“We found him out past the White Vale. What do you think?” her father asked her.
Arriella looked at the unicorn in its pen uncertainly. It was strange, she decided. It looked familiar enough because it was so much like a horse. The horn coming out of its head was the only difference but it loomed large to her. It glowed softly in the evening light, a pure whiteness that almost seemed audible. As she continued to look at it she became even more uncomfortable. For its part, the unicorn hardly seemed to notice her. It was lying on the ground and looked as docile as could be. Her father stood just outside of the pen and he was waiting for her to say something.
“Why did you bring it here?” Arriella asked.
He was bemused by her response. “Why indeed. It’s an oddity, isn’t it? People will come from all around to see it and it will bring honor to our house. It is well known that unicorns only come to houses that are good and righteous.”
“But the unicorn didn’t come here, you captured it.”
“Believe me, we couldn’t have brought the unicorn here if it didn’t want to come. You know, I thought you would be more excited about this. You’ve always got your nose in those fairy books, why does this not please you?”
Arriella gave her father a long, grave look. “If you read the stories, you’d know that unicorns aren’t to be messed with. They’re holy.”
His lips twisted together but he did not fully show his displeasure with his daughter. Her impertinence and snobbery always bothered him. “You take all that too seriously. We’ll keep it long enough to create a stir and then we’ll let it go, don’t you worry.”
He patted her on the head and walked off. Arriella walked closer to the pen and stared at the unicorn. It finally turned to look at her. It had deep, pale green eyes that gave no hint of any intelligence or emotions that might reside within. The eyes seemed remarkably human, in fact, and Arriella thought that the beast was probably hiding whatever it thought or felt. The unicorn squirmed and rose to its feet. It paused as if collecting itself and then walked up to the fence. Its eyes never left her face.
Time slowed down and Arriella couldn’t look away for the longest time. She was suddenly terribly afraid of the animal. Her feet stumbled when she tried to turn away and, falling, she was finally able to break its stare. She scrambled to her feet without looking back and ran to the manor.
Her father was right; the unicorn did attract a lot of attention. It became even more sensational when he made Lavinia, her sister, pose beside it. Her sister seemed to be the only person the unicorn could tolerate for any length of time. Her father took full advantage of this and used it as an opportunity to find suitors for her hand.
It made Arriella sick that her father would take advantage of the animal. It looked miserable most of the time and mean for the rest of it. It would not let any grooms or stable boys near it. Lavinia was the only one who could feed it; without her, it very well could have died of starvation. She took to spending more and more time with the animal, especially as young men started to collect at the manor house.
Arriella often snuck around the grounds, hoping to catch a glimpse of her sister and the unicorn. She didn’t understand their connection or why her father found it so useful. All she knew was that seeing the unicorn when it was unguarded and content was like nothing else in the world. It even made her sister look different. At this moment, the unicorn was lying on the ground and Lavinia sat next to it, combing out its long silvery mane.
“You can come out now, no one else is around,” Lavinia called out.
Arriella didn’t try to act like she hadn’t been hiding. She crept out and stood outside the pen.
“Well come in, sillyface,” her sister said, smiling softly.
“I can’t,” Arriella murmured.
“Why not?”
“I’m scared of it,” she said.
Lavinia rolled her eyes. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of, he’s a very peaceful animal.”
“You haven’t seen him bite the head groomsman, have you? He’s vicious,” Arriella said.
Lavinia paused before replying. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of while I’m around, then.”
Arriella was still uncertain but she chose to trust her sister. She unlatched the gate and crept in.
“Come closer, dear. He won’t hurt you, I promise. Here, pet his nose,” Lavinia said.
Arriella acted like she was dealing with a wild beast. She held out her arm but it shook and she didn’t come close enough to touch the unicorn. Her sister sighed and grabbed her wrist. She pulled it to the unicorn’s neck and glided her sister’s fingers over its mane.
“There, see? It’s not so bad.”
Arriella snatched her hand back and brushed it off on her skirt. She looked at the unicorn and it gazed dispassionately back at her. Its deep green eyes were just as empty as ever but she did not feel the malice it had exhibited the first time she saw it. She reached out and petted its nose like she would a regular horse.
The sisters were quiet for a while as both stared at the unicorn. It didn’t seem to notice the attention or it didn’t care. It was so unlike a normal horse, Arriella thought, because it hardly noticed humans at all. When it did it was usually to fight them off. The only time it seemed sympathetic at all was when her sister was near.
Arriella spent the afternoon with her sister and the unicorn. As it wore on, she began to understand why her sister had become attached to the unicorn and why it tolerated her. Without even thinking about it, her sister would reach out to stroke its mane or run her hand down its body. The unicorn preened at the attention.
“It’s so beautiful, Ari, you don’t even understand,” Lavinia said. “It came here for me, you know. It wanted to be my pet.”
Arriella frowned. That seemed highly unlikely, even if the unicorn did like her attention. She didn’t argue, though, because her sister rarely tolerated her presence for so long. If it took a unicorn for her sister to be nice to her, then so be it.
“Father said that it brings honor to the house,” Arriella said.
Lavinia rolled her eyes again. “Father wouldn’t know honor if it bit him on the arse.”
Arriella let out a shocked laugh at this.
“He thinks that – “ Lavinia started to say but broke off. She shook her head. “He thinks the unicorn says something about me. You’re too young to understand.”
“I’m not! What does he think it says?”
Lavinia stared off into the distance. “I wish you would never have to find out. In a few years, though, you’ll understand completely. Arriella, I’m to be married soon.”
“Married? To whom? Why? Does that mean that you’ll leave?”
“There are three men whom father is negotiating with. All young women have to marry and, yes, I will have to move away.”
Arriella frowned. “I don’t understand why.”
“You will.”
The next morning, Arriella was not very surprised when she woke up to a house full of noise and activity. She was not all surprised, either, when she found out that her sister was the cause. Or, more accurately, that her sister’s absence was the cause. The unicorn had also disappeared.
Arriella couldn’t explain why this made her happy. She should be sad and worried and afraid, like everyone else. Her father and his compatriots scrambled about like children who'd lost a plaything; for whatever reason, seeing their consternation and anger made Arriella happy. Her sister had left, yes, but maybe things were better this way.
One thing was certain: Arriella did not understand the adult world and she was not sure that she wanted to.
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