08-28-2021, 11:05 PM
Moira decides to swim home to Ischia. She follows the coastline south, keeping very close to the shore. To her left are the seagrass meadows that grow in the calm and shallow waters along the Pampas. They are a stark contrast to the arching red sandstone she has just left behind. She’s paused at the mouth of the river, and lifted her head above the water in an effort to determine her location.
Stretching ahead of her is another meadow, one that lies beneath the open sky rather than the brackish water in which she floats
It looks very inviting, and Moira’s stomach rumbles.
She can’t recall her last meal, but she was sure it had been a very long time ago. Moira wades into the shallows, and as her hindquarters rise above the water they transform from a single fin to a pair of long dark legs. Like her front legs, they are marked with gold and blue-violet, the same jewel-like shades that color her fin-like mane and tail.
The young nereid keeps most of her aquatic form, intending only to graze for a moment, and then be on her way. The fading light of the setting sun catches on something sparkling, and Moira raises her head as she swallows. She frowns, and cranes her head a bit higher, then climbs a nearby rise to be sure.
Yes, that’s definitely the sea over there, and farther south is more of the Pampas peninsula. It would be a far shorter journey to swim up the river and cross the grasslands on foot. She might even make it back to Tephra by nightfall. Moira knows nothing at all about the residents of this place, but surely they wouldn’t begrudge her a brief swim and crossing through?
Elated at the idea of being home sooner than she’d planned, Moira quickly finishes eating and returns to the water. She climbs out again at the edge of one of the largest fields of wildflowers, and begins to make her way across, heading toward the distant sea as the light slowly fades around her.
Stretching ahead of her is another meadow, one that lies beneath the open sky rather than the brackish water in which she floats
It looks very inviting, and Moira’s stomach rumbles.
She can’t recall her last meal, but she was sure it had been a very long time ago. Moira wades into the shallows, and as her hindquarters rise above the water they transform from a single fin to a pair of long dark legs. Like her front legs, they are marked with gold and blue-violet, the same jewel-like shades that color her fin-like mane and tail.
The young nereid keeps most of her aquatic form, intending only to graze for a moment, and then be on her way. The fading light of the setting sun catches on something sparkling, and Moira raises her head as she swallows. She frowns, and cranes her head a bit higher, then climbs a nearby rise to be sure.
Yes, that’s definitely the sea over there, and farther south is more of the Pampas peninsula. It would be a far shorter journey to swim up the river and cross the grasslands on foot. She might even make it back to Tephra by nightfall. Moira knows nothing at all about the residents of this place, but surely they wouldn’t begrudge her a brief swim and crossing through?
Elated at the idea of being home sooner than she’d planned, Moira quickly finishes eating and returns to the water. She climbs out again at the edge of one of the largest fields of wildflowers, and begins to make her way across, heading toward the distant sea as the light slowly fades around her.