[AW] This grand show is eternal

[Asterion]

Asterion in sunshine and in shadow* It is funny, in a way – all his youth spent trying to escape the pull of the tide, and yet all he wants at Novus is the comfort of the sea. Asterion had no particular direction in mind when he began to walk long before dawn, but he is not particularly surprised when his wandering takes him to yet another segment of shore. All lands must end somewhere, after all. Ravos had not, to his knowledge, been an island, but the map of Novus is beginning to unfold itself in his mind, all the edges filling in, and he thinks that it might be. The shore is a strange thing, before dawn. The gulls are all quiet, the wind is still, and the pull and rush of the water is the only sound. He enjoys the way the sand sucks at his hooves as he walks, and washes his footprints away; the sharp-salt smell is like a balm. There is so much here he does not understand, and it all makes him feel so very small (small, and humble, and not at all like the hero he’s always dreamed of being) but here is a thing he knows. Suddenly he misses the land he had left, a fierce ache, but a sweet one, too, for he had not known he was capable of it. It was such a foreign idea to him, belonging. He hadn’t known he had it until it was gone – nor does he realize, now, that that is the way of such things. The sun is risen, now, the first gulls eager to wake up the rest of the world. The light is too bright on the water; it splinters the world into dreaming, and Asterion lets his mind follow his feet. No part of him intended to disturb the stallion who stood along the coast. In fact the boy pauses, last step untaken, intending to backtrack and give the man a wide berth – but then he is caught. The bay is still half-dreaming himself, the silver threaded through his hair alight with the sun, damp sand clinging to his hocks. He is not in a mood to disturb those who don’t want disturbing, but neither is he the type to ever turn away company. And so it’s a compromise he reaches for, there in the new-minted day – a smile, a nod, an invitation only if the stranger wished it. @Eik sorry he didn’t say anything xD he’s already disturbed like three people just minding their own business and is starting to feel ruuuude