[open] a house with no mirrors

[Nashua]

stars when you shine, you know how i feel
oh freedom is mine

Ischia doesn't disappoint.

Nashua stood on the beach, waiting patiently to be approached by one of the locals as Leilan had instructed. But the chestnut pegasus keeps looking around, unable to prevent the fascination that overtakes his pale face. There is so much to see: from the lush jungle to the sweet tropical scents dancing on the breeze, from the crystalline ocean that just keeps pushing waves towards the shore to various seashells dotting the sand.

It was nothing like the Isle. Nothing like their grey tumultuous seas or their isolated landscape. Nothing like their jagged still-scorch-marked coast or the still-recovering flora and fauna. Nashua lost himself for a moment, noting the differences between the two lands and recalling his first visit to Ischia. What had ever happened to Velkan? And Eugene and Egwene? Did they still live here?

He is glancing out over the water when something first draws his green eyes. They narrow trying to make out the aquatic that leaps out over a rather impressive wave. The sunlight glistening over the water makes it hard for Nash to interpret what he sees at first - probably just another finned creature that claims the depths of the mysterious sea home. His brow furrows, trying to see if he could spot it again.

The (seal? dolphin? walrus? porpoise?) doesn't make a repeat showing. At least, not where he looks out. Pulling itself towards him and then somehow stopping below his hooves. Nashua blinks and then lifts his head while taking a step back. There was a tail where his hindquarters should but the front end of the dunskin colt was definitely equid, the back-half was another question entirely. There was something about his face though - something familiar - that Nash couldn't quite place.

Pulling his wings up, Nashua studies the colt before the brief shock (as he still looks at the tail, the teeth) is overcome by a warm yet impish smile.

"I come on a top-secret mission from the Isle," he says, finally lowering his blazed face a little so that the boy could better hear him. Pricking his ears forward, Nashua then vanishes fully from sight and flickers back into view, still holding that wildfire grin, "can I trust you?"

NASHUA

html by castlegraphics; art by MirrorLands