The Unicorn and the Orb

by YesIHaveThoughts

Summary:

With both of them practically kicked out of Jouvente, Mirabelle brings Isabeau along on her quest to try and find anything that'll fill him up. In their search for food and another orb, they find a lot more than they bargained for. Powerful Sadnesses, more monsters, a rival little party with clashing goals...Mirabelle finds that her blessings from the Change God may be all that's keeping her party going.
(planned updates every three weeks/once a month)

Chapter 1

Notes:

TW: drinking, blood, vaguely described body horror, implied broken bones, dissociation
this chapter is a mess of pronouns and things worded weirdly because my GOD Odile did NOT want to work with me during writing. if the chapter is clunky as a result, please let me know and i'll try to streamline it again

Festivals have drinks flowing like water no matter the region, it seems. At sundown, a good number of people in the tavern were already smashed; and they haven't slowed down since. It made her a little hesitant to ask about holing up in someone's house for the night, as with her luck some inebriated prick would take her in in exchange for acts she really wasn't up for.

Vaugarde was friendly, but that was a little too friendly for Odile's taste.

Someone slurred an apology her way when they bumped into her, barely avoiding upsetting her drink. Odile held her tongue against responding and instead lifted it higher to avoid a gaggle of young adults, bumping into another person in the process. This place was crowded to the brim; wasn't this supposed to be a small town?

Someone waving to her caught her eye. A small group of older women motioned her over, one of them pushing out a free chair.

A moment of respite would be nice, even in the company of strangers.

"You looked overwhelmed," one of the women said as Odile made her way over. "Is this your first time here?"

"In a sense." Odile pulled the chair back a little farther and sat down, gratefully stretching out her legs. "I'm supposed to be just passing through."

"Got swept up, did you," another woman asked with a smirk.

"I'm Laurie," the first woman said, cutting off any rebuttal. "She/they."

"Anna." The second one lifted her hand in a wave. "She/her."

"Sophie," another one chipped in. "She/her. Caroline just went to get drinks, she'll introduce herself later."

Vaugardeans' habit of intoducing themselves with pronouns still took some getting used to. "Odile. Sh—er—she/her."

"Where are you going that you're passing through to?" Anna asked.

"I'm mostly here for sight-seeing. I want to learn about your culture. Your festivals, religion, things like that."

"May I ask why?"

"No."

Anna barked a laugh. "Fair enough!"

"Do you have somewhere to sleep?" Laurie asked, concerned. "All of the inns will be full capacity at this time of night."

"Not yet." Odile lightly spun her drink as she spoke. "I'm still looking for someone who'll take me in in exhange for…Cleaning, maybe."

"Can you fix things?" Sophie asked.

Odile shrugged. "Depending on the thing, I could try."

"My husband bought me a grand clock, but I can't get the thing to work. I'll lend you our guest room for the night if you take a look at it."

"Just look?" Odile raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted it to be fixed."

"Do you want a room?"

"Yes, I just—"

"Then don't push it."

"Don't tease her, Sophie!" Laurie scolded, lightly swatting her friend's arm.

"I'm not! I'm genuinely offering. Even if you find nothing wrong, you can have the room."

This felt less like a chore and more of an excuse to give her husband so he'd stop complaining she never hired anybody to look at the clock, but personal affairs weren't any of Odile's business; as amusing as they were. "Sure, I'll take a look at this clock."

"Finally." Sophie sat back with a sigh. "If you actually find something fixable, I'll pay you."

"Who's this?"

Who must be Caroline finally returned to the table, three bottles in her hands. Odile left the other two to introduce her as she started massaging away a budding migraine. The stale air and abundance of speaking voices must be getting to her.

She reached for her drink and threw some of it back, cringing when it burned a path down her throat. Her hand went to one of her legs next, digging into the muscle of her bad leg to try and soothe it. It seemed like everything everywhere was flaring up at once, for some reason. She's been out later than this and never been affected, what was it about tonight that made it so different?

Abruptly standing up, she made it to the bathrooms without stumbling much and leaned against the sinks. Aside from squinting against the pain of her headache, she looked physically fine; no odd shade to her complexion or noticable difference anywhere else.

She turned the water on—and froze. The skin had broken over her knuckles, blood dripping from lightless cracks that seemed to spread all the way to the back of her wrist. Her fingers creaked when she let go of the knob and struggled to straighten out again, the skin of the joints breaking along them too.

Okay. This is a nightmare. She can live with that, it's only a matter of time until she wakes up. Obviously she's lucid dreaming, so she can wait out the night in the bathroom and avoid whatever the crab she ate or drank that twisted her dream into this.

Breathe in, breathe out. Gems, everything hurts. You're not supposed to hurt when you're dreaming, what's going on?

Maybe it's time she tries to wake herself up—

The pain abruptly reached a peak, tearing through her as if something was ripping her apart from the inside out. Voices came from outside the bathroom doors as she hit the ground, trying to hold herself together with arms that didn't want to cooperate. Acid ran through her bloodstream for several excrutiating seconds before things finally dwelled down and she was allowed to breathe in without fighting for it.

Sitting up, her arms crumpled the wrong way and almost sent her onto her face. She felt taller than she was used to, her fingers were glued together, she couldn't shake off whatever was on her head and her headache persisted in the middle of her forehead. She flinched when someone gasped behind her, stumbled over too many legs and bumped into one of the stalls in an attempt to turn around.

One of the ladies she'd been speaking with—Laurie?—stood in the doorway behind a Defender, her hands covering her mouth. Her eyesight was a mess, barely able to focus on her unless she turned her head and backed into the wall.

"It's okay!" Laurie said, raising her hands as she pushed past the Defender. "It's alright. You're safe."

Her throat closed up if she tried to speak, so she nodded instead. Why wouldn't she be safe? Sure, she just managed to turn into some kind of creature, but the Defender hadn't put her down on sight; so that had to account for something.

She's oddly calm about this. Maybe it's the fog of pain still clouding her thoughts.

"Is this normal for you?" The Defender asked.

She tuned out Laurie's answer. Of course. She's heard stories of travel assassins, those who pick out those travelling alone and make them disappear. Laurie must have Crafted her drink somehow when she set it down, and she'd been too distracted trying to find a place to spend the night to notice.

Stupid and naiive. Unfortunately for Laurie, however; she's turned her into something that feels like an equine. A prey animal. And prey animals are born to run.

Laurie screamed when she barged past her, running down the Defender and causing chaos in the tavern as she ran through it. Her messier eyesight caused her to bump into people and crash into tables; but more chaos meant she put more distance between herself and Laurie.

Eventually she made it out the doors again, smacking her head against the doorframe and struggling to rein in blind panic as her new hooves skid on the cobblestone road. It was a fight she ultimately lost; as the horses tied in front of the tavern panicked, so she panicked, scrambling to keep her legs underneath her as she bolted down the road fast enough for everything to blur together.

 

She wasn't sure where she was when she finally came back to her senses. Her entire body hurt, and there was too much body; longer legs, longer neck, was that a tail—yes, a long tail, ending in a lion-like tuft of lightless fur. She was covered in darkless fur as far as she could look, the unlucky remains of pants and a long jacket failing to hide it. Limping on new legs, she found long grass and managed to curl up on it with some difficulty.

So. She's some kind of equine now. She can't remember her name, or where she's supposed to be, or where she even is now. Her body's a mess, she can't make sense of her eyesight and someone's out to get her.

But she's alive. So there's a start. Maybe she can work backwards from here.

The joints of her front legs snapped and popped as she pulled them out from underneath her and pushed herself up with some trouble. First things first, she's going to get some water for her headache.

Notes:

do i look eager? i kind of am, kind of not. the reason this is out the same month 'Housemaiden' ends is because the stupid git that is me made a draft too early and it was going to vanish into the void about a week after the last chapter comes out

Chapter 2

Notes:

i struggled writing this one, i'm sorry if it shows. creative drive refused to let me daydream it as it was "boring". very helpful.
one of these days i'm going to post a fucking chapter before it's bloody done. i need glasses
no trigger warnings for a change!

Mirabelle's dreams started making sense again. She wasn't sure which she preferred: nonsense nightmares about the past month, or dreams about people turning into animals. Would it kill her imagination to give her a nice dream to think about all day?

She misses her anxiety medicine.

Something bumped her knee, knocking her concentration. Isabeau didn't notice her eyes on him, too wrapped up in chewing the bloody bone of the unfortunate deer he'd managed to get his teeth into. The taste of overdone venison still stuck to her tongue; the remains of a botched attempt at breakfast. At least Isabeau had enjoyed his half.

"You said we're close to another city, right?" She asked.

Isabeau paused in his chewing. He flicked his ears in thought, then lifted his head. "I think so. We're a little lost, but I'm pretty sure your map put us in the right direction."

"So you don't know."

Isabeau lay his ears back with a guilty whine. Mirabelle shook her head and grit her teeth.

"Sorry," she whispered. "Gotta think positive."

Isabeau nosed his bone away and stood up, stretching his front legs out until his shoulders cracked. "You'd better pack everything up. We're not very far ahead of whatever the lightless stuff is."

"We slowed it down—"

"It won't stay that way forever. Isn't that what you told me?"

Mirabelle winced and nodded. She wrapped her travel plate (a circular piece of smooth wood) in its rag and tucked it into her bag as Isabeau shook himself off, his claws gouging small rivets into the ground.

'I'm never going to get used to that,' Mirabelle thought, pulling herself onto his back when he bowed down for her. 'Everything about him is so…Unusual, for a wolf. He's bigger, he's stronger, he's never full—'

"Whatcha thinking about?"

Mirabelle jolted when Isabeau spoke. "Ah—Nothing!!!"

"Are you sure? You're looking at me like I'm going to eat you."

Mirabelle avoided his eyes when he looked back at her. "It's insensitive."

"I'll ask you an insensitive question back if you ask yours."

That seemed like a weird trade-off, but sure!

Mirabelle shifted her weight. "Um…Why do you eat so much?"

"I'm hungry." Isabeau shrugged, though it was more like a limp due to being on all fours. "No matter how much I eat, I'm always hungry. It doesn't feel like starving anymore, thanks to you; but it never goes down to peckish and I never feel full."

"That's awful," Mirabelle whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. You didn't do this to me, did you?"

"No!" She couldn't even begin to imagine how to turn somebody into a permanently hungry wolf.

"Then you've done nothing to apologize for. Now it's my turn! Where're you from?"

"Dormont."

"No, I mean—were you born there?"

Mirabelle heaved a sigh. "It's…Complicated."

"Moved, or ran away?"

"You got one question! That was it!"

Isabeau chuffed, a wolfish sound of amusement. "Alright, fair enough. Go ahead."

"Why did you become a Defender?"

He fell silent with that. Mirabelle was worried until he finally answered her in a reluctant whisper.

"I don't remember."

"How much do you remember?" Mirabelle asked gently.

"One question. My turn." Isabeau turned his head to look back at her. "You really don't know what the glowing business is about? With your hand?"

Mirabelle nodded, looking down at her palm. "I don't know what triggers it. I don't even know how it triggered the first time. I've tried Crafting it again since, it never responds to me."

"Weird," Isabeau mused. "Maybe it has something to do with me."

"We can practice together next time we stop!"

Isabeau froze, stopping mid-stride. Mirabelle's apology went ignored as he flicked his ears back and forth and tilted his head up, lightless nose quivering.

"What is it?" Mirabelle asked in a whisper.

"Something's nearby."

"A Sadness?"

"I don't think so." Isabeau put his nose to the ground, then pricked his ears. "Hang on!"

He took off at a run, barely giving Mirabelle to grab on to the collar of his shirt. Branches whipped against her as he ran at full speed off the rough trail, hopping over roots and dodging small trees until he skid to a stop feet away from a calm river. The white horse drinking from it snapped its head up—

No. Not a horse. A crabbing unicorn.

Isabeau hunched into a crouch as Mirabelle slowly slid off his back, creeping towards their side of the river. The unicorned listened—ears pricked, legs locked, tail flicking—until she stopped at the edge.

"Hi," Mirabelle whispered. "Change, hi, you're beautiful."

It looked almost identical to unicorns she has seen in paintings and little kids' sketches. Its horn was shorter, curved instead of straight; with two slim deer-like horns the length of its ears pointing back. Its mane was lightless and seemed to run the length of its spine, ending in a long tuft of hair at the end of its tail. More lightless fur stuck out from the opening of a muddied long coat; and when the unicorn tilted its head to the side to look at them, Mirabelle felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The unicorn had human eyes.

"Get back," Isabeau growled. Neither Mirabelle nor the unicorn moved.

"Housemaiden! Get back!"

Mirabelle flinched and stumbled a step back. The unicorn looked her up and down, then seemed to lose interest as it turned away. Mirabelle watched one of its hind legs buckle in an uncomfortable way as it stumbled, stood awkwardly for a moment, then slowly and deliberately walked away.

"It's like you…"

Isabeau straightened up as he walked up to Mirabelle's side. "Who is? The horse?"

"The unicorn," Mirabelle corrected with a nod. "Didn't you see her eye?"

"They looked normal to me," Isabeau said with a shrug.

"Normal—?"

"Sorry I took us off track, I thought you'd want an option to get a horse again." Isabeau rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't be the easiest thing to ride."

"I'm glad you took us this way." Mirabelle dug her fingers into Isabeau's thick fur to scratch his neck. "We should come back this way after we find the orb."

"What if everything's overtaken?"

"It won't be."

Mirabelle sounded more confident than she felt. Isabeau must have bought it, however, as he dropped the subject and made his way back to the path towards the closest city.

~~~

Isabeau slowed to a stop when they were within eyesight of what looked like a small home town. Mirabelle flexed her fingers in his shirt as she came to the same conclusion: he couldn't go in there without causing a ruckus.

"I'll find and inn and sneak you inside when night falls," she promised, sliding down.

"I can wait out here!" Isabeau yipped. "I don't mind."

"What if somebody sees you? I can't risk anyone chasing you off!"

"I'll climb a tree or something. It'll be fine, Housemaiden."

Mirabelle wrung her hands. Isabeau nosed her shoulder, nudging her towards the town. She relented with a sigh and started walking.

"Don't forget the squirrel tails!" Isabeau called after her as she went.

That's right! Isabeau had a knack for hunting squirrels, they had at least twenty-five tails by now. If she traded them for a silver coin each, that should give her enough for at least two days in a cheap inn.

The challenge was finding somebody who wanted twenty-five squirrel tails. 'Please may somebody be making furry jewelry here…'

"A Housemaiden! Hi!!"

Someone abruptly grabbed her arm, yanking her back. Mirabelle blinked and leaned her head back, trying to see more of the enthusiastic stranger than just eyes and hair.

"Hi…?"

"Hi, oh my Change! It's been a while since someone from another House came here!" The stranger—a hyper young woman with curly darkless hair—shook Mirabelle's arm up and down excitedly. "I'm Lilith! Can I walk with you?"

"I—Yeah! Yes, please!"

Lilith somehow managed to grin wider and started walking, dragging Mirabelle along. "I'm so excited to show you around Amicale! It's so rare for other Housemaidens to come by!"

"Why?"

"Haven't you heard?" Lilith's smile dropped. "The country is freezing in time. Some towns are already inaccessible because of it."

"The country's…?"

Lilith started listing off her fingers. "Dormont, Vérité, SalleVallée, half of Jouvente and Coloré are already frozen. Nobody knows who or what's causing it."

She knows. She shuddered and pulled her arm free to hug herself. "That's scary…"

"Mhm." Lilith started walking again. "But! I think we're going to be fine. Nobody can use Time Craft without killing themselves, after all! I bet it'll all shrink away again after they die, it's just a matter of when!"

Mirabelle stopped walking. They had passed by a cloth poster hanging in the open window of a shop, one of a familiar-looking equine. Lightless mane, short horns, long tail—

"Oh, that?" Lilith doubled back for Mirabelle, looking at the poster with her. "That's the Brilliant Unicorn!"

"Who is it?"

"The story changes sometimes." Lilith tucked her hands behind her back. "Some people say it came as a good luck omen in these dark times. Some say it's a result of the freezing, that it came here to pick off the rest of us. There's a story going around that it used to be a human traveller, people have sworn they saw it before and after it was a unicorn."

"It's true," a weathered voice said from behind them. "I knew her before."

An older woman gave Mirabelle a gentle smile when she turned around. She gave her a knowing nod and stepped in between her and Lilith.

"You knew her?" Mirabelle asked hopefully.

"Briefly. And I have already revealed enough for town gossip."

"This isn't just for talk! I can help her!"

The woman stopped in the act of walking away, looking back at Mirabelle. "Help her how?"

"Yes, how?" Lilith echoed.

"Do you know of the Wolf of Jouvente?"

Lilith shook her head, some ringlets brushing her cheeks. The woman was just as lost. "No…"

Crab.

"Jouvente had a legend too, just like this one. And I helped with him by bringing him back."

"What's that mean?" Lilith asked.

Mirabelle brushed off her skirt self-consciously. "I'll…I can show you. Come with me."

They both joined her as she walked back out of town, taking a moment to pull down another poster about the unicorn to have a visual reference. Isabeau wasn't anywhere to be seen when they arrived at the cluster of trees she'd left him at, but deep gouges in two of said trees told her he was still around.

"Isab—um—" Should she reveal his name when there are strangers around? "Wolf! I'm back!!"

"You know my name, Housemaiden," Isabeau grumped from the boughs of one of the trees. "Don't just call me "wolf", I don't like that."

"I'm sorry," she said with a cringe. "But there are other people here."

Isabeau snarled, Lilith gasped and backed into the older woman. Mirabelle gave them a shaky reassuring smile and glared up into the tree she had heard him.

"Get down here!" She demanded.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to reveal myself?"

"They know about the unicorn. I told them I could help her, I need you to help me prove how!"

Silence fell for a moment, then one of the heavy branches shook. Lilith squealed in surprise when Isabeau jumped down, landing beside Mirabelle so close that he bumped her shoulder. He shifted on his paws and looked at her uneasily.

Mirabelle put a hand on his thick, furry neck and turned back to the other two women. "This was the Wolf of Jouvente. He used to terrorize them by eating all of their livestock, because he was always hungry. You don't have to worry, he's safer now and he doesn't like eating human meat anyway."

Isabeau chuffed and moved closer to Mirabelle, bumping her shoulder again. The older woman looked him up and down in awe, then looked to Mirabelle.

"How did you change him?"

"I…That is, we don't know." Mirabelle showed the two her marked palm. "It has something to do with this, but I've never been able to replicate it."

Lilith darted forward and snatched her hand, tugging her forward and holding it so tightly Mirabelle winced in pain.

"Oh my Change!" She gasped. "You're the housemaiden!"

"I'm the—the what?"

"You're the one who escaped from Dormont! You're the one blessed by the Change God! No wonder you can also talk to animals!!"

Mirabelle managed to wrench her hand away as Isabeau growled a warning, moving to put himself between her and Lilith. Lilith stumbled back with a squeaked apology.

"It is remarkable what you're capable of," the older woman said, admiration obvious in her voice. "If you can tame him, you can tame her. Come with me, we can get some tea and I'll tell you all I know about the unicorn. Bring the Wolf."

"Bring the—why?"

"Because she could be dangerous." The older woman looked regretful as she spoke. "So you may need more believers to rein her in. The more people you have at your side, the better shot you will have at cornering her."

Isabeau bumped against Mirabelle a third time as they started the walk back to the town. 'Tame?' he mouthed to her, obviously insulted.

"I'm sorry," Mirabelle whispered. "I don't know how much about you you'd want me to reveal."

Isabeau snorted in displeasure and flicked his ears back. Mirabelle vowed to buy him a treat from wherever they're going to make it up to him.

Maybe she should have called him by name after all…

Notes:

yes, i named a town friendly. what about it

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Of Tomes And Love