Dragoncrest Cliffs with one glimpse she was seduced by

joining optional for babies!

now that she'd had the look of them, had pored over their tiny paws and the curl of their gums, the way they twitched in sleep — erzulie felt she knew their fathers.
mothers learned early the voices of their children. @Sobo the loudest, @Loko the hungriest, @Coraline reminded the harlot of herself, and @Mireille was yet unknown to her. 
@Njord came to mind, and for a moment erzulie questioned herself. she had never wanted the sires of her children near, never needed them. she had learned not to rely upon them or any other man since firefly had so cowardly run away and died.
but she was softer toward the young ruby, who had never been anything besides diligently loyal to the seawives.
ironically, she was far too tired to call for him now, but as she gazed down at the pair of suckling boys, she saw they each had a crimson tint to their miniscule tails, and smiled slowly.

Loud at first, but the same way a stormcloud moved away and the cymbal crash became a rumble and then a distant purr, so too did Sobo quiet down as his time earthside lengthened.

The other puppies jostled him regularly, but Sobo was as chill as an ice cube about it. His girth helped; any of his siblings would have a hard time budging the fat child, and their poking and prodding hardly bothered him. He was quiet about them, but not about other things. Whenever hunger gnawed at his belly, he made himself known with squealing protests. He was starting to connect the dots on the source of food, but truly grasping it would take a few more feedings, and until then, he cried for Erzulie's help every time his tummy rumbled.

Having just finished a feeding, the boy yawned widely, greeting Erzulie with toothless pink gums, then shoved one dark paw into his mouth and began to drool.

Njord did not dare to go near the captains’ den. He could spy Rosalyn’s leering yellow stare from the darkness and knew that, for at least the first few precious days, outsiders were not welcome. He knew this was the way of their kind – and remembered the denmothers of Meares Island – yet he could not bottle the bubbling excitement growing within his heart.

Eventually, the mood seemed to soften, and Njord ebbed closer to the doors of Sapphqiue’s leaders. He stood a respectful distance and whispered, “…Rosalyn? ‘Zulie?” Though he hoped for a welcome, he was prepared to be chased off by protective teeth.

erzulie's lip lifted, but the hard line of it softened when njord's familiar voice sounded outside. reminded of how she had allowed aningan to see his daughters, the woman arranged her four closer, grinning down at drooling sobo before she poked cinnamon head from the den. 
"four of dem. two boys wid red tails," she informed the man, relaxing if he wished to draw nearer. rosalyn would not take well to it, but erzulie had already flouted many traditions. allowing their ruby close was one of them — even if she still meant for the quartet to know mothers as the rest of their siblings had been raised.

It took only minutes for his paw to become gummy and disgusting, at which point Sobo, being a disruptive sort of babe, slapped it down on the dirty den floor. Like a great grey Katamari ball, the boy flapped that paw about, picking up all manner of dust and sand and insect carapaces.

Then, while his mother shifted to invite his father to take a peek, the boy did everyone very proud by shoving the paw back into his endless maw and promptly choking on the cocktail of Miscellaneous Den Clutter he'd collected.

The captain’s pearly fangs in the dim light called for pause, but she was soon appeased and invited the islander to see her brood. Njord stooped down low, ebbing closer like a gentle wave on the beach.

‘four of dem. two boys wid red tails,’ she crooned. The Ruby’s eyes went big, spying their little plump bodies aligned neatly in a row – some dozing, some wriggling actively. His heart just about burst as he looked at the children (his own children! Two boys!) for the first time. “Erzulie,” he whispered, voice hitching as he discovered new love, “these are tha most lovely bairns I ‘av ever laid eyes upon. What ‘av you named ‘em?”

Suddenly, a silver pup rolled over, gumming at his paw – a bright red tail curled against his belly. Njord’s own tail wagged behind him happily as he admired his newborn son.

"dis one be sobo," she answered, motioning to the silverfat child who had had begun to choke. the motherly muzzle descended, cleaning debris from his tiny mouth with careful laps of her tongue. "'an dat be loko," the miniscule reddish brother worrying her teat. "coraline," crimsonwisp daughter silently nursing, an' mireille," yet another brash cerise child, curled against loko. 
an exhausted, satisfied look lifted to the young ruby. they would be the last children she had; the woman could feel it in the lingering tiredness of her ageing body. but now she was content.

Mom to the rescue!

But what kind of stubborn newborn would Sobo be if he learned from his mistakes on the first try? No such cherubic designs writ into his genes; he was the son of a harlot and two pirates (one real, one possibly not), god damnit! More importantly, he was Njord's son, and inclined, at least in these early days, to take after his troublesome father.

Nearly as soon as Erzulie cleared his mouth, he stuck his paw back in there. This time, the little redtail didn't choke, but scrunched his face up in disgust. If Sobo knew that he could withdraw his nasty paw as readily as he inserted it, he gave no indication, and simply began to issue a keening whine from behind his invading toes.

Sobo, Loko, Coraline, Mireille… Njord squirreled away the names in his heart as his ocean-colored gaze looked over each cherubic pup nestled against their mother’s belly. “Perfect names,” the seafarer said, admiring their little ears and toes. Suddenly he wondered what he would name his children, if ever given the chance.

He watched Sobo’s antics with delight. “I can tell yer gonna be trouble, like yer Da’ wee one,” he said. New life was so amazing. These children had the whole world at their fingertips, and Sapphique would show them the way.

Njord’s attention turned back to Erzulie. He could glean the tired, fatigued look behind her mask of love. “’Ow are ya, captain? ‘As Merlin come to visit?” he asked as his eyes strayed to the two little girls nestled besides their brothers.

erzulie was amused despite herself, and she tickled sobo's belly gently with a press of her muzzle, hoping to distract him. "merlin be keepin' to himself dese days," and a harrowing thought rushed through her, formless, unconscionable.
she stilled the lift of her hackles just narrowly before njord would have noted it.
the tension clawed its way instead to her jaw and clung there only a moment before she shook it away.
"not to worry. dey maman is here."
she thought, horribly, of what rosalyn might see as a betrayal.
"for me, i be only tired. feelin' like a sea-cow," she joked, even as she turned sobo and guided him toward a teat.

The vibration of voices around him was calming. Sobo was halfway to dozing, still with his dirty paw stuck in his mouth, when Erzulie's mouth descended to his belly. He popped his paw out of his mouth and kicked his hind legs toward her muzzle, displeased by this turn of events, though a sudden wide smile betrayed his secret joy.

His gummy front paw touched her muzzle tenderly, almost like he intended it, and then he gave in to his mother's guidance, latched onto a teat, and fell asleep before he'd even taken three sucks of milk.

Last one from me!

Njord only hummed in acknowledgement of Merlin’s reclusion, but it was neither positive nor negative. Absently, he wondered if the bachelor had intentions of stepping up to be a father figure as well.

He observed the gentle way Erzulie managed little Sobo. The child nestled up to his mother to suckle, but quickly dozed off with gentle coos. “Nev’r, Erzulie,” he refuted –  he would never imagine the mother of his offspring to be anything close to a sea-cow – “Yer more glorious than ever. If ya need anythin’ …ya only need ta ask,” he assured her.

As the children dozed, Njord saw that it was his moment to leave. “I’ll let ya rest… thank ya fer sharing this time with me. I cherish it,” he said. He would pause for any final requests or words, before turning to head out on patrol.

fading! <3

"you have such a silver tongue, njord," erzulie said, though she grinned widely, allowing herself to be praised. he was a good man, in more ways than one, and she was tempted to see how the autumn treated her more hidden sensations toward him.
"i will see you soon," she told the ruby. erzulie watched fondly as the red-tail departed, and then dipped her head to kiss each small forehead, laying her muzzle sidelong and soon falling asleep.