"Shhh! You'll scare it away!"

"But I want to see! I can't help it if you're taller than me!"

"You can see when I get a picture, dammit! I've never photographed a
unicorn before..."

Sonarion tried to stand on the ends of his toes to see over Cheezey's
shoulder. Normally unicorns held absolutely no fascination for him, but
he'd never seen a live one before...or virtually alive as the case may be.
He knew the flash of the camera would scare it away and he wanted to say
that he'd at least caught a glimpse of it. Laura too was getting impatient
and even Felina had a look of carefully veiled curiosity.

"If you take a picture, then *you'll* freak it out!" argued the younger
Lunatak in whispers. "I just want a quick look to say I've seen it!"

"Well if we have any virgins around, we shouldn't have trouble finding
another," said Laura brightly, but quietly.

"I'm out," said Felina. "Married."

"What if the qualification refers to our character bodies?" suggested
Laura. "Then we'd all qualify. I think. I can't say for sure, but I don't
think any of us have been here long enough to..."

"Have a mamba marathon?" suggested Sonarion.

"That's...somehow more perverted than just saying 'fuck'," mused Laura.

"I don't see why we'd have to be virgins at all," commented Cheezey,
snapping the picture, startled by the noise, the gleaming creature gave a
soft nicker and disappeared into the woods. "I mean...you can't convince me
that all the Thundercats, or even the unicorn keepers, are virgins and
they're always around unicorns."

"Can I see now," asked Sonarion drily.

"Knock yourself out."

"You scared it away, didn't you?"

"You can see the scan when we get out of here," grinned Cheezey innocently.
"Maybe if we see another one Felina or I can 'convince' it to hang around
for a bit."

"Oh...I don't think I could influence a poor animal that way. I couldn't
stand to think of it frozen in terror," demurred Felina.

"Well, you could probably soothe it telepathically," said Cheezey. "I'm the
one with the actual mind control."

"Then why didn't you hold it in place this time?" sulked Sonarion. "I only
want to see one..."

"You only wanted to see *that* one because she wouldn't let you," said
Laura. "Remember, the unicorns have to gather the components to create the
Bridge of Light. You'll get to see one later whether you want to or not."

"Yeah, but this was the *first* one," snorted Sonarion. "I never get to do
anything first!"

"Well you can be the first to cross the Bridge of Light then," promised Cheezey.

"That's quite honourable of you," smiled Felina.

"That it is...and I can also make sure it will hold against the Black
Widdow Shark before I follow."

Sonarion opened his mouth to make a sharp retort, but was interrupted by
the sound of someone approaching stealthily through the woods. He paused
and opened the filters of his ears to the noise, raising a hand to to quiet
the others. Strangely enough, they did not protest...his expression said it
all.

"Someone's coming...I can't tell who. They aren't very big...the footsteps
aren't very heavy," reported Sonarion, cocking his head to one side to
better absorb the noise. He was hesitant to say much for although he could
hear everything, he wasn't yet experienced in the interpretation of sound.

"Whoever it is, we should be ready," said Cheezey, pulling her knife.
"Impossible to tell who...or what...is a potential enemy around here."

Blades and pistols were drawn and at the ready before Cheezey could even
finish her statement, the members of the group drawing together to form an
impromtu half-circle, their backs open to the river behind them, their eyes
scanning the woods for any sign of movement. Only Sonarion declined to rely
on his sight, turning his head in a satelite motion to capture, absorb and
analyze as much sound as possible. "They're here," he said simply when the
the movement stopped it's heavy plodding through the thicker brush to move
through the lighter cover of the forest's edge.

The four travellers tensed, prepared to defend themselves, when the bushes
parted, but the figure that stepped forward was hardly intimidating. She
was small, barely five feet tall, and clothed in a wrap so white it glowed
faintly blue against the dimness of of the woods. "Are you friends, or
foes?" the woman said gently, leaning slightly against her walking stick,
the play of light revealing a soft star pattern branded across her nose.

"Friends," said Cheezey quickly. This was not likely to be true for long,
but why alienate the natives this early on in the game? Besides, lying was
a villainous technique.

"You will not hurt my unicorns?" the woman ventured, somewhat aggressively.
"One of my charges has returned to me, quite upset. She projected images of
cloudless lightning..."

"Oh!" said Felina in understanding. "That was only Cheezey's camera! It's a
device which captures the image of a creature so that it can be looked at
many times without disturbing it. The flash was necessary to make the
darkness bright enough to see your unicorn...we never meant to scare her,
and certainly wouldn't hurt her."

"Unless we were hungry," snickered Sonarion under his breath. Felina gave
him a disproving look and a little smack on the back of the head. "Don't
mind him," she said. "He likes to think he's tough."

"I *am* tough," snorted Sonarion, mildly insulted.

The woman still seemed hesitant, so Laura took the initiative and put her
weapon away to prove that they meant no harm. "I know we might look
threatening, but we're travellers and we need to protect
ourselves...probably against the same things that mean harm to your
unicorns. What we really wanted was your help. You see, two of us need to
cross the river and we understand that this can only be done by using the
Bridge of Light. We...were told that only you and your unicorns knew how to
make the Bridge appear."

Cheezey nodded in approval of Laura's smooth explanation for their
appearance. Her expression must have been mistaken for one of agreement for
the female Keeper watched her as though lost in thought. "It is strange,"
she said, "you look much like those the Thundercats call 'Lunataks'. They
are well known for their mistreatment of innocent creatures."

"Of course! We're fierce warriors!" said Sonarion proudly.

"And simple travellers," interrupted Cheezey. "You can describe us to the
Thundercats if you like...they'll tell you themselves that they have never
fought us. In fact, Felina and Laura here are going to Cat's Lair and we're
all friends."

"Well, perhaps you are right, although I'm unsure about this one," replied
the Unicorn Keeper, looking significantly at Sonarion. "I would not have
you speak badly of my hospitality toward travellers. Still, you understand
my caution. I will allow you to cross the Bridge of Light, but you
yourselves must bring the unicorns here. If they trust you then they will
give you what they want."

"Heeere corny, corny, corny," said Sonarion evilly.

"Stop that, silly!" Felina chastised.

"Hmmph...see if I make *you* any more flutes," sulked the Hyperaudio Lunatak.

"Music soothes the savage beast," declared Laura.

"That it does!" agreed Felina. "I don't know how good I am, but it's worth
a shot." She pulled out the fine wooden flute that Sonarion had carved for
her. If the young Lunatak's woodworking talent could be this fine,
shouldn't her music be at least serviceable? Slightly hesitant, she raised
the instrument to her lips.

The melody was choppy at first, nervous and trembling. But the tone was
perfect and as her confidence grew, Felina's music became smooth and
harmonious. As her fingers warmed to the flow, it became joyful and lively.
As she threw her psionic ability into the tune, it became fey. The lilting
music flew up to the treetops and danced back down in quick-paced steps and
jumps. It took all of Cheezey's mental powers to keep from being launched
into an impromtu jig. Sonarion, though he scowled at the impish tune,
calling it fairy music, couldn't help himself and soon began nodding along
with the beat. Laura too seemed to be taken with the melody and was the
only one brave enough to let herself be taken by the music, swaying or
dancing as the mood took her.

Spritual animals that they were, the unicorns couldn't help but respond to
the siren song. The youngest responded the most easily, jumping and bucking
in time to the beat, even going so far as to leave the safety of the woods
to have more room though they didn't stray far from their Keeper. The
adults made themselves plainly visible, though they stayed within the
forest and kept time more sedately, tossing their manes and stamping their
feet, nickering softly along with the tune.

"Didn't I tell you you'd get to see one?" said Laura softly, nudging Sonarion.

The Lunatak was about to respond, but was interrupted by the spiralling
conclusion of Felina's music. At the silence, some of the younger unicorns
bounded forward and nuzzled her arms, attempting to put the flute back to
the woman's lips. "No, no...you have to do us a favour too!" said Felina
even as she tried to project the thought at the graceful creatures with her
mind. "If you will bring us the crystals that make the Bridge of Light,
I'll play some more for you."

They whinnied softly and milled about her, but Felina was adamant. Giving
up, the unicorns turned back toward the woods at a trot. Seeing them go,
the woman kept her end of the bargain, raising the flute once more and
drawing from it a country tune with a regular beat. It could best be
defined as a pleasing march which made the work progress more quickly and
pleasantly.

The unicorns romped and played as they gathered the crystals, dancing about
the river's edge with grace and agility, avoiding the very edges of the
bank lest they fall in. When all the crystals were gathered in the sacred
spot, the rays of the sun cut through them, splitting into a million beams
of light which wove and wended their way through the air and across the
river to the second mystical point where they were bound in place. The
unicorns whinied in excitement, tossing their shimmering manes...the same
translucent shade as the Bridge of Light itself.

"Thank you, little ones," said Felina once her song had wound itself down.
"You've done us a great favour." The young unicorns bounded back over to
her and nuzzled her enthusiastically before disappearing back into the
woods.

"Well," said the Keeper, impressed, "I daresay you've made quite an impression."

"And we thank you," returned Felina. "I would like to speak with you
further, if you don't mind, but first I must see my friends off."

"Of course," the female Keeper bowed. "Take your time...the world is large
and friends are few and far between."

There was a tense moment while the four travellers exchanged goodbyes.
Sonarion seemed generally sad to leave Felina although he tried to blow it
off by making a declaration of power before dutifully promising to
visit...and not only when attacking the Lair.

"Well," said Cheezey, trying to mask her own mixed feelings, "there's no
need for melodrama, I'm sure. This *is* only a game after all. We have to
part ways *here* so..."

"If we're going to do it, let's do it?" offered Laura with a smile.

"Let's do it," grinned Cheezey.

"Let's do it," agreed Felina.

"Let's do it!" cried Sonarion eagerly.

The four clasped hands one last time and turned to inspect the Bridge of Light.

*********************