let my shadows prove the sunshine
It did not take long for Tephra to become something he had never imagined it could be - a place of horror, a chaotic descent into what Svedka had tried so terribly to forget. It felt as though the earth had swallowed him again, digesting him in the void of blackness that he once slumbered and nearly immediately - without any hesitation or thought - the two-toned stallion knew it was time to leave.
He never found it possible to be linked closely to something so physical, like a kingdom. Even though there was no heartache to leave what is his homeland behind, there is no pause in his step, no uncertainty in the swiftness in which he had gone searching for his children and their mothers. The light of his armor led them away from the disastrous darkness that seems to now envelope the once peaceful volcanic land, guiding them through the glowering channel pass that allows them access to the nearby island of Ischia.
Svedka had searched for Warden and Wishbone, but the nightmares were too torrential for him to reside there a moment longer. He only had hope that perhaps his siblings would escape the clutches of the shadowy magician who had easily overtaken their home. Warden had been gone long before Gale had ever set foot inside the peninsula and though Svedka never worries, he finds the bitter taste of it growing in the back of his throat.
“I’ve always loved Ischia,” he murmurs to the dampness of Vastra’s tawny coat, attempting to smooth the sharpness of her taut muscles beneath her supple skin. He already knew she wouldn’t have been a fan of the swim and sweeps the pink of his warm lips across her slender sloping neck, already expecting the cautious growl that would slither from her half-smirked lips. The girls, however, found the lukewarm water and the swim through the pass riveting - it gave them a chance to practice their immense shifting abilities, albeit choppy and unrefined.
Ciroc had made landfall as a young harp seal, rivetingly white with cascading sky blue sweeping across the pup’s thick skin. Upon reaching the fine, white sand of Ischia, however, the filly took her natural shape - a young blue mare with outspread wings, grateful for land without nightmares and new scenery to explore. With a toss of her head upward and a decided snort, she leaps into the jungle. Squawks of startled parrots echo the air, accompanied by the twinkling sound of Ciroc’s laughter.
Svedka smiles, finding that it is no mystery that he favors his daughters, especially when their happiness reminds him so much of his own. The light he had used to lead them out of the dark of Tephra is no longer needed in the enchanting isle of Ischia and it dims sullenly, his bright blue gaze shifting to Vastra as they are left alone for a moment wading in the tidepools. “Thank you,” he tells her genuinely, knowing that she hadn’t needed to come with him - they are not promised to each other and could come and go as they pleased, as they have done for years.
As always, though, he rather liked knowing exactly where to find her.
svedka
@Vastra