Dragoncrest Cliffs Flotsam

The sun dipped in the sky as the red-tailed seafarer drank deeply from the lake. Thirst satiated, he stood and regarded himself in the mirror surface. A cant of the head revealed the degree of the wounds – how one ear now folded over, a notch taken from the cartilage.

Not knowing what to feel, Njord stood and looked to the shoreline. His nose sniffed the air for @Mireille, hoping he would catch the new Obsidian’s scent this evening.

mireille was not sure at all what to make of njord's reappearance. she had seen meerkat's tears and rosalyn's cool nature. erzulie too remained aloof, keeping to chacal's den as an extra guardian.
her mothers had rather gone to ground, but the young woman surmised that this was natural.
da njord." she strode toward him with a confidence she did not feel. her eyes flickered over his new injuries. "are you well?"

Like an autumn leaf, Mireille‘s russet fur stood out against the stoney shore of Glintwater. Absent for her birthday, Njord was surprised by the new maturity and elegance she possesed as a yearling. Now, more than ever, she was a mirror image of Merlin. It made him double blink. If it hadn't before, the word da found new feelings of betrayal.

He could sense her apprehension, broadcasted by the neutral question she asked. Am I well? He thought to himself. “I canna say that I am,” he admitted, heart filled with shame. “It is good to be back, though. Back home.”

There was a lump in his throat. “And you, lass? Meerkat tells me you an’ yer brother ‘av been promoted,” he said with a grin. “I’m poud of you, both,” he paused. Was he allowed to feel proud? Njord tried to work through it. “How does it feel ta hold the reigns of Sapphique?”

mireille thought she knew the answer before he said it, but it made her heart ache all the same. she did not hold so many misgivings; she came closer and looked him over with a close and mature intensity, perhaps given to her by the women who had reared a vast lot of children.
his expression of pride cleared her expression; it warmed her eyes. "thank you. it has — it has been an adjustment." she squinted against the sun, swinging her muzzle seaward for a moment. "i be glad sobo wid me. wid us, chacal an' i."

The seaman hummed in acknoledgement of Mireille’s statements. Yet he, by the tone of their smalltalk, felt like they stood in shallow waters together – too guarded to venture back into the deep. “Aye, you three will make a fine triarchy… like tha prongs of a trident,” Njord predicted.

He followed her gaze. Echoes of crashing waves were a constant reminder of the nearby coastline, if not the brine in the air. Mireille’s wistful look tipped the pot of shame in his heart, and suddenly words started to spill out.

“Mireille, I am sorry fer everythin’,” he apologized. “For my absence… now an’ before. It wasna fair to you… to Sobo an’ Loko. I drew myself away, an’ tha was a selfish thing ta do. An’ now, I abandoned my post besides Meerkat an’ our children… I am a shameful man and will be forever repentin’ for it.”

mireille was suddenly and wildly uncomfortable as her father poured out his apologies. she wanted to say she hadn't needed him, though she had missed his absence. her words would only be truthful, but mireille knew enough to understand they would wound her da in a way she never wanted him to feel.
she felt limited now. she was not sure what to say. "it's all right," was how mireille began. "i know you would not be leavin' us of your own accord, da." she smiled softly at him. 
maman says de sea takes. and de sea gives. i choose to t'ank her for giving you back."
now the beginnings of a tear in one eye.

The seafarer was thankful Mireille knew, like Meerkat, that he would never have been absent so long of his own accord. Nevertheless, Njord shook is head in refute – a weak smile on his visage. “You are sweet ta say such things, lass… but I ken what I did wasna right, no matter tha circumstance, and I must work ta mend it.”

He thought of all the things the sea had taken from the pack. From him. The image of Merlin’s waterlogged body came to mind. “Aye… the sea does take,” he agreed bitterly. “Sometimes I feel more than she gives,” Njord admitted. What mattered, though, was Mireille’s active choice to recieve him. For that, he was grateful.

He sighed wistfully and suddenly noticed the new sheen of wetness in her eyes. Njord couldn’t be sure of their source or the emotion behind them - perhaps a byproduct of how distant they had grown. Maybe she was hurt or resentful. Angry or relieved. Still, his first instinct was to comfort her.

“Och, dinna waste yer precious tears,” he chuckeled half-heartedly in his low-sounding brogue. “Are ye too old for hugs, mo nighean?” he offered as one arm opened up, inviting her in.

mireille wanted him to stop, she was embarassed by the way he fussed over this. and then she was angry for feeling that way. she loved him; she went eagerly into her da's arms and sighed against his shoulder. she sniffled there, glad for the warm firmness of this reality, knowing that he existed and lived.
eventually she did draw away. "meerkat has been so sad. it will be good to see her smile again." it was unspoken that they had begun to think him dead.
"do you still love de sea, da?" she asked. mireille was a little perturbed by what he had said, but she wanted to hear him elaborate before she leapt to conclusions.

They held eachother like two sea otters adrift on the tides… and Njord felt relief. To be stonewalled was a fate worse than death.

Njord nodded grimly as the image of his wife sobbing delivered to his present mind. Mireille must have witnessed so much more.

“I thank ye for bein’ there for Meerkat when I was not,” Njord said sincerely. “I hope she need not shed a single tear more…” Little did he know that Mercy’s soon-to-be departure would stir up the familiar feeling of abandonment in his wife.

And then the young Obsidian asked about his relationship with the sea. Njord’s brows lifted while his eyes fluttered shut – it telegraphed that his heart was at odds. Caught among the coup of Meares Island… the deaths in his life… the troubles in his relationships… the seaman’s spirit felt like pieces of a broken ship tossed around by angry water.

“I dinna ken I could not ever love tha sea,” Njord assured her with a sigh. “But these days I feel I fight the current more than swimmin’ with it.” He paused and contemplated. “Perhaps I am overdue to make my peace with her. Give and gift and have gratitude,” Njord mused aloud.

mireille brightened. "i can go wit you, da!" but then the young obsidian grew thoughtful and her mouth twitched. "or maybe sobo."  her brother was closer to these thigns than she. did njord know?
"loko an' coraline be gone." she sighed a bit and scuffed at the earth. "just he an' i now." she loved chacal but the woman was older, more experienced, and not her littermate for all the deep bond they shared.
mireille rolled another thought around. it did not seem appropriate to ask a man and yet she wanted his counsel. "will i need to have babies next year?"

“That’s a bonny idea,” Njord said agreeably, though he didn’t think Sobo would want anything to do with him. In a similar way, Njord asked himself: did Mireille know?

She slipped into a sequitur thought. Loko and Coraline had dispersed, though the former seemed to always orbit back home every other season. Mireille’s expression was dour… and Njord realized he never really thought about how their absence affected her. The seaman hummed in acknowledgment of her feelings. There were no earthly words to make that sentiment any better.

Then, her conversation took an unexpected turn. Njord’s face widened at the realization that soon Mireille would be old enough to have a family of her own. Then, his eyes softened. “Nay, there is no need. No obligation. Only if ye want wee bairns of yer own, then ye shall have ‘em,” he told her.

njord left the choice to her. as he should! but mireille was left to feel a little adrift, as if someone should be telling her what to do.
maybe she should go to chacal next.
"well. i not be knowin' dat yet. i guess — i have time to t'ink about it." she felt strange, suddenly. he was her da! but he was a man, and this was about men, and maybe she should keep it elsewhere. yet she lingered. "how did — how did you an' meerkat decide?"

A nod of agreement came from her da. “Aye, plenty o time,” he agreed. Of course, there was also the choice to not have any kids ever… but the man, who had little concept of a child-free life, didn’t think to mention it.

She inquired about Meerkat and his face softened still. To think of her and their romance tilled up fresh sentimental feelings. In the coming weeks, their relationship would mend, but there would be ups and downs. For now, he could reflect on how precious his mate truly was… and hold those thoughts dear.

“When I think back to it…” Njord’s blue gaze became distant and wistful, “she told me she wanted children right when we started courtin’.” He smirked and chuckled inwardly. “I admired her… Meerkat always ken what she wanted. Or maybe… see ‘ad lived enough tae learn what she didn’t.” He thought of her time at the Glacier with Issorartuyok.

“All I wanted was tae be with her. When ye love someone that fiercly, their dreams become yours as well. Tae start a family, wheel… that’s was a blessin’…but I think it fulfilled tha vision we ‘ad cast fer eachother.”

mireille wondered what njord meant when he talked about how meerkat had come to discover what she didn't want. otherwise, the story her da told was picturesque, even if it she still found the arrangement foreign in conception to herself.
she was growing restless; she wanted to walk the shoreline alone and think of all that had been talked about. "i see de way dat you love her, da. an' de way she be lovin' you back." her eyes were soft. "it be a love story."
the young obsidian stretched and smiled. "t'ank you. i always be knowin' where to find good advice."

Last post for me!

Mireille’s pure expression lightened Njord’s spirit as Meerkat’s face sat in his mind’s eye. “Aye, you’re right. I ken I am a lucky man.”

The sky grew dark as the last ray of sunlight dipped behind the horizon. “Yer welcome,” he said as a smile flickered across his face. “An’ I must thank you for sharin’ yer mind an’ heart with me.”

Njord took a step as his gaze drifted towards the Greatpine. The talk about his relationship with his wife improved his aura and spurred him into action. “I’m off ta hunt supper fer Meerkat,” a fat grouse would do well if he was lucky. “I’ll be seein’ ye soon, Mireille.”

Njord pecked her cheek with his nose and turned to depart, lest she had anything else to say.

<3

"you be welcome, da," mireille murmured. "see you soon."
the young wolf remained there a while after njord had disappeared, enjoying the sounds of sapphique.
before long, however, she took off for the borders, to contemplate and patrol.