He smiled sadly at the lavender mare’s excited response to his parentage. He supposed that yes, he was half-star, but in his aging bitter heart he felt this had only been a curse. He was confined to darkness, had been denied a father, and somehow he felt these two things had combined to prevent him from ever achieving anything. As well as being stuck in the caves for only the stars know how long.
Ischia… He liked the sound of the word, the way it conjured up images of sand and sea. He peered past the mare as she gestured in the direction of her home, but was distracted by the subtle difference in the eastern sky. It would only be a couple of hours, perhaps three, before the Sun reclaimed the sky, and he would have to hide.
‘Yes, Beqanna once was different. I lived in a place called the Falls, or the Dazzling Waterfalls. It was beautiful, there was so much water, and the falls themselves…’
He sighed as he remembered playing in the currents, peering up at the huge height of the falls and wondering at the power with which the water slammed into the pool at its feet.
‘The water there even had healing powers. But somehow I was trapped in the caves when the land shifted, until now.’
He longed once again for the cool touch of the Falls’ water, still feeling the sting in his skin from his earlier encounter with daylight. With this thought he focused his attention back on the young mare, who was not-quite-still on the water’s surface.
‘Would you happen to know anywhere in Beqanna that might have a waterfall? They often have caves behind them, and you see the Sun burns me up. I really need to find a safe place for the day.’
He coughed slightly after so many words, his throat tight from the unfamiliar effort. It was only as he thought of the last conversation he’d had with another horse that he realised he did not know the lavender mare’s name.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve been so rude. I am Astraeus, and you are?’
@[Kylin]