It was time to leave. No one much cared for the idea of spending another night in the Melchor. It was agreed they would be better off setting up camp in the foothills below.

So they trudged wearily down out of the mountains through the fading daylight, the sun sinking behind the western rim of the valley in a haze of scarlet and gray. As they walked, Willow dropped back next to Ben, and her arm locked gently about his.

“What do you think will become of the unicorns?” she asked after a moment.

Ben shrugged. “They’ll probably go back into the mists, and no one will ever see them again.”

“You do not think they will go on to the worlds to which they were sent?”

“Out of Landover?” Ben shook his head. “No, not after all they’ve been through. Not now. They’ll go back home where it’s safe.”

“It isn’t safe in your world, is it?”

“Hardly.”

“It isn’t very safe in Landover, either.”

“No.”

“Do you think it is any safer in the mists?”

Ben thought about that a moment. “I don’t know. Maybe not.”

Willow nodded. “Your world has need of unicorns, doesn’t it? The magic is forgotten?”

“Pretty much.”

“Then maybe it doesn’t matter that it isn’t safe there. Maybe the need outweighs the danger. Maybe at least one unicorn will decide to go anyway.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it.”

Willow’s head lifted slightly. “You say it, but you do not mean it.”

He smiled and did not reply.

They reached the foothills, passed through a broad meadow of red-spotted wildflowers to a stretch of fir, and the kobolds began scouting ahead for a campsite. The air had gone cool, and the approaching twilight gave the land a muted, silvery sheen. Crickets had begun to chirp, and geese flew low across a distant lake. Ben was thinking about home, about Sterling Silver, and the warmth of the life that waited there for him.

“I love you,” Willow said suddenly. She didn’t look at him, facing straight ahead as she spoke the words.

Ben nodded. He was quiet a moment. “I’ve been meaning to say something to you about that. You tell me you love me all the time, and I can never say it back to you. I’ve been thinking lately about why that is, and I guess it’s because I’m afraid. It’s like taking a chance you don’t have to take. It’s easier to pass it by.”

He paused. “But I don’t feel that way right now, right here. I feel altogether different. When you say you love me, I find I want to say it back to you. So I guess I will. I love you, too, Willow. I think I always did.”

They walked on, not speaking. He was aware of the increased pressure of her arm about his. The day was still and restful, and everything was at peace.

“The Earth Mother made me promise to look after you, you know,” Ben said finally. “That’s part of what started me thinking about us. She made me promise to keep you safe. She was most insistent.”