Ankyra Sound you can’t save me

sobeille thought of the seal today. at the time of the nursing seal’s abduction, sobeille didn’t know what it must be like to be a mother; now, she was filled with a strange sadness thinking of how they’d slaughtered her cub.

did she wander the seas alone, calling between swells of charcoal waves?

if it was sobeille, she’d want revenge. she’d lurk the shoreline and wait to pull a brave pup under the swell, drowning each one.

she licked her lips in apprehension as she scanned the beach’s swashline. behind her, she heard @Treepie escorting the pups out of the grotto’s mouth.

did i ever tell you about de seal? sobeille inquired, noticing @Miralyn had been safely left behind with @Yura. as @Cairos ran past with a barreling chireille in tow, sobeille waited for treepie to fall in step alongside her as they made their way to the tide flats.

She was a little lost in her thoughts today. Following her rendezvous with Alaric, Treepie couldn’t stop mulling her future. More than anything in the world, she still wanted to be an anaa, and that meant she would ideally settle down with a man—a man like Alaric—and bear his young.

But not only did that presume she would be able to conceive and carry offspring, it also conflicted quite terribly with her intensifying feelings for Sobeille. She had never anticipated romancing another woman, nor how that might compromise this dream of hers, and that was part of why she had yet to confess anything to her companion. Or bring up the other complication her meeting with Alaric had introduced.

But even with so much undecided and unsaid, they had become a makeshift family. Tiuttuk didn’t think it was presumptuous to think of it that way. Not after all this time. Not with how dedicated she was to the foursome. She wouldn’t assume any titles, yet she was as attached and present as, say, an auntie, or even a father. Aside from their anaa herself, Treepie was the most consistent presence in the pups’ lives.

Sobeille’s voice cut into her thoughts, prompting Pie to turn her head and smile softly, easily, at the other woman. Her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to recall any mentions of a seal. She doubted Sobeille was talking about her own relative by that name, so she must mean one of the actual pinnipeds which peopled the local beaches.

I don’t think so, she said, her yellow eyes striking Sobeille’s own like flint, burning with curiosity that invited elaboration.

following in a similar vein as treepie, sobeille’s thoughts mulled over their future. much like yura, treepie had withstood the test of several month’s time — but so had sivaak, and mireille, and shaddess, and many other strong women sobeille once placed her tender trust in.

she’d taken each departure personally before. now, she was filled only with a dark resignation; it would not be the first nor the last flowering relationship to suddenly wither. such was life, and such was sobeille’s impression of it.

i found a woman one day. dead, but with pups. she strode slowly across the sand, inhaling the deep scent of brine as it washed over them all. dey were too young to be without milk, and sapphique ‘ad no nursing mothers. i did not know what to do.

sensing the sharp turn of treepie’s gaze upon her, sobeille canted her muzzle into the rifling wind. so, we found a nursing seal, and we stole her puppy from her. the savage exhilaration she felt at the time was now kindled into something different. not quite remorse. not quite sympathy. worry for her daughters and son that might touch the waters and sense this blackness.

we dragged her to de cliffs and nursed de pups off ‘er. an’ when it came time dat dey needed weanin’, we turned ‘er loose to de sea. sobeille wondered what the seal must make of this trade; the cost of her child’s life, the nursing of her wolven cousin’s children in exchange for her own life. did she know sobeille spared her? did she care?

sobeille scanned the storming waves, as if her head would appear among the glaze of white and blue. sapphique fell de day after.

Treepie sucked in a breath as the story began on quite the tragic note. As the tale unraveled, she admired Sobeille’s innovation, even though it was more than a little macabre. Her heart went out to that poor baby seal, not to mention its mother, but she understood Sobeille had done what she must to save those wolf pups. Few would’ve been so cunningly resourceful.

She sensed that Sobeille drew some sort of connection between her cruelty and the fall of Sappique. Tiuttuk put a pin in that thought, though. There was something much more pressing, a part of the story that did not come after several beats of silence filled by childish yammerings and the crash of the surf.

What happened to those babies? Pie asked, eyes flitting to the two little ones accompanying them now before cutting back to Sobeille’s beautiful face.

treepie’s quick inhale earned the quick flit of one russet capped ear. sobeille tried to draw from treepie’s expression any clue to what she might have thought; as she openly studied the familiar contours of her fellow predator’s face, tiuttuk spoke. 

now came part of the story sobeille knew would bother the sensibilities of most wolves. she shifted upright, to better read every micro-expression gathering across treepie’s countenance. 

de drop. neither came back. the twist in her gut went unacknowledged; she had come very close to loving those, and the sea had once again taught her a brutal — but important — lesson about putting faith in those that were not her blood.

The question caused a subtle shift in Sobeille’s demeanor as she straightened her spine. Treepie’s head tilted, an ear flicking idly at a particularly sharp bark from one of the pups. She fought the urge to look at them—they were fine, merely roughhousing as they were wont to do—and instead fixed her eyes on her companion’s face.

Clueless even after Sobeille spoke, Tiuttuk replied, The what? before the latter three words really registered.

Intuiting that she was about to hear another twist in the tale, Treepie tensed. “The drop” was an ominous phrase, particularly in this context. Whatever it entailed, the puppies had never returned. Her stomach performed a nervous, sickening flip as her own backbone went rigid. Apprehension swept through her, as if sensing the next few words Sobeille said would be their Rubicon.

hearing her two pups roughhouse with sharp barks while they discussed the presumed deaths of her rescued ones caused an alien sense of dread to pool in her stomach. she reminded herself this was a ritual older than sapphique even — and that if the sea and the moon saw fit to take, it was not her lot to question.

besides, fate had already taken their mother — it had been sobeille’s own meddling that prevented the two darkling cubs from being claimed too. perhaps this was marinette’s way of settling the score. a price she’d gladly pay over the cost of her own head or her own blood.

de drop. sobeille repeated, careful to keep emotion from her words. so far treepie had only seen one side of sobeille, and sobeille suspected she would not love the creature lingering under the metaphorical mask. she could only keep this ruse up for so long before people started to sense the mold creeping in; it reminded her of the witch qiao, and how something unpalatable and withering seemed to follow in smoky haze just out of periphery.

there just behind treepie’s bright yellow eyes was the emotion sobeille could detect best; the first of a long line of questioning that would shatter the illusion she’d worked so hard to cultivate. even her maman and tante had seen what sapphique’s daughter truly was; even sobeille had tasted the loss of love as it drained from those closest to her.

but treepie was owed an explanation. she’d stayed steadfast through months of upheaval, and besides, looked upon sobeille’s pups with a measure of love not even their own mother was capable of summoning.

when dey be old enough, de sea is deir first test. we live and die by de sea and de moon. dis ritual be one of our oldest traditions, and one of many tests dat be keepin’ our bloodline in step wit’ de sea’s will.

did tiuttuk dare challenge tradition?

She repeated the phrase and Pie’s stomach began tying itself in knots. When Sobeille elaborated, she talked of the importance of the ritual without explaining what it actually entailed. Treepie felt mountaing apprehension swiftly tilting toward sickening fear.

Test… babies? she said rather inarticulately before sipping in a breath and adding, What exactly does this test involve?

She already knew she wasn’t going to like the answer. She already coudn’t believe her ears. Sobeille was a pragmatist, though this was something else entirely. “They never came back,” replayed in Pie’s head as she tore her eyes away to look at the innocent, playful pups.

When their yellow depths returned to Sobeille’s face, there was something new lurking in her gaze. Her teeth clenched as she stared at the other woman, waiting for what she knew would be damning words.

sensing the tension, something within sobeille scuttled backwards like a clamshell closing shut. treepie’s gaze had changed; a muscle in her jaw appeared taut. sobeille marked this all with a cold sweep of her eyes.

testing babies made it sound — well — like what it was, but sobeille would not apologize for the deep-rooted tradition of her ancestors. by neredian standards, she was soft — did they not entirely disabuse the men born to their caste?

but treepie couldn’t know this, sobeille reminded herself. she mirrored treepie’s inhale, straightening her spine. behind her, the noises made by the pups seemed to fade to a quiet drone.

dey jump from a cliff into de waters. if dey be worthy, dey survive.

and if they’re not worthy… sobeille couldn’t help the pin of her hard eyes as she waited for knowing to spark in treepie’s gaze.

“The drop” was exactly what it sounded like. Treepie recoiled as if slapped, eyes narrowing in disbelief as they continued boring into that face she knew so well. Every muscle in her body went taut as a bowstring as a dozen thoughts gelled into an oath: I won’t let you do this to them.

Her eyes flicked to the pups, as if she might rush to scoop them up and carry them away from this horrific fate their mother planned for them. Almost reluctantly, Pie dragged her eyes back to their anaa, disgust suddenly boiling to the surface and erupting from her mouth.

You hesitated to name them after your ancestors, yet you want to pay homage to something like this? she demanded.

Pie felt like she was flying apart as several realizations struck her at once. Sobeille really planned to subject her pups to this. And she hadn’t thought to consult with Tiuttuk about it. Even now, she was not asking, but telling. Her mouth and stomach both soured as brutal reality hit her. She wasn’t a parent. She wasn’t an aunt. She had no say, per Sobeille’s unilateral approach.

Hurt and terrified, Tiuttuk spat, Hasn’t there already been enough death in your bloodline, Sobeille? You’re telling me you can willingly throw Cairos, Chireille—she gestured at them almost violently—and Mirelyn into the sea, knowing it might kill them? That it probably will?

the biggest roadblock in treepie’s appeal to logic was that she was talking to a wolf unmoved by social moors. sobeille saw the disgust that flickered across treepie’s cunning face. she heard the hurt in her voice. she sensed the sour spike of adrenaline hitting treepie like a dark orca slamming into its future meal. her insides hardened. this was her birthright, and treepie stood before her castigating it.

sobeille was silent for a long time, her catlike face open and examining the pulsing energy between them. she knew she could potentially lose treepie — a small part of her cautioned against saying anything rash. yet that little voice was quickly drowned by fury.

treepie knew nothing of sobeille’s past save for the sparse morsels the ankyran knowingly shared — that was deliberate. she didn’t even know how these children she loved were sired — would that turn her, too? sobeille’s expression coalesced into something glinting and hard. 

allowing treepie’s question to linger in the air, sobeille at last spoke. you be in my ‘ome, tiuttuk. she intoned darkly, ignoring the mewl of her babes as the mood swiftly changed to something dangerous. she sensed the question was rhetorical, but very real in its implications. treepie insulted sobeille by thinking for one moment sobeille had not already examined every possible outcome of the drop. it had been her pain, and her blood, that made these children — their lives belonged to her.

all dis bloodshed an’ loss you mention, sobeille canted her head towards the ocean mid sentence, eyes averting back to treepie. ’as happened because we strayed too far. we became too greedy. we did not ‘onor the sea, so the sea struck back. losing her entire family hadn’t made sobeille re-examine sapphique’s worth — it had turned her into a heretic. finally, the ugly thing lurking beneath her belly all these years could be whelped. nursed. groomed into something fierce and unbreakable. 

swerving her gaze to hold treepie in full, an exhilarating thought occurred to the ankyran.  what if tiuttuk ran with her children?

It wasn’t just the words that cut her, but the way Sobeille said them. Her soulless tone reminded Tiuttuk of her place, inferring that she neither belonged here, nor had any claim on the pups. She felt them like a knife directly to the heart, severing everything she thought she knew about her role in all this.

The reasoning added insult to injury, though Treepie could scarcely comprehend responding to it. What could she say in answer to such an illogical sentiment? How could she try to reason with Sobeille when her motivations were beyond unreasonable? She’d brought up this ritual as if it was as harmlessly routine as praying or reading bones.

I may not be their anaa, nor even their relative, Pie said, chest heaving as her maimed heart pounded, but I have been here every step of the way. I thought that meant something to you. The words came out bitter, the next few shaky. But just because you don’t value any of that—or me—doesn’t mean I won’t fight to protect those babies.

Treepie would do anything for those children, particularly to keep them safe, though she had never once anticipated having to protect them from their own mother. She swayed a little, feeling like she might be sick, but stiffened her upper lip and everything else. She refused to drop her eyes away, though it was so hard to look at Sobeille now, the sight of her suddenly hideous.

sobeille wheeled to an abrupt stop then, anger mounting. in her eyes treepie had no right to question her tradition.

reminded of sivaak and her own bewildering choices, sobeille bristled. she would not tolerate this -- not from a wolf who had been by her side a fraction of her life. they knew so little about one another, truly -- and though sobeille had come to welcome the warmth of treepie besides her, she was reminded chillingly in this moment that the only thing she could rely on was herself.

treepie's bitter words clattered in sobeille's head. noticing the challenge in treepie's stare, sobeille lifted her chin.

killing ephraim made her realize she was stronger than she knew; a secret she kept jealously guarded in her heart. ephraim had done far less than treepie did now -- a dark realization ran inside sobeille like subterranean current.

den you can join dem. sobeille's lip curled, daring tiuttuk to do the unthinkable.

If that’s what it takes, Tiuttuk riposted without thinking, because she didn’t need to think when it came to the pups’ welfare.

But in the emotionally-charged moment after this declaration, the intention behind Sobeille’s words truly landed. Not only were they callous toward the children in question, they once more inferred—no, outright proclaimed—that Treepie meant nothing to Sobeille despite these last six weeks. Momentarily left speechless, her thoughts clamored wildly.

When she could find her voice, Pie sputtered, Do all four of us really mean so little to you…?

She just couldn’t grasp it, nor the enormity of the sudden turn this day had taken. Just moments ago, she’d been silently admiring this woman she thought she’d begun to love. She’d considered her a doting anaa. How could everything change so drastically and so swiftly?

Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe she’d just been an assuming, blind fool. But even as everything she thought she knew about Sobeille was called into question, Tiuttuk’s feelings toward the children—still blithely frolicking nearby, as if their mother wasn’t plotting murder—never wavered. She would not regret coming to know them, despite this cataclysmic plot twist.

Glancing at them, her heart filled with so much fear she couldn’t help but plead, Sobeille, do you even hear what you’re saying? When we met, you said you hadn’t made up your mind about these things. And now you want to throw helpless children to their deaths? You really think the sea will punish you? Has punished you? Because of what happened to your maman and the others?

long was the look shared between them. sobeille digested each of treepie’s words, landing on the bitter undertone.

did they mean so little? her gaze roved past treepie to the children; her future, ensured in the souls of each surviving child.

she heard herself now more than ever. as a child fraught with uncertainty, she was now an adult submersed in it; the tides of which pulled at her fabric and wrestled with her convictions.

sobeille felt a cold calmness reach within her; this hand had taken her before, at an earlier time.

training her gaze on the slim outline of her sudden adversary, sobeille’s ophidian stare hardened.

without warning, she struck.

How many times had Tiuttuk heard the saying “actions speak louder than words”? Yet she had never learned the lesson quite so poignantly as she did now. Sobeille opted out of the latter entirely, choosing to drive home her stance with an action Pie, in her absolute naivete, never saw coming.

There was no opportunity to consider the scattering of combat lessons she’d had in her day, either. Sobeille’s jaws aimed right for her neck with such swift ferocity that there was only an instinctual rearing of her head. It wasn’t an entirely successful maneuver, either. Although the quick movement spared her life for the moment, it also knocked her out flat when Sobeille’s head slammed into hers.

The lights went out and Tiuttuk went sprawling into the sand. The force of the collision twisted her in midair so that she fell nearly onto her back, her head taking another knock. Not only was her throat exposed but her chest, belly and puzzling nethers as well. She came to rest, entirely still and absolutely at Sobeille’s mercy—or, much more likely, lack thereof.

another second and treepie’s life would be her’s.

she didn’t account for the stunning pain of head-on collision; reeling two steps backwards, sobeille rallied — absolutely prepared to drive fang into throat.

but the fight was finished already. treepie laid sprawled there, leaving sobeille panting. what to do? she hadn’t truly thought ahead — once again, that asp-like aspect had taken control of her.

sorting through the catalogue of pain and alarm spanning her entire mental index, sobeille considered finishing the job. either she’d grown sentimental, or reticent — she considered that many of moonpack would come sniffing around, and this murder wouldn’t be like the others. a tribe stood behind tiuttuk, and would certainly notice her absence.

pondering whether to subject treepie to the drop, sobeille’s gaze traveled the length of her once-ally’s body. treepie’s striking color pattern had always been pleasing to sobeille; as the children played, sobeille’s attention turned abruptly to the surprise sitting neatly between treepie’s slender limbs.

she could not explain the nexus of emotions that seized her, anymore than she could explain the dark urges that often landed her in trouble. sobeille stood mesmerized by this discovery; in truth, it changed sobeille’s estimation of treepie’s worth instantly.

sobeille had at times lamented to mireille she found the male body lacking. it was full of rough outlines; blocky ends, coarse shoulders and flat hips. but here was a male with attractive contours; all the pieces distinctly female save for the heat packed between her legs.

how has she never noticed? sobeille brushed aside the fur along treepie’s thigh. even her scent did not carry the usual tasteless air of masculinity.


shifting treepie along her side, sobeille dragged her back to the den. she would not question this broad stroke of luck. there was only the matter of winning treepie back on her side, once she regained consciousness.

rather than call for alaric, sobeille left treepie there in the den and collected her children for a foray at the beach. when treepie woke, she would find a shallow shell of fresh water and a single gull feather. in sobeille’s eyes, this was as close an apology as treepie would get.