[private] Distance never made me stronger [Nashua]

[Nashua]

As Nashua had initially thought, the woman covered in scars and stars certainly has a story to tell.

He walks quietly, and listens as the smoky black starts her story in the Falls. It fascinates him and when he is given a chance, the striped pegasus explains that he had been raised on old stories of places like the Dale and the Falls. (Texas and Believer - once rulers of the Dazzling Falls had been a story that his mother had liked to share). He tells her about the Dalean royalty that his bloodline was supposedly descended from, a son from the line of King Solomon and his Queen, Lavender. He shares with her what it had been like to grow up in Taiga and that his twin has been his constant companion since the time they both could stand.

But what starts pleasantly changes. Some part of him had expected this because the scars that she wears do not come from an easy life so Nashua listens carefully to his Thane as she tells about how she earned some of them. There are mentions of monsters (and some part of him prickles at the mention, because he is the son of one) and his expression darkens at the trials that the dark mare has faced. He has known struggles but what Ciri has faced? It seems nearly unimaginable to Nash and he can only offer his patience now, listening to her recite her story and interjecting only when permitted. And when the problems turn away from monsters to the personal ways that can wretch a soul, there are some things that Nash can share.

Castile, he explains, was a name from his youth and the dragon-shifter had taken up residence in Taiga for a time. His smile returns tentatively, recalling the former King of Loess. It had also been Castile, he explains and his blazed face drifts towards the location of the remaining burn marks on the Isle, that had razed this place about a decade or so ago. And then, he reveals something personal to Ciri who has already shared so much with him. Nashua tells her about his mother being stolen away before he and Yanhua's first birthday (and perhaps giving insight into the close bond he has always shared with his brother) and that they had been brought up through their adolescence by two aunts, a fraternal and a maternal one.

And then he tells her that he considers Leilan the father that he never had.

By the time that their stories are finished, she is looking at him with an apology swimming in her silver eyes and Nashua gently shakes his head. It isn't needed. "No. Thank you," he tells her and looks at the star-guarded mare from over one speckled wing. "For sharing it with me." It was more than he had hoped for but it leaves Nash feeling that their confidence in each other can only benefit the Isle and therefore the North. It's when she mentions his brother, Gale, that the lopsided grin that he shares with the brindled stallion emerges. "That's another brother," he reveals but the warmth in his voice shines through his summer-green eyes.

"Hyaline is one of our friends," he explains. "As well as Tephra to the West and Loess to the South." There is a source of pride in this, because Nashua can never recall a time that the North has made peace with all the other kingdoms.

@Ciri

NASHUA