Seaside Moors Seeing spiders, I'm told they never lie

edited to reference things!

Life had settled, but thoughts consumed the pirate.  She did not wish to displace Rusalka, nor tear down what they had built... but she'd not heard the call of the sea in a long while.  Now, for some reason, her siren whispered once more.  The russet wolf itched to answer the call.

However... Valravn was missing.  He was old enough that he might be alright on his own, but still much of Rosalyn's time was spent in search.  There was a fear there that she held silently, even from Raleska, who she knew felt guilty for losing him.  Children wander, but the last few times her sons had disappeared, she'd lost them for good.  Reyes in spirit as well as self, and Scarab...

Perhaps a quick scouting trip to the cliffs.  She would go herself, take maybe one more, and see what could be found.  If the place was not suitable, then an alternative would be needed, but Rosalyn was heavily set against the sound so long as the cliffs loomed overhead.  She would not take the low ground once more.  On the way she could also search for signs of her wayward ward.

She paused in her border marking to stretch, reveling in the feel of the late autumn sun on her pelt.  Soon winter would come howling... the moors would become a harsh place when such a thing occurred.  She could delay the hunt for a while, not wishing to move while one of their number was still at large, but soon it would be too late.

The whole experience had been a bit of a shock to Chacal, who normally followed Valravn as his little shadow. On the day Raleska had come to take them out, though, she'd opted to behave for the dark guardian and keep to her flank rather than bounding off after Valravn and in the end, it was a good thing she'd decided to obey. The creature that sent him skittering off into the wilds had been a terrifying sight, and even the scent of it had made Chacal's gold-ticked hackles raise. Since then, there'd been no sign of the boy, making Chacal visibly despondent. 

She became more clingy than ever to the others, and almost always with a sullen pout on her face and shimmering in her eyes that threatened to spill out onto her cheeks. She loved her brother- he was her protector and playmate, and now he was gone, and something terrible had taken him away. She continued to wonder what had become of him. No signs had been found yet, to her knowledge- and that could potentially be a good thing...Or a very bad thing. 

So when she caught sight of her mother's dark, russet form she approached with a slinking step, tail hanging limply behind her, and with a soft exhale, she moved to press her forehead into her mother's flank, and assume her place as Rosalyn's shadow.

They'd all taken the loss hard, and Rosalyn's ache for their other children rode alongside her own trepidation.  Not that she'd needed the insistence, but it had helped to spur her initial searches, and the effort would not abate until time proved Valravn lost.  She would not risk disappearing for weeks as she had in search of their first litter's wanderers, but she couldn't help but spare hours or days.

Chacal was her constant shadow when she was home, and she was true to that now as she appeared silently behind her mother to press into her side.  Rosalyn turned her head and pressed her own cheek to Chacal's flank, embracing her for a moment before letting her go.  Chacal.  I could use some company at the eastern borders, if you'd like to help?

She knew that she didn't need to ask, just as she knew her daughter would not answer.  It was a habit, however... she spoke with her frequently, one sided conversations, as if mere exposure to words might someday tempt her tongue into attempting them.  Now it had become almost comforting.

wc: 152

She moped, and turned her doleful gaze up to gaze sadly at her mother when she said they would be patrolling the borders. She wanted to go searching for her brother- but she also did not want to move an inch from her mother's side, unless something should swoop in and divide them as well. She gave her mother a silent nod and pressed her shoulder into her mother's shoulder as she was embraced, before taking her place at her mother's flank.

Normally, she might have pranced a bit, or roved just far enough from her mother's side to investigate pretty flowers or dancing butterflies, but with the advent of autumn, there was less to distract her, and she concentrated instead on the crinkling of dry grasses and leaves beneath her feet. Without realizing it, her whole posture drooped, and she heaved a sigh that was too heavy for one so young.

She was glad that Chacal didn't decline.  They walked a while in silence, and while it was always comfortable quiet, Rosalyn did take note of her daughter's lack of enthusiasm.  She couldn't be surprised by it.  Chacal and Valravn had been close from the start.

Don't worry, pajarita​, we'll find him.  Your maman and I are looking everywhere, and your brother is smart.  I'm sure he is somewhere safe and simply waiting to come home.  She wasn't fully convinced of it, but she held that hope in her heart too.  Next time I go to search, would you like to come?

WC: 101

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The disappointing thing wasn't the thought that perhaps her mothers might go looking for Valravn without her...Though she did worry that one of them might come across the bear that had spooked Valravn away. What was the most disappointing to Chacal was the fact that they had to search at all- because he shouldn't have gone missing. Perhaps, she wondered, if she'd simply stuck closer to him, when Raleska had been leading them to a safe place...Maybe if she'd been right by his side, she could have curbed his silliness and kept him closer to the group. Maybe she could have herded him back toward the rest of them, and he might not have crossed paths with the bear. In her mind, this was as much her fault as it was anyone else's. What kind of a shadow was she, if she couldn't also reach out and direct her brother, like the shadow of a cardinal point?

So she moped, and didn't directly answer her mother when she spoke. Her downcast gaze fell somewhere around Rosalyn's ankles, which was where she was used to watching whenever she tok her place as someone's shadow. This was where she was best, like a little wooden duck on a string, trailing along behind a toddler- faithful and pretty, but otherwise quite inutile.

Rosalyn frowned when she did not get any acknowledgement.  She did not mind the quiet, but she did not like this downturned silence.  

She turned and slowed, then paused. Look at me, she said gently, trying to catch her daughter's gaze and attention, if only briefly.  She might only have one good eye, but she could plainly see that something else was needed here.  She wasn't sure quite what yet, but she would figure it out.

WC: 76

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When her mother stop, she felt the fur at the base of her skull prickle slightly, and she could see those feet she'd been watching as they turned her mother in an about-face, and now she found herself staring at a set of toes belonging to her mother's front feet. Her claws were sand-worn, but long and hooked still in shape. And she diped her head down when she was asked to look up, before she slowly tilted her muzzle up, and gradually slid her gaze up toward her mother. For some reason, she felt almost as though she was being punished- but she was simply being asked to perform an easy task for her mother. Either way, she was too sensitive at the moment to handle it well.

She missed Valravn. And the more time that passed, the less of a chance there was, she thought, that he would return safe and sound. For all she knew, he'd perhaps joined up with a band of wolves that were nomadic, leading him further and further away. The tone in her mother's voice wasn't stern, but she was fixated on the fact that Valravn should have been, at least partially, her responsibility. What kind of a shadow was she, if she could be shirked so easily? Her lip trembled, and her gaze dropped. The sorrow in her chest made her cheeks flush warm with heat, and she felt her vision swirl with moisture that sprouted from her lower eyelids. Her ears fell back against her head, and while she tried to bring her gaze to meet her mother's again, she couldn't. She sat down, and sniffled softly. She missed her brother.

She waited, but it seemed Chacal could not.  Rosalyn sighed, gently, then moved to press her cheek to her daughter's.  We won't stop looking, chère.  She said, borrowing a term from Erzulie's repotoire.  You're other brothers and sisters have come and gone many times, sometimes that is the way.  We have to try, but we have to move forward too.  It was as gently as she could say it, and she knew it might not sit well with one so young.  They would not give up, but they could not let this destroy them either.  Valravn needed them whole when he returned.

WC: 102

Meekly, she leaned into her mother's touch, and was somewhat reassured though she grieved the absence of her brother all the same. They would continue searching, and she supposed her mother was right; they couldn't find him if she simply stayed where she was and sulked. With a doleful glance she apologized for having been shown such reservation, and heaved a soft sigh. With a slight nod, she indicated that she would go forward, and accompany her mother as they resumed the patrol along the Eastern borders, though her heart continued to ache and grow with the distance they travelled, and the longer they went without finding any sign of Valravn.

Chacal was forgiven before her look even apologized.  Rosalyn was just glad when she looked at her, then gave her nod of acceptance.  It was clear things were far from resolved, but even that small gesture meant some resilience had been found.

Rosalyn would have liked to have spared Chacal the fate of her elder siblings, the fate of Rosalyn, a fate that Erzulie she was sure had met as well.  But it was starting to occur to the pirate that the myth of the unbroken family might be truly unattainable.  Every time they gained, they lost, and it felt there had never been at time they'd all been there happily together.

It was a somewhat dour thought, and Rosalyn internally kicked herself for falling into the same rabbit holes she'd just nudged Chacal from.  It served no one to dwell on the past; all they could do was move forward and search.  

wrap this and have another soon? :0

I will ALWAYS demand and accept all of the threads I can get with you <3

While it pained her to know that she couldn't bring Valravn back simply by wishing him to come home, she did accept her mother's guidance even if it was a tough pill to swallow. She wanted to wallow and grieve, but Rosalyn made a good point; they would do better by moving forward and continuing to search for him, though Chacal felt slightly fearful of this as she was instinctively a homebody. She deviated from her siblings quite significantly in this way, it would seem, but at least it would keep her safe from whatever perils her siblings faced out in the wilds. 

And while it was a tough lesson to learn, it was one she needed to know. Simply moping wouldn't bring her brother back. And she was a wolf born into a pack made wealthy with the strength of its leaders; she would persevere, and continue to hold onto hope, while not abandoning her love for her family.