Dragoncrest Cliffs but i say it is what one loves

whenever! vague <3

like chacal, @Valravn had seemed frosted and unreceptive in his regard of their event. it was out of irritation for his disrespect and a greater desire to understand it that she stalked after him now.
but the sight of he with his sister had relieved erzulie, somehow; their bond was tightly wound and defined, for she and rosalyn had been mother to all the children in sapphique for some time now.
she called lowly to him as she walked the cowl of plateau with its gentle slopes downward.

truth be told, val might have forgiven his parents sooner for their grand idea to host a race in the singular thing he was most terrified of -- if he had not witnessed merlin nearly drown.

that, it seemed, was the figurative nail in the coffin for the boy who dreamt well and often of his death by sea. he'd already decided when and if he forgave his parents, that he would be more gracious than they deserved. in many ways, the boy was still a child.

he'd spent the last hour or so studying the birds on the slope when he heard his maman behind him. he turned, eyes bright and a smile right at hand -- until he remembered he was supposed to be mad at both. scowling, the boy tucked away his cheery expression and regarded erzulie with an unusually cool reception.

the radiance with which her cherub regarded his mother for a moment had the effect of lessening his spurning — until a moment later when it faded and he snatched his warmth back, replacing it with nothing at all.
it hurt her, but erzulie, chafed, did not show this. instead she stepped back, settling alongside him, though with a goodly space between them in answer. her two-toned stare held the surface of the water for a long moment.
"si ou pa di m poukisa ou fache mwen pa ka ranje li."
her eyes did not leave the ocean.

when erzulie spoke, her gaze was on the ocean. that cursed, ugly expanse of hellish water. val briefly followed her gaze, a droning noise drowning out the distant suck and sigh of the ocean.

"you know why i am angry." val answered sullenly, deliberately speaking in the common language as to not show solidarity to his mother. he turned, beginning to walk away. his steps were slow, for in truth the boy did not want to leave his mother behind -- but he could not focus his feelings of hurt and anger, so instead put them to good use between his paws.

he poked at the rough sand with a paw, noticing a fragmented shell between the grain. it was this little token of the sea that val poured all of his attention into, so that he might not burst into frustrated tears in front of his maman.

yes, she knew, and she did not like it. valravn was a child of the sea. whatever resistance he held now was in direct opposition to this fact. but erzulie understood she could not order such things in her boy; it would not do to demand answers of questions for which she had no rebuttal.
"tell me what de sea has done to you," the obsidian opted softly, seeking his beautiful eyes if he would allow it. valravn; she ached to know that in him was the amalgamation of seawater and devout foam-worship, but in him also was a resistance to the legacy for which he had been finely made.
what nurturing must be done to soften him to their silent and most constant companion?

val continued to worry the sand, pressing the shell absently into its surface and retrieving it again. once, he lifted his gaze and saw erzulie boring into it -- he quickly averted before a fresh wave of tears threatened to sting his eyes.

what had the sea done to him? val thought of all of his interactions in this life -- how once he had nearly drowned in the surf and the salt and water had assaulted his nose. he thought of how he'd been assailed by its creatures -- the crab that had held steadfast to his nose, the jellyfish that had stung him when he walked along the wrack.

he thought also, of something else. of something unutterable. something he couldn't make sense of, a foreboding too heavy for a child's heart to bear or a child's mind to parse. how many times had he died in the water? he was certain more times than most -- and it was in his dreams he saw glimpses of past lives in the pelagic.

all of which ended violently.

"i can't explain." val mumbled, pushing with one claw the shell in the sand. "i jus' don't like it."

erzulie wanted at once to ask the why of it. but she kept her rein handled; she could not frighten him away from what she wanted to hear. and yet with all her restraint she simply could not understand how a son of the sea should loathe the very water to which he was born.
perhaps, it was not for her to understand. this was beyond comprehension, and it was something only valravn could translate for himself.
and so the harlot asked no more of him; she made as if to brush his shoulder if allowed. "i worry dat if you do not learn how to live wid de sea, you might be lost to it. each day dat u do not swim, you grow more resistant to being in de water." 
scarab — but he had come back.
she could not again lose a son that way, even for a moment.
"but i cannot make you do anyt'ing dat you do not want to do. i can only tell you dat it is not a shameful t'ing if you want me to go out into de ocean wit' you."