Don't kiss me if you're afraid of thunder | Laia! Any!

[Locheed]

With a short nod, Locheed affirms her sister's comment, giving a stamp of her fore-hoof as Laia playfully drapes herself over her scaled back. She tries and fails to stifle a laugh as her twin nibbles her mane, before giving an all-over shake that is enough to free her of her sister's weight.

There is something very grown-up about the boys, and it causes the little dragon-mare's gaze to narrow on them with interest once the conversation is moving again. It seemed to her they had all been born in the same season, but Nash and Yanhua had a world-wise air about them that makes her even more curious than their unique looks had.  Maybe they have met many strangers before, maybe they have been taught how to be grown-up, or maybe they are just new and different enough from the small group of relatives she knows to seem wondrously unfamiliar.

But whatever it is, she finds herself trying to act a little less like the foal she had been for the last year, and more like a yearling who has seen and done all sorts of things - a yearling who had lots of good ideas for getting into trouble.

"Have you ever been to a waterfall?" She asks both boys, trying to not sound too enthusiastic. But it doesn't sound as exciting as she thought it would once she says it, and she finds herself blurting out a follow-up question.

"Have you ever jumped off the top of a waterfall?"

It was a ridiculous question, but she doesn't act like it is. The only suggestion that it may be actually insane, is her anticipation of backlash from her sister as she side-steps away from her winged twin.

[Nashua]

Nashua should have paid better attention. His (and Yanhua’s) mother had tried her best to impart what knowledge she had of Beqanna and her kingdoms - what the histories were behind their creation, and what reputations they crafted for themselves. What he knows (to his young, untested, and rather distracted mind) is that the North - Nerine, Taiga, Icicle Isle - represents home and that Pangea seems to thrive on chaos and the creation of thunderstorms. The rest?

Loess remains an unexplored corner of Nashua’s compass - it’s rolling foothills inviting and enticing to the winding mind of a someday adventurer. Tephra is where the needle of it has pointed today and what it has revealed makes him smile; a balanced introduction to the land of the rising volcano in the West.

His green eyes linger on Yanhua briefly, feeling that familiar twinge of emotion in his copper chest. Yan was dreaming again. Of what, he wonders? The easy-going smile on Nash’s pale face doesn’t falter but he still tries to imagine what his brother’s gift allows him to daydream. It’s another difference between the pair - emerald eyes to Spanish blue ones, stripes to a birthmark, wings to horns.

It’s something that usually leaves him feeling uneasy.

When he looks to the buckskin filly again, Nash takes new notice of her. Laia has wings where Locheed has scales; she has antlers where her sister has spikes. The brothers have been forced to grow up fast and realizing the differences between the girls brings about another revelation that might help Nash grow a little wiser, too. That the differences between himself and Yanhua don’t need to be categorized as one thing or another. They are just that - differences that share a commonality in Beqanna that one horse could be as unique as the next. Twins included.

Yanhua’s teasing emerges and breaks his rather deep speculation. The friendly smile quirks into a wide grin at his brother’s remark. "Always,” he answers, laughter warming his tenor voice. If his ‘trouble’ offered a bit of distraction for his blonde-haired twin today, even better.

Looking back to @[Laia] again (and nodding briefly in polite recognition that it was the other twins' birthday), Nashua playfully inquires, "What kind of trouble?” Perhaps, he thinks, they mean a romp up of the side of that tempting volcano that he is so eager to explore. He’s never seen a stream of lava before and it’s a compelling thought for a colt with wanderlust burning in his veins.

It’s not lava or volcanos they offer, but rather the element that Nashua was named after. Water. A waterfall. The yearling shakes his head that he hasn’t seen one, glancing sidelong to his younger brother. He hears the enthusiasm in @[Locheed]’s voice and it strikes a chord with him; he would like to see one. It could be another adventure for Nash, one he could share with Yanhua if his twin was so inclined.

The scaled filly who recommended cliff-jumping sidestepped away from her sister and the chestnut pegasus eyes her speculatively. Jump off a waterfall? Nashua flicks his flaxen tail, though some part of him imagines the thrill of it. Dreams of it in a way that might perhaps, not be so different from his twin. The yearling takes her daredevil question as he does most though; in easy stride and joking nature. "Is that how Tephrans have fun?” He teases. Nash shakes his head and angles it back to @[Yanhua], "We just spend most of our time getting lost in the fog. No need to see where you’re going when you can’t see it, anyway.”

nashua

and the days you defend will turn to gold

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