Welcome to Gaia! ::

Helaku stared at the sea in wonder. It was so big! Did it ever end? Part of him longed to approach, to touch the water, taste it and see if it was fresh, but the rest of him was terrified, and screamed at him to retreat, to turn his head and run! He knew he would regret it, however, and always wonder what it would be like to touch that vast endless expanse. He had heard strange stories about the sea; some said the water was not fresh, and only served to make one thirsty, but staring at the sea, he had trouble believing that something so vast and wonderful and beautiful could be anything other than clean and pure.

Helaku started, unaware that there were any other stars in the area. "H-H-Helaku, sir," he stuttered. He eyed the stallion warily, noted his strength and good health. He did not look particularly aggressive, however, and Helaku relaxed, but only slightly. "And... you? Your name? I mean..." He closed his eyes. It had been a while since he had last seen other stars, how was this supposed to go? Deep breaths. In, out. In. He opened his eyes once more. "Do you live here?" he asked. "Near the ocean? Is it true what they say? That it never ends, not ever?"

Lughnasadh turned his head and called out, "And it's a pleasure to see you again, too, Ivy!" He turned back to Helaku.

"As you could probably guess, my name is Lughnasadh. This is where my herd lives, yes. I don't honestly know whether the ocean has an end or not, Helaku, but I'm sure you could ask a friendly Nova, and they'd be delighted to answer your question."

Ivy trotted up to the two, nodding her head towards Lughnasadh once she came along side him. She had parts of the conversation, but one part in particular caught her attention.

“ Nova? I’ve yet to have the pleasure to meet a Nova. Hopefully you shall be fortunate then I in that regard.” It wasn’t until then that she remembered that she had yet to introduce herself. “ My apologies for so rudely interrupting your conversation. My name is Poison Ivy, though Ivy will suffice. Might I inquire what your name is?”

"I-I-I'm Helaku," Helaku managed to get out at last. Up close, this... Poison Ivy was truly awe inspiringr. Did she belong to the same herd as Lughnasadh? No, she had said it was a pleasure to meet again... so a different herd. That boded well; Lughnasadh truly didn't mind if other stars wandered through. "I, too, have never seen a nova," he added shyly.

"I came down to take a nice, refreshing swim in the water," Lughnasadh said, smiling.

Lughnasadh was caught completely off-guard by the question and in a flustered way said, "Well, I don't know, I haven't tried drinking the sea water. Well, I tried when I first got here, it tasted very salty, but luckily I found a fresh spring nearby to wash the taste from my mouth."

((Actually...neither Lughnasadh nor I knows the answer to that question. sweatdrop ))

Helaku looked back over the water. It upset him a great deal that the water could not be drunk, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked the fact that the great expanse served no greater purpose than looking pretty and homing the novas. Home... he turned thoughts of settling down away, there was time for that later.

He turned to his two companions, a merry gleam in his eye. "But the water... surely it would do no harm to get our hooves wet? To dance and splash about with the waves, there, crawling on the shore."