"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Lilli's boy was growing - almost anxiously so, Leilan might say. He's eager, sometimes too much; to learn, to explore, to graze where no permission was given. They never really met anyone to chase them out though, especially not in the Pampas, or in any of the Northern territories. The Isle was growing back some of it's grasses too - slowly, and the forest was still just a collection of black, burnt sticks - so that red and green mosses were getting some company and the place might actually look liveable again.
If you looked closely, that is.
A sigh escapes the ice-scaled stallion as he takes in the icy plains. Well, it's icy at least, and that's something. No more soot, not after the almost three years it had been now. Far too long to live with an empty stomach; but Leilan didn't have it so hard as, say, Beryl at the time (not that she was around any more), or any of the grass-eating boys who were visiting.
Nashua was perhaps an exception, as he had a similar wanderlust and his wings carried him around easily. It was hard to track him down sometimes, even with his own wings perfectly capable of carrying him around the Isle and the nearby seas and lands; so now, when Leilan caught scent of the young adult, he'd better make use of his presence today.
A quick trot is followed by a summons of sorts, so perhaps the kid stays still for long enough to be greeted. The silver roan grins a bit with the idea, knowing full well how he would feel if someone more experienced would call on him at that age. Nevertheless he does it - and purposefully so - and nears the chestnut mare's son with a sparkle to his eye. "So, Nash, what are you up to today?" he wishes to know - and, perhaps, if he's not allowed to join in on mischievous boyish stuff (of course he isn't, but he isn't going to let that stop him either), perhaps something more useful could be done then. A piece of advice, sure, if it's the right topic, or some practice brawl or tips might be useful.
After all, he has plenty enough initiative already, that he doesn't need encouragement to roam the rest of the world.
nothing burns like the cold
Leilan
@[Nashua]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
08-27-2020, 10:18 PM (This post was last modified: 08-27-2020, 10:32 PM by Nashua.)
Nashua does not have the sea is in his eyes but the reflection of the cresting waves is there. There is no blue in his gaze; it is entirely viridian and full of forests in summer. Nash's eyes are not shimmering the mysteries of the stars or the endless depth of midnight. The young stallion is standing there with the images of storms and surf crashing towards the Isle's rocky shore and the chestnut pegasus looks almost pensive.
While he is casting his gaze out to the endless ocean - like a patient fisherman, like if he continually throws his thoughts to the tides, there could be an answer netted or reeled. The expression doesn't last long (such things never do with Nash. His thoughts are like his travels). There isn't more time to test his fortitude against the coming tide when a cry cuts through the crisp autumn air. @[Leilan]. He knows the call well by now. It's echoed across the Isle for the months that Nashua has been here and now it spreads across the entire North. They all look to him, now.
He grins and wonders how to answer the Freyr without sounding foolish. Nash had been staring at that wide, wild horizon again. He had been thinking about what lays out there and ahead, too. (His mind fills with an image of the statue from Pangea, illuminated by lightning. He thinks of Tephra and the smoldering volcano. There is even the pale girl from Nerine gliding through his thoughts, even though it has been weeks since he has seen Noel last.) "I was trying to find Cormorant," the young stallion admits his reason for being on the Isle coastline. "I was thinking that the next trip I make will be to Ischia and wondered if he might accompany me."
The pegasus had been a small foal the last time he had walked across the white beaches and he thinks (or does he imagine?) that he can recall something about the pale sand at night. Hadn't it glowed like the stars? There's a memory tucked in the back of his mind of Yanhua and he marveling at the bioluminescence of the shore, of his mother saying that it was made of stardust and moonbeams. There's a knot of guilt in his gut and Nashua reminds himself that a visit to the Redwoods is due soon as well. The growing stallion asks, "You've been before, haven't you?" Most likely, the answer is yes. (Is there anywhere in Beqanna the frosted Freyr hasn't been?) The way that Nash glances up to him - half expectant, the remaining half curious - wonders more of when.
What does a Dragon do in the tropics? The Nereids are lovely, he's heard.
There is a moment in which the freyr might have shown a mischievous gleam when Nashua mentions his ideas for a next trip. Might? For one like Nashua who knows him longer than today, it’s probably more of a certainty; that is, if he’s paid attention. ”Ischia, huh? Is it nereids you want to see? Need some pointers?” he grins, a yellowish-greenish tint to his eyes as he chuckles. However, there is a more serious thing to discuss, he supposes, so he moves the topic forward to actually answer the question.
”I lived there, once. Good times.” he muses aloud, remembering the tropical island like an old home - never truly gone from his mind, and forever tied to the faces of Brennen and Jesper. ”The Brotherhood had settled there, before the move to Nerine. Ironically, it’s more of a women’s island these days.” He knows a little thing or two about modern Ischia since that visit with Alcinder, a lucky coincidence perhaps. It might certainly be appealing to Nashua - heck, it would have been to Leilan at that age.
But due to his knowledge of the island, it’s also the least interesting land for Leilan himself - he already knows it’s not a threat and more likely to be some sort of ally, instead. ”What other lands have you visited? Or would you still like to see?” he inquires, wondering if perhaps there is a little mission in it for the young pegasus. If he succeeds in the nereid mission, that is.
I am the dragon and you call me insane
Image commissioned by Vanilla, made by AshesDrawn on DA
@[Nashua]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
09-10-2020, 04:37 PM (This post was last modified: 09-10-2020, 04:44 PM by Nashua.)
stars when you shine, you know how i feel oh freedom is mine
The Freyr smiles at Nash and he grins back. His green eyes sparkle mischievously in the autumn sunshine and the smile on his face turns lopsided, losing its way against his pale lips and turning to something more devilish than boyish. "I met one, once." The young stallion says, remembering his first trip outside of Taiga as his expression quiets. "We went to Ischia to visit with Aquaria." She had been gifted, he recalls. She had pulled in the waves, called in a tide with no regard to the laws of nature, all on her own and the Ischian Dame had been his first real introduction to Magic in Beqanna.
The clarity of the world beneath the waves she revealed is still shining behind his viridian-colored gaze.
The gleam sparks a laugh from Nash. "Are nereids ice-resistant?" He teases back, trying to picture the Ice Dragon much younger. Was he a rogue then, he wonders? A theft of hearts? The chestnut pegasus shakes his head and continues to grin at the taller stallion. Probably still is, he assumes, smirking.
The scaled-stallion tells him about the days that the Brotherhood had claimed Ischia, before the water horses had. He's even heard some of the names now affiliated with the North tied to Ischia. "I've been to Tephra, once." Nash explains another trip, "Yan and I ventured there when were yearlings." He remembers heading south, feeling the Redwoods dwindle and then having the volcano rise before him. It had been like something lifting within him, urging Nashua forward and forward and forward.
At that moment, Nash had truly discovered his wanderlust because each step he took was like coming home. A future that would always be waiting for him.
"And recently, the Resort. My..." he trails off, unsure for a moment, "brother, Gale, is their leader."
Where he wants to go takes little thought on Nashua's part. In the company of @[Leilan] who is fueling his wandering spirit, it already soars above Beqanna. "I've never been to Loess," he admits and looks to his leader. "Or Pangea."
Leilan doesn’t hold back his laughter when Nashua tells him he met a nereid once already, especially not when it turns out to be the Dame herself. ”Well she’s hardly your age, is she?” he grins at the striped boy, then follows with a head shake. ”Try not to lose your head when you’re out there.”
”Most certainly not,” he follows up the winged chestnut’s question. With a head toss and a short laugh, he continues the conversation more easily. ”But if I may give you a hint, try winning a girl over with warmth instead, alright?” he winks a moment, then gives Nashua the room to explain his own adventures. Tephra, hmm, that must have been a while ago. And Gale is a brother of his? A Lepis child, he supposes. He had been wondering who’d taken over after Ruinam.
When Nashua marks out his next visits on the map of Beqanna mentally, a frown creases into the dragon-shifter’s head. It’s not like he’s going to be able to stop him, but he definitely needs a warning to be stealthy about it. ”Those are off-limits,” he says briskly. He doesn’t want such to go unexplained though. ”I’ve little idea how they regard us these days, but there’s who knows how many dragons and magicians in there. If either of them were to make a move on us, I don’t want them to have the leverage of a prisoner. Understand?” His brown eyes look directly into the green of Nashua’s with the last line, all hints of green and blue gone. Darn, he likes this kid. He’d better not be seen, down there.
I am the dragon and you call me insane
Image commissioned by Vanilla, made by AshesDrawn on DA
@[Nashua] I hope this works!
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
09-16-2020, 03:40 PM (This post was last modified: 09-17-2020, 12:57 PM by Nashua.)
stars when you shine, you know how i feel oh freedom is mine
He grins at the mention of warmth (and it’s his mother’s smile - bold, full of daring). "Don’t tell me you scared them all,” Nashua laughs. But the chestnut nods briefly, still smiling and states, "considering I’m not immortal, I’d like to keep my head.” Nash has no intention of losing it, even if he can be a bit hot-headed (and blooded) at times.
There is a moment of quiet that follows, after Nashua talks about past adventures with his brother Yanhua and meeting the other, Gale. He wants to be of more use for the Isle. It is rebuilding, it is growing and it is changing; it’s exhilarating to be apart of it, especially for one so young as Nash.
His spirit sinks a little. He knew, of course, that those places might be off-limits to him. Pangea especially. They had held a Taigan leader - his dam - a prisoner there for almost a year. A year of his and Yanhua’s youth that they would never get back. No good could come from the son of that prisoner wandering the borders of the wasteland. Even if the Isle needed the information.
And then there is something in him that makes his usually gallant expression give way. Was Leilan concerned for him? He assumed that the Freyr did. He knew that the Dragon King wasn’t unfeeling. It’s just the hesitation caught Nash off-guard and he blinked with the realization, unsure of what to do with it.
Nashua dips his head respectfully to Leilan, acknowledging what the roan stallion was saying. (He talks of Magicians and dragons… there have been no rumors about the fire-breathers in Loess for some time. Pangea might be off-limits but Loess? Perhaps. Even if a part of Nash cautions himself against going to the Southern kingdom, his curiosity with the realm briefly overrules his hesitation.)
Despite his wandering ways, he also wants to be of use to @[Leilan]. Maybe the ties he makes with the outside kingdoms could be of use to the Dragon King. "Is there somewhere you would have me go?”
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