Seaside Moors and then my eyes go dark,

i know yall are busy! no pressure; aw otherwise

@Reyes. @Nieve. she searched for them both, contented to find the scents of the others here. and raleska. a sigh; she turned her mind from it and winced in her steps as a rippling pain arced around her hips.
very soon it would be time. a challenge had already been posed within the moors, and erzulie was angered, fearful. her body compelled her into the deepest parts of the sea-land, blinking against a fine spray of rain blowing in from the grove.

The fine, misting rain was rejuvenating to Nieve, who trotted swiftly back to the moors from the adjoining bay with a fat perch clutched firmly in her jaws, her golden fur mussed and caked with sand and salt alike. Yet despite the catch and despite being more at ease here than she'd ever been on the plateau, there were worried lines etched into her youthful features, a bone-tired cast to her blue eyes.

There were going to be way more pups than they could reasonably handle this year. She wasn't a strong hunter and already wasn't looking forward to the long, gruelling hours she would have to put into hunting for the hungry mothers. How in the world were they supposed to feed everyone with half their wolves out of commission? And Reyes had gone off again at the worst possible time. But considering who the pregnant she-wolves were, it was impossible for Nieve to convey this frustration in any way, so she kept it in and let it fester.

She was coming up on Erzulie now, who looked dour in her own right. Dutifully, Nieve swept toward her mother and placed the fat ocean fish down. Erzulie was eating for multiple, after all, and needed it more than she did, no matter her private thoughts.

she was thinking of the woman who had asked after her son, rosencrantz' quick arrival, reyes' disappearance, raleska's admission.
had they not come here to avoid all this?
the babes stirred, and erzulie caught the golden form of dutiful nieve. had her first brood ever enjoyed a childhood? and scarab. should she even enjoy the right to second motherhood having lost one of her first?
guilt ironically made her more distant. less forthcoming.
guilt choked her now at the girl's new veneer; she let out her breath and shook her head. "i do not t'ink it will stay down today, dous mwen."

A shaky breath, chased with refusal. Oh, okay, said Nieve, planting a dainty paw on the fish's slick side. If Erzulie couldn't use it then Raleska probably could. For now she was unaware of Rosalyn's pregnancy, which was the only thing keeping panic at bay.

But she was pragmatic enough to worry nonetheless, and she'd never been one to hide her emotions away too much. She couldn't express her irritation that irresponsibility seemed to be ruling Rusalka these days, not to Erzulie anyway, but she could express concern. What are we going to do, maman? she wondered, searching her mother's dark face for reassurance.

it came in the form of a little smile and the glance of her two-toned eyes. "we will do as we have always done. when you an' your siblings were born, rusalka churned." the man who had been their sire crouched outside the denway as five children came into existence, and then ran, to be seen again only after death.
an unguarded moment now, as erzulie gazed into the dedicated face of her golden daughter. we must prepare to lose some of de little ones, but that was too harsh for nieve, surely. 
"rusalka has never had allies. we have never needed dem. we get along by ourselves, and sometimes it is close, yes. if it comes to it, we will seek alliances wid t'ose around us to help protect our land and our pack." she felt pressured always to have an answer for her children, for it was the way of a mother, and did not want to remove anything more from nieve's heart.

That was news to Nieve. Maybe she should've known that turmoil and risk was simply their way of life, having lived with these wolves since the first breath of hers, but she'd always been much too idealistic. She'd ignored the turmoil in her childhood and their time on the plateau was mostly quiet save for the three sisters. Only now was she realizing the precarious position that Rusalka found itself in, and only now was it digging into her usual optimism.
Who would we ask? she wondered. Were there any packs on the coast that would lend a hand to aid them? They had nothing to offer in return. Too few adults to feed the mouths that soon would beg for food. Too few wolves to spare any to serve as ambassadors. She privately opined that they were still better off on their own than hoping for the kindness of strangers, but she wasn't convinced they could do it on their own.
I'm not a very good hunter, she mentioned. Do you think Rosencrantz would trade hunting duty with guard duty? I could watch the borders more so he could hunt more. Even with his disfigurement, he was probably better at securing food than she was, if she had to guess.

"i do not see why he would refuse," erzulie commented. her fears too, were upon the vein f nieve's own, though perhaps for different reasons. for a moment she regretted offering such an unveiled reality to her daughter. but that was the truth of rusalka, and she did not wish to lie.
"moonspear, perhaps," she commented. little to know but what she knew of hydra, but the harlot was confident that between her skills and that of rosalyn, there would be more to barter.
"part of de reason i wanted to come back is dat de sea and de coas' provide more food den de forests." tidepools, washed-up fish, even the moorland plants in a pinch. the sea could give bounty where less could be found inland. it was one of the last ties to hope that remained.

Nieve gave a thoughtful hm, but didn't have anything more to say on the subject of Rosencrantz. She would just have to ask him herself. Erzulie changed topics, first to whatever Moonspear was, then to the ocean's bounty. Nieve decided to leave questions about the former for a second, focusing instead on sources of food.

I guess I could try fishing, she mused, canting one long ear in the direction of the sea. And there's the tide pools. She wasn't convinced they'd be able to harvest enough food to keep them all fed with how few able adults there were in their ranks, but if Erzulie was certain they'd make it, Nieve had to trust in that. Her mother had lived a great deal longer than she had and surely must know the secret to survival. Burying her anxiety wasn't that easy, but she had to try.

So rather than dwelling on where food was going to come from, she asked, what's Moonspear?

"de tide pools, an' de little sandbars," she told her sungold daughter. "many times, de sea will roll a body dere dat cannot roll back." whales. dead seals. the odd giant fish from some depths a wolf could not reach. erzulie shared a fair portion of nieve's worries, but the sea had not failed rusalka in her bounty.
but it took scarab.
a shiver passed over her spine, which she sought to hide with a soothing roll of her shoulders. "nous resterons forts, ma fleur de mer," the harlot purred, kissing her daughter's cheek lightly. rusalka was still worthy of hope, and erzulie would hold the standard to their end.