That thick, strange heartbeat had sounded for days, as surely as though it came from his own chest. But they were miles out to see, there at the end of that long strange bridge, and Asterion had no wings to bear him home. There was only to wait, and listen to that eerie rhythm, and hope it was not counting down their doom.
The king told himself it was no different than the breathing of the sea, but he and Cirrus both knew that was only pretend. The gull swept above her companion and all the other horses, an eye on the creatures of the deep and on the wall, but the magic kept its secrets close.
Until at last the world had opened.
Now Asterion stands upon the beach, Cirrus perched upon his withers. The king’s eyes are dark with wonder, and the gull’s are sharp with wariness - yet she does not stop him, as he takes a step nearer the verdant heart of the island. The sand gives soft beneath his feet like any other beach, but the colors are too bright, the birds too strange; not even Cirrus knows their names, and the tongues they sing in are all foreign, no matter how familiar the notes.
Still he pauses, there at the edge, caught between the turquoise water and white sand and the deep, breathing green of the trees. The bay can feel his own heartbeat in his chest and it is too much like those berries. When a flash of gray catches his eye, strangely muted on the bright beach, at first his heart stutters in his chest and he thinks Aislinn.
But it is not that long-gone girl of storms but another pegasus, half-familiar. Even a stranger is a comfort in this strange place (though there is some measure of guilt moving through him like muddy water, knowing she is of Dusk but having no name on his tongue), and he can feel Cirrus straighten with interest at the sight of the crow on her shoulder.
“May we join you?” he asks, once he is near enough to be heard above the waves and the sea-birds with their strange songs. “I’m not sure this place is safe at all - but surely it’s less dangerous alone.”
@Corrdelia
if you'll be my star*
