Beqanna - Tephra

when all we know is falling, ashhal and/or cassian

Sat, 21 May 2022 06:03:49 +0000

CASIMIRA

dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah

When Reave had warned her of a storm coming to Tephra she hadn’t quite known what to do with the information. The flooding of the south had already left her on edge, the waters having crept too close for her liking. Another natural disaster could prove to be the tipping point for the volcanic kingdom—the one that pushed them over the edge and into oblivion. She knew how to prepare for an attack from another kingdom, but how was she supposed to ward off nature itself?

Other than sharing the information with Savior, Leliana and Isilya are the only other residents privy to what Nerine’s king had told her. Her fear was that warning everyone would incite widespread panic, and it seemed unnecessary when it was something so beyond their control. She could not change the weather, nor did she know exactly when it would hit. It would do nothing but cause everyone to live in fear of something that could be years away.

Every dark cloud on the horizon is met with suspicion, but she keeps quiet.
Every roll of thunder sets her nerves on fire, but she says nothing.
When the wind picks up so does her pulse, but she gives no indicator that something is wrong.

It’s almost a relief when it finally arrives.

The storm comes, unassuming as all the others, until lightning cracks through the sky and strikes the side of the volcano. The last time the volcano had erupted Casimira had already been dead, shattered to dust by Starsin, and so for a moment she stands, transfixed by the destruction. But more strikes follow, drawing her back to the unforgiving present, and immediately she turns to locate her children and as many Tephra residents as she can.

She does not know how she dodges the lightning strikes as they pepper the earth, and she tries to not look too closely at the rivers of magma that course by her as she runs. She focuses instead on the faces as she passes them, mentally checking them off the list when she instructs them to get as far from the volcano as they can before moving on.

Just as quickly as it had begun, the shower of lightning strikes ceases, leaving Tephra to boil in the aftermath.

Breathless, Casimira comes to a stop not far from one of the roaring currents of lava. Her ice-blue eyes are bright and shining with adrenaline and fear, her body is coated in an armor of dragon scales, and she tries to will her heartbeat to return to normal. She stands in the wake of the destruction the lightning had brought upon her kingdom, and wonders if she will have to see Tephra partially destroyed in each of her lifetimes; wonders, too, if she had failed her home yet again.

It is then that she realizes that there are two faces she has not yet seen, and she tries to swallow down the panic rising in her chest.

when the storm decays and the sky it rains

Sun, 15 May 2022 23:30:32 +0000

Starros had not been in Loess when the earth had shook, when the cave he had taken shelter with his family in had turned to rubble and the inhabitants were forced to flee or be drowned in the sea that came rushing in. He is in Tephra when the storm comes, though it takes him a long time to realize that something is wrong. It is just rain, after all, even if the sunbeams of his wings flicker out and the deluge dampens the feathers enough that he wills them to disappear into his sides.

An instinct thrums in his heart, telling him to run, but he is young and bold and thinks this is just some silly remnant of when he was a young colt and got spooked by everything.

Even when the giant bolt of lightning strikes near the volcano, he tries to reason that it’s just a little abnormal. Until the trickle of lava he is walking near begins to overflow its banks, seeping and turning into a wide river - which encourages him to move a little faster.

(but still not running - this is completely fine, probably. Maybe the lava in Tephra runs like the water rivers do when they are fed by the melting snow. Maybe this happens every year here)

A rapid succession of flashes elicits a small yelp out of him, especially when one bolt collides with the ground uncomfortably close to where he is. More of the fire-hot and dangerous liquid pooled upwards from the ground. That instinct to run rises from a thrum to a roar but he is frozen now, watching in horror as the spot of forest floor that he stands on turns into an island, lava seeping around him as the rain finally begins to let up and the sunset returns to the sky.

Starros remains where he is, captivated and surprised and frightened all at once - and completely spellbound by it all. The sounds of the world begin to seep back into his mind - if someone else was near him during the storm, he hadn't noticed. His attention solely rests on the lazily flowing lava that surrounds him.

STARROS

sun in my eyes, navy blue skies

Sun, 15 May 2022 15:36:36 +0000

Malik knows that Tephra had not been an island when he was a child, but the sinking of the south had happened when he was young enough that the wide expanse of water does not bring him the same odd chill that it might to his elders. His father had shared stories of the drowned lands, of the flowers of the pampas and the year-round fire of Sylva’s woods. Malik recalls one visit to the rocky hills of Loess, but had preferred swimming between the wind-carved buttes with his cousin to traipsing beneath the blazing sun.

There was no explanation for what had happened, no answers for those who had lost loved ones in the flood. The creatures that had appeared in the South at the same time seem the most likely suspects to Malik, and yet they have done nothing but remain beneath the sea. They’d even hosted a feast for their neighbors, one that his sisters had found delightful and unsuspicious.

These thoughts, among others, race across his mind as he crosses the strip of land that connects his childhood home with the mainland. He’d overheard sometime in the meadow mention a terrible storm in Tephra, and he needed to be sure. He needed to know that it, too, had not fallen into the sea.

The young stallion is relieved to see the waving palms and tropical greenery still standing, but there is an unmistakable scent to the air, of ashes and old fire, and an acrid smell that he doesn’t recognize as ozone from the lightning strikes. He almost stops at the shore that had once been the border with Sylva, but remembers what his mother had said about her meeting with Casimira and heads into the kingdom.

Though he has reassured himself the place is here, Malik still feels the need to keep looking. He tells himself it is for anyone at all, to be sure that there is no lasting damage. But part of him knows that he’s looking for his twin, and the farther he moves into the once-familiar kingdom, the stronger the nostalgia becomes. When he reaches the first river of lava, its banks edged with burnt trees, he stops, trying to determine what had happened.

a thunderstorm

Sun, 15 May 2022 14:11:29 +0000

There is nothing about the rain that seems suspect.
Not at first.

Midwinter storms are common on the newly-isled Tephra, the cold snows of the north and east turned to a heavy drizzle, warmed by the sea and the heat of the steam that rises from the near-molten earth. The clouds that roll in from the horizon are at first unremarkable, thick and dark and crackling with thunder. The storm moves quickly, bringing a caliginous caste to the early afternoon sky, so that the light feels nearly dusk.

The morning rain continues to fall as a faint drizzle, heedless of the incoming storm.

A pair of flaming phoenix hummingbirds dart through a misty break in the warm air, passing an ibis resting in the shallows of the kingdom’s largest lake. A family of giant otters play near the bank, splashing and chattering despite the dreary weather.

The first lightning strike comes long before the storm.

It is impossibly large and eye-achingly white, and it strikes the side of the volcano - obliterating everything, even the crust of the earth. There is nothing but a large moat-like lake around the volcano, that part of Tephra and everything within it destroyed.

No other strike is as large as the first, but each of them are bright and they fall rapidly, dotting the landscape with new wells of magma. Fires spark, and the world pauses.

It ends almost as quickly as it began, the blink-and-you-missed-it storm that has drastically altered Tephra’s landscape. The flames smolder and die thanks to the damp foliage and the driving rain, and the storm begins to shrink. It pulls in on itself, drawing smaller and smaller until it is nothing but a cloud. And then it is nothing at all, and the early evening sky over Tephra is lit by a brilliant red sunset that paints the cloudless sky a vibrant gold.

Something had caused this, something otherworldly.
But what?

****

Tephra has been severely damaged by an incredibly large thunderstorm, but is still habitable. The rivers of lava are larger than before, with several ‘ponds’ of magma and one large lake of it surrounding the base of the volcano. Curiously, the lightning and the increased lava flows avoided all residents and visitors. Though it’s certainly no fault of the storm if some of them were startled and leapt into the path of danger.

and if we die, burn down the forest

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 02:33:10 +0000

i'll burn your name into my throat, i'll be the fire that'll catch you.

There is some unseen thread between them, he thinks. His father always scowls when he asks about the man with glowing eyes and dripping wings. But his mother is kind and she distracts him with her stories or a nice walk to the rivers and lakes he loves. Scourge has always adored the way the water hisses when it meets his skin. Anonya just enjoys the few moments she’s able to kiss her son’s forehead before he grows too warm to touch again.

But today he will not be sated by distractions and affections. Today he waits until his parents are asleep before he goes creeping into the woods with the light of his own glowing eyes to guide him. He wanders until the forest canopy overhead is so thick that it chokes out the light from the moon and stars. There, in that perfect black, he watches two blue eyes open before him. Scourge’s breath catches in his throat but he bites back the fear. Another step forward. The eyes blink slowly, like a pleased housecat.

“Who are you?” he demands, but his voice cracks and his knees quake.
“Only a distant relative,” a voice answers beside him, startling him so he jumps back.

When he looks back to that thick darkness, nothing meets his gaze.
Slowly, foxfire blooms to life and Crowns emerges from behind the yearling boy. The magician says nothing as he comes to rest alongside the burning child.

“Why do you keep following me?” he asks in a whisper.
“Is that what I’m doing?” he laughs, hearty and full. “I suppose I’m bored and you just fascinate me.”

A long silence builds between them: the jack-o’-lantern and the jackal. Scourge can hear his heartbeat like a roar of thunder in his ears until Crowns finally speaks again.

“What is it you want from me, though? You’ve entertained me all this time and I’ve given you nothing in return.”
“I.. I want what you have.”

More laughter fills the air, so loud and shrill it sends the sleeping birds from their roosts. The sound sends a shiver running up Scourge’s spine and he tastes bile on the back of his tongue. This was a mistake. Whatever hatred his father had for this creature seemed earned, now. But the wish has been heard and the serpent is already coiling itself around his heart. Though he sees nothing touching him, his chest grows tight and he whimpers in fear. The boy can hardly hear the magician proclaiming his stipulations.

“Five years. You can borrow my strength for five years’ time, and in the end I’ll collect what’s mine. Keep fascinating me, Kindling.”

Before the pet name leaves Crowns’ mouth, he is already running. Thick vines strung between the trees like pythons try to hold him back but they burn and wither at his touch. He runs until that laughter echoes only in his skull and not in his ears. When the sun peeks over the horizon and he is sure his legs can carry him no further, he collapses at the Tephran border, alone and terrified by what he’s done.

Be our guest

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 22:29:53 +0000

Somewhere near the kingdom of Baltia, if you happen to be standing along the shoreline, a small (very harmless) army of brightly colored frogs begin making their way out of the water. Some are orange and blue, others pink and purple, some sparkle like glitter. They ribbit and croak and…sing?.... as they hop along their way. How they know where to go is entirely uncertain, but they disperse, each in the direction of their targeted land. They seem to be dragging a small package of sorts held together by seaweed.

As they reach their destination, they begin to sing. Or at least, something akin to singing. The tune is not lovely and there’s some croaking involved, but the words are intelligible. You can almost forgive the frogs for being off key for the sheer fact that they can speak at all.

We invite you to our feast,
beneath the briny deep,
to celebrate new friends and new beginnings,
and to share a meal.

We bring with us a treat,
breath beneath the waves.
Take one or five,
there are plenty for all.

The frogs finish their song and stay put. Though their voices carry well, they know that their job is to deliver the message a few times before hopping home. In addition, they will wait for someone to collect the kelp package, for they are well trained frogs. Inside that package are many small, round plants that are clearly the “treat” for breathing underwater.

***

Everyone in Beqanna is cordially invited to a feast in Baltia for the duration of April. Throughout this month your character can breathe underwater and may visit the kingdom as much as they like. You may have individual threads or just participate in the main feast (coming soon). Have fun!

I felt alive and I can't complain

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 22:49:53 +0000

Isilya

yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene
her purest of crystal and brightest of green

The years slide together for Isilya, but that is not something she minds in the slightest - not when they have become pleasant again. No lasting darkness, no reign of nightmares, no reason for her to root herself to a single spot to provide light to those she loves - all the rest that call this kingdom home. Her tenure as queen feels like a hazy dream, a pleasant interlude, and she is so glad to see Tephra doing well with Savior and Casimira.

There’s no young tree bearing a foal this year for her to care for this spring, nothing requiring her magic except the small trick of playing with the flowers that grow along her spine. They change colours as she walks beneath the dense jungle canopy. Each petal alternates between soft purple to rich grey to a bright white in time with the sound of the rain falling on the thick waxy leaves. A storm is rolling in but the sound of thunder is still distant and soft still.

Nature’s storms bring no fear for Isilya - it’s the ones caused by dark hearts that bother her. And right now those thoughts are nowhere near her mind. It has never been difficult for Isilya to focus on the lighter things.

One of her lantern birds, one of just a handful that she's kept up all these years later, swoops over her head - its golden light soon disappearing into the false-dusk that the oncoming storm has brought to Tephra.

Isilya follows it leisurely, humming softly to herself, and when the shadows deepen further the flowers that drape down her body begin to glow as well.

’twas not her soft magic of streamlet or rill
oh! no, it was something more exquisite still

open to any!

living just to say goodbye; Casimira, any

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:58:42 +0000

I tried to sell my soul last night
Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite

He doesn’t know why he had even bothered to come. He shouldn’t have, and yet here he is. Boredom perhaps. Or maybe a perverse sort of the same masochism he had accused her of the one and only time he’d ever seen her. And yet, despite his callous accusations and brutish behavior, she had invited him here. Spit at him in irritation, but an invitation all the same.

And stupid idiot that he is, those words had stuck inside his head. It has been such a long time since anyone had actually bothered to offer such a thing that he’d been blindsided by it. Though she had left him with anger burning inside his gut, once it had cooled he had actually thought about what she’d said.

Though he had refused to claim her as his daughter, a part of him couldn’t help but be almost… proud? But gods, who would ever have thought anyone with his worthless blood in them could amount to anything. No doubt she’d been better served by him not being in her life.

He would freely admit he’d been a complete and utter ass, but he always has been. Better she learned that than to imagine he could be anything to rely on. Nor had he come now to try to claim any place in her life as a relation. No, he is here because he’d grown comfortable in having a place to call his. After Loess had sunk into the ocean and he’d been set adrift once more, the loss of that comfort had struck him the hardest.

As he strides into the volcanic kingdom, wings settling at his sides from the flight over, he realizes he does actually know why he had come. He wants that comfort back.

Also open if anyone else wants to annoy him

i'm only whatever you make me

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 23:20:57 +0000

helice

It’s unlike her to disobey her queen this openly, but she feels no worry.
Baltians are strict in their respect: the Queen outranks her, so despite her feelings, she bites her tongue and agrees when Tsilutsuli says to keep their distance from the land dwellers. It works for a while; she continues training, keeping to herself. But the thought stays in her mind: although the land inhabitants seem harmless — weak and disorganized, even — they outnumber Baltians several times over. Helice sees no benefit in keeping them at arm’s length when they can be utilized by her army.
So she swims, alone, leaving behind her guards. If they suspect anything, they will say nothing. She’s instilled enough fear into them.

Helice reaches Tephra’s shores, though of course she doesn’t know it by name. She looks relatively harmless with no knowledge of her reputation following her — any battle scars have long been healed over, disappeared with every year stolen from another — and she hopes she doesn’t set off any alarms, as an outsider would in Baltia.
The greenery of this land is unlike anything she’s ever seen, and she allows herself a moment to be impressed. She continues to walk, with no particular destination, looking around as she navigates her way through the dense thickets, but pauses as a colorful bird flies past, catching her eye.
She steps closer to where it’s landed on a branch: long-tailed, bright blue and yellow and green, not at all like the large gray vultures she’s accustomed to seeing feast on the carcasses of her fallen soldiers. She avoids the Ruins now, pushes away the memories of their lifeless faces, tries to forget the name of every dead body.
She’s unsuccessful.

A squawk from the unusual bird brings Helice back into the moment, and she scowls at it, looking around once more.

all i want is nothing more, any

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 19:27:50 +0000

Savior

These are the Tephran things he loves the most:
if you are still long enough, you can feel the earth shifting underfoot.
If you are quiet long enough, you can hear her breathing.

He has been dormant too long, the Tephran king, listing in the shadows, feeling only the humidity gathering in his lungs and the kind of contentment that comes only from security.

He had not thought himself worthy of the title, a simple man without any particular aspirations, and now? Now Casimira flourishes as queen and he loves her so completely that sometimes it is all he can do to simply exist in her presence.

He emerges now, glinting in the soft light of spring, and studies the landscape that unfolds around them. There had been such a seismic rift some years ago and he thinks sometimes that he should venture outward, that he should look more closely at the way things have changed, but he was built for Tephra. He was built for this alone.

So, he stays put, his eyes flashing a vibrant green and then softening into a pale yellow.

He does not call out, simply stands beside a lava flow, lets the heat sink bone-deep and draws in a long, cleansing breath.

Should they need him, they will find him here.

YOU REMIND ME WHO I WAS AND WHO I WANT TO BE
YOU REMIND ME THOUGH NOT WHOLE, I’M NOT EMPTY

Your conscience, your guide | Areane

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 03:08:16 +0000

The day was balmy, not very pleasant. A harsh wind blew down on Tephra’s northern shores, mixed from the cocktail of volcanic activity far in the distance and a low-hanging blanket of heavy clouds. Everywhere the eye could see was duller because of it, blanched from the lack of a bright sun.

The sky was mostly quiet of birds, today; it seemed like the moody weather and foul winds weren’t a good type to fly in, so they kept roosting -

- Except for one.

Just above the fortified canopy of a thick, jungle forest there was a figure swaying up and down in the sky. It looked … drunk. Obviously the wings were struggling to flap, which was why it bobbed up and down in a carousel-like motion, but it was large and bulbous-looking. Bulky.

It came into view just before plummeting down through the canopy, bringing the sound of crashing branches and chittering animals along with it.

Kestrell opened his eyes unceremoniously a minute or two later, knowing better than to move or struggle. He was dizzy - more than he’d been while flying, but that was because he was actually spinning around this time. He breathed, shivering from the sweat beginning to cool all over his pelt, and realized that there was a stiff pressure binding his legs and wings together.

Fuck, he panicked a little.

He looked down and saw the foliage-covered ground hundreds of feet below him, and realized that he’d managed to tangle himself up in a cluster of thick Tephra vines.

Damn the Gods to hell! He cursed his bad luck, wriggling gently to get a feel for how tight the restraints were, but quickly stopped. It was useless to fight against them, for now. The jungle had him tightly in her grasp. He was already weak enough from flying, and sick from an infected wound left to fester for the better part of two days. He wasn’t working his way out of this predicament any time soon.

With deeper breaths, the pegasus stallion tried to stay calm.

Think. He ordered himself, and so he did: all into the supposed afternoon while nothing came to mind but how hungry, tired, and sore he was.

i was reminiscing just the other day

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 01:47:35 +0000

Tarian had blinked and then, somehow, Starros and Areane were of a similar age that he had been when he had bid family farewell on the Pass. He had barely passed his second year when he had decided to make his way into the world, and as he watched the twins he shared with Altissima over the last few days, it made him all the more determined that they would venture into Tephra. The pair had spoken about the move several times, and some time before, had begun the migration towards the West, venturing over what used to be the South.

Then they had lingered on the border of the kingdom until winter had set in, and though there was a part of him that had hesitated over his old loyalties to a kingdom and its Queens that were gone, the former Champion of Loess had finally decided it was time to move on. His family couldn’t stay in this stagnant state forever; with winter finally arriving and realizing that his children were growing so quickly without the protection of a kingdom, he knew that the time had come to change that.

He had spent his entire life in kingdom service, and though he would have abandoned it if Altissima asked, she hadn’t. So they had decided on a place that would be warm, where they could both bask in the warmer temperatures and not become so reliant on hot water springs during the colder seasons. ”Ready?” he murmurs to her one frosty morning, finally ready to make the move official, looking to his mate - watching her color-changing gaze - for any indication of hesitation.

Perhaps it was because of his own that he went searching for it on her lovely face. The last time he had done this, Tarian had only been seeking a place for himself. He had landed in Loess with the knowledge that if he was refused a place there, there was most likely a bachelor band or another place that would have taken advantage of his decade of fighting experience. Before that, it had been the Guard and Tarian had been too angry to care what would happen if they didn’t accept him.

Now it is him and Altissima, Starros, and Areane, and though he tries to conceal his worries about what will happen if Tephra were to turn them away, Tarian begins to stretch out his wide wings and closes them again (the third time since the sun rose), mentally chiding himself since their journey through the dense jungle will be on hoof. They could fly over Tephra but finding a place to land would be another thing. The twins had ventured off earlier, and the only thing to do now was to actually go; the last thing Tarian needed now was Altissima's nod of approval (and perhaps a little reassurance) and they could be off.

head fast toward the light

Sat, 12 Feb 2022 22:11:29 +0000

Mazikeen

Although she knew Myrna and the twins would be interested in venturing to Tephra, Mazikeen left them in the safety of Hyaline. It was going to be difficult enough walking into the jungle kingdom four years after she had last been there - the day she had given birth to her first children and then left them there. She worried that bringing her daughters with her would give those memories more potency - even if there was absolutely no intention of leaving anyone behind this time.

She does not take the same route as she had last time, which is easy to do since there is now a wide channel of water almost entirely separating the west from the rest of Beqanna. Striped hawk wings carry Mazikeen over the water that is bright in the summer sunshine and she focuses on the glint of the water below instead of the nerves that cause her heart to race.

Her trips out of Hyaline over the last few years have been few, and she usually had company whenever she crossed the mountains. Mazikeen’s mind fractures in hundreds of directions, remembering the friends she has not seen in so long, the conversations she had when she was not herself, the bridges that have burned.

It is good to have a purpose to her visit today, it gives her something to narrow her mind on. Last time she had come here seeking a purple mare, and while she wouldn’t mind seeing Wishbone again - it is the current queen she is seeking out as she lands near the border of the jungle. She keeps the striped wings folded at her side, squeezing them tighter than necessary - trying her best not to focus on any scenery that seems familiar and instead hoping to see a certain white mare, someone who had once helped her with her quest. Back when she thought the worst thing that could ever happen to her was losing her shifting.

could have followed my fears all the way down, cassian

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 04:10:22 +0000

CASIMIRA

dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah

After her brief but insightful encounter with her estranged father, Casimira could not stop thinking about finding Cassian. She had become so wrapped up in her own life that time had slipped away from her, and after staring at Ashhal’s face — the lines harsher, and not nearly as kind as Cassian’s, but the similarities were there — she had realized it had been far too long since she last saw her twin. After the death of their mother they had both retreated to their own respective corners of the world to deal with their grief; for Casimira that corner was hidden inside of herself, and it was there that she soon made her home, effectively shutting out the rest of the world.

Tephra, the birth of her youngest son, and the earthquake that had left her kingdom as an island had dislodged her grief and taken up that space in her mind for a time, and she lost herself in the whirlwind of events, and the urge to find her twin was lost with it.

When she had visited Hyaline most recently (something she had started doing more frequently after running into Atrox; that, and it served a dual purpose of keeping the ties between the two kingdoms strong, since Hyaline had been her home for years) the shock of seeing her mother—alive and physically whole, though to Casimira’s trained eye there was something still amiss—had jolted the thought of finding Cassian once again to the forefront of her mind.

When she awoke this morning she had decided that this would be the day that she searches for him. His wayward tendencies often made him difficult to pin down, but she liked to think she knew him well enough to know at least most of his favored haunts, and flying would be the fastest way to find him.

Stepping towards the edge of the newest coastline, she lets her dragon wings erupt from her sides, her pale blue eyes sweeping across the perilous looking land-bridge. It is just as she is preparing to take off that a movement on the bridge catches her attention, and while at first she is on alert simply because she is always cautious of those entering the kingdom, it is after taking a closer look with her shifted dragon eyes that she feels an excited surge in her chest. “Cassian?”

I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones, anyone

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 21:50:32 +0000

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.