She smiled an d swept her arms wide, hoping to impart that the girl and herd were welcome to s tay.

The girl smiled as she realized for the first time what a gift was. She stood, still wrapped in the warm cloak and turned. She began t o dart off towards the herd, stopping half way to turn and give the troupe one l ast look.