anyone;

[Nashua]

NASHUA

Nashua has a heritage of heat but at this age, what does he know about it? (One side of his family is a mystery - thought he doesn’t quite understand that yet either. On the other, there is an ancient valley and a waterfall and that's all he really knows. All he really paid attention to, anyway.)

Perhaps he should be wary of unknown horses - his Mother has told him enough times to be. But he youthfully disregards this with a winning smile and inquisitive tilt of his head.

His eyes widen momentarily, thinking of how a pair of wings could just be left behind. He knows where his are at all times - tucked neatly alongside his coltish ribs, fluttering slightly with excitement. "Why would you leave them behind?” he asks, sincerely wanting to know. It’s a perplexing thing - imagining life without wings (how do his Mother and twin endure it?). It’s torture enough knowing that they aren’t able to carry his weight yet. (Someday, he knows. His Aunt Ruth has promised him flying lessons someday.)

The copper stallion shakes his coat, ridding himself of summer dust and insects.

Frowning, Nashua thinks for a moment. And then his young body twists in a fashion similar to Castile, trying to mirror his earlier movements. His back legs get tangled and it pushes him towards the towering brute. Sheepishly, he grins up at his new friend.

"I can’t wait to fly. I’m gonna go to the Isle and see the lights. Then I’m gonna go to Ischia and my Uncle Velkan is going to teach me about-,” he pauses, deciding against saying whatever that word was used to describe Eugene’s dam. It still tangles his tongue and rather a prideful colt, he has no desire to embarrass himself twice today. "Uh,” he starts, "the seahorses.” Peering up at the stallion from beneath his flaxen forelock, he asks: "Have you ever been there?”

At the mention of siblings, the copper boy grins again, his enthusiasm beaming up at this new and interesting companion he’s found. "I have a twin,” he adds, "You could be..,” he pauses again because there is still a part of him that remembers Eugene. How they talked about that they could be siblings too. (And what about Eugene's twin? Did that make her a sibling too? And then there were all the girls in Nerine. How many were too many? How many could he have? "I don’t know how many siblings I have,” Nashua admits. He has Yan - he will always have his brother. They are water and fire, counterweights to the other, his Mama had once told them.

"But we could be brothers,” the copper colt finally decides with a small, firm nod of his head. "Do you have any? Or sisters? Or a twin or a triplet or-?” What was more than three?

and for every king that died
they would crown another

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@[Castile] realized I never tagged you, whoops! sorry