i'm two quarters and a heart down

[Nashua]

NASHUA

There is a sharpness in her stance that he doesn’t recognize. Yan never takes such a step with him. And his Mother certainly never does. Lilliana is soft smiles and gentle words. He finds neither of those, turning his youthful gaze up to Celina. Still, there is something about her that is alluring, that is thrilling to a wanderer’s eye. She is something he has never seen before and it sparks his curiosity, making him glow all the brighter.

Distracted, he’s busy studying the fireglow around her striking features.

Nashua shakes his head, feeling an unfamiliar feeling of shame burn the back of his throat. ”No,” he says. ”I just.. do.”

His Mother hasn’t taught him how to stop yet (and now he’ll be sure to ask her.)

It’s the mention of hide and seek that makes him prick his ears, look eagerly up at her. He likes games. The one she mentions is his Father’s favorite. Whatever reluctance had crept along the lines of his face vanishes with eagerness. ”I’m actually pretty good,” he boasts. ”Yan usually sends me a picture before he hides.” It’s their own version of a scavenger hunt - of all the places in this Forest that Yanhua has found and that he shares with Nashua.

Confused at her declaration, his brow furrows. ”Better?” he asks. ”Mama just says we’re different.” Yanhua who is more like her, who has her color and her eyes, who has a mark of his own and her gifts. He’s the one who's different. Nashua pulls his wings in closer, suddenly insecure with his revelation.

Oh, but she says that word. The one that fills his green eyes up and makes him brighten, makes him cast the shadows around them a little longer.

”It’ll make him happy?” the boy asks, remembering the shapeshifter and the way that he had brightened this wood. Whatever doubt had been preying upon Nashua vanishes as he realizes, ”Your my sister?”

It’s something he hasn’t thought about. It has been him and his mother and Yanhua for the first few short months of his life. There has been nobody else and suddenly, when he is told to stay put, Taiga is opening up to him an assortment of ways. ”I didn’t know bugs could eat the stars,” he blurts out but he believes her. Obviously, it’s true because she has the physical proof of it flickering about her.

It’s only her next demand that makes him hesitate, loosening his auburn wings so the edges of them glint off her aura. ”These,” he offers. ”I can’t fly yet. But Dad said he would teach me.” His green eyes look through the shadows and peer down at her pale ones before he glances abruptly up again, ”Like you!”

Intrigued he asks, ”Can you do that? With the lasers and rakeroos?”

and for every king that died
they would crown another

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@[Celina]