Ocean's Breath Plateau Buried alive inside my dreams, but it was all a fake-out

for @Chakliux whenever you're ready <3

A seawolf by blood and by heart, Marina was accustomed to the perpetual damp of the coastline — but the cold, that was another matter entirely. As the weather shifted she fell into discomfort; her furs had thickened but not quite enough, leaving her to huddle in her den or bask under what sunlight still came through the clouds when she desired warmth.

Then she started to get sick. Just a cold, as far as she could tell, but she was not a fan. A sense of fatigue settled over her, and her presence on the plateau was announced now by faint sniffling. Her face felt on fire today, and so she found herself pressing past the shoreline and plunging into the waves beyond. Only when she was thoroughly soaked and shivering did she finally emerge from the water with a shake of her pale coat. She felt a little better. But Marina was no medic; she had no way of knowing that her little venture into the waters would likely worsen her condition.

moontide was quiet. chakliux expected that rodyn would soon bring his sons home. the seal hunter fished again, this time with @Raiyuk, and then turned for marina's lodge.
she was not there, and so the man wandered along the shore until he found her, a small pale speck bobbing among the breakers. when marina came ashore, chakliux was there; he grinned and moved to warm her with his dry pelt.

She stepped from the water and found Chakliux. And she could not ignore the way his smile set her heart racing, nor the way his touch lit all her veins with a lightning-bolt heat. Marina recalled the night they'd spent together and blushed.

You've been busy, She murmured playfully, taking in the scents threaded through his fur. Foremost among them, a wolf unknown to her; feminine, young, and though her heart fell, she leaned into his touch. But no more words came to her. She could only wonder if it had been presumptuous of her even to think she might claim a place as third in his heart. Fourth, maybe, or fifth — or not at all.

It was not what she'd imagined for herself.

500 for u!

her breath was light on his fur, explorative. and chakliux smiled again, for he too was thinking of her in his arms, the sounds he had drawn from her.
"i have been hunting between the moon villages and helping ariadne to find a place for her own village,"
chakliux smoothed drying salt from marina's chin and wended her close, leading them both up from the sea. 
it was ironic in this moment; he did not know her falling heart and she did not know that by tending her lodge, hunting for her, minding her children, chakliux had positioned himself to be chosen.
but love; love in the way she might wish was a thing built for a man over several years, and chakliux was not made to be a man for one woman, nor would he expect it of his wives.

Ariadne — was that the name to go with the new scent Chakliux carried? It was not jealousy that prickled at Marina but a yawning sense of loss; of falling further from what she felt was already a low place in his list of priorities. For the first time the vast differences of culture between them seemed near-insurmountable.

But she could not find the words to say this, and so she did not.

With so many moons, the tide won't know which way to move, She teased lightly instead, warming under his affection but dwindling in her own return. Will you hunt for that village, too?

"i told her i could not stay. two men, i think, will be with her while her leg finishes its healing and she begins her claim. kannoyak and kilgitsuk, perhaps you have seen them."
there was something in her words that was not in her tone. the way she commented, maybe, though chakliux was not able to accurately put it to words.
"i told her i must be here. moontide is my home and home to my son. but one day i want a village of my own. a seal hunter village, with seal hunter ways and many children."
his own turn to hint, softly. "do you think rodyn will marry again? he grieves deeply. i do not know. but the spring may change this for him. moontide must walk forward."

Marina was quiet for a heartbeat; Moontide, his home, as it was hers. But unlike her, Chakliux did not intend to stay forever. In this moment it felt like yet another barrier between them. She could not leave. How could she? Samani and Rodyn had taken her in when she had nothing, given her a place of safety to bear and to raise her children. Rodyn and Heph had been at her side while she suffered through childbirth.

This was her home, and all that she had become was owed to it.

Duty tied her here, even if it meant watching the one true want of her heart leave without her.

I don't know, She said after a moment, forlorn as she echoed Chakliux's sentiment, wistful as she went on; But he'll need support either way. I've been thinking - when he brings his sons to Moontide, I'll offer my own support. Not as a wife, but as a mother. I'd thought... that I might have a husband of my own by now; Rodyn brought word of my desire to Moonwoman. I hear she's quite the matchmaker. But I've heard nothing back.

So... if nothing else, I should help Rodyn. Moontide took me in when I had nothing, But she could not meet Chakliux's eyes as she said it. She found herself looking away, studying a passing bird in flight, eyes following it until it was out of sight and then lingering in the place where it had disappeared.

these words were difficult for marina to say, and chakliux searched for meaning beneath them. she would turn away from him, she would take up the duties of a mother to rodyn's children. the place of a wife, even if she denied it.
he looked at the good strong lines of the lodge and nodded. she had not chosen him. he had not proven himself. talented in pleasure but not her choice for a constant hearth.
"the moonwolves grieve. and all the men are married."
he meant it in jest. it emerged far more quietly.

It was the tone of his words which spoke to her more than the content of them. Marina paused, glancing over Chakliux's expression briefly. It had not occurred to her before now that she might need to say the words, but —

Being married hasn't stopped you before, She tried to keep her voice light, but there was a question under her own words, and the same question in the searching look she gave him now. This topic had never come up between them, not directly, but now Chakliux would know: it was him she'd been waiting to hear from. It was his silence which had led her to this conclusion.

In spite of all her misgivings, it was indeed him she had chosen.

his eyes moved toward marina. did she ask this? 
chakliux did not know why he had hesitated.
"nasamik may come back. tullik is not ready to be first wife, and yet she is this to me. would you be third, marina?" he asked quietly. "is it your want to be a third, not a first? you are a woman with children. any man would want you in his lodge."
a breath, exhaled. "but i meant to prove myself all the same, this, for you."
and now he held her gaze.

She let out a breath as Chakliux voiced the source of her own hesitation, the reason she had nearly discarded the notion of a future with him altogether. Third. Not first. Marina had never imagined herself as anyone's third wife, nor even a second. Always she had thought that she would be the only one when the time came; she'd never known another way. And it was not jealousy which made her hesitate, but something else;

And what would that mean, being third? Would that mean that I, or that any future children of ours, would be a lower priority to you than Tullik, or Nasamik if she comes back? There, the root of her concern; that if he was forced to make a choice then he would choose those who had come before her. Even then it was not so much this hypothetical that scared her as the idea that this choice was predetermined, that he would make it without difficulty. What Marina needed was to know that her place in his life would not be less, that she would not be worth less to him than the others he called wife. The rest didn't matter as much. She'd never been a possessive or demanding lover; truth be told she'd hardly been a lover at all to anyone before Chakliux.

And now she knew that his desires mirrored her own. All that stood between them now was this lingering fear, and her heart thrummed with it as she waited to hear it confirmed or denied.

his face softened as she asked, and he shook his head. "i see now that there are many things i have not said." because she had not asked. because he had not offered. perhaps the delicacy between them was her children. 
it gave her far more power of choice among his people.
"there are no first children. they are all my children. each one born beneath the roof of my lodge is mine. and i am their father," he explained. this is why it did not matter if their blood was shared; kinship, lineage, and status traveled upon the name.
"first wife, second wife, third wife; this is between women. between wives. first wife asks third wife to handle things she does not want. second wife may be asked to watch children of first and second. disagreements between second and third must come to first."
he paused, waiting for her face to show her thoughts.

Relief, first; but there was more to it, a vastness to their differences in culture that even Marina's insecurities surrounding the subject could not have conjured. She kept an open mind as she listened and found herself conflicted. In theory, she hated the idea. The thought of answering to another woman, finding herself secondary in decisions only for the fact that Chakliux had not married her first. But she knew Tullik. She liked Tullik.

But then, what about Nasamik?

Her conflict showed in her expression. She wanted this but not at the cost of her pride; it was a hard-won thing, treasured to her, and still so new. She'd raised her children largely alone, after all. And she'd become accustomed to it, that independence, the ability to make a decision without needing to consider anyone else at all. The knowledge that she could be her own stability.

But truly, she did like Tullik. The conflict softened from her expression, leaving something thoughtful in its place.

That sounds alright, Her voice was lighter, more hopeful now. I do like Tullik. Marina hesitated, unsure how to continue, how to say what she meant.

For you, I would be third, She said finally, unsure but wanting so desperately to be sure. Chakliux had always been here, had made her feel supported and important in some way even before this talk of marriage. Surely that feeling would only grow. How could marriage diminish it?

somehow, chakliux had not expected marina to say yes. his eyes were surprised, then delighted. "when your children return," he said carefully, "i will also give them my name, if they desire to join us."
his face was radiant; he kissed both places beneath her seagem eyes and slowly wound her closer. "tullik is kind. she has a mountain-heart." strife among wives was often the fault of their man lacking in communication or attentiveness, or playing favorites among them.
his eyes said he wished to be a good husband, invited marina to ask for the things that she wanted. that she needed.
"now," and his voice grew husky as his eyes darkened, "let me warm you, wife."

Fading <3

She loved him. She did. Any lingering anxiety she'd held melted into the soft warmth of Chakliux's embrace. Marina kissed him and felt her future in the rush of her veins; the flutter of her heart.

It was an uncertain feeling, perhaps even frightening. One she had nearly endeavored to avoid, seeking safety in the mundane prospect of devoting herself to Moontide's alpha. Now Chakliux showed her another way; that finding stability did not have to mean casting aside such wild leaping feelings, that these things might coexist in peace. Marina still wasn't sure she believed it. But she wanted to.

For now, there was no way to know. For now the only certainty was the breathless tangle of limbs and the promise they now shared. Her husband; his wife.