[open] out of the dark [any]

[Nashua]

stars when you shine, you know how i feel
oh freedom is mine

Nashua has stopped a polite distance away from the dark stallion. Their conversation holds all the promise of being a cordial one, something his mother would have approved of. It quirks that handsome smile towards one side of his mouth, an unspoken jest. Most of Beqanna knows the Isle as a land ruled by another Dragon king; his subjects have taken on the reputation as an unruly bunch, distrustful of outsiders.

And yet here stand Jesper (once Lord of this place) and Nashua trading pleasantries as if they might courtiers instead of reputed marauders.

"Likewise," the pegasus says to the older stallion. The lopsided smile evens out and finally reaches his green eyes, the glint of them warmer than the sunlight that very rarely warms anything this far North. Nash has been on the Isle nearly two years now and though his stays are frequently interrupted by his travels, it's home for the striped stallion. "Cold, the younger stallion says factually and flicks his flaxen tail, as if it might tempt a stray strand of sunlight to his chestnut hide. "And it could perhaps use some greenery," replies Nash before hastily explaining, "but I grew up in the Taiga. Where the trees weren't towering out of the soil, there were ferns and shrubs everywhere." He doesn't add more; Nashua assumes that he doesn't need to. @[Jesper] probably traveled through the Redwood forest more times over the years than Nash had.

There is a fondness in the expression that follows. Nash looks over his shoulder towards the northern part of the Isle that still glittered with snow in the distance. His wings ruffled against his sides and for a moment, Nashua imagines the journey towards the edge of Beqanna's known world. The aurora burned across the sky brightest there, as if the lights there knew they dancing between realms. He had thought about it once or twice, aiming to fly so high that he found the stars. A story of his youth and the chestnut brings himself back to the present, where he tilts his head invitingly to Jesper when he glances back to his companion.

(The smile on his face tilts with it and turns into a smirk that plainly marks him as Wolfbane's son.)

"That you were very cunning," the pegasus teases, though Leilan had never imparted as to why Jesper might be so. Not realizing that his eyes have changed to a familial (playful) shade of blue, Nash adds, "He told me that you once had charge of this place." The stallion eyes the other curiously. "What were those days like?"

NASHUA

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so sorry this took forever