Dragoncrest Cliffs Soeur

GIRLTALK MEETING!

Sun spilled across the meadow, and with a fresh dusting of snow, it glistened, stark white and glaring against the eyes. Chacal retreated to the shade offered by the hardwood trees near her den. It was quiet, now; but she knew the subtle changes in her energy were meaningful. She longed for the den to be full of little squeals and tips again.

@Mireille came to her and Chacal greeted her sister with a telltale friskiness, slinking along her sister’s side like a cat. She knew her own spirit, but it was time to seek out the other women of the pack and know their minds and instincts.

They called for @Coraline to attend; their own sister, who had not yet mothered a litter. They summoned @Maleah and @Raelle whose loyalty had been evergreen. And Chacal felt a tightness in her chest when the last woman was summoned- and her eldest daughter’s name was called as well.

She thought to approach her beloved son on another day, to see if he had any intentions as well- though to her knowledge, he had not been actively courting anyone.

Together, the women had something necessary to discuss; she waited for them to arrive, trying to gently quiet the singing in her own blood.

Rae was quick to answer the call, though she dreaded it for some reason she couldn't quite name. She thought she saw it in Chacal's eyes. But maybe she was just imagining things.

She greeted each leader and then looked for Suzu. They hadn't spent as much time together lately. Rae tried not to think about it too much.

mireille was wanderlust and beginning to simmer. grateful for the reason to be called specifically away from all men, and for her this meant the aventurine.
who might claim the roja den? she and chacal had their first choice, and yet she thought longingly of her own mosswood densite amid the briars of the protective tangle.
she pulled playfully at her sister's nape and waited for the other women to appear, her energies matching that of chacal's.
they had aligned this year, and it delighted her.

a change had come in the air.
worry brewed within maleah. children. she still knew not where she stood with the idea, what would become of herself and her body and her home if the earth cursed her with desire. she supposed she would find out in one way or another.
the beryl came alone in the depth of quiet afternoon, gaze frisking from sister to sister, and relief came in a gentle trickle at the visible lack of men within the gathering.

coraline had been quiet since their return from the plains. she stood alone and hunted alone, and she was not sure why, but a rift seemed to be rumbling between her and her sisters.
mireille's second season, and chacal her third; while coraline had not yet even felt the stirrings of nature within her. and she became envious.
it embittered her to see them brush beside each other with glowing joy. why had she not yet been granted the ability to have children of her own, or even the choice to? the clock was ticking, she felt; her youth and fertility would soon pass her by, and then no man would even approach her. again, again, coraline was a disappointment to sapphique.
was it her fault? had she not done enough? had she —
it was no matter. this was the year. it had to be.
the seafoam eyes were distant as she saunters through the brush. there was no indication of malice within the proud stance she held.

Suzu had not been able to forget the variety of food that had been presented at the wedding that the kids had stumbled upon. The pairings of meat and herbs had opened her mind to the possibility of enhancing the flavour of a food, though she had no idea where to begin herself. She did not know plants well enough to know what was edible, and what would even taste good. She considered returning to what had essentially been a palace, and begging for lessons from their chef. 

But at the same time, she was too much of a homebody, and loathed the thought of all the travel. Besides- the girls were finally back, so now they could all breathe, and simply live for a bit. 

She was surprised at the list of names called- until she realized what it was that they all had in common. She had already had the talk with her mother about children and the process of having them, and she knew that it was likely quite soon that her mother would go off in search of another bachelor...Though hopefully this time, she found one that wouldn't follow her home. 

She joined the assembly, assuming that this was just a 'see ya later' meeting so that the rest of the women would know to step up and watch over the kids while the two leaders went off in search of baby daddies. She sat by Raelle, giving the girl a smile, before she flicked her ears forward and waited for the news.

Eight women now, in their sisterhood. With Clementine and Arcelia joining the group last, she looked to the group of faces, most of whom looked lightly puzzled. It wasn't as though there were many men in the pack, but choosing to select only the women who were in their second year or older, she figured, should have been a bit of a clue. She noticed too that some looked lightly nervous; none, as far as she could tell, had already begun their cycle. It was wise to have such a conversation before they would have to deal with surprise conceptions.

She opened her mouth and drew in a breath- but found herself struggling to come up with a verse to explain why they had been gathered. Still, at this point in her life, music was the only way to make her words flow, and for some ceremonies and conversations, it was natural to fall into a lyrical melody. Unprepared, and now presented with a discussion that was new, she found it difficult to improvise.

She looked to Mireille to explain, with a kindly smile.

when no rhyme was forthcoming, mireille shook herself from the reverie of contemplating how many children might be born to their shores and gathered them all with her gaze.
mireille lacked chacal's musicality, and so the song did not come to her, but there was delighted pride in her voice when she did speak.
"today we discuss mot'erhood. as you know, our practice has been to go out into de world, to spend de week t'ere. but before anyone goes out, chacal an' i must know who among you desires dis, who among you is wanting to conceive dis year."
there were two men in sapphique this time, though a horrendous wave of ferocious territoriality came over mireille at the very concept of val coupling with any other seacliff women. she did not want to share him, though their pairing was rather uncouth and in irony, any other partner for him would have been far more acceptable.
"if you do not plan to bear children, be free also to share why you have made dis choice, only if you wish."
she entertained the idea of going to val, of insisting he satisfy any of his own urges also far beyond their packlands; she did not want to see his face in any pups but her own.
despite that prevailing snappery, mireille looked about with encouragement and waited for each of them to speak.

Oh. 

Right. 

She was being included in this meeting now because technically, she could have kids sometime this year. She looked around to the others, her ears flicking back in bewilderment. Her? Having kids? She felt hardly old enough to be a mother, and yet she knew her own had been her age when she had brought four into the world- and the thought made her nearly grimace. No, she did not want that much work. It had been difficult enough trying to get all last year's children to this point without losing her mind. 

The idea of pairing with a stranger also mortified her. She'd barely taken a second glance at the boys she had met as well, and when she thought of them- of Swordfish and of Ancelin- she found her cheeks burning, and annoyance brewed within her. Nope and nope.

"Ehm, dat will be a no for me," She said, far less eloquent than the sisters who led the meeting. She bobbed her head in what she hoped would suffice as an apology, her eyes lingering on her mother for a moment, knowing she was likely letting her down by choosing to not have children. "I be happier as puppysitter, I t'ink." She saw how much energy it took to be a mother- and she didn't want that for herself, but she felt that expressing that truth out loud might make her seem lazy and selfish.

assuming there's no posting order, kick me if i'm wrong!

children.
maleah's jaw tightens. she had been thinking on it for a while, admittedly, and the thought pulled at her. more daughters for sapphique. to have a sense of meaning to her life. a legacy no longer of her birth ties, one that could belong solely to the sisterhood! it sounded so warm and pleasant, a true daydream.
the problem was that she could not envision a sire.
unbeknownst to mireille, maleah considered val. he was nice enough, she thought, and he would be present for her children in a way that made sense within the context of sapphique. there, too, was svalinn, and the boy theo.
or perhaps she could have her choice of outside men, nameless bodies who would hold no claim to the life they gave her — except when she saw their ghosts in the fruit of her loins.
it was nauseating to think of the logistics, and suddenly maleah realizes that perhaps she was not putting enough heart into it. she wanted them. was that not all that mattered?
and so, after a thoughtful silence, maleah's gaze flits toward sapphique's leaders and she gives a tentative response of: yes.

coraline's eyes narrow into daggers at the response of maleah. she was not of her own blood; she came not from rosalyn nor erzulie. her mothers that were now gone. her mothers that left sapphique in the hands of their daughters! why did she get a word in this conversation?
her nostrils flare rather indignantly as she settles back on her haunches. if de season calls me, and it would. it would this year, she was sure of it. i will go outside our lan'. fresh blood.

Mireille spoke of motherhood; children. These were things Raelle had never considered for herself. Things she'd thought too far out of reach to even hope for. Was she capable at all? Rae knew that the trials of her childhood had left her stunted in many ways. She thought she might never shake the scrawny, adolescent look which had followed her into adulthood. Even if her season did come upon her — most wolves didn't look twice at her.

She wasn't sure if she wanted children. But before she could gather her thoughts and speak, the others chimed in one by one. Rae assumed that Mireille and Chacal would have children again. Maleah and Coraline, too. Four, then. Four prospective mothers; four who sat above her in rank.

Did it even matter what she wanted?

Her lips had parted briefly before Coraline's interjection, but now they closed in a thin, bitter line. Rae was silent. She felt her eyes burning, her throat constricting, and tightened her grip on her composure. Her gaze shifted briefly from Mireille to Chacal, and finally fell away from both of them.

There was a good deal of nervous energy, which Chacal could understand. Each one of the women before her had shown that they were willing and capable to help raise children, but having them for themselves was another matter. The pack was strong- full of family members and growing youth who would help with upcoming litters so at this point, regulating the amount of litters was less a matter of survival and more a matter of maintaining some amount of sanity.

She could not help but feel lightly disappointed that her own daughter was so swift to dismiss the notion entirely. She had scooped Miette from the waves, and had rescued both Ravin and Astera from starvation in the wilderness when they had been abandoned. It seemed that being a caretaker was enough for her, which was a considerate sacrifice. She mustered a soft smile, while still harbouring the notion that her daughter would eventually realize she was missing out.

Maleah gave the first affirmative response, though she looked uncertain. Chacal wondered if she had given the idea much thought before the conversation took place, and felt even more relieved that they had decided to bring up the topic before their packmates went into season. The only one to leap at the opportunity was Coraline, and she earned a smile from Chacal; she was confident, and after having not had children in the past two years, it made sense that she might want them fiercely now. Raelle's gaze was noticed, and met calmly. She wondered if Raelle felt discouraged because the others had spoken first.

She looked to Mireille then, and smiled softly. She blinked, with summer sunshine in her eyes; she longed for more children, even if they were not her own. Sapphique would blossom and bloom.

suzu was swift to deny the option for herself, and mireille accepted this with a nod of her head. while she felt her niece would make a fine mother, she would have her paws filled with the young ones born this year.
maleah surprised her, only because she was not attached to the others by blood. but she had been with mireille in the moors, and had offered her affectionate support following the death of her mothers. she deserved it, the obsidian thought, though not over coraline.
her sister spoke firm and true; mireille beamed at them both, then turned her attention on poor raelle before her focus became chacal for a moment.
"raelle, what say you?" she asked, not wanting to drag her out but wishing her to understand that she too, had a say in this. her tone was soft, eyes encouraging. here they were bound as women.