[open] all the stars go dark

[Nashua]

His mind is unlike the River.

The River is peaceful, serene. It moves swiftly, but there is nothing to argue with its path. It moves past Nashua and pays the winged stallion no mind at all. Nashua, in turn, pays the River the no mind. His thoughts remain distracted and the expression on his handsome face is distant, as if the pegasus had already flown miles away.

Nashua thinks of Yanhua, and wonders again where his brother and his herd have gone. He thinks of his younger brothers - of Reave and Oren - and wonders if, in his search for answers, he has failed the brothers that remain. Reave - who spends far too much with Aela than Nash is comfortable with - had been so angry during their last meeting, and he wonders in hindsight what he had overlooked with his youngest brother.

And then there was still Gale to consider (another sibling), wherever he had gone. No longer in Hyaline had been the most recent news, and the rumors of nightmares and dark shadows swirling Tephra had made the King of the North turn his attention towards the western kingdom. If the thing wearing the shape of his half-sibling had gone there, did it mean he might find Bolder there as well?

So many questions, and not enough answers.

Scowling, the winged stallion broke away from the trail and started to make his return towards the Taiga where he knew to find Noel.

But a shape from his past lingers near the River's edge, and her familiar blue spots catch Nash's attention immediately. Olena hasn't attracted only his notice, though, and his green eyes move sharply towards the buckskin as the pegasus approaches the pair. "Olena," the striped pegasus exhales, revealing how worried for her that he had been. It had been years since he had last glimpsed the overo pegasus and his gaze remains a moment too long. Seeing her now is a (momentary) balm against so many growing concerns.

"Are you another Tephran?" Nashua asks the other stallion brusquely, turning his blazed face towards him while continuing to come closer to Olena. "One of the descendants of Kagerus and Solace?"

@Olena @Symba