Dark Edge Village

Udo arrived in the field in the early afternoon, and he began to move around some of tree stumps into a little circle. Once complete, he stacked two high and went up on them and sat and waited.

Whatever he's really waiting for, what he gets is, a short time later, the sound of hooves approaching the track at a brisk trot. Iuchi Saksaha and her faithful Gio circle the track once, lengthening out into a canter to stretch the mare's legs... then gradually slow and circle inward as the rider notices there's a person at the center of the funny arrangement of obstacles in the middle of the field. Not just any person, either.

"Hello again, Togashi-san," she calls out in her light, slightly husky voice, pulling Gio to a walk and then a halt near his circle of logs. "Um... what is this you have made?"

He grins mischievously. "It is a summoning circle. I have used it to summon forth a fair Unicorn maiden! She is speaking to me even now... I admit that I had my doubts that it would work, but here we are."

Saksaha covers her mouth with her free hand to mask a slightly sheepish grin--she'd walked right into that one--but can't entirely suppress a snort of amusement. Then she needs both hands to steady Gio, who mistakes Saksaha's mirth for a sign that it's time to go off again.

"So you are also a sorcerer, Togashi-san! Truly, you are like a man out of our tales."

"The Togashi have mysterious powers," he says with a smile.

"Decided to go out for a ride today?"

"We both need some excercise. Maybe me more than her." Saksaha pats the horse's neck and swings out of the saddle, stepping from the stirrup directly onto the top of one of Udo's tree stumps. "Well, now I am in your circle. All Iuchi should come to study your ways with magic."

"And now you've climbed your second tree in about as many days. The wonders never cease," he says with a broad smile.

"How often do horses need to be exercised? They obviously require quite a bit of care."

"This counts for a tree?" Saksaha scuffs her boot soles on the cut surface of the log and grins. "Then I was right, it is easier from horseback."

"They are like us," she answers his question, rubbing Gio's nose. "If they do not move around at least once in a few days, they will be fat and stiff, and bored. When we are on the move they travel with us and do not need any extra work, but in a fixed camp like this..." she shrugs. "The stable hands can exercise them, or turn them out to the fields to run. But I like to take the time with her."

"You question whether it counts as a tree, but tell me, what is a tree? I assume you'll find answering that satisfactorily harder than you think. Why, I once heard someone liken all trees to bushes, and claim he'd never even seen a real tree!" Udo shakes his head at the ridiculousness of that.

"It makes sense. It seems that Unicorn horses are even more than pets, and I have seen many be very attached to their pets. I... well, I'm not a pet person, but I can see the special bond with the horse."

"Since you are the expert in climbing trees, and I am a novice, maybe I should take your word on it," Saksaha laughs. "Maybe after all a tree is like a rock, which however small you break it up you will still say is a rock." Her log wobbles a little and she shifts to a firmer footing, flapping her arms out to her sides.

"Oops! Well, I am not so close with old Gio as the battle maidens are with their horses, but she has carried me a long way, so we are comrades. I would have worn through many more pairs of boots without her." She considers this for a moment and adds, "Maybe feet, too," laughing a little again.