Dragoncrest Cliffs We are painted with the fear that if the sea recedes, it never comes back...

The decision was not a hard one. Rosalyn had made up her own mind even as she had listened to Haunt... but she still let a few days pass before she caught @Erzulie and attempted to pass on the warning. Really she wanted to see if she, too, would be visited. She was not. Her sleep was as dreamless as it had ever been.

Perhaps that was a boon, as she'd only ever seemed to find nightmares. Still, she was disappointed.

She sought out Erzulie in the early morning, breathing in a deep taste of the salt air and picking her way towards the salt marsh. They had moved the children recently for easier integration and access, and now they had gained more autonomy of their own to safely wander the territory. It was easier for the two of them to share time, and she would be glad to catch her wife alone if she were. This was not something she needed overheard.

erzulie was alone, thankfully enough. the woman sunned herself upon corsair beach, drinking in the early rays of the sunlight which dazzled her to spice and dark honey. she heard the pirate approaching and did not move, only smiled. "good morning, wife."
and it was. erzulie felt truly settled, and without any of the malaise which had so long sat upon her since one by one the eldest children, and the youngers, disappeared from their shores.
she reached sweetly for rosalyn, wanting to share the sand in this moment of respite.

Good morning, she agreed, stepping up to share a brief touch before sitting close on the sun warmed sand. She lifted her head some and closed her eyes, enjoying the silence and the play of the wind and water. It was hard to imagine the dread of her conversation with Haunt from before, with the sun beaming on them, but perhaps this was the best way for them to discuss.

Haunt spoke to me. She's been having dreams. Rosalyn began, paws shifting to bury themselves into the sand. Apparently she was visited by an unknown woman and told that Sapphique should leave. A wolf with dark fur.

Turning, Rosalyn watched to see if the same recognition would fire in her wife's expression. Who else could it be?

erzulie was a firm believer in spirits, and her wife knew this to be true. she would also not be surprised when horror rolled through the obsidian's face, followed by grief and then the grudging specter of longing, of knowing. "she was not happy when she died, rosalyn," the woman ventured only moments before tears formed in her eyes.
the seawife tilted back her head and sighed.
"do you t'ink it is possible ...?" but her mate had always been the pragmatic sort. yet she also knew the salt and the path of a sailor.
"where would we even go, so late in de season an' wid young ones?"

It was painful to remember. Rosalyn would have liked nothing more than to have been there for her, during that time, but she'd chosen to leave them instead. A million what-ifs had already plagued her since.

But none would bring her back.

If it is her, she should know better. Rosalyn said, a light heat masking the discomfort she herself felt. Ghosts were not a thing she liked and, as much as she yearned for a glimpse of Raleska once more, she also dreaded it. Was it not she who'd failed her?

Danger without a name. What if, by running, we bring it? At least here we are protected. She glanced at the cliffs, then her shoulders sagged some. I don't like it. But there's nowhere else.

This was their home. Not even this warning could change that.

erzulie came forward to run the side of her face along that of rosalyn's own. for a moment she did not speak; she only allowed them both to be held in that porcelain moment. and then a nod. she turned toward the sea and felt it suffuse her with a strength to ward off the melancholy.
"dis be our home."
she felt silently all the ways in which she had failed raleska.
"ghosts an' all. sapphique stands where it be now."
she leant back against the pirate, seeking her wife's embrace to quell some unnamable emotion.

She was lucky, and even now, Rosalyn knew better than to ever take this for granted. If Erzulie had wanted to leave then for them both she would have followed, but to start over now seemed insurmountable. At one time the adventure of a new place was a thrill, but now all she wanted was this. The two of them, this shore, and whatever family wished to anchor itself to these cliffs.

Whatever punishment Raleska meant for them, doubtless she deserved it. She could only hope the pack didn't suffer for it as well.

Rosalyn met Erzulie's embrace silently and maintained it, holding her close for a long moment.

I know better than to think there's anything we can't best. You especially. The words were quiet, but it was easy as she said them to hear the culmination of all of the things Rosalyn loved best in her wife. Her fierceness, her compassion, and the way those two melded in such a complicated and beautifully knotted pattern.

erzulie felt so very secure against the warm familiarity of rosalyn's body. they had raced and fought and fled for the the land they now had.
but by now the obsidian believed they would have had an heir.
their current brood was growing, but would not see a year until the next warm months.
chacal. perhaps.
"i go back an' fort' about children. more of dem, i mean."
first, a no that had maintained itself. and then a faltering. she sighed.

Rosalyn wasn't surprised, though she had wondered. Every year she thought she would have no more room for more within her but each year she was proven wrong. She was glad that at least Erzulie still could choose, but she couldn't bring herself to try and sway her either way. They had so much. Asking for more might be foolish, but they'd never allowed that to stop them before.

Still, there was a deep weariness in thinking about it too, something at her core that knew she was winding down. She could still provide for them and protect them, but the time she could promise was winnowing. It was not a thought she welcomed, and when it pervaded everything became slightly heavier.

She wouldn't allow that to be a consideration, not for her wife. Not if she could help it.

Njord has done a credit to them. The answer was only slightly evasive. Of all of the fathers, at least he had remained. Above that, he seemed to have a genuine interest. More of his, perhaps. What makes you go between?

"responsibility. love. wanting sapphique to always have a new generation." the mention of njord brought her eyes up to meet that of the pirate. "it be him i would ask again."
"but i do not know if one day he will decide to leave." she could not fathom njord challenging she or her wife. it was more likely that when the boys were old enough to choose their own path, njord might seek one that led to a more traditional route.
he had stayed longer than any of the men before. and he had established a relationship with the sons and daughters of this year.
it counted for many things, both in reference to sapphique and her own regard of him.
erzulie sighed and shrugged. "de decision will have to be made ano'ter time."

She related on a few of those points, but the legacy of Sapphique was something she only cared about in part. If their children all chose other paths, and the cliffs died with them, then Rosalyn doubted she would mind much. She would not be around to see it.

She'd never considered that her wife might feel otherwise as it hadn't crossed her mind. But talk of successors, and now children, left her to believe there was more there. At one time she might have agreed, back when her legacy was meant to be as captain. But she'd found a more lasting, and profound, impact in the title of "mother". So much had changed because of it.

They always leave, perhaps because we only ever have one thing to give them. She could have made a joke of this, but she did not. Perhaps it was a fault that all they offered the men of Sapphique was belonging, family. Perhaps it was a curse of men to crave ownership, power, and claim over others. Njord had proven himself different so far but Rosalyn still waited, her own outlook perhaps not so optimistic as her wife's. She'd never really allowed herself to see him so fondly. She would not reflect enough to see that perhaps this was the true failing.

I would help if I could, but I know that you'll choose right. And you know that I'll be here either way. Every year I think it is the last, and every year it is enough. She said finally, after a slight pause. It was hard to find the words, to sort the true feeling from what might be perceived as apathy.

erzulie grinned. "lucky dem!"
she did not think that sapphique and its legacy would have crept into her bones the way that it did. and yet it had — and now that it had, she was consumed by thoughts of the future.
she would leave it to fate. to njord's choice. to her own body. the prospect of carrying another pregnancy was daunting.
and yet she felt the old compelling again.
she leaned against rosalyn.
"we have built such a safe place for our family," she commented softly.

Aye. Rosalyn felt Erzulie lean in and felt that old, familiar warmth well forth as they shared a moment. It was a feeling that never faded and she knew, now, never would, no matter how many years passed and how time changed them. Some things were built in stone.

She wondered if she imagined the undercurrent of stress, but either way, she began to comb through Erzulie's fur with a light grooming while she leaned. She wished she could make the choice for her but could not bring herself to speak firmly either way. It felt wrong to decide something like that, something so personal, and besides... she was torn as well.

As long as there's always a home here for them. That's all that matters. She agreed quietly, her thoughts following the same line as her wife's. In her mind it did not matter what it was called... only that it welcomed them back when they needed it. You've done an amazing job, cielo. Rosalyn had helped, yes, but she had stepped back knowing the captain that Erzulie could be. And her wife had proven her more than correct in every conceivable way. She couldn't be more proud.

<3 fade?

cielo.
"i could not have done so widout you, rosalyn." she kissed her wife's cheek and looked up into the skies. "let us go inland an' hunt for a bit. just us."
she wanted the next few hours with her wife, and for the prospect of a good rush to drive any other thought than those that glowed from their minds.

She questioned the truth in that but kept silent. They had been together so long at this point it was hard to imagine a time when they were not, and Rosalyn did not doubt her own contributions to this place. She knew better. But she also felt she knew Erzulie.

Had Rosalyn chosen the cliffs? She thought, perhaps... but it didn't matter. Aye, she agreed softly, letting Erzulie lead them to a place to do so. The hunt would distract them and drive the scattered recollections from her mind, as well as any thoughts that were tinged the subtle, acrid taste of mortality.