I stared at the statue, and for a moment, I could swear it was staring back. My skin prickled with the feeling of being watched, really watched, not just looked at. But that was impossible. It was stone. Just carved stone on a platform. It had always been stone.

I shook my head and turned away, trying to focus on finding the path to the Gathering.

Then I froze.

Standing there, not twenty feet from me, was a stag. But not just any stag. Its fur was golden. Actually golden, like someone had poured liquid sunlight over it and let it set. The kind of thing the satyr children talked about in their stories, the kind of thing adults smiled at and dismissed as imagination.

[b]"What the..."[/b]

The word came out barely louder than a whisper. The stag kept chewing on grass, watching me with dark, calm eyes. It didn't run. Didn't even tense up like normal deer did when they spotted people.

My heart was beating fast, but different than before. Not panic now. Something else. Wonder, maybe. Or recognition of something I didn't understand.

I looked down at my draconic arm, at the golden scales that caught the light filtering through the trees. The same color as the stag's impossible fur.

Slowly, carefully, I started moving toward it. I kept my movements small, non-threatening. I raised my draconic arm slightly, letting the sun catch the scales. Showing it we were the same, somehow. That we matched.

[b]"Easy,"[/b] I said softly. [b]"I'm not going to hurt you."[/b]

[hider=Animal Handling]
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/29590
Total: 14 (rolled 13 + 1 modifier)
[/hider]