[ AW ] A little lonely child am I

Ephemeral had no idea where he was but that had never really mattered to him. He never really knew where he was. Names of places were entirely meaningless to him. He didn't need some fancy name to know what something was. Water was water no matter what form it came in or what location it was to be found. And that was what he had found, water. There were multiple different pools of it.

The lanky yearling run from one pool to the next, pausing but a moment to peer into each pool before moving on once more. What he saw in each pool was nearly the same though. He didn't find collectables but merely saw himself over and over again. But he had to check each and every pool to find out, of course. But then he was only taking a cursory glance and wasn't fully exploring the tidepools either.

"Hello Ephy." The boy called out cheerfully to his reflection before he moved on to the next tidepool to repeat the same ritual. "Hello Ephy." The words were repeated to the different angled view of himself. A casual observer might think him a tad touched but the youth was enjoying himself, having made a game out of it. He raced from one pocket of water to the next, always greeting himself. He hoped one time that he might actually beat his reflection to one of the tidepools. This showed in the way he changed his greeting at one of the tidepools.

"Why alway win?" How did his reflection beat him each and every time when he ran as fast as he could. He never seen his reflection get out and run. So how did it always get to the tidepool before him when he could never see it changing positions?

D

espite her first experience in the presence of the pools, Nimue had returned. There was more to this place than met the eye, surely. Many nights in between this place haunted her dreams and she knew her mind would not be satisfied until she found herself back at Glass Beach. She willed herself to tread its grounds and waters again and find out its secrets, its magic...

Nimue's arrival was just as innocent as the last, the sounds of the waves soothing her inner turmoil momentarily. She shut her eyes and took in the smell of sand and sea salt before she dared peer over at one of the pools again. Her heartbeat had already been pounding in her chest before she even looked into her own stormy eyes within the reflection.

It was certainly her...this time, it felt like her in the present. Nimue stared, squinting at it, until darker earthen shapes whisked themselves behind her, scampering from here to there. Her eyes grew wide, the semblance of one of her siblings lost, her brother was playing along the shore. When she heard laughter she whipped her head around to spy the lad racing in between the pools.

"Braon!!" She cried out her younger brother's name for fear he would find himself drowned again, though this time among the ocean waves. Nimue kicked off the sand and raced toward him, her expression frantic, until she came close enough to realize she'd made a mistake and she halted, staring at a child that was not familial and certainly no ghost.

@Ephemeral

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Ephemeral didn't realize that he wasn't alone with his reflection until a voice rang out and a body came racing towards him. There was no fear or concern. Why should there be? Ephemeral had never experienced negativity himself to have learned to be afraid of the world. He just assumed it was someone to have come to play with him.

"No Braon. Ephy there." At least the tall yearling figured that the wolfess had confused his reflection for someone else. "Only Ephy." He confirmed after looking into the pool once more and finding only his own reflection there. The female hadn't come near enough to be caught in the water.

"Ephy alway win. I got beat Ephy." And with that the dark pelted youth raced off to the next pool of water to look inside only to find that he had been bested by his reflection yet again.

The fall of dripping water
wears away the stone

​

​
All she could do was stare at the pup, stilling herself, aside from an ear that flicked with the sound of his voice. That is what seemed to bring her back to earth, her expression clouding with embarrassment and disappointment. The tone and inflection wasn’t Braon’s…it belonged to a little boy called Ephy.

What were you even expecting, Nim…? The fae shook her head, finding a headache beginning to form once more after this place attempted to drag her back through her past. And just like that, the boy went back to playing, racing his own reflection and she watched for a time before lifting a paw, starting to turn around.

She stopped, her brows furrowing as she turned her head back to face him, placing a paw down. He’s here…alone…? Nimue’s eyes wandered the scenery and no one else seemed to be in sight. Lifting her nose all she could pick up was her own scent, Ephy’s, and the sea.

She inhaled and then approached him slowly where he was running back and forth, glancing around warily before setting storm blue orbs on him again. “Hey, lad…er, I mean, Ephy.” She waited for him to tune in before she asked, “Did you journey here with someone?”

@Ephemeral

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

​

The tall, lean yearling panted from the exertion of his play. He was pushing himself to run faster but no matter how fast he ran his reflection always beat him. Rather than giving up that just made him even more determined.

His attention was distracted from his game at the sound of his name. He didn't know who lad was but he knew Ephy. Ephy was him. Ephy was in the water too, but mostly Ephy was him. And now that the yearling had paused his bounding about he panted heavily and sunk to the ground.

"No. Only Ephy. Mama say Ephy go make friend. Mama sleep, no wake up. Ephy try wake up. Ephy try long time. Ephy go. Make friend, Mama wake up." And then he had been distracted by the game with his reflection. But now with his tale told the boy perked up, remembering his mission. "You friend! Mama wake now!"

The boy's tail thumped excitedly against the ground and he peered around, fully expecting his mother to magically appear. Where he had left her he couldn't begin to say. Directions had never stuck with Ephemeral. Still, he figured that somehow his mother would know when he had a friend and she would be there to witness it. To see that his quest had been completed.

N

imue listened as best she could but his speech was fast paced and she had to repeat it in her own head to gauge the meaning of it. One eyebrow rose slowly as she was putting it all together. Sounded like his mother was lazy and didn’t want to put up with him, told him to go make a friend so he’d leave her the hell alone.

Ugh…parents these days…completely irresponsible… Though, something felt…off about the latter half of his explanation. He tried to wake her but…? Before she had a chance to ponder some more on that Ephy turned a corner yipping something about his Mama being awake now?

Ultimately perplexed, what else could Nim do, but pad over to where he had poked his head around and get her own look. She blinked and then looked down at Ephy, forcing a smile, but then asking him somewhat firmly, “Alright, so where exactly is she? Your mother?”

@Ephemeral

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Where was his mother? That was the question. It was one that Ephemeral couldn't begin to answer. He had not even the slightest idea as to where he had left her. He had simply walked, or more like ran really, until something else had served to distract him. Not that it was so very hard to distract the yearling. The smallest of things could draw his attention.

Still the question deserved a response. "Mama..." The youth began and cast his gaze about once more. "Mama no here." He finished lamely. That truly was the extent of his knowledge. "You find Mama?" There was a ring of hope in his voice and within the look upon his face. She was his friend now so certainly she had to know exactly where Mama was. Because that was just how the making friends thing worked, right? if she was his friend now then she had to know where to find Mama and just how to wake Mama up.

S

he lowered herself into a seated position, watching the boy with expectant eyes while he took time to process her question. Surely, that couldn't be a good sign. Nimue followed his orbs of flame this way and that as he looked around as though, once more, attempting to manifest his mother's whereabouts by simply looking for her.

Ephy's mother wasn't here, as he stated. "So it would seem..." Nimue responded, doing her best to not allow irritation to bleed through her one. Her brows lifted and ears perked up, a light tilt of the head before she inhaled deeply and sighed. "Alright then..." She agreed apprehensively as he proposed she assist him in reuniting the two of them. My name is Nimue, by the way. You can call me Nim if you fancy that. Now...where should we begin...can you remember the path you took to get here? We migth need to retrace your steps..."

@Ephemeral

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

"Nim." The youth repeated the name that he had been given. How silly had he been to not get the name of his friend? Perhaps that was why Mama wasn't here yet, he had forgotten to get a name. Still Nim agreed to help him find Mama so maybe that was what Mama meant instead. He had to bring the friend to show her and then she would wake up again.

"Ephy go all water hole." The yearling had thoroughly checked all of the tidepools. That much he knew. Of course that was in the direct area and his mother wasn't to be found in the vicinity. Granted his mother wasn't to be found in the lands Rionnch at all. Granted the boy had no idea he had traveled to somewhere else completely. He didn't even know that places had names and the ability to be claimed.

A

t least they knew one another's names, giving the boy someone to call on if he ever needed. "All the water holes, hm?"Nimue withdrew into a pensive state, trying to figure out if that gave her much of a lead at all. The yearling really had no idea where he'd last been with his mother nor could he truly articulate the fact.

She turned her head to look out towards the tide that rushed in and was swept away just as quickly back to the great body of water that was the ocean. I can't exactly leave him here...what to do, what to do... Nim turned to gaze upon the child once more and beckoned him closer with a wave of her paw.

"Ephy, come here. Now, I am close to a group of women who might be able to help more if you wished to come with me. Rhiannon would know what to do, I'm sure of it." Nimue of course would not force the boy to do anything he didn't feel was right for himself, it was fortunate that she was the one to come across him rather than a predator or another wolf who sought to do harm. "At the very least, we can ensure you're taken care of until we can find your mother. What do you think?"

@Ephemeral

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck