Nashua's smile warms as her laughter does. It reaches his eyes for a moment until the chestnut pegasus remembers that his mother never saw the other side of the Eclipse. She had been lost to the darkness. "One of the monsters," Nash starts somberly and then doesn't finish. This story isn't unique; there were many families devastated by the shadows.
It seemed like everybody had lost someone during that dark time.
He looks across the tundra where the sunlight glistens across the ice-laden land. His throat tightens and then Nashua reminds himself of the alliance that he and Wishbone had been discussing. Better to focus on that, he thinks. Better to look ahead, his mother had always said. There is no changing the past. His speckled wings settle against his copper sides and the striped stallion glances back to the Tephran leader.
The Freyr is grateful for the change in topic.
"It's like anything that involves family, I suppose." He tells her with a tight smile. "There are hardships just as there joys." But the winged horse sighs and explains, "Reave is young and still finding his place in the world." At least, that was how Nash saw it. He goes on to explain that his youngest sibling had taken the Nerinian territory shortly after his second birthday. "And Yanhua...," he trails off. He isn't sure how to explain his twin's ailment (or that he even wants to) and so says what he knows: "He took our mother's passing hard." It might not be the sole reason for his brother's suffering but it seemed that was when the troubles started.
"We're still working through it," he goes on to say and though his smile dims, it remains. As steadfast as his belief that they will overcome this. "But that is what family does," states the Northern King. "We work together in times of struggle and know that there will be better days to come." He watches Wishbone again, wondering how it might be in quiet Tephra. She and her brother - Warden - ruled alongside each other and Nashua found himself curious as to what that was like. He even ventures to ask her - how Warden fared, how the Western territories were coping after the Endless Night.
(It makes him miss Yanhua all the more; makes him wish that his brother was there to ease his mind with that good-natured grin and his comforting glow.)
His expression darkens at the mention of the theft of her child. It grows even more when she mentions Hyaline. That is where another brother lived and his mate - the Alpha - lived. Where they were raising their own children. "Have you spoken to Mazikeen about this?" he questions Wishbone first. Their last conversation had been terse but the winged stallion didn't think that the pale mare would stand for the theft of children. It didn't sound like something her pack would do, either.
Since the deep-colored mare has shared so much with him, Nash continues to share more with her.
"I have a brother in Hyaline," he mentions. "Gale. He could perhaps assist in finding the culprit who took your daughter."
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