[open] I know who you wanted me to be

[Aela]

The moment that Beyza think-speaks about living in Ischia, a thought clicks into place in Aela’s mind. Ischia was where she had gone. I heard you had left Pangea some time ago, the slender palomino reveals (and the memory linked to that knowledge remains open for the White Magician to peer into, if she wished; Beyza was not someone that she was trying to get the better of nor was she someone that Aela was making trades or bargains with). It had been a fellow Pangean who had told her that, Kensley, and a relation to Beyza through his grandchildren, her daughters.

Has Ischia changed with the Sinking? Aela’s inquiring mind wants to know. She hasn’t been since her encounter (beauty pageant) with Enoch; that had been under the rule of Dame Aquaria. Learning that Beyza and her daughters now lived there shifted the map of Aela’s aspirations. Like Pangea, it would be a territory that the former Seneschal would keep her ambitions from.

It’s been too long, she affirms and then does something that is a rarity for Aela, And I’m sorry for that. The younger mare reaches out and moves to touch the cheek of the pale woman before her. I’m not, Aela answers when she takes a step back. I resided in the Pampas before - her lovely head tilts towards the very ocean that Beyza had been crossing - it resided there. I’ve since moved North, where my brother Reave is king.

Perhaps Beyza remembers their first interaction when Aela had still been a filly and she had slipped through Brennan's magical barrier. She had little love for the North then as she does now and though there is a small regard for her grandmother Heartfire, there isn't much else for that place. It's at least not underwater. She thinks with a slender roll of her shoulders and a wry expression to the White Magician.

@ Beyza