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The call had come in earlier in the day, brought in by a personal messenger bird in a system long since installed by Ni'awtu, shortly after she had set up her home in the swamp. It served as a postal service to deliver what medicines she made to those far away, while the various animals who were more landlocked did the same on a smaller scale, sticking to the areas closer to home. It provided her with plenty of time to stock up on her produce and also gave her the anonymity she loved. No one knew where these medicines came from. She had hidden herself carefully away, using her mouse familiar to help her store and make them. He kept her gathered ingredients as well as bottles and bags of the concoctions deep underground, in burrows he made himself just for that purpose. Mostly to store them in the cold, but also to keep them away from prying eyes.
She knew it couldn't last forever, this attempt to hide away from everyone. So far, it had worked for many, many years and she hoped it would for many more to come. Sometimes she risked it by going out on the missions herself, as she was doing now. A mare was having trouble with a birth and she had rushed out to help. Births were, of course, more hands on than injury or sickness. She instructed each of her helpers on what medicine to use for what and how, so they could distribute it on their own. For emergencies that they couldn't instantly aid with, they rushed back to get her help.
The current bird, a falcon, hovered nervously around her as she helped the new mother. When all was done, when the foal was safe and nursing, only then did she take her leave. She was out of earshot of the small herd when she heard a voice.
"I saw what you did. That was amazing. How did you do that?"
Ni'awtu spun around, her eyes finding a pale stallion looking at her with curiosity. A familiar pale stallion. What was his name, again? He had helped her what felt like so long ago, when she had an accident in the air and impaled herself on a very sharp stick. He had healed her so quickly, so easily, using powers she'd always wished she had. But unlike him, she hadn't been born with a kirin horn. Just the scales and the tail. Nothing that was of use to her. Whereas he had the glorious horn of a unicorn and the magic to match. It had been no effort at all for him to heal her. He must have trained for a long time to have that kind of skill.
"Oh, uh...Thank you." Just like before, the mare tried to use a wing to hide the basket of herbs on her back. The herd she had just helped were regular equines. She hadn't felt as she was now with them, like she was some fake being presented to the real deal to be mocked. She didn't want to tell him how she did it. She hoped he wouldn't press it any more than that.
Unfortunately for her, Ezekiel missed that memo. He had been working on his skills of healing ever since he was a young foal. Not by his own intentions. That was all history, now, long in his past. So long ago that he was grateful for the practice. Mostly. It always intrigued him when he saw others healing, especially those who didn't use magic.
"I was coming to help myself, but you seemed to have it under hand. Yet you don't have a horn. How did you do it?"
Ni'awtu could feel the panic rising. Why did he have to keep insisting on knowing what she'd done? She hadn't done anything worth talking about, just given the mare some herbs to chew on to help relax her. Humans would have done much the same, only they'd put them in tea and make a drink out of it. Had she the hands to do that, she would have. If she were a full blooded Angeni, she could have.
What would that be like, she wondered, to be able to hold anything she wanted and not rely on the mouse friends she had to stir and put things in bottles? Their paws were so small, they could only do so much. Imagine how much more medicine she could make if she could do it herself so easily.
The blue mare had gone quiet, leaving Ezekiel concerned and confused. Was there something wrong? Had the ordeal left her a bit traumatized?
"I'm sorry if that was a bit too forward," he apologized, dipping his head. Maybe he had overstepped himself. It wouldn't have been the first time. He didn't have a lot of practice talking to others. Didn't really have any friends. He knew enough to get by with talking to strangers, but this was the first time he had met someone twice. At least in a very long time, so long he couldn't remember the last time this had happened. He was already feeling too comfortable with her.
Ni'awtu shook her head quickly. He was right, it was pretty forward. That wasn't it, though. She couldn't very well tell him how her knees were shaking and how much she wished she could simply disappear on the spot and never have this conversation ever. What he did was noble. What she did was anything but.
Oh. What a relief. His big mouth hadn't gotten him into trouble. Ezekiel visibly relaxed, his wings stretching out down towards the ground. He decided not to keep pressing the issue for fear that she would indeed get mad at him.
"I'm glad they are doing okay. That's the important thing."
Unbeknownst to the stallion, Ni'awtu continued to tremble, now becoming annoyed with herself instead. She kept playing things over in her mind, all the nasty things he could say to her once it was discovered what she could do. She liked the guy. Found him calming and easy to talk to. But than why was she so nervous, so clearly afraid of him?
Her eyes darted up to his horn. Right. Her insecurities. Her failure. Her family had been disappointed to see she'd not been born with a horn. Her mother was the Wind, separated from her father by two different herds of purebloods constantly at war over territory with each other. If the Wind herd was to be tainted with the birth of hybrids, they should at least be useful. She had not been useful. Not at all.
But that didn't mean this one would look down on her. Was he not also a Wind hybrid? Unicorns didn't have wings. Maybe he'd understand her blight more than anyone else would.
Taking a deep breath, the mare opened her mouth to speak, only uttering a squeak. She quickly closed it, embarrassed.
Ezekiel became more concerned when she failed to say anything. "It's okay. I know that was traumatic. Does your human normally take care of things like that?" She seemed to him to be a healer's mount. His kind was very good at giving the smaller creatures better mobility and carrying things from one place to the next. It wasn't an odd thing to consider that she worked for one. He'd always assumed she did, judging by the basket she had spilled the last time they had met.
Ezekiel could never have any kind of relationship with a human, though he didn't look down on those who could. It wasn't like all of them were only out to use his species for their own selfish gains, after all. But his own trauma ran too deep to allow himself to open up like that to the two-legged creatures.
Human? Why all this talk about humans? How insulting! She did all this work on her own and he thought she worked for a human?
"It was me!" Ni'awtu finally blurted out, her wings stretching out in her bellow. "I helped the mare! I don't work for anyone but myself! The medicine I gave her was my own work. I know all about herbs and plants and how to use them." As she finally spilled the truth in a voice louder than she had intended, the mare slowly forced her tone down to a quieter level, ending it off with a deep huff out of her nostrils, now feeling exhausted. Emotional outbursts weren't a common thing for her. She was always so calm and collected.
Ezekiel merely blinked in stunned silence as she yelled at him, quieting down at the end.All he could think of was to utter an "Oh. Sorry." before shaking his head and trying again.
"I didn't mean any offense. I didn't know we could use plants like that, being..." he wiggled a front hoof. "You must have a lot of skill at what you do!"
Was he...Complimenting her? Not insulting her lack of ability? "You don't think it's....Shameful?" Shaking her head, she indicated with her eyes to the space where her horn would have been.
Blinking for a few seconds, the pale stallion suddenly laughed. "Of course not! It's more amazing than what I do. Using plants takes intelligence and memory to know what each one does. It's admirable. I'd personally love to learn more about it."
Ni'awtu shook her head more, this time in utter disbelief. He thought it was something to be admired? She felt all the fears and insecurities washing away from her body, replaced with an excitement to teach someone else what she did.
"I still have some plants to gather. I don't mind telling you what each one does." It would be nice to have some company.
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