[private] i had a feeling so peculiar, aedan

[Islay]

Islay had never imagined leaving Islandres.

Why would she?

She could bring the Heavens to the shore, if she wished it. She could bring the stars and moons and the heavens here, without ever having to leave the beach. The two-toned mare hadn’t inherited her mother’s desire to wander. And perhaps this desire to stay on her island belongs to her father, Aedan.

Perhaps this is just something else she shares with her sire.

But once she had regained her freedom, she had come quietly back to her childhood home. The other horses that called this place home came and went like the tides, an ebb and flow of presence that was perpetually coming and going. Sometimes the Mainlanders came to see what this corner of Tephra held and they stayed; sometimes they enjoyed the marsh grasses and then left.

It never bothered Islay what happened. She was a constant in this place, and now with the arrival of Aedan, she is more glad than ever of that. Her mother was like the wind. Capable of going in any direction, of being everywhere and anywhere. Pressed against the warmth of her father, the piebald woman was incapable of holding anything but happiness in his presence.

Vita would come again, and until then, they would have each other.

”I’m alright,” Islay murmurs to him truthfully. ”You and Mama missed the Darkness.” She goes on to tell him, explaining the Eclipse and the monsters it brought. The young mare explained that she spent most of it on the Island, and Islandres seemed to be spared the worst of what the darkness wrought. Perhaps the Monsters couldn’t swim. Perhaps they feared the tides and currents.

It had only made her love this island more.

”But the Light came back, as you did.” She continued earnestly and then reached out to nudge the recently-returned traveler again tentatively. ”Something else has happened... the ground shook and I haven't been to the Mainland to find out, but something feels... wrong."

@Aedan