Dragoncrest Cliffs when it's time to get ill, we'll be so ahead of time --

how do they grow so fast? val turned to @Mireille one day, watching as sobeille hollered after one of her siblings. it seemed only yesterday they were these scarcely personable little blobs -- and now, they ran sapphique with their loud screams and cheery voices.

it made him think of time and the passage of it. not so long ago, @Sobo had stood proud while erzulie anointed him in a garland of red.

not so long ago, a bear had come through ankyra and rendered it.

and not so long ago, he himself had been a small thing left on rosalyn and erzulie's doorstep.

these thoughts made him unusually cheerless. he wondered how long it would be until one of his children buried him as he'd done to rosalyn -- how long before their story ended, and another story rose and began?

he looked upon mireille; she was sapphique embodied. but he realized, shamefully, he'd not truly known what stirred below her emerald gaze as of late. how have you been holding up?

"it be de sea air," mireille declared.
she sat near val, though not so near, playing with the children as they drifted to and fro on their various errands. "i am still sad," the obsidian said with her usual directness. "i visit de graves. i t'ink de hardes' t'ing be dat neither of dem, nor sobo, met my children."
a breath to ground.
"but i have accepted dat."
she remained in scarlet profile.
"an' i have decided i will have more children in de name of rosalyn an' erzulie."
and this time, her forested gaze did find val, things unsaid needing no utterance.

the sea air; val marveled this with a small smile. he thought of the inland children he knew in bearclaw, and this too brought melancholy to the surface. were they well, did they live?

were their lives better for him in it?

he sighed and uncrossed a paw. much in the same manner as mireille, it made val sad to think of how the children would never grow up to laugh alongside erzulie, or gather seaweed with rosalyn. how would they know that their quick wit came from souls they'd never know?

and sobo -- a pang wrench val's heart. they'd named one of their own for him, but it did not bring him back. nothing would.

his gaze found mireille's for a moment as she revealed her plans for next season. he admired her more than he could ever put in words. how could she be so poised and confident about the future, how could she know what she desired most in her heart, and furthermore, have the unrelenting courage to pursue it?

for rosalyn and erzulie. val cemented, holding the gleam of her verdant gaze in understanding.

they were sealed in this, and mireille felt the little flicker along her belly that was solely for val, solely for their silent alignment and his loyalty to her intentions for the coming year. it simply was not something which could be explained or shown without damage to the culture of their shores, and mireille was grateful that val had never questioned it.
the sight of her young ones so at ease with him solidified her already strong opinions of his commitment to sapphique, the settling of val into the role that they needed at the cornerstone.
sons would continue to be born to them. val could prove to them their place also was here, even if the women of sapphique held sway. it was for the good of them all, mireille believed.
"more potential mo'ters dis year," she commented of their swelling ranks. "i spoke to redtail about organizin' a hunt. before de snow."
business to speak, pleasantry touched by their continued company.

for a fleeting moment, val allowed himself the grace to bask in how lucky he was. how grateful he felt to be shored to mireille's great and expansive seas -- sapphique the anchor to his undulating and complicated life.

a soft breath, a softer still eye. a hunt would be lovely. as for the mothers -- perhaps this hunt would warm their belly and stoke the fires for the seasons to come. might teach our little urchins a thing or two about hunting something more complicated than clam. he joked, of course -- but the thought of a field of sapphique and the rise chasing after something as noble as a stag -- well, it stirred his heart.

our.
danger in saying that. danger in hearing it. danger in enjoying it. mireille was no fool; she understood that unveiling them before the pack could shatter most of her relationships within it, let alone what they might think of val.
for that she held control and protected by maneuver; but mireille felt boldly that day, and let her emerald eyes settle upon the contours of the face she had kissed several times. "ah, but de sea is constant, and so be her gifts," the obsidian murmured, though her voice was threaded with the teasing suggestion she found herself unable to indulge in the rare moments they were alone.
she turned her eyes back upon the ocean.

he knew nothing of the conflicting storm in her heart.

in val's eyes she and sapphique were his world entire.

devoted, and maybe a little stupid.

she teased him of the ocean and her gifts. val did not love the sea, but he loved her bounty. even he could acknowledge the beauty she possessed.

so are the trees. and the ground. and you -- he leaned in for a playful nip along her cheek, following her gaze out to the ocean.

this moment was so rare -- so fleeting -- and like the other moments he shared with mireille, he held the seconds close to his heart.

rare, and fleeting, and belonging to them only; mireille stirred thereafter and rose on legs vaguely anxious to ever have she and val discovered.
but her smile was for him alone, and she invited him into the surf with a yawn, calling to the children who dotted the sandline, that they should join she and val for a swimming lesson.
if only to keep him close for a time.

she rose and he followed. behind her the sea glittered, waves pounding in symphony with his heart. she beckoned him to the roiling surf, but val's bravery ended there.

a high pitched whine sounded in his head. he shook his head -- no -- he could not do it. even such proximity caused beads of terror to ice in his veins.

children poured from the cliffside in raucous cries. his anxiety ebbed as they rose to mireille's call, playing along the enormous swath that was sapphique's kingdom.

he would watch for a time -- wanting -- but kept his feet on dry ground.