The Sea--I See It!

The unicorn lived in a splendid palace, by the sea.       

He would trot down to it, breathe in its saltiness, its crisp, new air. The unicorn smiled gratefully at the gorgeous orange, red and yellow sunset. What a view! But the magenta, navy blue, turquoise and sea blue sunrise was the unicorn’s bread and butter of this castle’s comfortable life.           

He looked beyond the sea to see any land—the palace put a frown on his face and withdrew a sigh from his heavy heart. He wanted more—the saltwater’s freshness, the princess and a place beyond the palace he knew but only used to love.

It was just a place with the human monarchy, right? Not much else. 

He looked over. At the stalls, other unicorns flicked their manes and snorted, magical snow falling on the stalls, winter literally at a neigh or hoof’s demand. When summer, the unicorns made it snow. When winter, crocuses and a magnificent garden of the reddest roses and the yellowest lilies showed off their beauty to all creatures great and small. 

The unicorn was one of no wings. He sometimes growled answers to these unicorns when they asked him whether he wanted to join them in the sky. Since he was a wingless unicorn, they even flew above him, glorying in their flights. He just rolled his eyes and continued basking in the sea’s beauty. The unicorn shook his mane, returning to the sea. How would he cross it? He walked up to it, squinting at it. He could carry his true mistress, the princess. He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth at the thought of abandoning her. 

 A wave came, higher than any other. The unicorn, wide-eyed and shaking, crept backward and then bolted, neighing to the other unicorns and the rest of the kingdom. “A tsunami!”     

All the kingdom, cloaked in partial darkness, fled.

“Follow me!” The unicorn bellowed above the shrieks and thundering hooves. Everyone—from the baby dragon hatching from its egg in its parent den to the biggest giant running through the field of lilies—raced away from the kingdom, the unicorn galloping ahead, ordering every creature to head for the huge forest beyond. 

“The magical unicorns will cause summer to grow trees so large and thick they’ll block the tsunami. Head for the forest!”   

When the tsunami crashed into the summer’s trees, the magical unicorns questioned the unicorn whether he had magical powers to create such an evil natural disaster. No, the unicorn protested. All I did was walk up to it. Don’t know why the sea is suddenly so angry at me! 

The water eroded the trees, but the trees grew higher and higher. Water started leaking through these towering plants.    

“Doesn’t water ruin wood?” Someone cried.

“RUN!”

 As everyone escaped towards what the king commanded was the largest country in the world, the unicorn commanded the giants to block the water. When bark cracked and splintered, the unicorn smiled as flesh in the form of hands pressed firmly onto the trees. However, the giants’ eyebrows furrowed and mouths puckered as their feet slid slowly backward, creating ditches in the earth. The giants roared that the tsunami was forcing itself through the trees, thus about to drown everyone! Someone tripped and fell, and the unicorn dashed amongst some other horned unicorns.  

“Get on my back!”

The poor giants’ feet were sliding quickly back as to make large ditches in the earth.

She hesitated, fear flashing through those terrified eyes like a sun’s rays flash down upon the sea, making it glisten like stars had fallen from the sky to decorate it. The unicorn reared, but this attempt only made her shake her head voraciously.  

“GET ON!”

The princess heeded, the unicorn stampeding through streams and shallow rivers. A roar from the giants made the galloping horse jerk his head back. They were losing! The unicorn made a sharp U-turn, the princess screaming she didn’t deserve to die. The unicorn’s head charged. Towards the tsunami that wrecked his beautiful life at the sea. The sea didn’t deserve to die. Like this!      

“Unicorn, what are you doing?” The princess’ throat burned as it released the powerful words.

“Watch me!”          

The unicorn told the magical unicorns, who flew into sight, to do their winter’s work!

“Giants, keep it up.”

As snow landed on the tsunami, it quickly froze. Slowly backing up, the giants stared in disbelief. The kingdom rejoiced, honoring the flying unicorns and the princess’s unicorn.

“I can’t believe it. You saved us!”

The unicorn grinned. “I’m glad those unicorns turned around!”

“Let’s go and make a new kingdom for ourselves. We cannot return to our old one.”

The unicorn hung his head, realizing his sea had frozen. He sighed, trying not to let his tears win the blinking contest. As he carried the princess towards wherever her father’s new kingdom would be, he hid in his mind. No one stops me! I do belong somewhere else, not to a palace. I need to escape—somehow. To take with him, he lost himself in a vision of carrying her around as a colt, the little girl giggling and him snorting and bucking as her father placed her squirming body onto his white hide. That was so long ago. His legs felt like lead, sticking like glue to the earth.  

When the king led the kingdom through the islands— stopping for the thousandth time to drone on again about the land’s safety—the unicorn pursed his lips. During the planning of the kingdom’s new castle, the unicorn took a deep breath, preventing himself from telling the king to just decide!        

“Do you think your father will listen to me?”  

“No.” The princess laughed. “Of course not. But he’s taking his time—”

The unicorn snorted. “Yeah—when has he not?”

 “Please. Just ask!”      

The unicorn inhaled, and then trotted into the palace’s courtyard which was a long dirt trail made by a giant. The king was standing there, smiling knowingly. After the trembling unicorn suggested a piece of land far off from the water but with sand and a sea that was too small for a tsunami’s wrath, the king shook his head, laughing loud and long. Then, retreating with his guffawing men and ordering the slaves to start building stones upon each other, the king continued his droning speeches as the obedient people continued their normal, everyday lives. Someone had grabbed a whip, demanding the slaves heed. The princess told her unicorn to watch the slaves’ misery.           

“Look at their backs, all sliced to ribbons!” 

The unicorn wondered why the princess thought she could end this act. He understood that the whip was used to make them work harder and faster, but the slaves were that—unpaid workers used to do the work meant for a monarchy. How was the princess going to take the whip out of the overseers’ hands to finally witness a hand lovingly pat the slaves on the back? That’d be like the tsunami coming back to life. It was frozen—

“Spring!”

“What?”        

The unicorn dashed over to the other unicorns. “Hey—guys—can you make it an eternal winter so the tsunami doesn’t resurrect?”         

They shook their heads. “Only winter in the summer, and the summer in winter. Now, it’s summer. We’ll have to wait till the winter—”

 The unicorn’s home was destroyed. The tsunami haunted his dreams, causing him to jerk awake with a neigh, but these unicorns wouldn’t destroy the whole kingdom with the summer they so loved, right? They’d keep it frozen. Right?          

Winter would be allowed to be itself, right?

The unicorn saw proof—the tsunami was frozen. Soon, the kingdom was rebuilt, and the unicorns and other animals and people all lived their lives. The unicorn couldn’t eat, barely slept and avoided his water bucket, his head down in the stall so long as his thoughts of the sea were with him. He begged the king to move back to the sea.

No, he denied, threatening the unicorn to be locked up without food or water in his stall until the king said so. No!

The unicorn smiled when he found himself in his stall. He was glad—the princess wouldn’t like his tearful voice. He said to the unicorn next to him he didn’t want to live here. It wasn’t next to the sea.  

“You run away, and the king will search you out. The princess will hate you!” 

“I’ll take her with me. We’ll rule, a monarchy of our own. Build a kingdom for ourselves with subjects, animals and ourselves.” The unicorn had to search for the princess. She needed to come with him. Breaking out of the stall, he defied the guards chasing him as he sought out the princess. Seeing her in her bedroom, he entered it, shocking her. He said he’d leave here with her. Only with her.

“No. I can’t leave.”

The answer was firm, but the unicorn protested—

“No!”

Like her father, she adamantly refused. The unicorn bowed and exited, making up his mind to flee, princess or no princess. He returned to the stall. Amidst threats from the king’s guards that he’d be sleeping with the fishes, the unicorn remained quiet. He entered it, a hard kick to the rear end. Whinnying, he snorted angrily. The guards laughed, talking about the upcoming ball.

“I’m not going to that party.”

He looked over, feeling eyes on him. This unicorn in the immediate stall stared at him. He called to the other unicorns telling them to ignore the unicorn beside him. The unicorn shook his head as he heard laughter, and then busted out of his stall, surprised he had such strength. Then a thought was born—that stupid tsunami needed to die!

He dashed, the unicorn to whom he spoke calling after him. He galloped away, his hooves pounding the very earth beneath him.  If the king was after him, so be it. He’d defeat him—he had super unicorn strength! He could—

“Yes! I’ll bust that ice apart—but first, the sea is mine!”

 As the unicorn galloped night and day, he stopped often for fresh berries, fruit and tasty sugar cubes. Arriving at his favorite place in the world, he also arrived in a world of ice. The unicorn reared and then pounded upon the ice, crushing it. As he did so, he saw he was destroying the very world he had known. Killing the sea wouldn’t get it back. He wouldn’t be giving it back to himself. He’d only be sad. Because he was literally killing the sea. The ice wasn’t melting. The sea was literally breaking!   

“No!”

The unicorn stopped, stepping back, horrified he was killing his own homeland. He looked all around. Why, he thought, did the sea break? Why didn’t the ice just melt? He heard some noise behind him and turned at the sight of the unicorns with wings. He narrowed his eyes.

“You guys…what’s going on?”

They snorted, which the unicorn took to see as mockery. Outraged, he tossed his head. “Guys, why is the ice breaking? Can’t we just return to the sea? The saltiness of it all—”

“Why should you get it all, when there’s a whole kingdom to share it with?”

“What’s that to you?” The unicorn was confused. Why did these unicorns care at all whether he liked the sea? Sure, he wanted to see what was beyond it, but he still loved it. He didn’t want it to go away. He just wanted to never leave it behind.

“We want the sea, too. We want to enjoy its saltiness, too!”

The unicorn cocked his head. “What! No, you don’t—”

“It’s not our fault the sea was suddenly upon us, turning into a tsunami! We just protected all of the kingdom. Maybe you could share?”

The unicorn thought. The sea was breaking under his incredibly powerful hooves. But he never had this power before. Did he just discover it? He stamped the ground. It didn’t break. He stamped again, harder. It still didn’t budge. He reared up, telling the unicorns to watch out. Coming down hard upon the ice, he let all his strength out upon the sea, but a buzzing sensation flooded him. He stood still for a whole minute and then heard the other unicorns laugh. Was he trying to be funny? After being frozen, the unicorn blinked. I was able to crash through my stall. Why can’t this sea just melt?!

As the unicorns flew off, the unicorn stood there. He looked behind him. The land seemed so quiet. If there was land. Did he crack it? He hoped he didn’t break the earth! Some hooves trotted, and the unicorn looked back. It was the princess, atop another unicorn.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Don’t get down. The sea itself broke. Cracked.”

“I see that.”

“No—I mean, I don’t want you to fall through.”

“I won’t!”

The princess gave him a look that told him to stop stating the obvious. The unicorn reared. Maybe if the sea could crack, the tsunami would do so, too. He dashed to it. When he slammed into it, he felt his body freeze for a second with pain. Then, like those slaves’ backs split open from the overseers’ whip, he turned around, and then galloped right for it. A shattering sound made him smile. The tsunami had a huge split in it! He had done it. Then terror filled his eyes. The crack was extending backward—towards the sea and the princess!

When the princess was freaking out, clutching her unicorn’s mane as hard as she could, the unicorn galloped towards her, his legs dodging the splintering spaces. They seemed to open to a chasm of some sort. The unicorn didn’t understand where, but he was too afraid to find out. Something was down there.

The unicorn launched himself into the air, grabbing the princess’s hair and whipping her around.  She landed squarely on his back. The princess’s hands grabbed his mane, and the unicorn told the other unicorn to escape with him. The other unicorn tried to listen, but he was frozen with fear. The unicorn told the princess he had to leap. The unicorn begged the other horse to move, but it wouldn’t listen. Then the unicorn tested him, splitting the earth open with stamping. Fear paralyzed the unicorn as the cracks became like craters at the powerful hits from the hooves. Then the unicorn reared and kicked at the unicorn, who bolted for the rest of the earth that wasn’t destroyed by the ice.

The unicorn leaped over the cracks, but he didn’t make it past one. Slipping and then falling, he looked up— the princess hung on and then clambered up with the help of the other unicorn. Falling down, the unicorn eventually saw that there was a bottom to this chasm. He landed on something like earth. He looked around. It was like he fell from the sky. He squinted his eyes—where was he? He sniffed. It smelled like saltwater. He must be back at his old sand and beach life.

Yes!

He looked around himself. The place wasn’t cracked anymore. No princess was screaming for her life. No unicorn had to save her. What was going on? It was like he was in a dream. The unicorn squinted his eyes. My past life was a life of a palace by the sea. I loved the sea. Now, it’s this surreal place with no cracks or princesses or unicorns to tease me. I’m here at the sea. Everything’s great. It’s a charmed life.

The unicorn looked down. He dashed towards the land as he knew how by surrounding land, a bridge saving him from miles of water (and drowning). He looked back. He could still smell the sea, right? He nodded. Yes. Goodbye, kingdom. Hello, sea! The unicorn thought of his former life. He missed his princess. Everyone lived happily without him. But he wanted company. He thought of populating his lonely life. One day, he met another unicorn. She was looking for another unicorn. Not him.

The unicorn decided to look among the wild unicorn of land beyond his own. None of them were interested in him. The unicorn tried looking for other unicorns. One night, he met a midnight black one. He joined its tribe, which lived in the forests. She was beautiful. He saw her as the opposite in every way—where he was strong, she did light work, but when he was adventurous, she was lethargic and boring. He left.

Let’s see if the sea has a life for me!

The unicorn walked towards it, and as he did, he found himself entering it. The water opened up, and he found himself enjoying all types of animals. But they were just for show. He went back to the mare, but she dashed away with another unicorn. How can’t I just live my life? What’s wrong with the sea?

He saw other unicorns, white like him. The unicorn, hoping this wasn’t something similar to the mare, grinned a little. The unicorns lead him somewhere magical. A magical kingdom lay beyond. He charged there, the magical kingdom being something similar to his own.

The other unicorns rejoiced in finding another unicorn, but the unicorn returned to the sea. The princess, he later learned, had grown up and married. Had it been that long?

One day, he moved on. I guess… he sighed. The princess was right. It wasn’t right of me to even demand. I can’t be so hardheaded. I need to respect others. I’m not the center of the palace or the world. Others are important, too.  

That mare from before in the forest went to him, hoping for a charmed life. They galloped away towards the land beyond. 

Towards another life on the sea.

The saltiness never left his nose. Or hers.