Something was terribly wrong, and she had no idea how to fix it. The sun should be up by now. Every bone in her body said so, but there was no sun. Only the midnight darkness of a new moon, and the wash of waves on the shore. 

The shore. That thought triggered something in her mind, the memory of her home that had faded into absent knowledge. So she made her way, more by memory than sight, until the water sounded close by and the air opened up around her. Vaguely, she saw it. The blue fragmenting light that Ischia was so famous for on the mainland. Magical blue light that defined the shoreline as the waves broke on it, brilliant in the dark. 

She breathed a sigh of conflicted relief. That was the same, at least. Her hoof came down on a piece of wood, terrifying in its sudden sound. She started, heart racing, wondering why things were so loud in the dark. There was no time to ponder the pointless question, however, as another sound took her attention. "Hello?" She called out, thinking she had caught a suggestion of movement, but it was impossible to tell. 

The salt scent this close the the water made other smells unreliable to track, so she didn't bother with it. Simply hoped whoever, whatever, was out there still lingered.

The dark was wearing on the nerves of every horse she met, herself included. Tail swishing anxiously against an unseen plant, the seamare made her way cautiously to where Titanya's voice carried from. 

The shoreline was a blessing, she was quickly learning. With eyes so long exposed to the dark, it was almost easy to navigate by plankton-light. There she found the figure of the tigress mare faintly illuminated, a dark shadow on a darker backdrop. "You're safe? The children as well?" She asked quickly, hoping the dark hadn't brought with it any more obvious dangers. 

She listened with a tightened jaw as Titanya shared what little she knew, glancing skyward as if some further clarity might be hidden there. There was only black, endless sky, interrupted only by the thinnest suggestion of the sun haloed far beyond them. A fat, watching eye that cast only enough light to be seen, not to see by. 

She disliked the idea of being watched, but couldn't shake it now that it had occurred. What could be out there, able to see them while they stumbled around near-blind? "It's certainly not natural." She commented, stating the obvious perhaps. It was a place to start, though. If it wasn't natural, what had caused it, then? "The fairies, do you think? Perhaps they've been made angry by something.." It sounded plausible. Their history was peppered with the caprice of the fey, and the repercussions of challenging them. If that were the case, whoever or whatever had set them off needed to be sorted out, and quickly.

It is with relief that the seamare hears of her grandchildren's safety. She nodded satisfied, hoping that they weren't too frightened of the darkness. Cormorant hadn't liked the night as a youngster. It was in fact for him that she had first learned to spin fanciful glowing sea creatures out of the waves to swim in lazy circles until he could sleep. That had been ordinary darkness, then. Night that you could count on turning back into day if you waited long enough. 

Now... It was getting hard to believe they'd ever see the sun again. She looked to Titanya, a ghost of a smile on her lips. The tigress mare was a wild thing, there was no denying that. But the nereid had grown fond of her abrasive self, and placed her in a daughter-like position when she accounted for her family. "I think you're right," she said, and hated it. Not that Titanya had said so, but because if this wasn't caused by the fairies, then who or what did that leave? The fairies could be negotiated with, in most cases. There was no saying that whoever had cut off the sun would be willing to. 

They were at a loss, and that didn't sit well with her. How many times had she fought for right, banking on sheer stubbornness to see her through? It was all she had most days, and it meant absolutely nothing when there was no clear opponent to rail against. Nothing but shadows to chase. Her ears pricked at her companion's words, eyes intense. Titanya had heard-?

Apparently she would have to wait to find out exactly what the tigress had heard, as a blur of striped fur came hurtling between them. A sharp "Oh!" of surprise burst from her half a moment before her eyes caught up with the half-grown cub now dripping by them. "Volos!" She chimed, a light admonishment in her tone. "Does your Da know you've come to find us?" She asked, meeting Titanya's eyes over the squirrelly bundle of wet fur. 

Her concern melted quickly though, as it always did with the youngest of her family members. After pressing a quick kiss into the top of the child's head, she nodded solemnly. "Oh yes. There are sharks and barracuda and squid as long as two grown horses standing together! But," she smiled, and nodded to the cub's mother. "There is nothing in the sea your granddame can't handle, and nothing on land your ma and da can't keep you safe from, as long as you and Nekane listen and do what you're told. Which includes staying when you're told to stay." 

She did not know if there were stranger things beneath the waves now. Truly, the oceans held strange enough creatures to begin with. Still, she had not been swimming much anymore, and had not been diving and exploring as she had before she'd lost the sun as her guide. It was hard to drown a nereid. Not impossible. 

With a sigh, she shook her head and looked at the black water a little harder. She was a sea creature, and swimming was part of life living on an island. And yet... "Just to be safe. I don't want you and your sister, or any of the other children playing in the water for a while. Only drink from the pools inland, not the streams. Just until we know a bit more about what's going on." She advised, and looked at Titanya again. 

"I'm making a trip to Tephra soon, to see if anymore information has come up that we just haven't gotten yet. If I ask you to mind Ischia in my absence, is that something you're willing to do?" It was a big ask of the free spirited mare. Aquaria knew it, and knew she wouldn't be surprised if Titanya told her to stick her suggestion some place unpleasant. She hoped, though, that her request would be accepted. The painted mare was a strength about the island, and the Dame trusted her when it came to matters of defence, even if in most cases that strength was only spent on herself and her children. In these dark days, Aquaria was hoping for any support she could get to see them all through this.