Leo held out the seed, which the small bird happily took right from him fingers. Dawn’s joking scoff was cut off as another bird flew by to join the first, landing right on top of him head. She felt her stomach flip.

He… was joking, wasn’t he?

“What are you talking about, Leo?” Dawn asked, taking a few steps closer around the flower beds. One of the birds flew away at her first step, just as the chipmunk had, and a few steps further the other rose in flight, proving that none of the animals were particularly friendly; it seemed it was only Leo that they liked. She came over to where Leo was sitting on the edge of the grass and sat down next to him, for the first time truly searching his features to try and spy any hint of what a “stag king” was. His hair was light, a pale blond that bordered on white and hung just above his eyes. All of his features were sharp and pronounced, with angled eyes that were nearly as golden as his hair, but none of this seemed in any way stag like, or less than attractive. In fact, the more she looked at him, the more attractive he was seeming to her.

“It would be easier just to show you, I think,” he said, and stood despite the fact that Dawn had just settled at his side.

“Wai—”

He held up a finger to motion to her to wait, and even as she began to rise she plopped back into the grass. What was he planning on doing to “show” it to her? Call out some wild animals and let them crawl into his lap? If a bear started ambling out of the woods, she was leaving.

Leo glanced at her one last time, expression unfathomable, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. She watched him, enraptured, as he rolled the muscles in his shoulders and stretched his neck. She was about to interrupt him despite his shushing, when a mist began to cloud the air between them.

It took her just a second to notice it, but in that time Dawn was on her feet as butterflies pummeled through her stomach. The mist grew thicker, a proverbial cloud now, and it was becoming difficult to see Leo through it. As though it was smoke from a fire at his feet, it swirled and danced around, the particles in the air catching the light of the sun and reflecting it in a gentle shimmer. For a moment, she couldn’t see anything at all, and then it began to clear.

Before her stood exactly what she should have expected, but didn’t dare to think was possible. A stag, pure white in color, graced her lawn, the huge animal standing near a foot taller than her. The eyes were the same bright color as Leo’s, the same rich gold as they were only the few minutes before when she admired them so closely; they weren’t its eyes, she realized, they were his.

“Leo…?” She whispered his name as she took a step forward, disbelief arching into excitement at the beautiful specter before her. The head of the great creature dipped in acknowledgment, and ever so slowly she raised a hand out towards it. She paused when she hovered a few inches above his snout, unsure if she was actually allowed to touch him. Leo had no such indecision; as soon as she stopped, his pushed  forward, nuzzling into her hand.

Heart beating a mile a minute, she slowly pet the soft fur and came to his side, running her hands over his forehead, ears, until she reached the massive tree-like antlers than wound above him, as impressive as they were beautiful. Somehow, she felt they were sacred, beyond her touch, and moved passed them. She was about admire the glowing white fur on his back when a violent shiver suddenly wracked his body, so strong that she could feel it, and with a little sound of surprise she stumbled back.

He let out a gruff snort and pawed the ground with his hooves for a second before the mist, before receding, returned with incredible haste. It settled around him so heavily that even two feet away she was having trouble seeing him— and then he let out another sound, this time one she clearly recognized as having its origins in pain.

“Leo!” Dawn called out and waved blinding in front of her, trying to find him again as the sound grew distinctly more and more human. She fell to the ground and started crawling forward, searching the ground as the mist began to dissipate once more. “Leo what happened?” Her excitement over the magic she got to witness was put on hold at the thought of him in pain.

“I’m fine…” The fog was finally clearing enough for her to begin to see him, the bright sunlight piercing through to illuminate them both. His voice came from close by, because his was only inches away, sitting up as she crawled forward. Dawn froze at the proximity, but could focus on only one thing.

He was human again, that much was very very clear. His clothes were no where to be seen, and his toned muscles and sharped angles attested to that as well. Of its own volition, her own volition her gaze traveled downward, his hips still hidden in mist but the formed abs well within her sights. His skin was pale, but in a way that seemed to glow with beauty rather than being unhealthy. She could have stared all day— and that realization led her to rock back onto her heels as fast as she was able.

“I need to talk to you—” Leo began and started to stand, but Dawn quickly threw an arm over her face and struggled back another step. There is a hot man in front of me that just changed from a giant deer.

“Clothes first, then talk,” she ground out. If she could make it through the first, surely the talk would be the easy part.