Dragoncrest Cliffs a study in metal and glass

Haunt felt absolutely dreadful as she trudged through the territory. She had returned to Sapphique only for the nightmares to continue, night after night. Even sleeping on the outskirts of the pack's domain didn't quell them. Just to test her theory, she stole away to spend one night in Larksong Grotto. Raleska's ghost hadn't been able to reach her there.

Agonizing over what this meant, Haunt sought @Erzulie and @Rosalyn. When she found them, she said, "I'm sorry, I can't stay here any longer. I will continue to hunt and provide for the pack, but I can't live here anymore." Her head dropped to hang listlessly between her shoulder blades, as if weighed down by this announcement.

She wished they'd come with her, heed the ghostly warning. But Haunt understood how impractical that was, especially with young pups in tow, and she could only hope that her dreams had no substance. Either way, she couldn't live with them anymore.

raleska.
her wife had told her of haunt's prognosis for sapphique. it was erzulie's feeling that there were no other places to go, to claim with young children on the cusp of winter. she was willing to scout the mountain where sagtannet had once resided, but no more than that.
the cliffs were theirs.
and so it was not surprising to hear the young huntress' voice rising again, and it was not so to hear the words haunt spoke, when the obsidian drew closer.
"you been t'rough a lot, girl," erzulie said affectionately. had the alabaster young woman ever settled after losing her mother, her brother, and a paw to this world? "sapphique been blessed to have you." now her own eyes were wet, and she invited the hangdog child into her embrace for a time.
"i t'ink you should go back to de lan' of your birt'. start there. start again, haunt. dat is what i want, for you to tend yourself. even if it is far from dese shores. from us."

feel free to skip me <3 I'm falling behind again

Rosalyn remained silent as Erzulie reassured the girl. She would not say a word against her wife, but she silently disagreed. They were family; leaving now, as she did, after providing only warnings.... it was a coward's play. One the pirate knew and had pulled many times before, but one that she felt a complicated aversion to now.

Why did Raleska only speak to Haunt? Why did she threaten them?

It gnawed at her, and if Haunt left, she would never have her answers. If the ghost of her daughter had truly decided to make herself known to Haunt and Haunt alone, once she was gone, all trace of that connection would be severed. Rosalyn would lose any chance to know why. And alongside that, any chance to make things right.

Her expression was inscrutable, but she allowed Erzulie to speak for them both. She was not a big enough wolf to be able to voice those words herself. The lies would tell on her immediately.

Erzulie expressed nothing but affection and care for her and Haunt let herself be embraced, leaning tiredly into her. But when the Obsidian's voice continued closer to her ear, she stiffened a little and drew out of her grasp. Her yellow eyes flicked to Rosalyn's stony face for a moment before turning to Erzulie's.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "I can't live here, but that doesn't mean I'm going away. I don't intend to join another pack. I plan to stay in the area and keep hunting for Sapphique," Haunt repeated. "I can visit. I just can't keep a home here any longer," she finished on a long exhale, "or I'm going to lose my mind."

Thank you both for joining! There's no hurry with this thread, so take your time. :)

it was this place.
rosalyn had said it but erzulie had thought only of spirits. she had not thought of whatever else might be attached to the stones of drageda. had they come now to lurk among the cliffs, to torment sapphique.
"for how long, child?" the seawife murmured softly. "if it be dis place, dese stones, i —" she looked to her wife, reaching soundlessly with her eyes for the balance and strength she had always found in her mate's presence.
"i know dat you an' rosalyn ... spoke of raleska." her voice pooled with a pain she would not hide. and they had raised valravn and regin as their own. 
but it seemed she came to haunt.
or did she?
"would it help you to see where she lays?"
her two-toned eyes rested gently upon that of the yearling. "if you wish to come an' go an' hunt for us, who am i to say no? but if dere be a way to make you lie easy at night, haunt, i am willing to try it. i learned t'ings in de bayou. if spirits be walkin' in our home, we must settle dem."

Haunt didn't know the answer to Erzulie's question and could only respond by way of a pained look. She followed the Obsidian's gaze as it flicked to Rosalyn, who remained silent and stoic in the face of the yearling's news. But she had spoken to her wife about Haunt's persistent nightmares and it seemed they were both at least partly convinced it was truly their dearly departed Raleska issuing the warnings.

"I'm not sure," she replied with honesty, speaking slowly. "I don't even believe in ghosts, or I didn't," Haunt said, shaking her stumped foreleg like someone wringing her hands. "I'm willing to try anything, though I'm going to start spending the nights elsewhere starting tonight. I'll stay within earshot," though the truth was she would probably venture at least a few territories away, seeking the inner settling she experienced the further she went from Sapphique.

"I'm sorry," she was sure to say, yellow eyes drifting between the leaders' faces. "I don't want any of this. I especially don't want to leave you guys, not if..." Haunt drew in a breath, thinking of the mysterious and ominous warnings about the upcoming winter. Those were bad enough, then there was the physical toll it was all taking on her. "But I can't sleep and it's—it's killing me."

if.
there was nothing that might shake erzulie's faith in herself, in rosalyn, in sapphique.
and yet the single syllable might have for a moment caused a stir of riot in her gut.
the obsidian lifted her chin and nodded. rosalyn still had not spoken, and the saltwolf felt so surely she experienced the mournful, yawning pain of raleska's loss through her wife's silence.
a nod, and then another. "i'll take you to her," erzulie said at last, motioning to haunt. "it is important you sleep. will you take a bundle of herbs from me? mix dem wid fresh water when you rest for de night. it will help you wid recoverin'."
the words hurt, an acceptance that she could not keep haunt here, nor make a safer place for the girl.
she would insist that the girl depart at frost-time; there was no reason to be caught between two worlds, expending energy upon both. 
for now, however, the woman was only ready to bring haunt to raleska's final resting places, in scant hope it might assuage any small part of this.

"Of course," Haunt replied to Erzulie's offer, feeling a bittersweet swell of affection for the woman who tended to her more dotingly than her own mother ever had. She glanced at Rosalyn, who reminded her more of Arbiter, feeling grateful for both women even though they were starkly different in many ways.

Saying no more, Haunt prepared to fall into step behind the leader. She wasn't sure what to expect but she didn't even have the energy to worry about what could happen. She was too utterly exhausted.

erzulie led them to the graves facing overtop the sea-cliff.
"dere was a bear." it was the only explanation she gave. the mounds of earth had been long grown over with saltgrass and the purple flowers that now grew in profusion here. she and chacal had brought them back from the moorside.
she lay with kaertok and rosencrantz. 
the woman dipped her head.
"if she wanders, i will discover it."
erzulie turned back to haunt. "we do not have to linger here," she said kindly, and if the girl allowed, would take them now to her bower of medicines. 
rosalyn still, was silent.

If Haunt hadn't felt so dead on her feet, she might've connected the dots and asked about the bear. Was it the same one that had killed Kaertok? She barely registered Erzulie's words, though, and could only nod wearily in acknowledgement that she had spoken.

"We do not have to linger here," Erzulie said, these particular words registering more clearly with the yearling. "Okay," she replied, prepared to follow the woman wherever she led her next. She was too tired to correct herself—women, plural—but then again, she was so out of it she didn't even notice whether or not Rosalyn was still with them.

last for me!

her wife remained quiet. haunt seemed sickly with exhaustion.
as quickly as she could, erzulie put together the bundle of herbs and turned to hand them to the girl. tonight would be her first outside sapphique in some time.
the obisidian would watch until haunt was gone from view, and then return to rosalyn, swallowing beyond the seawater that had collected in her eyes.

Thank you for the thread (and everything else).

Some unknowable amount of time later, Haunt found herself alone at the borders. She blinked, swaying a little, and realized she was holding something in her mouth. The herbs, she wearily reminded herself, blinking some more. She couldn't remember Erzulie giving them to her, nor their eventual farewell. That made her chest hurt even as trepidation threaded, cold and thick, in her bloodstream.

Hop-stepping more heavily than ever, Haunt departed from Sapphique without looking backward. This wasn't goodbye, after all. She would be back. She would get as far as she could manage, then rest for as long as it took to stop feeling like she had one foot in the grave (pun intended?). Then she would figure out the rest: what life looked like, living on the fringes.

She made it to the far side of The Tangle before Haunt couldn't go on. She flopped to the ground, wincing a little at a twinge of pain in her temple. Dropping the bundle of herbs, she lifted her single forepaw to rub at the pain point, wondering why the hell it felt like her head was bruised there. She hadn't hit her head lately.

Had she?