[private] I saw the end in the mist of the river

[Nashua]

Perhaps it was because of Reave’s love of chaos that Nashua was never entirely certain where his younger brother stood. Whatever path he might take was bound to be erratic.

The last few years in Beqanna had been quiet, apart from the sinking of the South. No kingdoms had declared on each other; in fact, none that he knew of even offered aid to those escaping the devastation and ruin. Tephra was as quiet as Hyaline and the Isle had no more of a presence than either of them.

In any other era, that quiet might have been taken as peace and Beqanna might have thrived under it. But in this one, Nashua thought they were all drowning under a weight of silent grief. If not from losing a loved one in the floods, then from the Darkness or some ailment, or perhaps through their own penchant for ruin, like him.

Maybe something would be better than the silence.

”It’s more than inviting,” Nashua told Lilliana’s youngest son. ”No deals, no alliances, nothing. Gale is volatile and dangerous and the North must have nothing to do with him.” His Cursed half-sibling had once been King in Hyaline, and then in Tephra. That had been some time ago, but Nashua knew better now. He once thought by following the lead his mother and twin had set for him - that they were to never speak of the Curse - would be the thing to erase it from living memory.

But an evil like that doesn’t just fade, and the former leader of the North didn’t doubt that the brindled stallion was out there somewhere, biding his time. The Isle, Taiga, and Nerine would have nothing to do with the accursed creature. Not until the very end, whenever that came. An end that Nashua was convinced would involve the Mountain.

Reave’s half-smile distracted him from those darker thoughts, and Nashua nodded his blazed head. Good. That was settled, and it allowed them to move their conversation to other important topics. ”I’ll remain on the Isle for a while,” the Freyr replied. He cast a side-long look to his youngest sibling and then smirked slightly, ”Keep an eye on things.” He teased Reave before his expression sobered again.

Turning his face to the sea, Nashua sighed.

”Then I might, I don’t know. Explore the Beyond. Perhaps try to find some of the lands Mother used to speak of.” Windskeep, Paraiso, places that Nashua hadn’t even believed in until Ori had shown up, proving that they really existed. Maybe that really was where Yanhua and Amarine had gone. ”Do you… Can you see anything out there?”

@Reave