-Adria-
All types of magic cane be found in Beqanna. Some horses have stronger talent than others. Some are elementals like herself, and some deal in shadows and sin. Adria had been taught from a young age that magic here could splinter and re-shape itself. There was virtually a limitless amount of ways it could transform and change the person it infected. She knows that there are mind readers out there, and for the very first time in her life she wishes she could read Jakub’s mind.
He agrees to take her where she wants to go, but when he looks away it’s obvious to her that so much more goes unsaid.
But the Nereid appreciates him indulging her anyways, so she stays close by while they walk. Personally she feels comfortable with the black stranger. Her state of mind is at ease, her shoulder lightly brushing against his own when the path narrows around a bend or forces them closer together. She looks around at the tangle of jungle and delights in the myriad colors that Leliana has used to paint her flowers. Everything here seems to fight against the destruction that had come close to tearing apart.
When her companion begins to talk though, Adria forgets entirely about sightseeing and focuses on his warm, open expression instead. Her senses are lulled by the sound of his pleasant voice; the world around them melts into a blur because Jakub takes her away from it all and transports her, through his descriptions, to that dreadful evening.
She can clearly picture him crashing through the surf as the chaos went on in the background, trying his best to guard those less fortunate. Inside of her chest, the bright vermilion mare can feel her heart begin to constrict against her will. She’s usually not so taken by first appearances but somehow Jakub keeps drawing her closer. When he tells her about the pegasus Adria is leaning in towards him, her nose inches away from his face and her full, round eyes turned up to gaze at him totally fixed.
They both tilt their heads to look at the marking, and that’s when Adria notices how far they’ve come.
“Oh, I was nearby.” She tells him in good humor, stepping away from his side and immediately feeling a bit colder because of it. She was in a daze before, now she needed to clear her head, get his wild blue eyes out of her mind and the soft, inviting smell of his skin out of her nose for a minute. “Ironically I helped a few of the horses you gathered from Tephra and transported them safely to Ischia. It was the least I could do… ”
Suddenly, she looked away from the nearly bare earth and back to him. The volcano’s rocky base rose up behind her and made her skin stand out. “I can’t speak for your thoughts, but what you did that night was incredibly brave Jakub. That kind of power - the power to have good win out over evil - is stronger than any magic ever could be.” She gasped passionately.
The little mare slunk back to him, feeling as if she could hardly contain herself from wanting to hold him close to her. Her head bent out, searching, but she pulled it back as if doubting herself and her actions. “I wouldn’t have forgotten you either.” The water mare smiled, a bit bashful. “But I’m pretty glad we’ve met each other now, aren’t you?”
Smoldering, the honey-gold color of her eyes rose and fell into the watery blue of his. Adria stepped closer. Her voice, which had been confident before, sounded borderline seductive when she asked, “Is there anywhere else you’d like to take me? Some place that you consider your own personal hideaway?”
Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me
@[Jakub] (; oo la la