Luthien. The Prairie. Both girls went quiet, their smiles falling away. Maziel flicked an ear toward Mariael, who shot her sister a quick glance.

You may travel wherever you wish on the islands, girls, but you must never travel to the prairie on Luthien. There is someone there who would stop at nothing to hurt me and I fear they may hurt you, too.

Nephilim’s calm voice echoed in both their minds, remembering the day he’d told them they’d grown old enough to explore and were free to do so (this was shortly before the sea swept Maziel away). He wouldn’t budge on information as to who was the threat in the prairie, or why. Both girls knew their father had been born on Luthien, in the Forest, but they didn’t have details as to what or who could be so awful on Luthien he feared them. They’d assumed it was literal, picturing a great beast of a stallion that might cause them harm; the reality was nothing the girls could ever think of.

Before they could worry Samhain, Mariael spoke. “Is Luthien as different from Tinuvel as I imagine?” She had always thought it must be, for there was no island like the cold tundra of the north. It was best to ask a quick question which might derail away why the initial mention of the land he lived in had made both girls somewhat wary.

Maziel frowned. With her ears pointed toward Samhain it was clear she was giving him her utmost attention. What he had said, or maybe something in his tone, had concerned her. “Did you not want to go to Luthien?” She asked, her voice soft and reaching. “Why did your father take you there?”

Mariael glanced at Maziel and back to Samhain, wondering the same thing. It had been very odd to return to Tinuvel and find the island gutted of equine life. They’d feared the worst and though it was good to see Samhain alive and well, they wondered if it could possibly be better to be taken away from Tinuvel. Mariael knew it could possibly be a sensitive topic, but both the girls and their father had been wondering since they’d returned. “Was your father driven away from the Inlet?”