The long road had taken a toll on Martin's body. Travel-dust and old sweat clung to his skin in a thin film that, while hardly visible against the pale earthy tone of his coat, nonetheless itched and nagged at him more persistently than the most tenacious cloud of flies. While he'd not yet run across the sovereign of these lands, he had nonetheless decided independently that he intended to hollow out a place for himself here. The next step in that process?
My god, please take a bath.
But such was easier said than done, as Illuster Meadow had been completely devoid of water suited to the task at hand. He'd had to follow the sound and scent of running water until he came to the roaring river's edge, then followed it north until he ran across a slower-moving tributary and hurriedly splashed into it until he was thoroughly drenched.
Despite a quiet upwelling of the urge to recoil away from the water - a sensation with which he had privately struggled his entire life - the cool water washing over his coat felt about as close as anything ever had to heaven. He thanked the gods above and below, wondering suddenly if the patron gods of his homeland could hear him here. If they could not, were there others? To what unseen benefactor did he owe the pleasure of his new home?
The unicorn bounded out of the shallows, shaking himself dry before committing again to his northward hike along the main artery of the river.
From his path along the river's sturdier banks, Martin could only just make out the curved horns of the stallion lying on his rather precarious boulder down by the water's edge, and protective instinct immediately bade he investigate. "Are you all right?" he called as we drew near. What he intended to do if Camdis was injured, though, was a mystery.
