As the mother deer’s warm breath washed over Addie, she looked over to her partner. His side of the tarp was still undisturbed, and she had no idea how he could still be sleeping so peacefully.

She flicked his tail with her hand, “Squishy wake up,” Addie whispered harshly. Her voice stood out to her, and she realized how quiet it was. Insect chirps, frog croaks, all sounds were paused as the swamp held its breath, watching what would happen next.

He raised his head into the air and scrambled to take in his surroundings. Then, he caught up to the situation and walked closer to Addie’s side, giving solidarity to the moment.

Addie looked back over to the mother deer, slightly unsure what to say. Her last attempt at communication had been pretty terrible, so this time she slowed down her words, “Can you help us?”

The mother deer's antlers shone brighter, yet the light was soothing, not blinding. It felt, nice, and the glow warmed Addie from the inside.

Addie remembered back to the time she saved the fawn. At that time, the mother’s antlers had glowed and lit up the clearing just like she was doing now. After that, the fawn had seemed completely healed, despite his half-broken state over the log.

With that memory at the forefront of her mind, Addie realized something. The mother deer did understand Addie’s request. Those antlers of hers, they healed. They soothed.

Turning her awareness inward, Addie inspected her soul shell and noticed another being’s magic acting upon her, reinforcing her soul, healing tiny cuts and minuscule bruises that Addie hadn’t even realized were there.

“We don’t need to bond all of the children,” Addie said aloud, “You want to help us, don’t you? You want to heal everyone just like you healed your son.” As she spoke, her conviction grew.

She looked into the mother deer’s eyes and saw The Healer of the Forest within those green irises. She could do something even The Heart of Flame said was impossible. She could help heal the children.

The glowing increased brightness until it seemed like the binary itself had descended. Though it wasn’t uncomfortable, in some strange twist of logic, Addie still had to close her eyes against the bright light.

As fast as it came, the brightness vanished, and darkness returned to the night once more. Addie opened her eyes again and blinked a few times as her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. Everything seemed so black, now. She waved her hand in front of her face just to make sure she could still see.

While she waited for her eyes to adjust, she swept out her spatial sense again and found that only she and Squishy remained in the clearing.

Confusion swelled up inside Addie; she thought that the mother deer understood what Addie wanted, to help the other children, but it had just vanished. She breathed faster as panic started creeping up into the bottom of her awareness— Addie didn’t need to be healed! Those scratches would have cleared up on their own. She needed the deer to help Nettal!

But it seemed the mother deer had misunderstood, after all, and now Addie was left in despair as she realized her chance had been blundered. She clenched her eyes, tightly, trying to keep the tears at bay.

When she reopened them, she looked down at her clenched hands, hoping that the mother deer would return. Maybe if Addie just went back to sleep, she would come back? That felt like a far-fetched hope to Addie, and she hiccupped as her thoughts spiraled downward.

“Do not despair so soon, my lady, look.”

Temporarily pulled out of her negative thoughts, Addie looked in the direction Squishy’s snout was pointing toward.

There, in the bushes, was a familiar friend. This time, his head showed two new nubs growing up out of his skull. The fawn had returned! And he had cute little baby antlers, just beginning to sprout.

He walked over to their temporary camp, and Addie reached out to him with her hand. He nuzzled his head right into Addie’s palm, and for a moment, just a moment, for the tiniest of brief seconds, his antler nubs glowed yellow, and Addie’s soul felt soothed. It happened so quickly that Addie wondered if she had dreamed it.

The mother deer had understood. She had understood from the beginning. It was Addie who had all the misconceptions, and Addie who had doubted her. This fawn, Addie knew he was the key.

She looked him over. The fawn seemed the same as last time, though much healthier. Last time, he had been emaciated and weak. Now though, while Addie still wouldn’t exactly call his body powerfully built, he radiated an elegant dexterity. Impossibly, his hoofs didn’t leave footprints in the mud, just like his mother. Most importantly his green eyes were full of vitality and life. Addie ran her thumb over the nubs growing from the top of his head. She had thought antlers would feel like hard cold bone, but no. Addie felt the warmth emanating from his antlers, and tiny bits of hair fuzz growing all around it. He had a darker patch on his back, and his head seemed lighter colored. His underside looked completely white, now that the swamp mud didn’t cling to him.

A smile came to her, then. Somehow, her plan had worked without going wrong along the way. It was the first time something really good had happened in a while. Maybe the fawn’s magic was affecting Addie, but she felt rejuvenated and happy. Like for once, everything could work out.

“Let’s go back to the mansion.” As far as Addie was concerned, the night was over. Successful, sure, but also she felt no more reason to be out here in the mud.

---

---

As Addie stood outside the front door to the mansion, she hesitated for a moment. Would Auntie just let him into her house? Last time, Auntie had gotten really mad at Addie for doing things without getting permission first.

Looking over the fawn, his sleek brown fur was pristine, not a drop of mud on him. If that was the case, surely it would be fine to let him in the house? There wasn’t any danger of him spreading dirt around.

In the past, as long as Addie had been clean, she never got in trouble for going inside. This would probably be the same, she decided.

Her logic feeling completely sound, Addie led this unbonded magical creature into Auntie’s house. Right past the doorway, Addie stopped walking, and her previous thoughts caught up to her. Maybe she better get permission from Auntie before letting the fawn in, after all.

“Squishy, you stay here with the fawn. I’m gonna go get Auntie.” Without waiting for a response, Addie hurried out of the entranceway, kicking her muddy shoes off by the rack. Her socks caused her to slide on the wooden floor a bit, but she managed to get up to a run as the white mansion walls flashed by her. She ran up the carpeted stairs, barely noticing the orange light coming from the wall candles, and used the railing to speed up her ascent.

She ran straight toward the end of the next hallway and knocked on Auntie’s door twice. After nothing happened for a moment, Addie banged on the sturdy brown ornate wood three more times. Addie barely waited a second before she started knocking again, this time picking up speed and relentlessly echoing the sound of her banging across the hallway. Still, no one came to the door.

Frustrated, Addie turned around abruptly and saw Christena hurrying from the other end of the hall over to Addie.

“Is everything ok?” Christena asked. “It’s still the middle of the night, how come you’re banging the door so loud? What happened with the Impossible Deer?” Christena started brushing some of Addie’s frazzled red hair out of her face, not even giving Addie a chance to reply. “Well, you look just fine, if a bit tired, so that’s good. Now, what’s all this ruckus about?”

“I think everything went well, Christena! Where’s Auntie? I need to talk to her.” Addie said.

“I’m glad everything’s alright,” Christena let out a breath. “Auntie is out with Mr. Owlcharge right now, checking on the wooden dome. They’ve been watching it on and off to make sure the culprit hasn’t escaped.” Christena smiled, “So far, things have been stable there, too.”

That made Addie feel better, too.

“You still didn’t answer my question, what happened?” Christena repeated.

“It was amazing! The mommy deer glowed super bright like ‘woosh’,” Addie gestured, “And then I got sad because I couldn’t tell if she understood me, but then her baby came out of the bushes and now he’s downstairs. I think he can heal Nettal!”

Christena looked taken aback, and she shook her head to clear it, “That was a lot of information. He can heal Nettal? Wait, is he here right now?”

“Yeah, let me show you,” Addie started pulling Christena’s sleeve, leading her to the stairs.

Despite Addie’s instructions to wait for her, Squishy and the fawn were already at the base of the stairs, starting to climb up. Christena gave Addie a look, and then hurried down. Both parties met each other halfway, everyone kind of just standing awkwardly on the stairs looking at one another.

“I tried to keep him at the doorway, as you instructed, but he insisted on following you, my lady.” Squishy drooped his head.

After smelling Christena’s hand a bit, he kept climbing up the stairs, marching right past everyone.

Christena turned her head around to watch him climb, then glanced back at Addie with another look. Then, she started following after the fawn, and Addie kept up close behind her.

At first, the fawn walked down the hallway randomly, pausing every few moments to glance about. For whatever reason, Christena seemed content to just allow the fawn to keep walking around freely. Well, if it was fine with Christena, it was fine with Addie, too.

Soon, though, Addie realized he wasn’t just walking around randomly, he was leading them toward Nettal’s room. Each step the fawn took grew more confident, his steps more measured. Over time, his hooves became gentler, no longer clacking loudly against the stone floor.

Then, his baby antlers started to glow. At first, so faintly Addie couldn’t be sure if it was just the candle light reflecting off them. But she gradually became more sure about it, as the antler nubs soon started to glow even brighter than the candles.

That soothing presence Addie had felt in the forest returned, and she allowed his magic to touch upon her soul. The magic wasn’t focused on her, Addie realized. It merely brushed up against her soul gently, without actually acting upon her.

A few steps away from Nettal’s doorway, a multitude of thick branches sprouted out from the walls, and grew rapidly to completely cover the fawn in twisting restraints. Despite being completely stuck, the fawn didn’t seem to struggle or worry at all.

Before Addie could try and figure out what had happened, his antlers became even brighter, and somehow, the branches that had been tying him down unwound, and retreated into the wall from where they had come. His antlers were nearly blinding, now, but just like in the swamp, Addie didn’t feel discomforted from the brightness.

“What happened?” Addie whispered up at Christena.

“I think that was Auntie’s magic responding to an intruder,” Christena answered.

“It didn’t really work,” Addie observed.

Addie looked over to Christena, “Is that ok?”

“I think so. I think it’s precisely because it’s the fawn that Auntie’s magic let him through.”

Indeed, the fawn took the last few steps toward Nettal’s room, unobstructed. Addie watched as his antlers flashed brightly again, and the doorknob twisted as the door to Nettal’s room opened on its own.

AN: You can also find me on RoyalRoad and on my discord. If you have time, please vote for me on TopWebFiction as well, as it is a quick and free way to support my story. If I get just ten votes on TopWebFiction, it will put me on the top of the list for the week, and help this community grow.

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