The way he sheepishly ambles backwards elicits an amused grin to slip coolly across her lips. Nayl’s face is damp, but that’s more due to her tiresome swim than his snort. Although she is able to find humor in the situation, her expression remains generally stoic; her eyes, however, are alive, burning, with curiosity. ”Ashley,” she nods her head in recognition as his name tingles the very tip of her tongue. His presence wraps around her and tendrils of him almost seem to creep into her mind only to be met by her fortifications, blocking him from prying further. The tickling of his attempts gratifies her as she lavishes in the protection of her thoughts, but she says nothing of it to him. Their gaze meets silently and a brow merely quirks, but nothing more. ”An eroding path makes for a nice, secured home, no?” Visitors are rare, he admits, and she glances back across her shoulder to observe the ocean that she just traversed. ”It’s quite tiresome swimming the distance,” her breath is still heavy as she continues her recovery. Tired, she hardly moves. It’s actually tempting to lie down, but Nayl holds herself steadily knowing well that she has to represent Nerine as best she can.
Their group of three is prepared to venture inland where the shade tempts them with a gentle gale. Nayl looks on hopefully, but takes pause when hearing Djinni introduce them both with the appearance of another female. Ashley, having been apologetic and more open, is shadowed by the mare’s presence. Confident, but not overly-so, as she steps forward into their small group and observes them with calculating eyes. Ea, she calls herself, and Nayl responds with an acknowledging nod while her name hangs nimbly in the air among them, tied with Djinni’s voice. ”We are from Nerine,” she adds simply with a lopsided grin, ”far west of here, but on the mainland.” It had been a long trek here, she muses, but with her recent ventures to other lands her fitness has certainly increased, not that it was any way poor beforehand.
”Shall we take to the shade as Ashley had offered?” She didn’t want to entirely immerse herself in their home or lose sight of the coast. She idly slips past and takes refuge beneath the first row of trees that greets her. The sun’s warm hands slink away from her skin once underneath the palms, providing a wave of relief as she looks to their small congregation. ”We are just making rounds to these new lands to see what lies outside of our home. I wanted to see who survived the reconstruction of Beqanna and how they’ve managed so far,” she wants to weigh out friends and foes, calculate how her home is thriving in comparison to others, how best she can bring Nerine to greatness.
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