"Well, to be fair, the people who go around thanking them for things think they exist."

"That's less weird," he concedes.

"Some people don't think they exist but pretend to for social reasons."

"...getting weirder again."

"All cultures have weird parts."

"Probably," Sunpatch agrees. "Anyway, do you want to go to the Tree?"

"Sure."

"It's this way."

He dips his horn in the stream briefly, then starts leading them down the path.

"Was that for a reason?"

"Yes! It makes the water safe."

"How's it do that? Is the water unsafe if you don't?"

"Unicorn magic. We all touch our horns to every water source we pass, and then it's all safe even if we forget once in a while or don't go to some places very often."

"I think running water is usually okay and we don't even have any unicorns at all back home."

"If we only touched things that definitely needed our help, there'd be less unicorn magic going around and some of the places that don't get a lot of unicorns might run out!"

"I don't think I understood that."

"I put unicorn magic in the stream. Now that stream has unicorn magic in it. Even if it didn't need it, it still has some. So if that water mixes with some water that did need unicorn magic, the unicorn magic will still be there. And if it never needs any, then when someone drinks the water with the extra unicorn magic, there'll be a little tiny bit of healing in it."

"Oh, wow."

Sunpatch giggles. "I like being a unicorn!"

"That sounds very convenient, given the givens."

"It wouldn't be much fun if I didn't like being a unicorn and had to be one anyway," he agrees.

"I like being elf-kin."

"That's good!"

"It's convenient for hugging people."

Giggle.

Korafen is such a sweetie.

"How far is the Tree?"