-Adria-
She could’ve let him go.
Adria almost did, actually. When the islander’s language switched from common and he told her "no", Adria considered letting go of the waves and swimming away, because then she would’ve not only been unfair but a traitor to her kind.
No one spoke the language by chance. He was as much her friend as he was an enemy to Adria, at that moment. A complete mystery save for the little hint of something sinister now and then, when his skin sparkled with those dangerous bolts of lightning.
She quickly considered their brief interaction, then shrugged.
“So be it.” The Nereid studied him.
He looked crestfallen. The deep blue of his skin cast a dark shadow over the risen waves, and Adria noted how the white slashes of his bright markings reminded her of the sharks. She forced herself to remember the ridge of bristling hair down his neck, even as she rose above the quick-churning waves. It would not help her to sleep if she forgot the face of a victim.
Perhaps the grace of the sea would help him forget what happened next, Adria hoped. It’d been some time since the Nereid had earnestly called on her powers, (the last being her encounter with another perceived threat to Ischia’s shores) but the currents of her magical source flowed steady as ever. A twist of water bending was all it took.
The last thing she remembered seeing was the white-brindled stallion disappearing into a swirling maw, and then the world was silent - all but for the sound of churning waves, slowly returning to their place.
Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me
@Gale