Seaside Moors Light

While she was unsteady on her feet, there was something fairly steadfast about the girl, who had learned to stand and even take her first steps over the past few days, though she did so without being able to see. So she fumbled, and she tripped, and she tipped over when she lost her balance on unseen, uneven ground but often fell into the warmth and softness of fur. But day by day, her legs grew stronger, and though she wavered, she became capable of taking steps with some assuredness- while her eyes remained pursed and shut. 

It was only when she took a small spell and bonked her nose on the ground that she squinted- and when she relaxed her facial muscles, her eyes finally opened. Only a small crack at first, and she squinted against the light that came into the den. She'd become accustomed to the darkness, and to having to feel her way around, but this was very new and uncomfortable. Still...Her curiosity begged that she continue to blink in the light which came to her- albeit over a week later than most- mystified.

rusalka was a place of living upon one's edge. driven out early from arcelia and solaire by the necessity of hunting, erzulie dedicated each spare moment to they and their siblings. chacal, especially, received a great deal of love from her maman. she perhaps would be the last born to rosalyn, and erzulie herself was reticent at the idea of more children.
but for now, she blinked mintglow gaze at the toddling babe, noting the way the tiny eyes at last beheld the first light. little jackal. "ah, you have de eyes now," she purred, settling alongside the girl and turning her own muzzle toward out-of-doors.

She would not likely remember the experience of seeing Erzulie's face for the first time, but like a seed planted in fertile ground, the imprint of love and care were immediately associated with the soft glint of her Maman's eyes. Her vision was blurred, but the spark of light caught her attention, and she fixated on the gleam of daylight and affection in Erzulie's eyes, which caused the child to settle, and still- transfixed as she registered the fact that what she was seeing was someone she already truly adored. 

She held her frame for a moment or two, unflinching, before she finally blinked, and with a soft sigh, she smiled. As new as this experience was...She knew no fear when she held her mother's gaze for that moment. Brighter yet was the light from the den's entrance, but it was too much, too concentrated, and it hurt her eyes. Enamoured still with the feather-soft appearance of her mother, she continued to gaze, nostrils flaring as she tested and further began to associate both the sight and smell of her mother with the role of provider and guardian.

chacal stared at her, and erzulie's features warmed and glossed, until like a pearl she gleamed in love. "little chacal." the  babe seemed to drink in the harlot's every detail; she blinked, her mother's heart pleased by the sight of the baby-blue eyes, darker blue at the edge of a sunlit wave.
"tu as beaucoup de sœurs cette année," erzulie observed, reaching out to bump her nose gently against the tip of chacal's own. "solaire, et arcelia, et regin." a pause, a thought. "et ton frère, valravn." 
a blessed babe indeed.

When her mother spoke, Chacal's unwavering, aroding gaze remained on her mother's features, noting the way her eyes sparkled as she spoke the names of her siblings. She had yet to identify that the words were a means of differentiating between herself and her siblings, but it wouldn't take long. She was simply basking in the fact that she was receiving undivided attentin from her mother, as she was in fact well aware that she had to share the attention and adoration with several other siblings. Not that she minded, of course- as Chacal was often more content to simply co-exist rather than be targeted for play or attention...But having a simple, loving, one-on-one moment with her mother made her inexplicably happy.

"ta mère rosalyn est un grand pirate," erzulie went on, encouraged by the attentive sheen of chacal's eyes "très féroce."
with a paw she reached out, seeking to brush the edge of one little ear briefly. "elle a combattu un ours une fois." wretched, hulking, stinking thing; they were all that was left of ironsea, but had put a valiant burn in the land when last they left it.

Chacal listened quietly to her mother's words, gazing out toward the ocean in the distance, its whisper vague and far away, but still ever-present as a hushed lullaby throughout her days and nights. Two words were wpoken that she recognized- mère and Rosalyn were both connected in her mind, and caused her to prick her soft little ears, though the tips remained folded against her brow. Erzulie was talking about her mother- and with affection. She had no idea what the rest of the words meant, but she knew that she was hearing a story that Erzulie enjoyed telling. 

So in response, to urge her mother to keep telling her more with her gentle language, she shuffled herself closer, leaning into Erzulie's side and tucking herself against her mother's leg. She gazed up at her, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

chacal folded closer; erzulie swept her little head with several licks, wondering if her wife truly was finished with children. rosalyn was older; she herself had at least another two seasons before the change might come. by next spring, even this saltflower would be running, hunting alongside her older siblings.
perhaps —
"vous avez d'autres frères et sœurs," erzulie went on. "nieve et clementine, reyes et scarab, marisol et clementine." what a large family they had made already, she and rosalyn. was there truly a need to add more?

She'd begun to recognize a pattern in words that were spoken around her, especially with reference to the others she knew and saw. So when Erzulie began speaking more names, for some reason, Chacal sensed that these weren't just more words for things, or places, or actions- but for her own kind. The tone of Erzulie's voice told her that. Normal phrases were spoken one way, but when Erzulie spoke of those she loved, it became very evident in her voice. Pleased, Chacal enjoyed the attention she was being given, and arched her back lightly, tilting her muzzle up bearing a blissful smile to show her appreciation for her mother's devotion.

"que puis-je vous dire d'autre, chacal?" erzulie sighed. the child was so attentive, doted upon by her elder sister and loved by her mothers. the baby of rusalka; she grinned to think of it. 
pulling the pup closer for a true bathing, the harlot busied herself with that task, seeking to tickle the girl and thus glean another of those tiny smiles. "une fois qu'il y avait une guerre. quand tu seras plus âgé, je te parlerai de drageda."

She pursed her lips together, having begun to understand what the sound of a question was. Her cheeks puffed up slightly, but she made no sound. She exhaled through tight lips, a frown gracing her features. There was something that she wanted to do- but she wasn't sure what it was, or how to do it. All the sounds that Erzulie made- and she watched her mother's lips move, and could feel the vibrations coming from her body- but her brain could not parse out exactly how she was to make those actions herself. 

So she felt relieved when her mother pulled her closer for a bath. She uttered a soft, ullulating puffs of air to show how pleased she was, and leaned into her mother's embrace, turning this way and that as though to direct her mother's attention to the places she most liked to be tickled or bathed. The words of a past wr went over her head, though one of her little ears did prick, slightly at the sound of the word Drageda.

chacal, baby chacal. erzulie did not know how she had fallen into such circles of contemplation. "vini avèk mwen," she muttered in the sweetwater rhythm of the tongue her mother had taught. 
lifting the tiny pampered babe and her myriad expressions, erzulie ducked from the den into the sunlight, open and expansive upon the flat moors. the clearing outside was hard-packed dirt with traces of sand from the seawolves' forays to the beach. there she set chacal, positioning herself to be half-curved round the babe as she blinked toward the hot wide orb and closed her eyes a moment.

Chacal looked up when her mother spoke, but understood her body language only an instant later, and dropped her head so that she could be grasped. She went limp, calm and quiet, as she was carried out of the den's mouth and into the light, where she blinked and squinted, and wriggled just a little bit from the discomfort of the visual overload. She looked down, to see the ground moving past below her mother's feet, and found herself getting a bit dizzy, something she hadn't experienced before. She was grateful when Erzulie set her down. 

While Erzulie had set her down pointing out toward the light, the stubborn and uncomfortable babe squinted her eyes shut, and making a small suckling sound with her lips, she turned and buried her face into her mother's fluff. It was all a bit too much, too quickly- she needed to get grounded again, for a moment, before she tried to take a look at the big world outside.

"zwazo pòv," erzulie murmured as chacal burrowed against her. quite a lot to take at once, but the harlot was not a patient woman in many ways. one such belief was that the sun must be accepted at once, in all its fierce brilliance. 
"li se yon etwal klere ki renmen souri." and her touch was a blessing, as arcelia had discovered that not-long-ago day.

She flattened her ears when her mother spoke, soaking in whatever pity and sympathy she could get in the moment as she tried to fight against the light that was just a bit too much. Her mother spoke again and she buried her face deeper into the warm, soft fur of her mother's side, half fearing that she might be nudged away from where she currently was. She wasn't sure what it was that her mother had just told her- but from her tone, she could infer that she was being reassured...So even without being nudged or pushed, she slowly relaxed, and began to pull her face out of her mother's fur, turning first one squinted eye and then the other toward the glowing horizon. 

It took some time for her eyes to adjust. But it didn't take long for her to realize that with the light came warmth. A different warmth, a silent warmth- warmth that didn't come from fur and flesh, but from the air itself. She sniffed the air lightly, as though expecting she might find something more tangible about the sun and its light- but found that it was much more distant than she could ever reach. Still, she felt herself curious, and drawn to pull away from her mother- testing out the warmth of the sun's rays as though fearing it might disappear in a moment- and took a few wavering steps forward. Slowly, her tail began to wag. This wasn't so bad after all.

chacal's resistance ebbed, and eventually erzulie was rewarded with the shy peep of the baby's gaze. solemnly she was still, watching as the warm power of the great light untied chacal from her side. slowly the child crept forth, confidence growing, at last welcoming the sun as they all did.
wolves of the sea. the sun moved their days as the tides their nights. it was between these rhythms that rusalka had existed, and it was to them that erzulie found herself linked.
first the touch of the sun, then the taste of the sea — each child here would grow to serve the glowing circle of sunlight upon brinewater.

As the warmth soaked into her jet fur, Chacal closed her eyes so that she was reminded of what life had been like, before her newest sense had become available to her, and reveled in the sensation of being kissed by the suns rays. As lovely as it was, though, it would never replace the warmth and safety she felt when nestled up into her mothers' fur. 

So she turned back, yawned, and having seen and felt enough for one day, she tucked herself against her mother's side so that she could glean the warmth and comfort from her mother, listen to the steady thrum of her heartbeat, and fall asleep with her flank still bathing in the sun's light.