Dragoncrest Cliffs a woman young and old

Damp down to her bones and shivering cold, Cherub’s Wing of Honor dragged herself inland as far as her quaking legs would take her. She had been swept away by the freezing tide for less than five minutes, but it seemed to have been more than enough time to bring her close to death. She was surprised by this; the sea did not usually treat her so unkindly. But she hadn’t been able to keep from swallowing so much seawater…

It bubbled up now, spilling from her mouth like a burst water main, splashing across the border-scent of a looming pack.

The smell of others started to register to her now, bringing forth a renewed bout of anxiety. Suddenly overwhelmed with the dizzying thought of having to go around this pack, the exhausted girl collapsed on their proverbial doorstep and choked back a sob.

Except it wasn’t a sob.

It was more of the ocean, clawing its way up her throat and out through her clenched teeth.

She sputtered, coughing, her throat and nose on fire.

when mireille came home, it was caked in mud and smeared with pine-sap, paws torn, and the anger finally abated to a low and gruesome simmer. she stalked across the borders, meaning to wash herself at the hidden beach and perhaps even sleep there a while.
but she did not find respite on the sands outside; she found a slight girl choking on seawater. the obsidian's lips twitched; she was quick to come over, to place a red paw on the heaving shoulder. "angle your muzzle down, yes, like dat. breat' t'rough your nose." she crouched closer, worry starting to replace her tired rage.

The girl was in too much pain to see straight, let alone notice that someone had come to her side. When she felt the paw on her shoulder, she mistook it for a specter – a mere want instead of something real – and she felt a stinging in her eyes as its voice reached within her and tugged on her very soul.

She obeyed, spewing more water – easier this time – as she did so. Oh! she gasped, feeling her lungs and stomach compress as the last of the sea was purged from her body. Her spine quivered as she made a hacking noise, sucking in her first full breath since leaving the shoreline.

The tide’s latest victim groaned and laid her head down between her paws, shutting her eyes in an effort to force the physical turmoil to subside. Nausea churned in her gut, but she became more aware of her body and the fact that someone was there assisting her. Still, she kept her eyes shut tight, just in case she was imagining things. Is… is someone h-here? Her teeth chattered.

water splattered the sands, narrowly missing the sapphique woman. "yes," she said in a quiet voice, subdued after her day of rage. "you be on de boundaries of my pack."
she observed the sodden, wispy fur, the general weakness. "how long were you in de sea?" mireille asked after a moment, unable to keep her curiosity quiet.
she raised her head and glanced along the ocean, wondering now how far the woman had choked and been swept along. it felt she had so much salt inside her still.

Yes.

Her face snapped up at the voice, and there was surprise in her eyes as she regarded the rosewine wolf for the first time. It wasn’t her imagination.

The sudden movement churned up more bitter water, forcing her to turn away again just as quickly, while another dribble of salt pooled from her jaws like saliva. She coughed again and moaned at the ache. N-Not long… a few minutes at- at least… she answered between breaths. She couldn’t say for sure. It felt like… like it was an eternity. Another shudder, then she put the memory of paddling for dear life away.

The- the cliff gave way. I couldn’t s-stop myself from falling in. The last thing she wanted was to be seen as foolish for taking on the ocean this time of year. She knew better; she was just counting her lucky stars that she hadn’t been too far from the shore. Her teeth chattered again. I am not… usually this pathetic, she admitted ruefully.

The sodden snowdrift dared to look up once more. This time, she did not throw up.

Much as he didn’t want to leave the island, he supposed he really ought to go check on his older sister. He asked Heda if she wanted to come and then set off along the coastline, his step dragging a little until his inner traveler yawned awake. He hit his stride then and it was not long before the mildly familiar landscape of Dragoncrest Cliffs took shape in the near distance.

The sight of a small red woman crouched over a bedraggled bundle of white fur caught him by surprise. Caracal paused and blinked at them from afar, his body quivering as he fought between the impulses for caution and servitude.

Hey! he ended up shouting. Do you need some help?

I can absolutely remove this if you would prefer not to have a joining thread hijacked, just let me know!

sorry about mireille D:

the obsidian smiled. "not pat'etic in de least. she can be cold, de sea. cruel at times too." two golden eyes, one the hue of sun, the other a deeper burnish. pretty. young. mireille wondered where she had come from, now, with a haunting and vaguely piratical interest.
and then a distinctly masculine shout rose up from the fog across the borders. the obsidian tensed beside her waterlogged ward, lip curling as she tossed back immediately, "no."
she hoped the coldness in her voice would suffice as warning before what warmth she had returned. "dis be sapphique, home to t'ose who live by de sea. or come from it."

i'd say you're very welcome here, but boss mireille... lmaoo i'm sorry caracal is just a filthy BOY

Cruel felt like an understatement. Though she supposed the sea had shown her mercy as well. Things very easily could have gone the other way.

A morbid, relieved laugh bubbled up in her throat, then was quickly cut off by a fit of coughing as she choked on the vinegary remnants of bile and saltwater trapped in her throat. She tried to stifle her hacking when another voice called out.

Feebly, she tried to see who was there in the cold mist. Her tail wanted to wag at the idea of more help, but she simply didn’t have the strength. Besides this, the autumn corsair did not seem as inclined. She was confused by the ardent refusal but felt protected and warm all at once. It stood to reason that her attendant was not familiar with the voice. She looked on helplessly.

Her stomach flip-flopped uncomfortably. She belched, loudly and painfully, then spit to alleviate the sour taste in her mouth. The drenched girl noisily attempted to clear her throat, maintaining the wherewithal to look embarrassed. She swallowed thickly; everything burned, and she grimaced, unable to respond.

Never apologize for Mireille! >:)

He was roundly denied, which made Caracal hesitate. He wondered if it would be appropriate to make an inquiry about his sister or perhaps find elsewhere on the borderline to call for her directly.

He could hear the red woman speaking, yet her voice pitched too low for him to catch anything. Then there came the sound of gagging. Caracal bit at his lip, still indecisive and genuinely concerned as well.

He decided to try one more thing and shouted, I’m Meerkat’s younger brother, Caracal! Etienne just visited me and Heda the other day. He said my nephew was hurt. I was hoping to check on my family but—are you sure you don’t need any help?

the sound of the sea-soaked poor girl had brought up the motherly ears of the ruby. having spent another lesson with etienne, finding she was pleased with his progress, she moved down toward the beachhead.
but — it was a young wolf, shouting, a vaguely familiar child. and as she approached, she saw his shape grow more remembered to her eyes, and cleared her throat in the irony.
"boy." her voice was sharp as she materialized to stand near him. "listen to de woman." how was continued caterwauling up toward a situation of help in any regard?
she stared hard at him with a grandmotherly chastisement, then flicked her tail. "stay aroun'. i be callin' you when you can come along."
spared her fangs only for the fact that his father was her son. 
the ruby went to join the red wolf and the gasping stranger. "t'ere, ah. mireille, will you bring water, mon cher?" erzulie, slipping into the role of medic which at times took precedence over leadership. "swallowed a lot of de ocean, mmm?" she said smoothly, "head down, deep an' slow inhales."

<3

just as mireille was bound to a flash of anger, ready to leap past the salt-feathered woman into the night for another row, her mother's voice intercepted. the growl that had been born in her throat died an easy death.
when the ruby joined them, the obsidian stepped away, sparing a hot look for the shoreline. did all men need to have the final word? 
water, in the form of freshwater moss wrapped in layers. she held it out with her teeth for the stranger, emerald eyes flickering to her crooning mother.
would she be all right?

Another figure appeared as the sea-mangled girl struggled to stop anything else from coming up. She knew it was better for her, that it was a necessary evil to purge whatever she had swallowed, but her shame, her very nature, fought intensely against it. She let out another stinging breath of salty air and whined as the nausea returned to her stomach, her chest, her throat, her frowning lips.

The lake of her homeland had never done this to her.

This new arrival – older, dressed in pleasing shades of coffee – spoke with the same accent as the first. She was motherly: firm but sweet. The girl nodded pitifully to the matron’s question and regarded her instructions without question, though she did glance nervously after the first wolf, eager to have her return. She wretched once again.

Her body jerked as even more sea air and saltwater boiled to the surface. She thought she had been finishing with the expulsions but another mouthful of bile-limed ocean propelled itself onto the ground between her forelegs. Uhg, the girl moaned, eyes flitting gratefully up to the red wolf’s face as she returned with fresh water.

She took it gingerly, swallowing the cool, refreshing drops with a renewed fervor. She loosed a sigh when she had taken all she could from the moss. Oh… than- Hiccup. Thank you. The pain’s not so… Hiccup. Bad now.

Someone appeared beside him and Caracal jumped in surprise, then crouched. His snout whipped toward her and he realized he was looking at one of his grandmothers. Her name escaped him at the moment. He gaped at her as she barked commands, his heart in his throat. He could only nod his acquiescence.

She’d told him to stay, so he settled down on the sand to watch from afar, his ears pricked to await his grandmother’s call.

You’re more than welcome to skip him!

to her grandson's credit, he shut his mouth and became silent.
the girl jerked and vomited another bellyful of seawater. it occurred to erzulie that she had been set adrift a long while. she met her daughter's eyes with a nod.
"i t'ink you should stay here while we keep an eye on you," the ruby said quietly to their guest. "salt poisonin' be no joke. i have medicines here to fight de effect of de sea on your innards."
at one time they might have been a pirate's medicine.
she kept her embrace light but present, urging the girl to reconsider any thought she may have had of leaving.

mireille nodded when the ruby spoke, eyes glimmering with hope. "what be your name?" she asked after a moment. "i be mireille and dis is my maman erzulie. she be a medic," mireille said with some pride and a thump of her tail.
her mind was playing over caracal's words: younger brother to meerkat. so connected somehow to a family that was seeming more expansive by the moment.
she waited for the water-licked woman to speak, setting the moss at her wet paws and urging another drink if so wished.

The girl was quick to shake her head the moment the offer was extended. I- Hiccup. I don’t wish to impose more than I have al-already. Her teeth chattered again, nervous as well as cold. She wanted to insist, but the motherwolf warned her of salt poisoning and her heart leaped with fear. It sounded serious; to refuse could mean a long suffering, if not death. Oh… Her voice was small, barely audible. Hiccup.

I… I would like to stay… please, she croaked. Saying these words brought forth a rush of relief she wasn’t expecting.

Dog-tired, the sea’s pale refuse lapped up what was left on the moss, cooling the flames in her throat and quelling her hiccups. She looked up at the red wolf when she spoke again. My name is Ch-Cherub’s Wing of Honor. It was much longer than the offered names of the two Good Samaritans, but she had come to expect that since leaving The Isle of Cranes. Thank you, th-thank you, Mireille… Erzulie.

Even half-drowned, she would express her gratitude, and the girl knew better than to let a debt go unpaid.

would it be okay if i start us a new thread?

yes! last for erz! the place referenced is on this map!

erzulie would have said it was no trouble, but thankfully the girl accepted their invitation. "well, cherub's wing of honor, welcome." she was polite almost to a fault. she urged mireille closer and said, "de den in de roots of mossbloom," the largest tree in sapphique, gnarled up beyond the blackpines, the top visible even at sea.
it would keep her three patients from being distractions to one another, and keep the girl away from gaping boyish eyes. "i will be along wid some medicine for your coughin' an' somet'in' to eat," she said decisively, and left the woman in the charge of her red daughter with a wave of her tail.
later she would bring part of a rabbit and a bit of fishpaste, mixed with lavender and birch-gall. an unpleasant concoction but one proven for its effectiveness.

mir out too!

"t'ank you, maman," mireille said as the ruby turned away. "dat medicine will be nasty, i be sorry ahead of time, cherub's wing of honor." it was quite a title but it interested the sea-woman.
yet she did not think it was time to ask. she only guided the new granite through the territories, until the twisted roots of the great old tree sprang up into a hollow. "here," in the good earth and banked oak bed.
she would stay until her mother returned, at which time mireille would take her goodbyes and return to her sitting with the healing boys.

The whole time she was alone with Mireille, she wished to hold a conversation with her, but the words simply burned in her throat with the trapped brine and exhaustion quickly took over once they had reached Mossbloom.

She had just become warm again at the return of Erzulie, who fed her a bit of rabbit and a fishy concoction that was every bit as nasty as Mireille warned. Neither of which Cherub’s Wing could keep down.

Her night with the medicinewolf was a fitful one, but soon enough she stopped coughing and gagging, and mouthfuls of fresh water saw to it that her throat ceased to burn. Eventually, the disgusting fishpaste stayed with her as well, and she was finally able to sleep as dawnlight crept upon her.