I frolicked in the forest when I met a deer who adorned me with a beautiful rack of antlers. We gamboled through the endless trees, nibbling mushrooms and eating fallen pinecones laden with magic.

I bestowed him a warm marbled coat and sleek auburn horns and we danced together in triumph and gratitude.

In the circle of magical mushrooms where curious water flows endlessly, I became a dove while he, a raven. We circled each other, white and black feathers fluttering as the other deer lay in the shafts of sunlight, watching us with sleepy, soulful eyes.

We hailed each other in the graveyard ruins, playing kings and loyal subjects. He taught me to jump atop a broken pillar and made me a king as a deer with feathered antlers watch us curiously.

I fell off the pillar again, my dark hooves unaccustomed to the uneven unnaturalness of the marbled stone. Then I watched as he leapt gracefully onto the pillar once more, folding his legs and settling down comfortably.

He lowered his head against his flank, curling up and slowly closing his eyes.

And he started to fade.

I pawed the ground in alarm, shaking my antlers and jumping helplessly as I tried to scramble up the pillar. "Don't go!" I wanted to tell him. "Don't go just yet!"

Then in a gasp of dark smoke, he was gone.

I stared at the now empty pillar, shoulders hunched in sadness.

He was my first friend in the Eternal Forest.

We are deer.
We cannot speak.

Would I ever see him again..?
How would I know it is him?
(He has my face. I gave it to him)

But we deer, shed coats at the touch of another, crown each other with new antlers and gift new faces. The only sure way to know is by our names.

I wish I remembered the glowing symbol between his horns.

His namesake.

I made my way out of the ruins and towards the old oak, nestling down beneath its dark, humming hollow.