Dragoncrest Cliffs So much that is found between

aw!  But perhaps someone she hasn't threaded with yet/in a while?

Sapphique continued to thrive as their status as Rubys settled.  The torch had been passed and burned with just as much strength now as it had before.

Occasionally her reality fragmented.  Sometimes paranoia would set in and she would believe wholeheartedly that the witch still lived.  Sometimes she would find herself drawn inexplicably to wander.  The worst was when she lost herself to the notion she was trapped.  It only occurred on the beach where she'd been held, but when it did, only the face she'd longed for could break through.  The rest became her captors. It gave a strong motivation to avoid that place entirely.

Overwhelmingly it still presented as patches of confusion.  Words would be provided and unheard, thoughts would slow, and time would warp in a way that sometimes locked her drifting in place.  In those moments she barely reacted at all.

She took any day that she could.

Today Rosalyn stood on the southernmost stretch of beach.  She was plucking a bird that she had dispatched near the foot of the cliffs, a seahawk with one wing held at an awkward slant.  It must have hit a stray wind and taken an unlucky dive.  She would eat what was left but the feathers would become a sacrifice to the only god she knew.

You've brought others back.  If he lives you'll bring him back too.  She spat a mouthful of feathers out and watched the tide carry them.

She'd already forgotten his eyes.  Eventually reality wouldn't matter - for her he would be dead either way.

mireille had grown introspective since her return with sobo. the first ponderance was on her own mortality, a terrifying thing to glimpse. the second was her future, and the growing, odd sense of restlessness that was blooming inside mireille. 
she loved sapphique. she wished to live here for all of her days.
and yet the obsidian knew there was more to see, and more to experience.
the third was the protectiveness she had started to feel over the pups of the sea-cliffs; not that they were her own, but that now mireille was aware one day she would have her own.
and that was an odd, overwhelming consideration. she was pleased to see her mother; she cantered with relief through the sand to stand at rosalyn's salt-streaked shoulder. quietly she regarded the task at hand, but said nothing, only wondered with her eyes. sometimes her mother was confused. mireille was patient with those days.

Rosalyn shredded more of the feathers absently, her thoughts deeply turned inward rather than wandering the distant shore. She snapped to the present when she realized Mireille was standing beside her, dropping the bird on the sand.

She gave her daughter a warm look, but it was hard to dismiss what they all knew weighed on the pack. It isn't the same bird. But I thought, if I gave her something... She trailed into soft silence. Mireille would likely understand.

Rosalyn reached to brush her muzzle against the other's in a quick gesture of affection. She was a queen of the shores now and likely these things rested even more on her shoulders than she and Erzulie's. So new to it, and to supporting Chacal through the loss. How are you? She asked with the concern of a mother, though she was not sure if she would get the answer of a daughter or an Obsidian.

she did, she moved to kiss her mama's cheek with a swift gesture. her tail waved once.
the girl's emerald eyes were soft. "i am glad we are all toge'ter. i am sad for chacal." how unfair! it moved her to worry for her own unseen, unconceived brood.
pups she had never wanted.
mireille shuffled a bit. "i do not want to be wid a man."

Rosalyn nodded and set aside the torn bird. Time with her children had become more precious to her in the last few months, and on the days she has her full attention, she was eager to devote it to the ones who wished to pass the time with her. In Sapphique she was rarely alone - when she was not in Erzulie's company, someone was always around. She had taken to passing many afternoons with @Chacal and her grandchildren, the only way she really knew to ease the ache of that loss.

Then you are smarter than most. Rosalyn smiled, satisfaction clear in the way she delivered the words. She would not shame her children for their choices, whatever those might be, but she had never been shy of her preferences. Nor her opinions.

Is there a specific reason? Had something happened? It wasn't a surprise, but it was a sudden declaration of her intent. Rosalyn wondered what had spurred it.

mireille did smile under her mother's praise, sighing somewhat. "because i do not trust any of dem except for sobo." and that certainly would not do. she understood the mechanics, but the idea of how children were conceived soured mireille.
the sea-girl let out her breath and tossed her head. "but one day i might want little ones of my own." she eyed her mother, knowing there was little way around it, but hoping still.

Rosalyn gave her daughter a knowing look, still full of pride. She felt no need to correct her in these feelings - in fact, she thought of all of her children, Mireille now knew best what had been stored in the heart of Sapphique. Rosalyn still worried about Chacal and the mistake she had made, choosing a suitor who would involve himself in the lives of her children. She did not trust his motives or his loyalty to her. If allowed, she'd have driven him off with her teeth the first time he arrived near their borders.

You don't need to trust a man to take what you want from him. You only need to find one willing to give, then willing to forget. Men don't hold the loyalty that women do, and they are more than happy to abandon the things they create if it means they are free to lose the responsibility. Just find one that will treat you well for the making. Her voice was full of affection, but she felt the final warning was necessary. If any man harmed their children, their lives would be forfeit. She didn't care how old she grew, or how little she roamed. Somehow she would find them.

If it is something you want, then it's something you should have. The women of Sapphique didn't ask permission for such things. They did as they pleased and refused to apologize for their decisions, be that to live as a mother or to live unattached and unburdened.

rosalyn spoke. mireille listened and hung upon every word offered by her mother. it was sound wisdom, and the girl understood all the allusions. her parents had never let her be without base education. mireille was quite aware of the machinations, but this — this was different.
she too thought of chacal, of the man she had chosen there. mireille did not think she wanted to follow suit. rosalyn's pride made her resolute. but still she fidgeted.
"how will i know when i want it? or not?" right now she was caught between these choices, willing happily to leave it behind for now, to bump in the back of her head.

Rosalyn reached for her affectionately, reassuring. Motherhood in general would always be an easy subject for her to speak on. She felt it had been carved into the nature of her being - but she knew it hadn't always been that way. She couldn't remember who it was, which had been first. But she remembered there had been fear.

You may not know. I didn't, entirely, until I saw them. Hers and Erzulie's. I let the season decide. If there was a man, then I trusted your maman. But I never had to do it alone. She would never have been a mother if she hadn't had Erzulie. Mireille had Sapphique, and Chacal seemed to feel it was the same, but Rosalyn did not know if she would have. She wouldn't blame her daughter for hesitating or choosing differently.

If you decide not to, that is your right. Changing your mind is too. Even after they are born, others could care for them. Just try not to allow yourself regrets. This was the most important thing. Rosalyn knew she'd had many at one time, but by now they'd mostly faded into distant ambivalence. Everything they had was something they had built. She had no reason to regret, especially with an example of it standing before her and accepting her words as wisdom.

mireille ducked her muzzle beneath rosalyn's chin in love. her mother had always given her such formative words. even though the young wolf still was unsure what she might do, the abiding power of her pack and her family told mireille that what she chose would be right.
eventually she pulled back with a sigh and looked toward the ocean. "i met a man. he lives wid ot'ers on de island there." she motioned in the direction of wheeling gull. "he seems —" she reddened, and shut her mouth. "i suppose if he is kind den he will want to be — involved, oui?" and that was not their way.

It might. She supposed. Just because a man is kind doesn't mean he wants to be a father. Not many do. Something seemed to always get in the way. Children set aside for other things.

Her children had never known their fathers. At this point she no longer remembered them either and it was this she preferred. They did not matter.

mireille nodded, sensing there was no more to ask for now.
she must decide lest it be decided for her. something was coming and it had been told to the young leader. 
there was only the mulling and the waiting for present.
she kissed her maman's wise cheek. "you are always t'ere for me." in every way. in every moment. her heart felt bursting with love.

Always. If there’s anything else. She knew Mireille would ask. Rosalyn returned the affectionate gesture and looked at her daughter fondly, immensely proud. She was a credit to the cliffs, just as Chacal was. Erzulie had chosen well.

can fade here if you like <333