Mal nodded. “I’ll give you a tour after we eat.”
“Please let me know if there’s anything you need to feel more at home,” Here said.
“Hey, look at you. You’re a very misty fellow, aren’t you?” Grampy pointed out.
“Can we have a garden?” Holly asked.
“Can we have a patch of sunlight for the garden?” Eira asked.
“Can I have a unicorn?” Merry jumped in, tears gone and ready to make her case for another big score.
“I can do the first two, but creating sentient creatures is difficult,” Here said.
“I’ll make you one, kitten,” Mal offered. He was bursting with energy. One dumb little unicorn wasn’t going to affect him much. It wasn't like it needed to be useful or anything.
He focused the space between his hands and thought.A cute little unicorn for Merry.
It took a while, and Merry had gotten bored and wandered away to explore their new home, but eventually, Mal had something he was proud of.
“You arenotgiving her that,” Clayton stated bluntly, giving the baby unicorn a hesitant poke.
“He’s adorable. She’ll love him.”
“It’s horrifying and will give her nightmares.”
Mal got up in Clayton’s space and whispered, “I’llgive you nightmares.”
Clayton flushed. “Well, I like nightmares. Merry doesn’t.”
Mal pulled away with an easy grin and said, “Let's see what Merry thinks.”
Mal dragged Clayton and his new creation over to where Merry was dictating to Here about where the new garden should go, while Holly loudly overrode her.
Merry was close to having a fit when Mal shoved the unicorn in front of her. “Here you go, kid. One unicorn. I hope you like him.”
Merry blinked at the cat-sized creature in Mal’s hands. He was roughly a foot and a half tall, had glowing blue flames for a mane and tail, and the rest of his body was made of a tangible, shadow-like substance.
“He has fangs?” Merry asked.
“Little girls like fangs, right?” Mal asked Clayton in a whisper.
Clayton huffed and ignored him.
Merry stared at the unicorn expressionlessly for a long time before finally saying, “He’s… perfect. He’s absolutely perfect, Mal! I love him! Thank you!” She hugged Mal, crushing the unicorn between them and stabbing Mal in the stomach with his horn.
“You’re welcome, kid.” He turned to give Clayton asee, I told you sospeech, but Clayton was busy shouting, “Don’t let it burn you, Merry!”
“Relax. He won’t burn things unless she wants him to.”
“Why would she want it to?”
“What if someone attacks her? Or maybe she’ll want to roast marshmallows, I don’t know. Kids like to burn things, Red. Get with the program.”
“You’re going to be a terrible father.”
“I’m going to be a fun father,” Mal corrected.
They watched the little unicorn run around the cavern, slamming into things and getting his horn stuck in whatever he slammed into.
