The ocean mare watches with a warm smile while her companion greets the kitsune. Nimue chirps happily, bobbing her head up and down, and trilling in excitement when Lyra leaps across the ground, inviting a game. The dark blue whale rolls backwards in a back flip before she floats after the dark fox, reaching with her round lips to tug gently at one of the kitsune’s multiple tails in play. The oceanic markings along the orca’s side glow brightly in her delight, highlighting the pleasure that mirrors her bondmate’s expression.

Tiamat hums amusingly to herself, ever aware of the tall stallion’s presence at her side. Both of her dainty ears are quick to rotate in his direction when he begins to speak, answering her own inquiry about his history with this beautiful land. The words he speaks are not what she had been expecting. The blue Lady had no idea that the Hidden Falls used to be called the Windtossed Foothills, or that this valley used to be mountainous at one time, and—perhaps worse of all—that there used to be wraiths that haunted Helovia.

There is so much of this world’s history that she still doesn’t know!

Unsurprisingly, the sea maiden finds herself with a lack of words. “The mountains crumbled?” She echoes softly, her gaze sweeping momentarily across the various levels of waterfalls and little woodland cloves, trying to imagine the mighty power that would be able to accomplish such a task—and why. Why level the mountains? But that is not all— “Sickness? Wraiths?” She nearly stutters, her ears flicking back in a brief moment of uneasiness. How could a sickness reign so terribly, that everyone was forced underground?

The very idea is difficult to wrap her fragile, sheltered mind around.

Her attention returns to Mesec, and she shakes her head slowly. “No, I wasn’t. It sounds like it was a frightening time though,” her velvety lips twist into a half-hearted grin, white eyes still wide with the trepidation of imagining the horror that it must’ve been. Almost unconsciously, the Ocean’s Light shifts herself closer to the dark stallion, finding comfort in his presence and boyish charm. “I didn’t even know this place used to be the Windtossed Foothills—or have mountains,” she laughs once, breathless, as she gazes out again across what is now the Hidden Falls. “Why did they fall? Why were there wraiths?” There are so many questions that leap to her lips, she finds it hard to bridle her curiosity.

Tiamat isn’t sure how long it is that she stares out across the picturesque view, but eventually her eyes flicker again to Mesec, her weight shifting more comfortably. “Shortly after I first came to Helovia, the sky went dark. That’s why I left—to search for my mother,” she smiles softly. Despite the terror that it had been so have her whole world trapped in an endless night, she can remember vividly the joy she had felt when her mother sky had returned again—brighter and more vibrant than ever. “I returned a few years ago, I’m not sure how long it’s been exactly. I’ve always called the Basin home though,” Tiamat sighs wistfully, looking to the stallion out of the corner of her eye.

“Speech.”