there was another girl in sapphique fighting against the ever changing tide. alongside chani, sobielle struggled to find her place here.
by all logic, the pieces should fit. yet try as she might, sobeille’s edges did not lie flat — and when she tried to turn or round out the frayed ends, they only stood out more jagged.
she found chani staring moodily out at a sea equally stormy. sobeille joined her in gazing out at that distant horizon, at a loss for the missing pieces of her life, and the new pieces that had moved in and summarily displaced her.
<3
no!
sobeille pressed in a sudden burst of emotion. she retracted, feeling shame ring her cheeks. she did not want chani to leave.
she had barely wanted tousaint, and theo, and chantale, and ravin, and all her aunties to leave either.
sobeille's gaze turned from the frigid waters to chani, a rare form of dread in her gaze. it was all changing, most of it too fast for sobeille to bear. she felt like every time she righted herself, another wave came and broadsided her.
no more leaving.
no more babies, either. sobeille announced, stamping her paw firmly into the stone.
chani experienced a flood of emotions -- sobeille sensed them, and felt their power in her periphery.
no more leaving. sobeille's gilded gaze communicated, brow arching in silent question as she caught the shift in chani's expression. a compromise -- a concept sobeille was not supremely fond of.
but for her sisterhood, anything. where you be goin'?
sobeille asked, voice hushed as she leaned in as if the two were sharing some terrible secret.
chani’s laugh clawed into the jagged wind of the cliffs. sobeille considered her prospects with reticence that surprised even her.
a last, her mind was made. this would be her redemption for not traveling on a grand adventure like chantale and tousaint. this would be hers — and chani’s — eresta.
okay.
she breathed, casting her gaze back to the tumultuous waters. she would miss maman, but not the lumping babes at her breast.
do you t’ink we can convince @Astera to come along?
new resolution sparked the fur along sobeille’s nape.
okay.
she breathed, marveling how a fresh objective could spark a revolution.
she returned chani’s nuzzle and parted ways.
@Astera was back at the roja den; sobeille breathlessly told her of their new planned adventure and invited her along to break the news to maman.
later, she thought of telling val but decided his gender made being informed positively unnecessary.
that night sobeille dreamed of astounding new adventures beneath a quilt of dark purple skies.