[private] you can't hold back time

[Nashua]

Nashua’s mood had been like weather on the Isle of late. 

The copper pegasus stared out across a gray sea, but the day was so overcast that even the foaming whitecaps escaped Nash’s notice. Everything since his return from Hyaline feels muted - like the journey to reclaim his son from Gale and Mazikeen had sapped the last of his reserves. Noel’s worry, Ciri’s anger, Leilan’s distance - these were all things that weighed heavily on him and Nash did his best to placate all of them. 

But after he had tried to alleviate Noel and appease Ciri, after finding Leilan, Nash had come out here.

The Edge of the World, as he liked to call it when he had been younger. 

It was a point past the heart-shaped lake. The ice mountains glinted in the distance and though winter hadn't creeped across the rest of Beqanna yet, the ground crunched beneath Nashua’s hooves with the sound of new-fallen snow. As a young pegasus, he’d enjoyed flying out here. The earth was flat - nothing between him and the sky. Nothing but the horizon ahead and other worlds just waiting to be explored. 

To Nash, it seemed like another life now. 

Now, his life was about his duties as a father and a leader. It was about trying to do what was right for the Northerners while still ensuring his family got what they needed. For years, Nash had split his duties between the Isle and Taiga; a feat that had felt so much easier (lighter) when he knew that Yan was there. But now, his brother was missing and as much as Nashua had wanted to head the search for him, he couldn’t. 

His twin was missing. Another brother - Gale - was afflicted with a generational Curse. And somehow, his youngest son had gotten caught in the tangle of Beqanna politics. 

With his mind trying to unweave the knots, the chiming sound of glass flowers broke his thoughts. Looking back to the source, what he finds there is a surprise.

@Cheri

[Cheri]

The Isle loomed in the distance just the way Cheri remembered it, white and imposing underneath heavy, snowy clouds. This late into the summer Cheri knew the tundra must be blooming, finally alive with life and sustenance after being killed off by the ice and cold. On a balmier day she might’ve touched down and enjoyed the sights, taking the time to reminisce about a happier past. She had only ever visited the northern kingdom once, during the festival Leilan had held when he’d been Freyr, and as much as she would’ve liked to make the most of a second trip Cheri knew that a lack of time (coupled with the necessity of action) prevented such leisurely activities.

If all went well today and in the coming future, perhaps she could find the time to manage a royal tour. Visit every Kingdom seat and create a new custom by doing so. But not today.

Instead, today the vibrantly-colored pegasus mare was fighting to keep her wings free from being bogged down by icicles. The farther north she flew, the more difficult that became, and eventually the crystalline horse decided to abandon flight entirely for a trot along the coastline instead.

The exercise kept her warm at least. And the gray waters slapping against a stony, gently sloping shore kept most of the cold underhoof at bay. Ice still formed along the fine, unkempt feathers growing at the base of her heels, and it gathered under her chin and trickled down her hair until the green strands clumped together. By the time she reached her uncle, Cheri was huffing plumes of frosty air from her nostrils, her wings clamped firmly around her body in order to keep what little warmth she could.

“Uncle Nash.” The new arrival called out softly, aware that he’d most likely seen her approach. On any other day the greeting would’ve had a brighter, more friendly air to it, but something in her Uncle’s mannerisms - along with the heavy weight in Cheri’s heart - tempered her mood. She sounded almost … apologetic.

“I wish happier tidings could’ve brought us together.” Nashua’s niece spoke candidly with him. “I’m sorry for not coming sooner.” She said, standing near enough that her consolation could be paired with the familiar brush of her satin black nose against his spotted wing.

@Nashua

[Nashua]

His mind was a storm of troubling thoughts.

The recent visit to Hyaline had revealed to Nashua just how deep Gale and Mazikeen had sunk their proverbial claws into his youngest son, a Northern Prince. It also revealed to Nashua how every horse around him - his mate Noel included - had their own thoughts regarding the Eastern Kingdom and how to deal with them. The Northern Thane - Ciri - was out for blood where it regarded his former half-brother. Wishbone - the Queen of Tephra - had a daughter almost stolen by the Cursed creature and had been attempting to notify all the kingdoms?

As Cheri calls Nash back from his reverie, he wonders if she made it to Loess?

Nash rumbles a low whicker that smokes from his pale nostrils and his distracted expression clears for a moment, as the Freyr catches a glimpse of the filly that she had once been. He blinked and the lean, long-legged girl was once again a mare grown, those hazy days in Taiga long gone. "Cheri," he says, returning the greeting to his niece. A note of affection lingers in his baritone voice, a rare warmth found in a place as cold as the Isle. The young Loessian (Nash can smell the steam of the hot springs and the clarity of the summer on her dark skin) sounds remorseful but the older stallion shakes his blazed head, making it apparent that his niece has nothing to apologize for.

Not with him.

It's only the mention of ill tiding that dims the little joy on his face, and Nash assumes she means the absence of her father. It's rankled him that he can't do more - the striped stallion has searched the entirety of the North and then some. He's spent far too much time away from the Isle as it is, but when he can, Nash searches for his horned twin, refusing that his brother would just simply... vanish. There was more to that story and Nashua didn't care how long it would take. He would discover the truth of what had happened to Yanhua.

For now, though, there is his daughter. Cheri speaks of not coming sooner, but the winged horse gives his head another small shake. "Your Da was very proud of you," he tells Yan's daughter. "First to be accepted to train under Queen Oceane, and then rising through the Loessian ranks." Nashua says, certain that Cheri knew this. Having most of his time taken up by the North and its affairs, he understands why his niece had been away so long. "No apologies. Just tell me how you've been, lass."

@Cheri

[Cheri]

Nashua was the King of the North. By all appropriate titles and official knowledges, he was lord and regent of the Isle, the moors and cliffs of Nerine, and the shadowy redwoods of Taiga. Commander, counselor, Sovereign bearer of the crown. They were the factual parts of her Uncle that the rest of the world knew him by, but to Cheri he had always been something else.

Nashua was her father’s brother. According to all her cherished memories, he was the adventurous and high-flying relative from up north, keeper of the best stories about Beqanna for the time, and a most beloved family member to Cheri. His children had grown up right alongside her, and the clans of the northern sectors had experienced a great time of peace and bounty under his constant watch.

Now the gray mist enveloped them both, clinging like their individual sorrows in a way that made their alternative selves seem dim in comparison. How could Cheri be expected to walk the straight and narrow path when she felt like straying off it entirely? How could she expect Nashua to help her when his needs were the summation of an entire kingdom’s worth of problems? It all felt impossible.

What helps is the way his kind words make short work of her melancholy. “Thank you Uncle.” She said quietly. “It’s good to hear you say it.”

She did her best to nestle her head into the crook of Nashua’s winged shoulder, wanting to give him the sensation of comforting a needy child without really alluding to the fact that she was neither a child nor needy. In her own way, Cheri thought the warmth of her embrace might help with the real loss of his offspring, but she would never be so callous or brazen as to bring up the shocking news in a response to his query on her life. Reave had only just told her about the stolen prince back in Nerine, and Cheri was willing to bet the horrible shock was enough of a silent pain without her verbal acknowledgement.

“I’ve been thinking.” She told him. “About how two heads are better than one, you know.” Cheri wished she could smile. The best she could manage was not to sound miserable.

“I understand the North needs you right now.” She admitted. “And I hope you can forgive me for this, but I came to ask a favor of you.” The black-and-green pegasus asked hesitantly, taking the moment to pull herself away from familiar coziness of his scent so the winter King could have his space.

@Nashua

[Nashua]

Nashua isn't entirely sure how the years had passed so fast, only that they had.

Cheri nestles against his side, and out of habit, Nash lifts a speckled wing to allow his niece to huddle a little closer. He'd done this often with her and her siblings - as well as his own children - dozens of times over the year, but the familiarity of having her suddenly so close is reassuring. These moments had been common in the North, until suddenly they hadn't been.

Until it felt like the only thing that remained in the Redwoods was echoes of what had once been.

Stop, Nashua tells himself. These thoughts did nothing; they didn't bring back Bolder. They did nothing to bring him closer to Noel or their remaining children. It did nothing to abate Ciri's need for revenge and it did nothing to cure Cursed Gale. And it certainly did nothing to bring the ones they had lost back.

It seems, though, that when Nash is struggling against Fate, that the Winds will guide him in another direction.

He turns his blazed head, gazing down at his Loessian niece as she speaks of how two heads might be better than one. If these were happier times, Nash might have smiled with her. They might have even laughed together. But there is the weight of worries of a kingdom and his family dragging the Northern leader down. And Cheri is mourning the loss of her parents, and perhaps the last vestiges of her childhood as well.

The North will always need a Guardian. And so long as Nash breathes, he will be here to answer that call. But being a member of the Northern tribes was more than just dwelling in Taiga or Nerine or the Isle. It was about the very bonds of the horses who lived within those lands, much like the bond between the striped pegasus and the crystalline one nestled lovingly beside him.

That would always go above and beyond borders and boundaries, kingdoms and crowns, for Nashua.
It isn't something that he even has to think about.

She steps away from him and he lifts his head to peer down at Yanhua's daughter as winter suddenly gleams brightly against the icy terrain that surrounds them.

"What can I do, Cheri?"

@Cheri

[Cheri]

Asking Oceane for her blessing came naturally. Telling Obscene about her plan to rally the North together into a meeting had been easy. Requesting Reave’s presence had been a hopeful chance. But asking her Uncle?

Cheri felt like it might be asking too much of him. If she were being honest with herself she’d admit to feeling guilt over the matter, knowing everything she did about his situation and the North’s surmounting problems. In fact, Cheri had no honest claim to the northern Kingdom anymore, having become an expatriate herself. Her duties should’ve been focused on the south, not back home where her family members were.

But that was the cost of leaving everything and everyone you loved behind. She couldn’t just claim a title and metaphorical crown while forgetting all the horses who’d helped along the way. It wasn’t in her nature. She was desirous of a different outcome where the two could finally be combined: North and South, not separate but whole. A future where she wouldn’t have to choose between them, and the family could be whole again. That was her design.

She couldn’t do it on her own.

“You can come south after breeding season.” The black appaloosa told her Uncle. “Come to Loess. I say we host an accord between the Northern and Southern leaders where we can share our concerns and talk about an emerging solution. We’re stronger together.” She believed, tilting her head to get a better look at Nashua’s expression. “And from what I hear, there’s danger lurking in Hyaline.”

There. She’d said it: mentioned the plague of so many problems brought up to her along the journey to Icicle Isle. This “imminent threat” neighboring Nerine and crusading throughout Beqanna causing turmoil. Not the Kingdom itself - Hyaline and her mountains were hardly to blame for the loss of Bolder - but what evil lurked within the land instead. Gale, and Queen Mazikeen who was allowing the conquest to go unchecked.

“Oceane supports the idea. So far I’ve spoken with Obscene and Reave about the matter. Both seem interested enough to appear and I doubt both of them will come alone. If dad were around...” She let the sentence hang and then drop. “You were my final destination. If you disagree, that’s it. I’ll call it off.”

From one rising monarch to another more established one, Cheri hoped the Freyr would understand why she came to him last. She’d assumed he would want her to do the leg work of answering any questions before he even needed to ask them. Not only that, but he was the farthest away. And, as the regent leader of the North, his word was law. If she presented the entire picture to him without wasting valuable time, he could more easily come to a decision that would benefit his subjects best. She’d thought about doing the opposite - going from him to Reave and then the others - and in the end this path seemed most direct. Now all he had to say was yes or no.

Her respect for him would never fade, regardless of what he chose.

@Nashua

[Nashua]

Once upon a time, when Nashua was still discovering his wings, he finally decided to brave the open sea. The Isle had loomed in the distance, a small, glistening speck on the horizon, but it had shone to the young pegasus, as bright as Polaris. Nash had spent weeks staring over the ocean, studying the waves and the tides and the way that wind could roar over the open water.

But it had been the gentle nudge from his maternal aunt - her golden shoulder lightly pressed into his winged one - that had finally prompted Nash to make the journey. "We have a duty to ourselves, to our kingdom, and to our family, Nash. While I've given it to all of them, I've found that only one has offered to share the burden." The words had been spoken when Nashua had still been young, considering a wardship on the Isle under Leilan, and yet worrying what it might mean for his Taigan ties. He hadn't wanted to sever those connections and when Elena had spoken those words to him, it had made the young pegasus consider: why choose?

If his family was the North and the North was their kingdom, why couldn't duty to family and country become the same? In his youth, it had seemed like such a practical idea. As Nash grew older, when he had witnessed Yanhua's coronation with both their families in attendance, with even some of their half-siblings coming, the then-Hersir had thought that the dream might even be attainable. And perhaps, it could have been a little bigger. Having Gale in Hyaline had made Nashua wonder about all the good that they might accomplish, that temporary peace could be made a lasting one through blood and bonds. That it could spread not only from the North, to the West, and even that kingdom that saw the demise of his notorious father, the South.

A copper ear flicks towards his niece, as he listens to her mention of a meeting in the autumn.

Nash's dream is gone; vanished like his missing twin.

But, perhaps, not all hope is lost.
Perhaps it was to come through Cheri, an onyx-and-viridian beacon of change.

His green eyes glance down to meet her emerald ones, listening as she went on to explain that the meeting would be held with other leaders. Reave, another family member, would be going. It might have failed for Nash, this dream of a triumvirate of brothers crowning a kingdom. But here was a chance to still do something good; here was a chance to bring two realms together and as Cheri mentions the threat lurking in Hyaline, he agrees whole-heartedly with her statement that they would be stronger together.

Together might be the only way to contain Gale and Mazikeen in the end.

"Be careful of Hyaline," Nashua finally warns her. He wondered briefly, what she knew of Gale and how much she had heard about the stirrings in the East (apart from the theft of Bolder). What had Yanhua told her, if he had even said anything at all? His expression turns dark and troubled, as he glances back out over the ocean. "It seems to be attracted to... familial ties." He finally elaborates in a quiet tone, recalling that Cheri had been at the Midsummer Festival. The gleaming gold-and-blue hides of his half-brothers had been pointed out to his own children, and their relation had been no secret among the rest of the family. "And Loess is...," Nashua starts, "Gale was born there." Did that spare Cheri's adopted home? Or make it a target?

He couldn't be sure of anything that Gale did, but he would do his best to ensure that Cheri wouldn't be taken by surprise as he had been.

And perhaps this route - by agreeing to this summit she was calling - would be the best way to help not only his niece but the entirety of the North as well, perhaps even Beqanna. The white caps rolled higher, and the winds changed direction, a sure sign of a coming storm. "Aye," he said and found the beginning of a tender smile for Yanhua's daughter, a rare thing for the now-stoic Freyr. "I'll come."

@Cheri

[Cheri]

The warnings about Hyaline never sit easily with Cheri. Nash’s would be the third mention of the mountainous Kingdom, his being the first to settle with any sort of weight over the green-winged pegasus’ shoulders. Be careful, he told her. She thought she had been. Giving the territory a wide berth in her flights, choosing to stay as uninvolved as possible while addressing the concerns of Hyaline’s actions in ways Cheri could tackle, balancing the atrocities with her duty as future Queen of Loess and not just as Cheri, Nashua’s niece.

But she’d have to tread on even lighter hooves if she wanted to put her Uncle at ease.

She could never admit to him that a very select part of her plans involved drawing Gale and Mazikeen to her doorstep. He would certainly never agree or come to an accord if he knew. They are playing the long game, Reave had told her. As much as it might pain her father’s brother, Cheri knew they would have to match that energy if the north and south hoped to ever keep astride the infamous duo to the east. They, too, must play the long game. Cheri where it concerned her missing parents, Nashua where it concerned his youngest son.

She assumed it was the best option, but Cheri wasn’t foolish enough to think it was the only one.

That’s where her peers came into the picture.
“Blessings to you.” Cheri thanked him, pressing the flat angle of her lovely cheek into the side of his neck. She closed her eyes and let the moment linger, then drew back with a heavy sigh. “If it helps ease your mind, I’m aware of the history and bloodlines connecting Loess to the North. I’ll treat Gale with the caution he’s earned himself, I promise.”

His mother and father were, after all, a legendary duo themselves. Their history was as rich with success as it was rife with destruction, and the spiraling tale of their losses and gains had been strung together with help from Tarian and her Lady, Queen Oceane. Her interest in the subject began long ago when she’d first pledged her allegiance to the south, and had only grown to become a niche subject for the studious pupil in her progessive years afterward. She had her father’s abhorrent distaste of the matter to thank for that. Of course Cheri would latch onto the one topic her father hated talking about most.

Back in the present, she was content to remain here on Icicle Isle overnight. Nashua seemed like he needed the company and Cheri had missed his and Noel’s presence in her life. At one point, the pale mare had lived in Taiga and Cheri remembered those days with a warm fondness. Those were languid hours spent with her cousins, brief moments of safety in a world where none existed.

“It seems like only yesterday that we were all here, watching Yanhua get embarrassed in front of a crowd while Leilan flower crowned him.” The young immortal laughed, high and clear as a chiming bell. “I wonder what the old Dragon King is up to these days...” She sobered herself, grateful to keep her composure while talking about a fresh wound.

She’d rather they talk about anything at all, save for the hard things. Those would come to light at the accord - when it was necessary to address them. Perhaps it was also a bit childish of her to want to drag Nashua down an opposite path when he’d so clearly been dealing with his own thoughts before she arrived, but selfishly Cheri also knew he wouldn’t deny her inquiry. Nash had lost his son, Cheri had lost her mother and father. It felt like they needed one another.

“Want to take a flight with me, fill me in?” The slender appaloosa proposed to the Winter King.

@Nashua

[Nashua]

It's easy to pretend that the last few years haven't happened as he glances down to where Cheri presses her dark cheek against his copper coat. For a moment, he can pretend she is a child in Taiga again and that she is thanking him for bringing her favorite flower, lillies, or that he has regaled her with some story about a grand adventure outside the Taiga. He can pretend she is thanking him for something smaller than kingdom politics, and he can pretend that the world outside the North isn't quite so vast.

(Though as his green eyes gaze down at his niece, Nashua imagines that it might not be that way with the dreams that Cheri holds.)

He only quiets his own sigh when she mentions that she knows the history and the bloodlines that connect Loess to the North. Nashua knows them well enough by now; as a young pegasus, he had flown across Beqanna searching for a source of good where it concerned his biological father. He had learned all about the former Pirate Lord, the stories that came straight from Loess about deals made and bargains brokered (and alongside all those stories came the mention of his wife, Lepis). In those days, Nash thought if he could find a sliver of good where it concerned his sire, it might help abate the darkness he saw on the faces of his mother and brother, Yanhua.

But then Lilliana had returned from a visit to Tephra - had met a mare named Wishbone - and told a tale about a Curse and a stallion named Longclaw. Your grandfather, she had said, with a face that looked like it had been torn apart by storms. He'd wanted to hate his father then, for being dead and gone for years, and yet there was his mother's grief shining fresh from her blue eyes.

Cheri sums the history up so neatly, in a way that Nashua thinks their mutual relation - the austere Aletta - would have approved.

She says she'll treat Gale with caution. Makes it a promise that allows Nashua to breathe a little easier where it concerns his Cursed brother. When she draws away, the young pegasus is remembering Yanhua's coronation and the laughter from that day fills the Freyr's ears. It echoes from the past and rumbles out from his pale lips as they quirk in a lopsided grin, momentarily erasing the troubled years since then. "He hated that crown," Nashua remembers seeing the look in his twin's eyes and the way that he good-naturedly wore it, too kind to remark on how foolish he felt. His boyish grin tugs a little more and turns into a devilish grin, hiding the way that something in him falters at the memory. "I told him it looked quite becoming."

Nashua recognizes her need to keep talking, to keep focusing on anything else, because it is a tactic that he uses himself these days.
 

"Looking for your grandmother," reveals Cheri's uncle. He becomes momentarily serious, treating the subject with the deference that the subject deserved. "He thinks that there might be a chance...," Nashua continues to say, "Well, since he came back. And you and Memorie as well...," the flaxen-maned stallion mentioned, "that she might be out there somewhere."

The rest that he knows?

He flashes that grin again - impish and a little daring - as he begins to step towards the coast. Nashua flares his wings as the Northern wind blows through his speckled feathers, ready for a challenge. "Only if you can keep up, sprite."

@Cheri

[Cheri]

If Nashua was wondering what sort of dreams his niece had fancied up, his niece was likewise wondering what it was that everyone seemed to know - but not telling her. Obscene with his questions and unexpected concerns, Reave with his cryptic responses and waiting for questions Cheri wasn’t inclined to ask, and now her Unc in the North; she could see it there in his eyes, festering like some storm. Cheri imagined that his eyes had looked the same right before she arrived.

It was old history, wasn’t it? She assumed. That was all the winged princess had regarding the entire ordeal surrounding her lineage; her history had been the offshoot of that rotten tree, and a much more loving experience - though not without its equal share of heartbreak. Lilliana, gone missing since the return of the sun. Her parents were still undiscovered. Borderline and Memorie had entirely disappeared. Cheri wondered if, despite it all, they were just as cursed as the rest of the wretched lot.

“Now wouldn’t that be something,” She thought. Imagine if the reason her parents disappeared was because of a mutated curse. She was lucky to be snapped free from the idea a moment later, when asking about Leilan.

“Then I share in his belief.” Was her astonished reply. Leilan had done the right thing. “I hope he succeeds.”

After that it felt like the floodgates opened. So much time had elapsed since last seeing her Uncle that Cheri realized she had a whole slew of inquiries stored up, mouthfuls of hungry questions that needed answering. All Nash had to do was accept her friendly challenge and she danced aside, giving them both the space they needed to prepare their wings for flight. Cheri knew by the tenor of his voice that The Freyr was speaking now, and that he wouldn’t hold back on her account. She looked forward to it.

“Sprite?” Like the kind that danced through her mane when she visited Obscene? The kind notorious to her for their pinches and tangling her hair. “Sharp words, coming from a nag.” She teased, light-hearted. He was right after all - she did look like a sprite, especially covered in bright green. Nashua was hardly a nag, however. Her uncle was a prime stallion, gilded and flecked like a rare bird. For living in such harsh conditions he was also well-acclimated; he and his fledglings always looked fit and well-fed.

“They’ll be especially painful when I make you swallow them.” Cheri bent her hind legs and swept her wings down toward the ground, pulling them and a gust of wind fresh off the northern sea up underneath her belly; she kicked off, boosted into the sky with a little extra help. Several meters above the ground she sagged at the height of her leap, but kept her wings working up and down with lazy, concentric flaps so that she could hover instead of falling back to earth. “I call that little move the Whorlwind.” She waited to gloat until Nashua had joined her.

So, maybe she cheated a little by using her powers to do aerial leaps from a dead standstill … Cheri still thought it was impressive. The motion felt impressive, considering her combined weight and wingspan. For a wingshape meant to float, she sure as hell was doing a lot of speeding these days. She couldn’t claim to be disappointed about it, either.

“What about Mazikeen?” The Queen of Hyaline. “Why is she letting Gale turn on us?” Cheri asked, moving to rise through the air. The Curse could explain Gale’s abhorrent behavior, but the part where Infamous Mazikeen engaged and encouraged the retaliation seemed so out-of-character to Cheri. Last she knew, the cob had accompanied Gale north during the midsummer fair and all seemed well. Obviously, current circumstances proved otherwise.

@Nashua