it was not your fault but mine

[Nashua]

Nash gives his brown wings one more slight shake before settling alongside the galaxy-marked stallion. The younger stallion looks ahead but an ear that flicks to the sound of Aedan’s voice and catches his question. He wonders momentarily if his companion means Taiga or the Isle. Compromising, the pegasus answers with both. "Changing,” he says of Icicle Isle, meaning it’s scorched ground and the residents. "The Freyr - Leilan - has been hosting wards from all corners of Beqanna.” That, perhaps, wasn’t anything new for the Land of the Sunrise.

Kingdoms had fostered the youth of royalty and diplomats before. "We learn about the arts of war but also what it looks like.” He ends on that note somewhat grimly as his good-natured smile thins to a line. There is a group of rambunctious colts that spar and run and test their wings on Leilan’s shore. For the ones that want to learn how to fight (and Nash is certainly one of them), they learn about the devastation that can come after. "There’s talk about the possibility of Magicians or healers coming soon, to help revitalize the land.” A few more steps and Nashua glances over to @[Aedan], suddenly curious to see his reaction. That was what Nash found the most exciting - he liked the idea that he might be a part of this new beginning for Icicle Isle.

"And as for Taiga,” he grins and it shines. There is warmth coming from the broadness of that smile. For as much as Nashua will try to fill his future with adventure and exploration, there will always be an anchoring love for his boyhood home. "It’s a place I think every horse should see at least once.” His green eyes brighten, thinking of its proud Redwoods. A horse would never find a mightier forest in all of Beqanna.

The pair continue to walk along the dark shores of paradise and the pegasus listens as Aedan explains that he was raised in Tephra. A wife and the start of a family was the start of setting his roots in the sandy ground of Island Resort. Though he hasn’t seen everything that Beqanna has to offer (yet), Nash thinks there could be worse places to live or to raise a child. The scent of tropical flowers wafting sweetly on the wind seem to agree with him. And with beaches like this?

There was a world of possibilities to be had here without ever leaving the coastline.

Thinking of all those possibilities and his own youth in Taiga makes him curious. "What was growing up in Tephra like?” Teasing, he adds: "Ever try climbing the volcano?”

nashua

and the days you defend will turn to gold

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