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Far away in a fortress carved into the rock face of a mountain, many miles from the small home in the roots of the great tree, three old men watched a crystal sphere floating in a pool in a cavern. Three large torches lit the cavern, pouring light onto the pool.
They weren’t precisely men. One had a narrow, lined faced, nut brown skin, and impressive antlers jutting out of his thick white hair. He was wrapped in a thick quilted robe that gave him a little bulk, but his legs beneath the hem were spindly and frail, and ended in small hoofs, yellow with age.
Next to him was a small round fellow, with long white ears that fell to his shoulders, which emphasized the drooping jowls on his chin. His eyes were puffy with age, and the bags under them echoed the droop of his jowls.
The third was a centaur, taller than the other two, with a strongly carved chest and arms, and gleaming chestnut haunches, though his white hair and beard marked him as old as the other two.
“”I’s not even been more than a handful of days, the old one with the rabbit ears said, in a peevish tone. “Why, that’s almost obscene! A girl buntaur from my village would hold out longer than that.”
“Right, because buntaurs are known throughout the Realms for their disinterest in the pleasures of the flesh.” The faun spoke in a sarcastic tone.
“Your people have long been known for their excesses.” The old buntaur’s face turned bright red.
“Silence!” Roared the centaur, his command echoing throughout the cavern. “This is precisely what we wanted, why we moved two worlds to bring them here! Have you forgotten what the oracle told us?”
The other two hushed and sat, watching the crystal.
“Woodberry, we chose the girl to be buntaur because in the past, the females of your race became pregnant very quickly,” the centaur continued.
“And we chose the lad to be a faun because a centaur boy would have tossed the girl on his back and cantered out of the forest, instead of wintering with her in that tiny root home. Plus your fauns, Tamus, are not seasonal in their reproduction as the centaurs are. We want a baby in the spring.”
“You are right, Thonar I apologize for speaking negatively of our young woman there,” Woodbury the painter said.
“I apologise, too. I have always been quick of temper, to my shame. You’d think as I age it would get better.”
“As distasteful as this is,” Thonar continued, “And as questionable the morality of stealing two young people from the Land of Men for our purposes, let us not forget what is at stake in our Realms.
The other two nodded.
“We must return to the Old Customs of Marriage, before we die out. If it works,” said Woodberry, “Then I might live to dandle grandchildren upon my knee.”
“Only forty children were born to my generation in the Realm of Fauns, and none have been born to my only child. She is yet young enough to bear a child. I, too, could be a grandfather,” said Tamus the faun.
“Of course, it might not be a faun you dandle on your knee,” Woodberry said.
“That is true. Before we separated into three Realms, there were mixed families with siblings both buntaur and faun. Or centaur. We will see families like this again,” Tamus said. “And it is going to change the entire order of the Three Realms.”
He wagged his white head. “But having no children, seeing the fauns die out...I would dandle a dozen buntaur or centaur grandchildren on my knee, knowing there were families with little fawns. Well, maybe not centaur. How does a buntaur or faun woman have a baby centaur, anyway?”
Thonar chuckled. “Magic, in the making and in the bearing. They are born just the right size for their mothers. Magic has wisdom we have forgotten.”
“To our detriment,” Woodberry said.
“I agree. We must change or die out. We must convince the Elders of this at the Great Council. The Purity Laws must be revoked and the Purity Force disbanded. When the common people see this couple, and their healthy child...change will occur quickly. Our people so greatly desire young ones...” Thonar said. “Plus, there is the evidence of history, of life before the Three Realms were formed, before the Purity Laws were enforced. Every Shire has such record books of marriages and births.”
“If they agree to help us at the Council...” said Tamus
“If the Oracle was right...” Thonar whispered.
The three old wizards looked into the pool, deep in their thoughts.
Tamus the faun suddenly sat straight up. “Oh my,” he said, his old eyes round.
Woodberry chuckled. “Buntaur women ovulate after a satisfying encounter. Their...needs...are such that a second encounter is imperative to them.”
“There is no arguing with her,” Tamus said.
“Not in her present frame of mind,” Woodberry chuckled.
Thonar wagged his head, but there was a hint of a smile below his thick white mustache. He threw an embroidered cloth over the crystal. “Well, let us give the young ones their privacy. We have plans to make for our journey to them, before she knows she’s pregnant. We must help them understand the situation.”
“And help her have a healthy babe.”
“Yes. Let us head directly to the Old Woods. We have no time to dally.”
Thonar led the wizards away. Woodberry snickered as they left the cavern. “I wonder how old Gunus and his wife are faring in the Land of Men from whence these two came?”
“They now have the energy of renewed youth. And those two were always wily,” Tamus answered. The old wizards carried the torches away, leaving the pool in darkness.