[open] i left my daydreams at the gate; gar, any

[Nashua]

Nash, much to his chagrin, is a blend of his parents. He wears the copper coat of his mother (though his is slightly darker, like Beqanna took the fire from it) but the green eyes are not hers. The wings and his bright viridian eyes  - as hard as Lilliana had tried to say that they were a gift from some long-dead ancestor named Karasu and his Aunt Elena tried convince him that his emerald eyes came from an Uncle he’ll never know - belong to a father who has been declared an enemy to the Northlands.

For those who know about the Monster and can recall the former Commandant of Taiga, Nashua’s flaxen mane and tail, his stripes and his wings all mark him clearly as his father’s son. There is no amount of insisting that can change that. There are plenty of murmurs from the Northerners who remember the Commandant and recall the pretty Diplomat from the Redwoods. Maybe that’s why Nashua tries so hard to excel. He spars with Leilan and any of the colts who are willing on the Isle. He learns to patrol and as he grows into his wings, he adds his own responsibilities.

Visiting with his family in Taiga is a priority but a patrol of Nerine’s border and an assessment to take back to the Freyer about Brennen’s barrier takes precedence. They’ll have to do more, he knows. Just what that more is has yet to be determined (or shared with Nash).

The girl seems anxious and Nash tilts his head slightly, wondering if he’s the one that’s put her at ill-ease. She’s trembling and Nashua is lost as to how to help. The only thing he can think of is to stand quietly; he makes no sudden movements and he hopes by that the way that he stands stoically still that she understands that she will come to no harm in Nerine. (At least, not from him).

She seems too. The blue filly states a name - hers - rather formally and Nashua dips his head in a slight nod. "Nash,” the copper pegasus offers, abandoning the use of his full name. "Ward of the Isle,” he adds in her response to her own title (one that slightly shocks him as his slender head rises) with a smile that itches to broaden. A princess from Pangea? Here?

He doesn’t have to ask because she renounces her title moments later. She drops it at his hooves, much like her golden gaze. The sky-colored girl drops her gaze and Nash glances down, hoping that she might see that he’d help her when the displaced princess looked up. The metallic smell of blood makes him look away and when Nashua glances towards the sound of hoofbeats, he sees his Aunt Brazen loping towards them. Good, the young stallion thinks. His rather fierce-looking aunt is always a welcome sight to the growing pegasus.

Brazen swings her proud antlers when she stops - like she could take a stab at Ghaul now - and the chestnut pegasus can hardly stifle his grin. It rises boyishly lopsided on one corner of his pale mouth. "This is my aunt, @[Brazen].” Nashua explains warmly with his green eyes resting on her before he looks to @[cirilla] again. (Brazen is every bit as intimidating as her bone-armored edges and Nash adores her for it. An outsider might find her a bit terrifying, though.) At the mention of the Pangean king and another of his heirs seeking shelter in the North, Nashua realizes he will have to take this to Leilan. His Freyer would want to be aware that the children of Ghaul were seeking asylum in the North.

It might mean that something was happening.
And soon.

"If your brother isn’t here, is there somewhere else he might go besides Pangea?” Nashua asks, his mind already alight with all the possible places a Prince of the East might hide. 

nashua

and the days you defend will turn to gold

html by castlegraphics; art by KHARTHIAN

you both got a novel, i'm sorry