Midnight's Peace

[feather_light_flight]

it's a quiet night when you make your way through the palace garden, hyper aware of every noise your armor makes, and the way your footsteps fall too loud. Why you were ever chosen for guard detail, you'd never know. The king was aware your talents lay in subterfuge, and yet he insisted on having you as one of his nights. Nevertheless, you were born to serve, and so you continued with your patrol, pacing anxiously through the hedge maze that made up half of the royal gardens.
It's maybe midnight when you finally reach the end, expecting to see the usual sight that greets survivors of the maze. A simple fountain with benches and flowers arranged in a circle around. Instead, your eyes are greeted by a very different sight. A horse....no...a Unicorn.
You blink, rub your eyes, look again. There's no way that a unicorn has appeared in the middle of the palace gardens. That simply isn't possible. It glances over, striking white eyes that shimmer like stars seem to glide over your body with little to no interest or concern. The unicorn looks away, going back to reading the book that it was curled up in front of. That was an especially odd sight.
The night only got stranger the more you observed the creature. It seemed to be accompanied by a small, dragon like fae, which would crawl across it's back before jumping around, resembling the excitement of a playful kitten.
Quietly, you decided to sit at a nearby bench, pondering how or why this creature had appeared here, what it's purpose was. Perhaps you'd never know. But as the night lulled on, you felt sleepy, at peace, and so, against what was probably your better judgment, you curl up next to the beast, resting your head on it's flank as your eyes flutter closed. Perhaps the creature will be gone when you wake, perhaps you'll chalk the night down to just a dream. But in the future, whenever you look up at the night sky, you'll remember the strange unicorn from your patrol, and the way it's very presence felt like the peace that can only be found at midnight.