The quiet of her tone and the dismal nature to her attitude did not go missed for either young stallion. A pleading look momentarily filled Ramiel’s eyes as he cast them back on Raziel, who’s own expression only soured further. He blew softly through his nose and gave his head the smallest shake.
No, Ramiel.
Ramiel kept himself from huffing in dissatisfaction and tore his eyes away.
Sometimes Raziel disliked having to be the responsible one. He disliked having the responsibility to cut Ramiel’s fun short. He hated the pressure that pushed at him to cave, knowing if something went wrong, he’d blame himself. Mariael had made each of them swear the blood of Tinuvel’s Bay would never again touch the Lost Islands. How could Ramiel disrespect her in this way?
Raziel was briefly reminded of a conversation he and Mariael had together in private six months ago. His aunt wasn’t herself that evening, late at night while the others in the herd slept. She was standing at the crest of a green grass hill, staring idly at the moon hanging lazy among a bed of glittering stars. Raziel had been curious; he and his aunt Mariael had always been close. She said nothing until he’d stopped beside her and looked at her toward the sky, she couldn’t seem to take her gaze from.
“I can hear the ocean.”
She had said with a dream-like softness to her tone. Raziel had frowned, glancing over the stretch of land they were in the middle of. He couldn’t recall the last time they’d been near an ocean. Sometimes Ramiel said it was on purpose, because their Aunt Mariael would have to answer the call of Tinuvel if she let the ocean waves at her hooves again.
“There’s no ocean, Aunt Mariel.” Raziel had said with a half-laugh in his mouth, trying to lure her into shaking herself from the dazed look she had across her face. He wanted her to laugh and say she was joking, one of her rare moments of humor.
“You can’t hear it?” She whispered and frowned, ears flicking as if she was concentrating. “Shhh… listen, Raziel.” He’d tried, but he only heard the crickets in the grass and the soft hoot of an owl in the trees. “The Bay. I hear the waves of the Bay every night. I used to be able to put it out of my mind but… it’s calling to me. Something is wrong with my Bay. With my island. Tinuvel needs me.”
Raziel had been silent, shaken by the distance he heard in his aunt’s voice. She was always the voice of reason, so steadfast and firm. He had never seen her… like this. Raziel was scared, then. Tinuvel was a place of abandonment. The place he and Ramiel had lost their mother and sister. Where their family lost everything. And when Aunt Mariael had sworn they would never returned and said it was only a thankless place filled with misery, he’d taken those words to heart.
This aunt who was drawn toward them like it was a sickness scared him.
“Tinuvel doesn’t need you.” He said, and shook his head. “Tinuvel took everything from this family. It’ll only take more, remember?”
Mariael had blinked and finally pulled her eyes from the sky, letting her blue eyes rest gently on him. She’d sucked in a sharp, shaky, emotional breath and sighed it from her lungs with a soft, sad, “Oh… Raziel.” She’d reached out and gently tapped his muzzle with her cheek and then left.
He’d been too afraid to ask her about it in the morning, and she hadn’t said or acted any differently than she normally did. She didn’t tell anyone else about Tinuvel’s ocean calling to her, though his father had looked with concern at her when Ramiel asked him if she had.
Raziel focused back on the present and felt that unease roll on a wave of nausea through his gut. He swallowed back and drew a breath, glancing toward the nearby trees and their shadows as if they were filled with unknown monsters.
Ramiel was focusing on Dahlia, having decided his brother was a party pooper who didn’t deserve any attention. “Where would you like to adventure to?” He asked, smiling happy. Ramiel could live vicariously through her and the dreams of seeing the islands she had. He wished he could go himself, but… He blinked and looked expectantly at his friend. He’d completely forgot they were supposed to be looking for her mother, too wrapped up in talking with her to remember anything else. “First place you can go adventure off to from here… where do you go?”
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