CASIMIRA
dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah
Despite the earthquake that had disrupted the land, Tephra had been quiet. The newly-formed island had mostly escaped any other kind of extreme changes, and for that Casimira was grateful. The landbridge—not exactly passer-friendly and more than a little treacherous—did not bring many visitors, but, neither did the skies. It was as if the entirety of Beqanna had settled into a hush, afraid that sudden movements might once again stir the land into shifting and reforming, and there was never any way to know what the outcome might be.
She did not mind the lull, though. Her mind was a loud place, with far too many thoughts and worries that never seemed to fade. For her kingdom to at least be quiet was more than she could have hoped for. She was content to walk the coastlines, to slowly wind her way through jungle paths and along the lava-fields that her mother used to warn her to stay away from when she was a child. Her residents were quiet, too, made up of mostly smaller families that kept to themselves, such as Magnus and Isle, and Nightlock and Wonder, along with both their children. It was the kind of peace she had always hoped to find, the kind that had so often escaped her.
She wished that she could have accepted the peace for what it was instead of looking at it like a warning. Instead of wondering constantly when it was going to end, or what kind of turmoil would spring from the serenity.
This afternoon she finds herself along the western shore, facing Ischia. Unlike the new, flooded coast that faced what had once been Loess, this shore remained largely unchanged. Staring out into the bright blue of the waves as they rolled almost lazily across the sand it was easy to pretend that nothing had changed; that Beqanna had not been rocked, that her mother had never died, that she had never run into her previously unknown father unexpectedly.
In that hypnotic way that only the ocean can do she lets her mind be scrubbed clean, exhaling a soft sigh into the salty breeze.