THROUGH SHADOW TO THE EDGE OF NIGHT
UNTIL THE STARS ARE ALL ALIGHT
Squinting through one eye, Tilney noted her comment about breathing underwater with a good measure of scrutiny though it came with a quirky brow and twisted chops. How she came to that conclusion from eating a hallucinogenic cacti was far beyond him, though he could see how perhaps she may have meant it as a figure of speech.
"Hm, I don't know about that" He managed to mumble in response, lurching forward once more to lean upon his shoulder and elbow now stuck in the sand.
What the little one spoke next came as a surprise, though he wasn't totally shocked. Perhaps deep down he had an inkling that she was familiar and reminded him of the others from home, though honestly, he had no clue that the Mountain had any children. And, while Isopia's monolithic appearance clearly influenced that of her daughter, it was certainly not as obvious as to who this filly's father was. Whoever he was, Tilney had little doubt that he would know the man also.
Questioned about his own experience of Isopia, Tilney simply blinked in contemplation. It occurred to him that he did not know her, not at all. A herd-sister she had been for a time, though nothing more. Still he could recall how beloved Ultima preached of the Mountain's wisdom and how the home she built among the waterfalls was so superior to the one he had made for her - perhaps it still stung even today, the parting words of a child by choice who saw more life and truth in a mountain than in a moon.
"I did not" Tilney spoke bluntly, truthfully. "I knew of her. Isopia was, for a time, a prophet of our mother moon in a herd where I governed the healing ranks for many years."
Tilney almost didn't notice the youngin stand as slip away from the sand, and it was only when she introduced herself and the owlet accompanying her that he turned his attention toward her oak-stamped face. Otem and Pandora - names that reminded him of home.
"I am Tilney of the Wor-" He paused, lowering his saddened gaze "Formerly of the World's Edge". Without another moment the stag had risen from the sand himself and shook the salt from his coat. "It's a relief to meet someone from home. I hope my daughter has met with other Helovians... wherever she is."
Riptide Isles
