Steals!
Erzulie grew by the day as Njord observed in wonder. New litters were common on Meares Island – pregnancy and childbirth were not new to the seafarer… but these were his children (well… perhaps Merlin’s…). That fact made everything feel different. Special.
Njord noticed his daily hunts and patrols began to orbit around the expecting captain. She was like the Earth, fertile… life-giving, and Njord was her watchful, but distant, Moon.
On this day, he found the goldspun woman reclined on the beach, watching the sea’s blue waves crash upon their shores. He approached and laid down besides her.
“Yer more beautiful than ev’r, ‘Zulie. Can I fetch ya anythin’?” he asked, noticing a thin wash of melancholy on her visage.
The red-tail was lulled into a thoughtful silence as he listened to the seawife, steeping in her bittersweet reflection. Ten children. Something about this new information made him feel naïve. He had only known Erzulie’s Valravn, Arcelia, Chacal, and Regin… the later being prematurely lost at the end of winter. Whether is was by their own mind, or nature’s hand, Njord couldn’t imagine what it was like to see your own children leave you. In fact, he couldn’t even fathom it. Erzulie was a seasoned mother, while Njord was a complete greenhorn. He was too preoccupied their litter’s arrival to think of a time when they’d be gone.
The seafarer bobbed his head, understanding the logic of it but having a difficult time placing her wisdom in his own rolodex. Perhaps that grief was something you had to experience first hand to truly understand. “Yer a strong woman,” Njord admired. “’An wise,” he added as he laid his chin across her shoulders, blue gaze drifting to her round belly. “I don’t understand why some things ‘appen,” he thought of Rosencrantz, Kaertok, and Raleska, “but I sup’pose its makes ya enjoy every minute ya ‘ave. Time’s a rare treasure.”
“What do ya think they’re gonna be like?” he wondered, nosing at her golden fur.
Erzulie’s words painted new pictures in Njord’s imagination: Their children playing in the ocean’s white wash on a hot summer day. Hunting for small treasures in the sand. Teaching them how to shuck an oyster! A big grin widened the islander’s face and he felt his heart pound when she implied a large litter.
“More than two!” he echoed excitedly, a sudden rush making him feel lightheaded. “I ken they’ll be brav’r ‘an more cunning than any wolf in Teekon!” His expression softened, “…but kind an’ big heart’d. Tha girls will ‘av their mot’ers beauty… ‘an tha lads will be braw.”
Suddenly, Njord felt a puppy kick in Erzulie’s belly and he chuckled. “Do ya think they can ‘ear me?” he asked, voice dropping to a low whisper.
Njord felt, somewhere in his heart, that he was traipsing in dangerous and uncharted territory. He had love for Erzulie – though a different sort of love than that between husband and wife – and the children she carried. But his place in their lives was uncertain. Though this caused him strife, Njord chose to quietly contain it. Instead, he basked in the joy of the present and let his mind focus, unfettered, on the golden Madonna in the sand.
“sing to dem, if you be wantin“ the captain offered. Njord thought back to the dirge he sang to their dead comrades and hope he would never have to sing another sad song again. Who would have thought that in a week’s time, Merlin would wash up on this shore deceased.
His blue gaze turned from the mother to her belly, and the seafarer cleared his throat as he decided upon a lullaby.
Njord sang...
"Dinogad's smock is speckled, speckled,
Made from the pelts of martens.
`Weet! Weet!' A-Whistlin'.
We sing, they sing, the eight in chains.
When daddy goes a-huntin'
Fang in his jaw, claw in his paw -
He called on his lively hounds,
`Giff! Gaff! get! Get! Bring Bring!'
From the coracle he kills fish
As the lion kills game.
When daddy goes to the mountains
He brings back roebuck, boar, and stag,
Speckled grouse from the mountain,
And a fish from the waterfalls of Derwennydd.
Whatever your father aimed his teeth -
Be it a boar, a wild cat, or a fox -
None would escape but that had strong wings."
Njord voice faded as he sang his last note. Erzulie looked quite pleased, reclined and relaxed on the beach. He chuckled,
“Thank ya, capt’n. I get it from my Da'. I ‘av many more songs to share with tha wee ones one they arrive.” He thought of Erzulie’s other daughter and her lovely sing-song voice.
“May’aps @Chacal an’ I can sing ‘em a duet together. I’m sure your daughter must be excited ta have baby brothers an’ sisters on tha way…”
He remembered the hurt feelings from the last seafoam run, and hoped it hadn’t irreparably damaged his relationship with Erzulie’s kin.
Njord smiled warmly as Erzulie’s face glowed when she spoke of her daughter. “Aye, I shall,” he promised. His gaze drifted to watch the whitewash and the gulls reel overhead. He would lay with Erzulie as long as she cared for her company, perhaps falling asleep in the warm sand by her side.