She remembers in the desert, she had been starting to keep to herself. Staring out across the dunes she had wondered why they would stay in one place, especially when she has heard the stories her parents have told her. There was so much else beyond their world of sand, aching to be explored, to be seen with eyes of diamond. Why they lived in such a tiny part of it was beyond Astana’s own comprehension. It was not her fault though, this strange emotions that wracked her heart whenever she looked out across the horizon and wondered just how long it stretched for. The dull ache of wanderlust in her bones was a gift from her mother, the traveler who had, in Astana’s eyes at least, seen the world. She had conquered great heights, met great people, and seen great things. Astana looked at her mother with such longing and confusion. Why could she not take her twin daughters on an adventure?
It was that question that had lingered in Astana’s belly, filling it with fire until she had made that fateful decision to leave. It wasn't forever, or so she thought, but the world called to her and Astana had been willing to listen.
Astana would not deny the joy she felt with the fact that Kildare had not been able to just simply leave her side. Maybe it was partially because she had remained glued to him for most of the journey like a gum stuck to someone’s shoe. Though, she likes to think it is more that he didn't quite want to leave her. It makes her warm and fuzzy, makes a smile sparkle on her young face. She is entirely unaware of the hold she has gained on him, and maybe if she had been aware she might have used it to her advantage, but, for now, she is just content on him finding her amidst the forest trees.
Diamond eyes see him and she is content. Kildare’s face alone could be enough to turn her day into something special. He has not left her, in fact, it felt a little like he has been exactly where she left him. Like a china doll tucked on a shelf, taken and admired at whenever she wanted to see something familiar and pretty. Something to make her eyes light up when the days will grow grey and cloudy.
He smiles. It was all she needed. His dark face is curved with handsome features, and his eyes are as green as ever, Astana has always found them to be a pair of depthless beauties. Something that, if she stared too long, she could fully lose herself within. She mimics his steps with some her own, bringing them ever closer to each other. A distance that Astana can say she quite enjoys. “Taller, definitely,” she says, looking him up and down with eyes made of diamond. “And I may go as far to say more handsome too,” she says with a giggle, jesting with the dark colt that was slowly starting to grow from a leggy child like herself into a young stallion. “Though certainly not as dark,” she adds, thinking back to Heartfire’s own coat.
Astana hardly understand her current circumstances with Heartfire, a ward of sorts, because ward sounds a lot better than kidnapping. “She is really great,” she adds when Kildare does not instantly share in her excitement over Nerine’s queen. Instead, that smile seems to almost falter, causing Astana to shift under his emerald eyed gaze. “Yeah, you really should,” she says, hoping this was no false promise. Though, Astana has come to realize that Kildare was hardly the sort. “We could build a sandcastle or just play in the ocean, I haven't gone in yet,” she admits. For a child of the desert, that has never seen the ocean, it was wild and imposing for one so young. Her wide eyes had hardly been able to contain it all, as she finally understood the magic of the vast amount of water that her mother had so dearly loved.
Then why had she stayed in the desert? The question rings again, but Astana buries it beneath Kildare’s company.
“That is what I have been saying my entire life,” she says, exasperated, but pleased, someone finally got the words she had been speaking since the time she could talk. “Do you regret it?” She then questions, but there is an edge to her voice, as if this were some sort of challenge for him to conquer. “Leaving Beyond, your family?” She smiles. “Because I think this may have been the best decision we have ever made.”
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