Dragoncrest Cliffs cloudbreak

As soon as they returned, Meerkat sent up a call to let their pack mates know they were back. Happy but tired, she sought someplace to catch up on sleep, only to find it rather elusive. There were far too many emotions swirling around inside her. She gave up after a while and headed to the beach, heartbeat syncing with the familiar pounding of the surf.

For some reason, she began to cry. It was cathartic, so she indulged herself, spending nearly half an hour perched on a dune and weeping herself empty of emotion. When she recovered, she sniffled and wiped at her nose, then sat up a little straighter. Meerkat took a deep breath of cool, salty air, then loped toward the waves.

She spent the next half an hour cleansing her weary body in the saltwater, then retreated back to the beach. She curled up in a ball, paying no mind to the sand sticking to her wet fur. She fell fast asleep this time.

Meerkat woke up some hours later to find the sun in an entirely different position in the September sky. She couldn’t tell if it was early or late. It was a little disorienting, yet she didn’t feel the confusion or fogginess that sometimes accompanied naps at odd hours.

In fact, she felt perfectly refreshed. Standing and stretching, her lips twitched into a smile small as she shook out her pelt, flinging bits of salt and sand into the air. She felt hunger gnawing at her guts and reluctantly turned inland to scrounge up a meal.

Rosalyn heard the call that signalled Meerkat's return and was pleasantly surprised by it. Cynically she'd expected the woman to disappear entirely.

The pirate couldn't relate to her grief so was glad she'd gone and found another to speak with. If she'd lost a child maybe. Instead she'd lost something that was always bound to fail. Men didn't have the loyalty to remain here. Meerkat apparently did.

Rosalyn didn't answer her and waited. Eventually she slipped down onto the beach and was surprised to find her there. Her own reasons were that her hip seemed to be acting up. If she sat with it submerged it could sometimes help.

I take it your family is well?

She stopped short, breath hitching in her chest, when a realization came over her: she hadn’t thought of Njord even once since waking. Meerkat waited for him to flood her head and heart but seconds ticked past and he remained tucked in the wings. She didn’t know what to make of it.

Rosalyn’s arrival swiftly swept all thought of him to the side again. Meerkat’s tail twitched in greeting and she gave the older woman a smile and a respectful dip of her head. Already it was filling with images of the Redhawks they’d only just left.

Yeah, it was a really wonderful trip, for the most part, she answered. How’s everything here?

She hadn’t forgotten to ask around re: Requiem, though her inquiries had turned up nothing. Her eyes tracked over the Ruby’s scarred features, wondering if perhaps any news had come in her absence.

Rosalyn smiled back, though it held a somber note. The same. Nothing has been found yet. She had an easy time assuming that Meerkat was asking about Requiem. She did not think that anything would ever be found, and her lack of faith left her resigned to the outcome as it was. Hope would only make disappointment worse.

You met with your mother, yes? She faintly recalled, though she might be mistaken. She certainly couldn't remember hearing many details from Meerkat. Does she live nearby?

Rosalyn answered the unspoken question and Meerkat bit back a sigh. Like the Ruby, she had resigned herself. She had lost too many loved ones to uphold an optimistic outlook on these things any longer, particularly when it concerned a very young child.

Brief recollections of her wayward younger siblings—including a little sister she’d never gotten to meet, as Prevost had vanished at a young age herself, never to be seen again—scattered when Rosalyn asked about her family. Well, she asked about her mother, who was the primary reason she’d taken the trip.

Mereo’s in the Sunspires, so it’s not close but it’s not too far. Otherwise, she never would’ve been able to take the kids with her. I did see my mom, my dad, some of my siblings… it was quite the family reunion, really. Ray, Fish and Mercy got to meet their aunts and uncles, who are a few months younger than them, she shared with a chortle.

Meerkat wondered whether Rosalyn and the others here figured she might end up taking her trio to live there. It was a tempting thought, of course. Actually, she couldn’t stop thinking about Epoch, in the vale. What a little slice of paradise it had seemed! If asked, she wasn’t entirely sure she could explain why she didn’t move closer to family.

It’s good to be back, though. I missed the beach. And not hearing my kids tell me their feet hurt twenty thousand times a day, the Laramite quipped.