iona

The Riptide Isles were not unfamiliar to the painted mare, but it had been some time since she had last visited the strange land.  Iona felt little affinity for the lands that had been the site of the battles with the Rift gods.  The Specter wasn’t much for Gods and politics, and these lands were seeped in them.  She had had her doubts during the original battles with the strange gods from these lands, and now they had Kaos to contend with - a subsequent side effect that no one had foreseen.  Even the Gods.  She wondered if this land had shown any evidence of Kaos.  Had he been lurking here, beneath their hooves, unseen in land that had been stolen from the Rift? 

Iona was suspicious of everything now, more so than usual.  She wondered what signs had been missed. What signs were still being missed.  That’s why she’d wanted to come here - to one of the Riftian lands that had birthed the very creature that now kept her awake at night. 

She shook away the thoughts of Kaos and the Rift as she pushed her wings to carry her higher and faster, cutting through the clouds with a well-practiced ease.  If anything ever made the painted mare feel better, it was the feeling of the wind in her face and the clouds dancing between her feathers.  She let out a soft sigh, relishing in the soft burn of her muscles.  She had flown the length of the Edge’s borders before departing southwards, so she predicted she’d be on the tail end of the patrol.  She kept a wary eye on the lands where she knew Kaos to lurk, but she did not deviate from her course, pushing herself further towards the islands she had seen birthed from the seas not so long ago.  

She could see the Islands growing on the horizon below, but her gaze was instead drawn two two shapes above the Isles. Thankfully, she recognized them both.  Iona quickened her pace, catching the pair with relative ease.  Speed had always been one of her greatest assets - passed to her by blood and perfected by years of practice.  She slowed as she neared Darwin, who seemed to be laboring to catch up to Feather.  Iona fought to suppress a smile. "Darwin! Feather!" Iona called to the pair, confirming that they were, indeed, the group assigned to this land. 

“What do you say we fly a lap around the Islands, then maybe see if anything is visible from the ground?”  Iona called over the sound of her own wingbeats.