Common

Father was gone. There was no future for Oberon in the Shore.

Mother might be content to stay, to surround herself with memories and spend her days wishing and hoping that Asmodeus would return, but Oberon refused to let himself linger in the past.

A whole day had come and gone and Marceline had not returned as dawn broke across Atlantis. Restlessness gnawed at Oberon's nerves, his mind swaying between action and indecision. He knew he needed to set out on his own eventually, but if he left Imshael on his own… mother would be furious, and though he was tired of her own inaction, the last thing he wanted was to damage their relationship.

But this might be his best chance - if he didn't leave now, he wasn't sure he'd get the chance again any time soon.

Oberon ceased his relentless pacing upon the beach and turned to stare out at the horizon, blinking against the sun as it broke through the watercolor clouds. He stood there, silent and unmoving, for several long minutes, his mind whirring along relentlessly.

Finally, he speaks. ❝Tell mother I've decided to leave. I'll miss her, but it's time for me to be on my own. I want to explore the main island. There's more to this world than just Atlantis, and I want to find my place in it.❞ Oberon tears his gaze from the horizon to peer down into his baby brother's face. He is still so young, so innocent, and Oberon hates to burden him with such a task, but it's easier this way. He can't risk Marceline trying to convince him to stay, not when he no longer has a future here.

Once, he had thought himself a prince, one of many in line to take over should his father ever abdicate. But the timing wasn't right, and another had taken the title he had thought would one day be his, mere weeks before his second birthday. Any hope he had once held of following in his sire's footsteps had been snuffed out like an ember under the rain. It was time to find his own way, and he wouldn't let his mother stop him.

Oberon turns his attention back towards the glittering horizon, nostrils flaring as he takes a deep, steadying breath of briny ocean air, willing his racing heart to slow where it slams against the ivory cage of his ribs. At last he takes the first hesistant step into the rolling waves, then another, and another. He pauses, suddenly, the water sloshing at his chest, and turns to look at Imshael. ❝I'll come back to visit, I promise.❞

He pushes himself into the roiling tide, and does not look over his shoulder again, unable to bring himself to see Imshael's shrinking form standing alone on the beach.

The sun is at its peak in the cloudless sky when his hooves touch the shore of the Commons. Oberon pulls himself from the frothing waves, barely pausing to shake the salt from his coat before he sets off inland, eagerly drinking in the sights and sounds of lands unexplored.

mixed ♔ amber champagne roan tobiano
sixteen-one hands ♔ asmodeus x marceline
twin to apollyon ♔ played by pippa