Nyxa

Even as Nyxa stands on the shores of the Field, looking out across the frigid waters to where her harebrained dam has decided to stake a claim, she contemplates turning around and never going.

Oh, she knows Circinae is waiting there for her. Nyxa can almost feel those unsettling blue eyes just staring at her from across the sea. Her own pale ears turn down at the thought, a pink tongue flashing between her lips in mockery of the mother who couldn’t see. Circy had just freaking left her to her own devices! Just assumed that mutual care from Aunt Jah, Brother Corvus, and Father Canaan would be enough to fill that aching part of her Circy had forgotten to fill.

But, Nyxa is her mother’s daughter after all, and like her other siblings there’s a streak of something in her that drives her forward onto the shore and out into the first wavebreaks of ice-laden water. High tide or low, she doesn’t care. She’d almost drown once, anyways, and a stranger had been the one to pluck her from rushing death. 

Her legs guide her further, down into the murky depths she finds (with mild surprise) don’t even chill her. Beneath the undulating waves her wings thaw, reverting to their original liquid form so that she can stretch them out beside her and feel the glory of having them worked. Beneath the River she’d opened them too, finding then that their function had been akin to fins when she used them for leverage - so she swirls them lazily now, admiring the way they glide seamlessly against their own element.

In curiosity, she lets the breakers overwhelm her and so she sinks -

Down a little further -

Until her eyes open again to see the calm of the ocean in a whole new light. She gasps - a creature shadows by and jerks away to the safety of deeper places - but the action doesn’t stifle or strangle her like it had before. In fact, Nyxa feels no more oppressed down here than she does on land - it stuns her immobile for minute.

She gulps, opens her mouth again; “No change … I can breathe down here.” She realizes.

The giddiness of youth overtakes her. Nyxa, submersed but not subdued, spreads her wings once more and forces them down to move her body forward and so, she discovers a new talent. Nyxa … the little water bird; soon enough she’s flying through the sea. All too quickly the rough seabed of Ischia is rising from black depths and Nyxa curves upwards, gliding like an odd fish over the berth of pale sands until she breaks the surface to clatter up the sugar shoreline and stand, dripping, at the edge of the tropical wood.

“Mother!” She cries, breathless from her underwater journey, “Jah! Anyone! Hellooooo?”

Wayward daughter of Canaan and Circinae

Nyxa

She’d been expecting Mother (what child doesn’t long for the affection and approval of their parent?) but Jah’s elated whinny and the following vision of her red form breaking clear of the imposing jungle growth is almost better than her Mother. “Wytch mother!” The growing girl cries with heartfelt adoration, breaking ahead into a hurried trot so that the two might come together in a rush of excited whuffing and exchanged nips.

“Oh Jah - you wouldn’t believe it! I can breath underwater and swimming is so easy, and .. I could talk about it forever. Does mother know she has shark friends patrolling her shores?” The bouncing girl asks, rapid-fire with the leftovers of adrenaline while they traverse over the sands and slip into the cover of Nyxa’s new home.

Momentarily stalled, her eyes stray from the mare who raised her as her own to the chittering of Ischia’s inhabitants around them. The glittering daylight of Winter is no harsher here than could be expected, and the damp moisture in the air does wonders for Nyxa’s wings. Despite her earlier hesitance, the island is growing on her. “It’s lovely here …” The winged girl murmurs, both sets of hooves muffled with the carpeted earth.

As instant as her curiosity had waned, now it waxes and so her curiosity switches tracks - back to the final twinge of words Jah’s let slip. “You seem more electrified than usual, Jah-Lilah.” The filly notices with a sly smirk, “What have I missed?”

Wayward daughter of Canaan and Circinae

Nyxa

Oh, speaking to other animals is not her specialty - Jah knows this but all the same Nyxa laughs robustly in reply to the question. “Can’t speak to the hare before I kill him dead, can I? Same for the sharks, I s’pose.” She drawls; even her tongue feels lax around her fiery step-mother. The red wytch is drawing to a halt though and Nyxa focuses intently on where they are. Her eyes rove quickly around the dense tangle of glossy leaves, most illuminated now by the quick sparks of light Jah-Lilah creates. “I have news for all of you.” The dappled flame tells her, drawing the curious girl’s attention down to earth once more, “You’ll be the first to truly know of it, come to think of it.” Jah contemplates aloud.

Nyxa’s shock is immediate and clear as it overtakes her features. First to know? She’d never been first at anything her entire life, not even being born for god’s sake. But now here they are: odd mother and daughter exchanging secrets in the dim light of a hazy island jungle, pushing aside wide palm fronds to take a glimpse into something private.

Nyxa cannot believe that her good-mother would share this with her, before sharing it with Circinae or Canaan.

Jah-Lilah has created a sanctuary, right here in the heart of their home. Trinkets from the sea gild the outlying area, along with interrupting bursts of brightly-colored flora that draw not only Nyxa’s close inspection, but a soft gasp of admiration from the girl. How long had her den mother been working here? Her hand is masterful, artful in taste and whim alike with the smattering of leafy nests. With the quirk of a smile Nyxa can see how they vary in size and shape. “Expecting strange guests?” She chuckles, arching her gaze upwards in sudden awe of the glimmering lights.

“Lovey what if I told you…” Jah begins, and Nyxa’s head rotates freely to listen with tight lips and a racing heart.

Not expecting guests at all, it would seem … but only expecting a guest.

No, not a guest. A sibling. Not just that - a sister. “Or a brother, or a brother…” She thinks suddenly, trying hard to calm her building excitement. Too little, too late though - her thoughts and feelings have run away from her and without meaning to, Nyxa bursts into screams of unexpected joy.

“A BABY!? A BABY?? A BABBBYYY!!!” She wails, lurching forward to fall into the warm embrace she knows will be waiting. “Jah, oh Jah you sneak! You sly sneak! When will mother know? And father? Oh …. God, silly me. I’m not a baby, of course he’ll know.” She breathes, hardly able to suppress her mounting energy. Another sibling in the mix!

Winded from the display she gives into the pull of her other skin and shifts to wolf, flopping onto the plush, leaf-covered earth with a giddy squeal and thrash of her paws. “I’m not a baby! Ha, of course not anymore! Oh Jah -” She says, suddenly righting herself to glance at the lightning mare with perked ears and a wide grin, “- have you thought of a name yet? May I toss a few around?”

Wayward daughter of Canaan and Circinae