In a clearing near a calm river, a group of white horses with horns were grazing peacefully on the short grass. Some small foals chased each other with sharp neighs while their mothers watched not far away, letting out playful snorts from time to time.
One of the unicorns seemed larger, more imposing, while the group appeared completely oblivious to the danger around them. This unicorn maintained a steady gaze, its pointed ears erect, alert to any sign of disturbance to the peace.
There weren't many creatures that attacked the unicorns, in fact, they emitted an 'air' of peace, where simply looking at them diminished the desire for violence. Apart from creatures of darkness, most other beings in the forest coexisted with them in harmony.
As for the creatures of darkness? Attacking a group of unicorns was not only dangerous, but practically pointless, their flesh and blood were imbued with a potent curse, making them unfit for consumption.
They also lacked the intelligence of wizards to understand the uses of their horns and fur, so unicorns were kept in peace most of the time.
As the leader, this unicorn was always patrolling, he wouldn't allow any dangerous being to approach his group.
Still, as he slowly lowered his head to nibble on some grass, he froze.
Not only him, but all the unicorns in the clearing stirred, a sound... no, a melody spread rapidly through the forest.
The group of unicorns was initially on alert, but then they froze. That sound... what a divine sound it was!
There was no voice, just a soft melody, as if blending into the environment. The unicorns felt incredibly good, their state of alertness was completely set aside, and instead, they became incredibly relaxed.
Most of them closed their eyes, straining their ears to better hear that divine melody.
Even the leader of the unicorns had to slowly lower his guard, he couldn't resist. That voice was so soft, so relaxing, so beautiful...
It wasn't known which one was first, but soon the unicorns began to trot slowly toward the source of the melody.
The leader's state of alert was completely abandoned at that moment, he even trotted a little faster than the others.
They followed the river upstream until they found... a mermaid?
Well, this mermaid was much prettier than the others that they saw.
Of course, the 'mermaid' was actually Rigel, who was sitting on a flat rock in his merman form while he hummed The Shire, the symphony used in Lord of the Rings.
He chose it at random, thinking the environment was a good fit for it.
He also chose to appear in his merman form, after all, among the 'predators' of unicorns, wizards are at the top of the ranking, he figured it would be easier to make friends in a different form.
He was right.
The unicorns approached curiously, listening to Rigel humming the soft melody. Even the fact that Rigel wasn't a pure creature was completely disregarded by the unicorns at that moment, for them, they just wanted to hear that voice a little longer.
Rigel noticed the approach, but didn't stop until the music ended.
He looked at the group of unicorns, who were staring at him with their big, wide eyes.
"Hello." Rigel finally said.
The group let out soft neighs, some dragging their hooves briefly against the ground, others making sounds with their nostrils, it was quite a cacophony for a moment, but Rigel seemed to understand what they were saying.
Sure, he didn't understand their language, which made him slightly regret not bringing Calypso, but that would have to wait for next time. After all, he wouldn't ask for their blood on the first meet, instead, he would build a lasting friendship.
"Do you want me to sing again?" Rigel asked, still smiling.
The unicorns started making noise again, making Rigel laugh, but he didn't mind. Opening his mouth, he began to hum in a much deeper tone. Rigel had learned enough vocal magic that, even with his childish vocal cords, he could now make much lower sounds.
He began the introduction of Misty Mountains, a song from The Hobbit.
The unicorns moved even closer, perhaps to hear better, although Rigel's voice echoed in the distance.
"Far over the Misty Mountains cold"
"To Dungeons deep and caverns old"
"We Must Away ere break of day..."
The music had a much more melancholic tone, the unicorns grew much quieter while Rigel sang, the effect of the mermaid's song affecting him as he almost felt like one of those dwarves longing for home.
When the music ended, even Rigel fell silent for a long moment, the unicorns were the same, until the song's effect wore off.
Rigel hadn't left yet, but given the unicorns' insistence, he thought about it for a while and tried something he'd wanted to try before.
Opening his hand, his wand was projected from the King's treasure, causing the unicorns to recoil slightly, their eyes alert.
Rigel realized it, he'd forgotten about it for a moment, but since they didn't run, then everything's fine.
Rigel waved his wand and a large stone was quickly transfigured into a piano.
He waved again and another stone transformed into a violin. He continued adding instruments to the unicorns' confused eyes, but since they hadn't left yet, everything was alright.
After all the instruments were in place, he waved his wand one last time. At that moment, all the instruments began to play. Rigel chose Bink's Sake this time, he thought the light tone would be very good at this moment, but it would be even better with instruments. Thank you, wizards focused on musical magic, without you, I would have to be content with my voice.
The instruments began to play rapidly, like in an orchestra, they played in a cheerful tone while Rigel nodded his head.
The unicorns were surprised, looking at it with curiosity, but none of them approached, still observing.
Rigel immediately began to sing.
"Yohohoho! Yohohoho! Yohohoho! Yohohoho!"
Hearing Rigel's voice, the unicorns instantly lost their distrust and became attentive again, they were very happy to hear him sing.
The cheerful and gentle tone immediately made the unicorns feel the joy in Rigel's voice, the bravest foals even trotted forward, circling around Rigel.
Rigel smiled, running his hand through them as he continued to sing.
"Bikusu no Sake wo Todoke ni yuku yo"
"Umikaze Kimakase Namimakase..."
The unicorns didn't understand Japanese, of course, but it didn't matter, the tone of the music was still fun.
The music didn't stop, Rigel picked songs from various fictional works and continued singing for almost two hours before stopping.
By this point, the unicorns were completely surrounding him, most of them lying down, and Rigel was even leaning against one of them with several foals with their heads resting on his tail.
He felt that today's success was well worth it.
Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing what they were talking about, so he really needed to bring Calypso next time.
Having to leave, much to the sadness of all the unicorns, Rigel promised to return, although he didn't know if they had understood him, he also took what he had asked Calypso to prepare.
From his magic pouch inside the King's Treasure, he pulled out a black pellet the size of a basketball, as soon as the unicorns saw it, they froze.
Yes, it was a truffle, a giant truffle that he himself had used his transfiguration to enlarge. It was quite simple, he took out 5 more of them and gave the 6 to the unicorns.
The unicorns were all excited, staring intently at their leader, clearly wanting to eat, but without permission, they couldn't.
The leader rolled his eyes very 'humanly', which didn't surprise Rigel, even the snakes of this world can have a conversation, let alone magical creatures. He never thought they were stupid, which is why he wanted to create a long-term relationship.
The unicorn leader approached, sniffed a little, salivating, he opened his mouth and took a bite, his eyes widening immediately.
Yes, just like pigs, unicorns love truffles, although it was toxic to horses, Unicorns weren't really horses, so they could eat them without worry. Besides, these truffles were produced by wizards, they were grown on magical trees, retaining a large dose of magic. They were even used as ingredients in some potions, although the type of magical plant used to grow them was very important in the case of potion making.
If it weren't for the eyes of the flock behind him, the leader would have already thrown caution to the wind and started devouring as much as he could, fortunately, he controlled himself, and reluctantly, he began to share.
Rigel chuckled softly, he could create more, although making them bigger would still be difficult for him. Transforming the small truffles to this size without exploding them was already very good for him.
Truffles were expensive, even for wizards, so he had to use this method.
Finally, Rigel said goodbye once more, but not before the unicorns gave him a large tuft of hair. Rigel's lips trembled, although these weren't the best for wands, if sold, they would be incredibly expensive, so much so that even if Rigel multiplied the value of the truffles he gave by 10,000, he would still have many galleons left over.
For a moment he felt a little embarrassed, but in the end he just promised to bring more truffles next time.
He went back into the river and swam away, now that he knew about this passage, he could go directly through the water. He promised to meet the unicorns here at the same time next week.
It was a really productive day.