Aquaria was tired. Then again, she was always tired these days. It took all of her energy to keep up with her daily tasks, twin foals in tow. There was no alternative though, not in her mind. Nor anymore. Her heart beat on in double time whenever they left her sight, and she was forever on the lookout for signs of watching eyes in the shining waves. At six moons old, the twins were growing restless with their mother's nervous hold on them. 

Even now, as she watched them kick at the sand and shells in their cove, she could tell that they longed for wider ranges. Their elder brothers had begun their adult wandering. Both Halcyon and Cormorant had taken to leaving the island regularly, which made her hold the youngsters all the closer. 

With thoughts on the tasks waiting for her that day, the seamare snorted in surprise when a striped figure emerged from the deep green jungle. "Halcyon!" She whickered, trotting up to her pantherine son. A curious smile softened her mouth at his request. It wasn't often that her eldest tried to surprise her, but the joyful gleam in his eyes was infectious. Whatever the surprise was, it had brightened her tiger's spirit in a way she knew could only be good. 

Chuckling softly, the pearly seamare nodded to the bored twins. "Come on, you two. Big brother has a surprise." Her translucent tail swayed in the breeze as the twins bolted ahead, she and Hal taking a more relaxed pace. He was guiding her up a familiar path, the well trod trail that would open out on to the main beach. Certainly not where she was thinking they'd be going. 

She cast a wondering look to the young tiger prowling alongside her, blinking languidly. "What are you up to, my love?" The trees were breaking over their heads now, the loamy soil becoming sand once again. On the beach, Marianas and Kaimana ran for all they were worth, stretching their legs like they were born to do. Wistfully, she smiled at their antics. 

Warbird had come, and seen the children safe. Then without much more ado, he'd gone again. It was better that way, she told herself. She'd already raised two children herself, and they'd turned out to be sons any mother would be proud of. These two would be the same, she would make sure of it. Fathers be damned. She kept saying it, over and over. 

What she saw was not what she'd been expecting. A quartet of equids, pale as seafoam on her shore. Ghosts, she thought. They had to be. There was no other explanation, when the stallion at the forefront was one she'd long since given up as dead. 

The phantom illusion was ruined when he opened his mouth. The others chimed in, Aegean and her own son making their introductions while the pearl scaled woman watched. Creatures foreign to their island emerged from thin air, spun into other shapes and eventually faded into the sunlight. Was it like the little watery figures she drew from the sea for her restless children? Figments of her imagination painted in crystal liquid to catch the light. 

Halcyon's whisper returned her thoughts to the current place. With a flat nod, she turned to murmur back to the youthful tiger. "Halcyon. Later on, you and I are going to have a serious discussion about the definitions of the words "surprise" and "honesty"". Nostrils flaring like pink flowers blooming, she made no move to get any closer to the newcomers. 

She did not miss Pteron's reluctance to meet her gaze, nor the affection that passed between he and his apparent mate. Aegean, who was himself painted so similarly to the mermare. Violet and white, with otherworldly airs. She smiled grimly at his greeting. "Funny. My parents considered the name Aegean for me, had I been born a colt. I can't say though that I have heard much of anything about you." 

At last she let her own dusky eyes rest on the pale stallion who was the center of this reunion. An ache sat deep in her chest, one that had been weighing on her for long seasons. It had dulled over the years, had gotten livable as she had gotten on with her life, but now it flared back to molten life. "Pteron," she said, a dead man's name attached to the living being before her. "Well. I suppose I should be happy all of our practice paid off for you." 

The same bland tone. Emotionless, because if she let emotions in, she would fall apart. Halcyon wasn't supposed to find him. He wasn't supposed to be here, let alone with a whole other family. Not when he'd had a perfectly good one here. Once more she found her eyes drawn to the white stallion. Aegean. Beautiful, mysterious Aegean. Had she only been a cheap imitation of this, of him? 

Her ears tipped slowly backward, tremors of uncertainty making her crest stand on end. This was what Halcyon wanted. Maybe even needed. And Cormorant... She would have to find him. Speak to him first, and hopefully prepare him in a way she hadn't been for this meeting. With a switching of her rigid tail, the mermare nodded sharply. "Do what you must." It was what he did best, after all. 

It was rude. She knew she'd been rude, and there was no helping that now. They were here, and she wouldn't kick them off island. But she also didn't have to keep looking at them. Not until she was ready. Wordlessly, Aquaria walked stiffly to the water's edge, and further. Until the waves closed over her head, and she could release the tears that had been threatening without witness.