[private] it's all gone with the wind

[Pteron]

and since you’re the only one that matters,----------------
----------------tell me: who do i run to?

The shrill cry of a parrot startles Pteron, and he turns back to where the distant birds shelter in the foliage. They are the loudest of Ischia’s residents, but they have been abnormally quiet as the eclipse draws near. Their silence contributes to the overall sense of unease that permeate the island, and Pteron is grateful for the distraction that Lilliana’s words provide.

So Yanhua is in the Taiga, Pteron thinks. Perhaps he will visit.

(He will not; there are too many memories there, but today he thinks he might)

The chestnut mare calls out to the colt, who comes quickly enough that Pteron knows he must trust his mother. The pegasus smiles at the boy, grateful that Lilliana has been able to find romantic companionship even after his father’s assault, the one that had resulted in Nashua and Yanhua. He’d responded to his own by turning what had been a weapon into recreation, though he somehow finds it difficult to imagine Lilliana reacting in such a way. She is too serene, he thinks, still and settled in the way he imagines everyone older than himself to be.

So the uncertainty in her voice is disconcerting, and a frown settles on his face as he finally takes his eyes from the sky. He fixes his olive gaze on Lilliana, steady and quiet as she speaks of Gods and a Seer. When she finishes, he can only shrug. The solitude that Ischia provided from the rest of Beqanna will not be enough to keep them from the Darkness that has been lurking on the mainland, it seems. That his seemingly eternal relaxation might end is not a welcome concept, but Fate has never cared much for what he desired.

“Perhaps,” he replies, “That would explain such a vision.” Aegean has Seers in his family, Pteron knows, and while the future is a changeable thing, he also knows enough to realize that some parts are more certain than others to those with the gift to see them. “I know little of gods, except that the magics of Beqanna have always been enough to keep them in check before.” That something will block Beqanna’s sun seems to imply that would no longer be so, for what magic is there in a world with devoid of light.

@[lilliana]

-- pteron --