Delia Prance's Arc

Chapter 53 of 59

The court had accepted her. The healing house was full every day. But Delia felt the weight of it pressing on her shoulders, so she rode to the old cottage by the river to think. Her white horse carried her along the path. Nick rode beside her, quiet, letting her breathe. She meant to plan the sanctuary garden she had promised herself. Now she wondered if she could even keep the beds she had. "I want to grow the garden bigger," Delia said. She looped the reins loose. "Free healing for every traveler. Every hurt creature." She shook her head. "But the crown is work. The house is work. I can barely stock the shelves alone." Nick swung down at the cottage. He tied his horse and studied her. "You trained six workers. You have the gift. You are not alone." He said it plainly, the way he said everything that mattered. "Stop counting the reasons you can't." Delia walked to the water. The blue river wound past the stones, its banks thick with flowers. Then she stopped. A single blossom stood near the reeds that had not been there before. It glowed faint at the center, like the ones from her field. She knelt and touched it. She had not grown it. No one had planted it. "Nick," she said. "Look." He came to her side. But he was looking past the flower, up the bank. Delia followed his eyes. Near her white horse stood another animal. Pale, slim, with flowers laced through its mane. A long horn rose from its brow. It pressed close to her horse, unafraid, as if it had chosen him. Delia stood slowly. "That's a unicorn." Her voice caught. "They died out. Grandmother said so. Long before I was born." The creature dipped its head. It did not run. It stayed beside her horse, nosing his shoulder, settled and calm. When Delia stepped toward it, it only watched her with soft eyes. Her white horse stood still and let it stay. "It followed him," Nick said. "All the way here." Delia looked at the glowing flower by the river. Then at the unicorn that should not exist. Her hands were steady now. The weight on her shoulders had not lifted, but something under it had shifted. "This isn't just my blood waking up," she said. "The magic is coming back. Into the land. The water. The creatures." She met Nick's eyes. "If old magic is returning, then my garden isn't too big for one healer. It's what all of it is for." She made her choice standing there by the brook. "I'll expand the garden. Not smaller because I'm tired. Bigger, because this is why I was given the gift." The unicorn stayed close to her horse as they turned back. It would follow her home. And whatever else was waking would follow too.