The savannas of Kabaan were actually pretty boring to look at, Ruya Tazayan thought after several hours of doing nothing but that. The long grass was golden from the dry season with little rain, but swayed prettily in the slight breeze. Trees and buildings were very sparse here, though, and mostly it was just plains of endless grass below and endless clear blue sky above. She sometimes worried there were lions in the grass, as well, though that might have just been her imagination. A hunting pride of lions would prove a danger even to her close, and very large, friend.
Fighting the sway of the body beneath her, Ruya stared again at the landscape around her. She sighed and said aloud, “This trip is turning out to be so boring.”
Ziba gave a snort as she continued at a slow and steady pace. 'Well, we've got a long ways to go yet.' The elephant grabbed another mouthful of grass with her trunk, and threw a bit of it over her shoulder at Ruya playfully.
The elven woman picked a piece of grass off her shoulder and sighed. “Don't remind me. And that's not the sort of entertainment I need, thank you very much; I don't have an endless supply of clean clothes, you know.” She had not brought many of her personal belongings on this trip, preferring to leave them at her home where she would eventually be returning. Most of what they carried on Ziba's back were important documents for their arrival in Gelauren and Ruya's spare supplies, and the rest of the load was taken up by extra sustenance for Ziba, who could not be expected to forage the entire time. Ruya was actually rather cramped in her spot on the elephant's shoulders.
'You'd do well to get used to it,' Ziba pointed out sensibly, 'It's a long way to Gelauren's capital. '
“((So and so)) miles, yes, I know,” Ruya stated.
'Bah. You're too grumpy,' Ziba said.
Ruya was about to give a retort of her own, but she was stopped when Ziba froze in place. The elephant posed with huge ears erect and one foot raised off the ground in a picture of thorough attention. Ruya swayed about on her back before regaining her balance, and she asked, “What's wrong? Do you hear something?”
'Something is approaching us!' Ziba said as she swung her trunk around, searching for the scent.
“A predator?” Ruya asked in alarm. Perhaps there was a pride of lions in the area after all...
After a moment, 'No, not a predator...'she said hesitantly. 'A swift animal, yes. It smells of fear. Oh!' Her wide ears perked up again. 'I think I see it; it's coming this way.'
Now that she was looking for it, Ruya could see it too. Weaving through the long grass gracefully was a slender creature with a body that was a mixture of horse and antelope. A long and tufted tail whipped out behind it, and its flowing white mane fell over its face; where there should have a long spiral horn on its forehead, instead there was only a large, bloody gash dripping blood across its face garishly. The unicorn was running straight for them in alarm, and it wasn't long before elf and elephant both could see what she was running from.
A trio of bounty hunters chased at the unicorn's heels, riding on horses—intelligent darji horses at that, to judge by the ringed bands of awa on their legs. Ziba gave an angry bugle, and Ruya snorted in disdain. “Unicorn hunters. How despicable.” No doubt they had cornered and separated this one from its herd, planning to poach its horn and body parts for money as supposed medicine.
The unicorn stopped when it approached them as Ziba tried to communicate with it. After a moment, it darted around behind the elephant; Ruya craned her head around to track it saw that it was huddled by the elephant's back legs. 'She says she was separated from her—family? I'm not sure, the intent is hard to read; I've never tried to communicate with a unicorn before. They don't talk the same way darji do. The hunters have been tracking her down for hours; she's very tired.'
The bounty hunters stopped as well, once they came close to Ziba, and their horse companions reared at the sight of Ziba brandishing her long, sharp tusks at them. Ruya stared down at them imperiously from her position on Ziba's back. “What, exactly, do you think you are doing?”
The bounty hunters glanced up at her. “We are hunting down a rogue unicorn, which appears to be hiding behind your companion,” one of them said.
“I had guessed that much,” Ruya replied dryly, “Though I'm sure you know that hunting unicorns for their horns is illegal?”
One of the hunters' shaggy horses shook her head, pounding a hoof into the ground. 'Yet life goes on. It's a living, girl. Want to argue it with the six of us?'
Ruya arched an eyebrow coolly. “Are you sure you want to argue it with a pair of Djech officials on business?” Normally, she was above using her high position as a government ambassador in such situations, but she enjoyed the look of stark terror on their faces anyway.
The bounty hunters’ faces went red as one of them said, “We’re sorry to have troubled you, Mistress. We’ll be leaving now.” Their four-legged partners needed no encouragement to gallop at full speed away from Ruya and Ziba.
Ziba gave a mental chuckle at that. 'It was almost worth it seeing the looks on their faces,' she said, and Ruya gave a smile of her own.
Climbing down from Ziba’s back, Ruya stood in front of the unicorn. It—she--stood wobblingly to her legs, staring at the elf warily. Streams of red blood still poured down her face like garish tears from the gash on her forehead. Ruya spoke calmly and softly, hoping to get her point across. “It's okay, I'm not going to harm you. I'm going to try to hep you.” She didn't know if, or how much, the unicorn understood; unicorns were odd—very very intelligent compared to normal animals, but they didn't talk or interact like darji, so it was debatable whether they were intelligent or sentient at all. At the very least, it didn't move away as Ruya took the unicorn's head in her hands. She took a cloth from her bag—a spare shirt, in fact, but she could spare it given the situation—and wiped some of the blood away from its eyes.
The unicorn's pale, icy blue eyes locked on Ruya's own as she laid her muzzle on Ruya's shoulder. Then something strange happened. There was a tingling feeling from her finger and her shoulders where they touched the unicorn; it felt almost like magic, but Ruya knew she was not doing anything directly. Then the unicorn stepped back, and something started to happen. If it had happened slower it would have appeared a gruesome sight, the creature changing shape from moment to moment like clay in the hands of a potter. However, it did not last very long at all, and shortly there was a slender young woman standing in front of them, pale and shivering with the lack of clothing. Ruya gaped, Ziba trumpeting in surprise beside her.
'That...is not anything I've ever heard of a unicorn doing before...'
'Well, I think they're certainly more intelligent than most people give them credit for...I didn't know unicorns actually did have magic.' Out loud, Ruya said awkwardly to the unicorn girl, “Are you okay? What's your name; do you have one?” Belatedly, Ruya realized the gash on the girl's forehead was already looking a good deal better, barely bleeding. Another interesting aspect.
The unicorn girl cocked her head to one side, staring at Ruya curiously. “Arrre you oh-okaaaay? What yourrr naame,” she parroted back uncomprehendingly.
Ruya sighed. “I suppose there's still a lot we all need to learn. Ziba, I'm going to need your help teaching her.” The girl was wobbling on her feet, clearly unused to walking upright on two legs, and Ruya caught her before she fell over.
'Here', Ziba said as she threw a white dress to the two of them from Ruya's pack with her trunk. 'Get her some clothes, and then get the two of you on my back. We can work on the rest of it on the way.'

They had been traveling steadily for about a week now; they had passed out of the savannas of Kabaan, and were somewhere near the border of Kabaan and the next country over, Toulath. Beyond that lay the country of their destination, Gelauren. They had begun to cross through gently rolling hills, but there were huge mountains looming in front of them, getting closer each day, that Ruya was dreading having to cross. Over to the north, they were skirting the edge of brush land that Ruya knew eventually turned to a vast, harsh shrub desert known as the Guelryn. It was renowned for its hostile race of natives who attacked anyone who entered their territory, and widely avoided by all the civilized races. Ruya was uncomfortable being as near to it as she was.
'Ruya, we are coming near to the city of Zolade now,' Ziba told her.
Ruya nodded in reply. “Thank you. It will be nice to be able to stop for a while and get some decent food and rest.” Having planned on only herself and Ziba, Ruya had carried a supply of food that had quickly diminished with the arrival of Anaitas. It would be very important to pick up more food, and other supplies, in the port city of Zolade.
The city in question was nestled almost at the edge of the border of Kabaan, on the small peninsula that separated their native Western Continent to their neighbors in the east, where Toulath, and then Gelauren, lay. Zolade was by the sea as well, and had grown into the major center of trade for merchants and travelers traveling from one continent to the other; its inhabitants had grown very wealthy as a result.
The darji animals that inhabited the western continent were still common this far east, so Ziba drew little attention apart from her sheer size. Elves and darji both scrambled to get out of the elephant's way, though Ziba took special care to avoid stepping on anyone. The city was indeed crowded, for the afternoon with the sun beginning to go down. Ruya looked around them, searching for the telltale sign of an inn.
Anaitas was seated on the elephant's back as well, right behind Ruya, and was staring all about her curiously. The unicorn girl had not bothered to change back into her normal form nor tried to run away back to where she had come from, and she by no means seemed to resent being brought along on their personal mission. Indeed, it was quite the opposite; she stared in open-mouthed wonder and excitement at the scenes around her. Every other open-walled building or item stall drew her wide-eyed curiosity and excitement, and Ruya could not help but smile at the girl's exuberance, even though her understanding of the scene must have been limited by lack of a shared language.
She did in fact find a decent inn that would take and shelter Ziba as well. The inn's keeper was a wiry old man sitting on weak legs. Beside him was an equally old, blue-collared panther with plain fur an unusually dark shade of brown. She regarded them with glittering yellow eyes and neglected to move from her spot.
“The elephant should be comfortable in the pavilion, if she doesn't mind lodging with horses. For the three of you, the total will be one hundred and thirty seven awa,” the innkeeper told them. Drawing her own awa pouch, Ruya pulled out the circular band from which hung the metal rings of awa. One of the larger rings sufficed for the fee, and she handed it to the innkeeper, who in turn handed it over to his companion. The panther took it in her mouth and carried it into a back room, where she soon returned with a band of smaller awa to give to Ruya.
Ruya took it with a “thank you,” and the cat went back to her spot beside the old man. She had almost turned to leave when the panther finally spoke up. 'You'll be wanting to exchange your awa for eastern currency before you leave, 'she said in a bored voice. 'The towns further on are inhabited by humans and don't take our currency.'
“Oh, thank you,” Ruya replied. “Do you know of a place where we could do that?”
'If you're feeling lucky, you could buy goods and hope to sell them well in Toulath,' the panther said, not without amusement.
The innkeeper grunted. “Don't tease them so, Maja. Tell them about the moneychanger,” he scolded her.
The panther made a low growling sound that might have been annoyance or amusement. 'Or the impatient people go to Arkadi. He's a rich man who specializes in trading in Toulath. He'll change your money for you, for a small fee. He lives by the dock,' she explained.
Ruya nodded in thanks. “Thank you for the information.”
Maja flicked her ear. 'It was no trouble. Goodbye.'
Arkadi's home stood out from those around it by sheer size, though the air around it was saturated with the smell of the fish from the port which it stood nearly directly beside. Clearly, his trading business was very successful. Arkadi himself was a large, round, and jovial man who met them at the entrance of his home—essentially a large pavilion on a raised platform, with paper walls that were easily removed and replaced to take advantage of the breeze while providing privacy.
“Welcome! Are you ladies looking for anything in particular? I've got some fine new merchandise to be set out on display,” he gestured with one hand to stalls where some of his wares were already set out.
Anaitas drifted over to them in fascination, and Ruya pulled her away before she got too close. “No thank you; actually, we're only here because we heard that you are a moneychanger.”
He nodded cordially. “I do that, too. Give me the money to be changed and I'll be right back. Feel free to look at the merchandise while you wait; you never know, after all,” he chuckled and darted off into the pavilion.
Ruya stared after him, and Anaitas took the opportunity to inspect the fine items once again. Well, I suppose it's fine, since we're waiting on him anyway, Ruya thought with a sigh. Many of the items displayed were delicate figures or jars of glass in various colors and designs—very pretty to look at, but rather useless, at least to them. Other items for sale included a rare paper book, of what Ruya wasn't sure, as well as several pieces of jade jewelry, paintings of creatures such as darji and elves and dragons, even one of a unicorn that Anaitas lingered over. An ugly little statue of an impish creature lay on top of silks and fine cloth, and there was even a jeweled collar, much like the one the panther Maja had worn, only much more expensive.
“That's from my newest load,” Arkadi pointed out; he had arrived unnoticed from the house with a bag full of clinking coins, which he handed to Ruya. “You know of the changing fee right? Good. There are fewer coins here than awa, but they're individually worth more in comparison; be careful in your shopping.” Ruya thanked him again, and he turned back to the line of items that Anaitas was still inspecting in awe. “Your friend there certainly seems to like those glass figures,” he observed, glancing hopefully at her while being unobtrusive. “They were fished up from the bottom of the sea up north, along with the jewelry and the statues. No telling how long they’d been down there, they could be very valuable.”
Ruya had noticed as well, and though she tried to move Anaitas away from them--fearing she would break one of them—the girl merely slid a gentle hand over the surface of them, not disturbing them in the least. She ran her hands over the silks as well, with a smile, but moved her hand away from the imp statue before she touched it. She turned to Ruya. “Go?” she inquired.
Ruya nodded. “Yes, I think it's time we leave; I want to make sure Ziba is comfortable before we have dinner.” They left the merchant to his trading; he was already trailing after other people, talking cheerfully and encouragingly, and made their way back through the crowded streets to the inn.