&& For You, My Heart Beats

[Islay]

It wasn't uncommon for Mama to travel; once I was old enough to be weaned, she had returned to wandering. But that was alright. Papa told us that Mama was like a star. And stars, as I've come to know, are never still. They are always traveling from one point of the horizon to the other.

Keeping an eye on the sky (always at this time of day, when the sun is so close to sleeping), I know that that the hours are dwindling. Soon, something in me smiles as I search for Bran. My older brother had taken to exploring as our dam did and part of me wondered if that was something I would when I got older; would I leave Islandres? Some part of me dreamt about what was beyond our little paradise but what I knew of Beqanna didn't call to me as strongly as what above us did. The dark.

It was like a secret between Papa and me.

But it is not the dark or the desire to travel that calls to me now. What comes singing across the winds of paradise is a voice that I know and love. It blossoms bright in my chest until it eventually lights up my face and I turn away from the sandy path I had traveling. My steps become hurried and eventually, I am galloping like a squall across the dunes and away from the salt grasses. Rounding the last sand dune, I see them together and I start to glow like my sire (I haven't learned yet how to contain it and in the presence of so much happiness, what else is there to do but shine?)

"Mama!" I call in a high-pitched voice. And then I slow into a trot before I reach my father's side. When I do, I settle between them and look up at the faces I adore so much, the epicenter of my little world. "Papa," I murmur before looking to dam, alight with excitement.  "Mama, where have you been?" I ask, curious to know the places she has found.

Tales of adventure will have to wait a moment, though. My petite face scrunches and I sneeze as a gust of salt-air fills my nostrils.

@[Vita] @[Aedan] if I need to change anything, just let me know! And apparently Islay wanted to be written in first person so please bare with me, lol.