I'll be almost to the ocean when you open your eyes
Things were different now that the sun had returned. The pearly seamare had walked the length and breadth of the islands, noting how badly the darkness had truly affected her home.
Palm trees stood where they always had, but the fronds that had crowned them now lay in rattling brown carpets at their roots. Likewise, the majority of the plant life that had made Ischia such a lush place to live had died off, or at the very least gone deeply dormant. Her vibrant island had a long way to go before the glory of the days before the eclipse were seen again.
The water, at least, she could help with. She coaxed stagnant pools and sluggish creeks to flow again, made them refresh the liquid that had grown dark with decaying matter. It was drinkable again, even if she found herself staring through the surface an extra moment or two these days. Not to look at her reflection, as it may appear; But to examine whether the waters were truly safe again. If the monsters that had lurked really were gone.
She doubted she'd ever really be sure. Not when the memory of their mindless ferocity remained etched into the skin and muscles of her hind. It would be a lifelong caution against the dark, she believed.
Today her patrols took her to the broad shore that looked towards the mainland. She'd spotted tiny bamboo shoots this morning, the first new greenery her eyes had found since the light returned, and it had made her smile. Every day, she was being shown that there was hope. Life refused to stay beaten, no matter how grimly the odds loomed. Her daughters were living proof of that.
Still, she was surprised to find herself not alone that morning. Ischia had been all but abandoned, it seemed. It was rare anyone turned up on her rounds anymore. More surprising still was the vague recognition she felt when looking at the blue painted pegasus mare who hesitated on the sand.
"It's... Carwyn, isn't it?" She asked as she approached, smiling but wary. If that was who this was, Aquaria wondered if she should be worried. The pegasus had been a long time consort of lvar, a subject which the Dame had no interest in ever revisiting.
Aquaria
@[Carwyn]