The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 53

Part 10

Some six weeks later at midmorning, Silaran psionicly asked the entire community to meet with him in the gathering hall at noon. Since none of the unicorns had been seen outside their grassy valley for weeks due to the two mares’ pregnancies, everyone had a good idea as to why he had called them together, and he did not disappoint.

He arrived in the midst of them by Translocation precisely at noon, and immediately cast a four meter wide square Revealing in the air above him while calling out; “Our son is born! Last night Equemev brought Falaran into this world, and both are healthy!”

The Revealing was cast to make the scene seem brighter than it had been, since Equemev had delivered in the dark of night without artificial lighting, which gave it a slightly surreal look. The sequence obviously began shortly after the birth, with the colt curled up in a depression in the grass while Equemev licked him clean. He was adorably cute, with a white coat, silver mane and tail, and dark blue eyes. His tiny horn was just a cone thirteen millimetes high and seventeen millimeters wide.

Many of those watching oohed and ahhed and declared how darling he was, and some gave spontaneous applause.

“The Revealing lasts for forty-two minutes, but I must go be with my family.” Silaran stated, and then he was gone as the Revealing played on.

Within five minutes, Equemev was finished her ministrations, and the tiny new unicorn struggled to his feet as his mother and father nuzzled and supported him from either side. He stood there wobbling and shaking a little for a minute or so, until he gained his stability. Six minutes later, he took his first tentative steps, and ten minutes after that he was walking steadily. He soon progressed to running with joyous energy, then running in circles and zigzags. He quickly tired, and went to his mother to nurse just before the Revealing ended.

The very next night Equemev’s friend Selmiom gave birth to her daughter Penulan, and the next day at noon her proud father Namada displayed a similar Revealing of his pretty girl, who was light yellow with a light purple mane and tail.

As the twins discovered when they checked, the unicorns’ valley was cloaked with heavy psionic Shielding, and no one left it or entered it for the next nine days. Only then did the unicorns invite a select few humans to meet their new children. They explained that those with the least psionic strength were invited first, to protect the colts, who were extremely psionicly sensitive and impressionable at this stage.

Mark’s household was the second-last to be invited, over two months later. The children and the colts delighted in chasing each other all over the valley, with the children flying along a meter or so above the ground so they could all play tag. Even at this young age, the colts had their race’s supernatural speed, balance and agility, and they held their own.

The dragons were made to wait another three months after that, and were asked to remain more than two hundred meters away from the colts, since unicorns have an instinctive fear of dragons that required some maturity to overcome. When the colts were eight months old, the unicorns finally ended their seclusion and brought their young with them as they rejoined the regular activities of the community.

During those months the twins and Valentia spent more and more of their combat training and leisure time with Karzog, and the four of them took to sparring with each other in the little valley behind Mark’s house for an hour or two every afternoon. This was serious sparring indeed, and included full use of armor, weapons, and magic, as well as all of Karzog’s fire and strength. Not only did they improve in combat proficiency, and quickly, they also gained skill in Restoring the damage they did to the valley, repairing and recharging their armor and weapons, and Healing one another’s many broken bones and serious injuries. Only lethal attacks were prohibited, most of the combat was fought in the air, and to any observer it was indistinguishable from true warfare.