The Dragon and the Unicorn

Synopsis:  Two shapeshifters from warring alchemic families fall in love and find the feud was all due to a misunderstanding their clans had in the Middle Ages.   The two lovers are able to help their families understand that they were meant to be united all along and put aside trivialities and ‘petty differences’. 

Chapter 1—Unruly Neighbors

                Alma Jamir had been unique ever since she had come into the world.  Not only had she been born to alchemic parents but she had a set of abilities all her own.  Like her magical parents, she could shapeshift into a unicorn and often preferred to go trotting around in the forest when no one was looking to have calm times of introspection and reconnecting with the prana and manna of her surroundings.   She attended a ‘normal’ school but was still taught the ways of sorcery behind closed doors.   No one else knew but her family and her friends never once questioned why she was surrounded by an electric aura and magnetic personality.  They just felt it was her charisma, immense talent, beauty and smoldering intellect, nothing more. 

                Next door to the Jamir’s lived Hiroshi Tanaka and his mysterious lot.   They never got along with the Jamirs, but no real reason as to why that was had ever been brought up as a topic of conversation.  As far as Alma knew, Hiroshi’s parents and hers’ just didn’t see eye to eye, and that was all there was to it.   She knew that he was a shapeshifter, like herself.   He savored transforming into a grand, spellbinding, breathtaking metallic golden Asian dragon.   He could fly without even breaking a sweat, and she would watch him in awe from the forest below, wondering if he could ever teach her how to break the hold gravity seemed to have on her.   She could manage fledgling wings to try to become an alicorn, but it was difficult.   Hiroshi didn’t seem much for conversation, but even though she loathed him outwardly, inwardly, she felt every time that she saw him that she was pulled toward him.  It was a force she couldn’t understand, but she experienced crackles of energy simply being near him and butterflies floating through her entire body.   All she wanted to do is learn from him, get to know him, and perhaps, even have the chance to be blessed with a relationship with him.  

Chapter 2—Wrong Judgements

                It was another long, arduous day at school but a beautiful day to be outside.   Alma finished her homework in grand fashion and let her parents know she was going gallivanting out in the forest to feel the cool, verdant grass under her hooves.   She was so close to figuring out how to transform into an alicorn but couldn’t get her wings to grow big enough for flight.  She sighed,

                ‘I’ll get the spell right someday.  I almost have it perfected !’, she thought.   Suddenly, in a rush of cool, crisp wind, the grass became an ocean beneath her feet.   It was Hiroshi, taking to the clear, blue skies.   She gazed up in awe, mouth agape, completely mesmerized.  

He then landed in front of her and chortled. 

                ‘Still can’t get your incantation quite right, Unicorn ?’, he joked around, playfully nudging her with an oversized wing.   It had been the first time he had ever touched her but the sensation it sent through her body was intoxicating.   She shuddered in elation, despite herself.

                ‘I’m so near to doing it correctly !’, Alma said, blushing hotly.   

                ‘It’s the pronunciation.   I can help you.  Our family has been in the alchemic business for eons, it’s really no sweat.   Just repeat after me.’, Hiroshi began.   It was a mixture of Greek, Latin and Aramaic but it completely metamorphosed her.  

                ‘My wings…they’re…spectacular !  Thank you !   All this time I was thinking dragons like you were the douchiest characters around.’, Alma said, a bit chagrinned. 

                ‘I thought the same.  I kept believing that unicorns were dicks, but it’s not true.  I wonder what started this vicious rumor and destructive vitriol between our families.’, Hiroshi agreed.   With what began at first as a prejudicial distaste washed away instantly once the two legendary magicians were soaring in the azure sky.  

                ‘We might as well investigate.  Curiosity is a mere stepping stone to uncovering the truth.’, Hiroshi said as he amicably grasped Alma’s hand.   Somehow it felt natural to hold in his larger clasp, the currency bubbling between them.   The two knew that this was more than simply friendship that was awakening between them.   

Chapter 3—Research in the ‘Restricted’ Section of the Library

                Once the magicians were back on solid ground, they headed toward the local library.  It seemed like the most logical place to begin, and Hirohshi knew exactly where to look.

                ‘I haven’t been here in so long, I keep forgetting there’s a restricted area’., Alma whispered with a bit of a giggle.   Hiro nudged her in the side playfully. 

                ‘I know what you mean, extracurricular activities have been keeping us both occupied.’, he teased her, laughing.   It had been the first time Alma had seen Hiro smile so broadly and laugh from the matrix of his soul.  

                ‘Let me show you how to get in.  I know the librarian.  She’s a friend of the family.’, Hiro said.   He walked into a room that seemed invisible to ordinary humans, but Alma and Hiro could sense the charms cloaking it.   Hiro unlocked the field using a few simple hand gestures and indicated he was with a friend.  

                ‘This is Lira.’, he said, giving her a wink.  She was a chimera.  Her asp tail made funny faces at him for being with a woman in the library.   She joshed with him.

                ‘Who’s the babe ?’, Lira questioned.   Hiro flushed redder than a Fuji apple and lowered his gaze, not wanting to look directly at Alma but he coughed. 

                ‘She is a babe, but her name’s Alma.  We’ve come here to do a little digging on our family feud.’, Hiro said, backing up Alma’s credibility and integrity.    Lira nodded.   With that, the book they were looking for telekinetically flew from shelf into Alma’s hands.   The two started reading and learned the disagreements began when both families were looking for territory to settle and couldn’t come to an agreement over parcels of land. 

                ‘Something that asinine and infantile ?   Seriously !  How could they let something that petty break apart a perfectly fine alliance ?’, Hiro asked, angrily.   Alma soothed his fiery temper by clasping his hand in her’s and stroking it between her thumb and forefinger.   His ire instantly settled.  

                ‘So it seems.   They don’t even know what they’re kvetching about.’, Alma concurred.  

                ‘We have to tell them and sort this all out.’, Hiro agreed, reaching out to softly clasp Alma’s hand in his.   A crackle of energy passed from his tender grasp and he smiled, blushing at Alma’s encouraging gaze.   

                As soon as they left the restricted section of the library, both of them relied on the information they had written down and even made Polaroids of photos of the families’ friendships over the millennia.   It was only during the beginning of the Dark Ages that the two had fought over land they wanted for themselves and couldn’t reach consensus.   Now it was time for appeasement and amends to be made, since bygones were of course, bygones. 

Chapter 4—Friendship Trumps All

                The parents of Hiroshi and Alma came together, although begrudgingly, to a dinner the two blossoming lovers had set up.   Firstly, they were coming clean about the romance that was now defining their lives.   They were hoping that someday in the future they could be married.  For now, though, they were sublimely involved, soaking in the bliss of the moment.  

                The duet displayed their entire case to their families via holographic Power-point presentation.   After letting the feature ruminate in their minds for a few seconds, the two families remembered just what had begun the feud eons ago in the Dark Ages.  It hadn’t been comfortable for either of them to recall their foibles, but thankfully, they realized how infantile they both had been. 

                ‘Why can’t we try being civil amongst ourselves ?’, Hiroshi’s mother, Midori questioned.  Alma’s mother, Renee, thought for a moment before she blurted something improper.   So many years they had been fighting, and all for nothing. 

                ‘We have gotten along so well in the past.’, Dio, Renee’s husband agreed. 

                ‘It’s about time we bury the hatchet and make amends.’, Sasuke chimed in.  With that, the old friends were reunited.   They knew there were few magicians left in the world and there was power in numbers, especially in like-minded individuals who really understood each other’s plights.   From that moment forward, both of the families made a pact to continue being allies no matter what obstacles came along the path.   Their son and daughter had helped them finally see the light after all these millennia.   All it took was the simple fact that both of them were both in love and knew that love conquered a multitude of past sins and indeed, healed all wounds.   

Epilogue

                All it took was a year’s time for Alma to ask for Hiroshi’s hand.   At first, she thought he would be the one to take initiative and query her but it was the other way around.  She was always the spontaneous one, jumping into action after the risks and benefits had been weighed.    Logically, she saw more benefit than risk in her blissful marriage to Hiroshi.   It had been a match made in heaven and they often teased each other they hadn’t realized just how akin they were.   They made magic together more often than not and were expecting a youngling any day now.   He or she would learn the ways of both families.  She would be a hybrid, like that of days of yore.  She would be more powerful than any of them but she would be able to control it given the proper training, which she would have in spades.   Currently, the lovers and friends basked in the glow of pregnancy and unconditional love, avid for the day they’d see their lovely baby boy or girl.    Truest happiness was always present with them, no matter what they did.   They were surrounded in the beauty of each other and the mystery of creation growing inside Alma’s uterus.   So many mysteries still to be figured out; the two would have plenty of time to uncover them as they became parents and unraveled them with their newborn baby in the brave new world they’d set out to conquer, enlighten and travel.  

The End