Common

"Gosh," she murmured, her voice warm as she looked across the open space on which she'd landed. "It's been so long and yet nothing's changed."

Shaking her petite head, the little pink mare picked up an easy jog inland and left the ocean shore behind without a second glance. In truth, Isla had never spent much time on the Crossing, but she vaguely remembered that the Falls were somewhere southwest-ish of the Peak, and that Luthien was somewhere even more west-ish from there. She had no idea if her mother still called the Thicket home, but it was worth a shot. She did have a few apologies to offer her beloved maw.

By the time Isla made it halfway across the Commons, she'd slowed to a walk and begun to curse herself for landing on the opposite side of where she'd intended to go. Even as a young filly, Isla had always imagined roaming the islands until she was familiar with each of them, but by the time she'd been old enough to separate from her maw, she'd lost interest with the islands themselves... mostly. She'd grown eager to learn more about the world apart from the islands. The mysterious otherness of not here had always held her heart, and while she'd failed to find the secret truth of the universe in her travels, she had found a sort of homesickness she'd never expected to find.

It wasn't so much for the land itself, although a part of her would always remember those early days chasing crabs down Paradise's beaches and playing tag with Auntie Pidgeon through the slender young trees of the Thicket. Rather, Isla missed the horses that called the Islands home. The way everyone seemed connected to everyone else, if you just did a little bit of digging.

Isla knew things weren't perfect here. Her maw's story was proof enough of that. But Isla also knew the islands weren't all bad either, and now that she'd indulged her wanderlust, a small part of her had begun to wonder what it might be like to belong somewhere again. Somewhere she could make a little home of her own, and see what it might be like to grow her own roots.