Dragoncrest Cliffs it was still september

they say red skies at night ,
travelers delight. 

but what do they say of 
red moon
red stars
red water

he staggers in with his fish
focus 

but his body doesn’t
it’s like little strings
in a far away place
control his legs 
his eyes
his tongue 

where?

it’s a question with no answer

another flare of skyfire 
rolls by his belly like thunder 
he sinks into the dirt with a gasp
the fish’s striped body tumbling
its red scales blemished by dirt 

* * *

it’s mid-morning 
and cayetano hasn’t moved

shadows dance around his slumped body
as trade winds ruffle the trees
the grass
the little birds whirling past —

all while his right hand grasped
for the last memory held in his mind;
his body felled mid crawl
in the direction of kheviel’s den. 

the dark man lay still, limbs outstretched in some fascimile of movement.

hey! lafayette shouted near his ear. wotchu— he shoved into the wolf's shoulder, desperate and scared.

he'd come across this static form on his usual walks around the territory, and it frightened him even more than the tunnel had. he wished lucette was here. perhaps, as always, she was not so far away, and would join him.

but for now, he was alone, with this. . .body?

wake up! he commanded, breathless, urgent.

the grin on val’s face fell away as he stepped close to what he assumed was the pair playing. the boy’s voice was tinged with concern and the way cayetano was so still —

he sped forward, alarmed for the boy’s safety. lafayette! val gently nudged lafayette from the man’s body and nosed along cayetano’s spine, ears straining hopefully for a heartbeat that wasn’t there.

he listened for several seconds, a frown worrying his expression. cayetano’s body was cold — and the fish alongside him dried stiff in morbid repose. 

how was this possible?

i think you should step away, lafayette, val said quietly, mournful eyes solemn. he could not bring himself to look at cayetano too close. tipping back his head, val for @Mireille or @Chacal. a chill clamped his chest as he wedged himself between lafayette and the body, his guard hairs standing like quills down his spine.

Cameo unless addressed

Lucette, trailing behind Lafayette at a lazy distance, sobered as she came upon the scene. She crept up by her brother's flank to press against him. Her breaths came slow and shallow, eyes scanning the body.

It be dead, She told him quietly. Eventually her gaze drifted to Val, but Lucette would speak no more. The adults would handle the body — Lucette would handle Lafayette.

She counted her own children before she set off, though with a dreadful pang of fear, she couldn’t know if the mournful tone to Val’s voice was because something had happened to one of Mireille’s children. It could also be Etienne, or Suzu, or any of their loved ones returned from Eresta!

She hurtled through the tunnel to the beach to spot Valravn, and two of her young niblings- hovering near the limp, dark form of Cayetano on the beach. She moved in, passing her muzzle over each of the youth to make certain that they were not harmed before she looked to Cayetano.

The red fish-

She breathed a sigh, and gritted her teeth.

”Lionfish,” She said, of the red, striped, barbed fish. In the water, their barbed fins would fan out, but this one here on the shore looked almost harmless, flattened and dried. Being careful to avoid the creature, she moved forward to investigate Cayetano, searching for any sign of life.

Etienne heard the howl and though he knew it probably wouldn't matter. He arrived soon after his mama. Eyes tracing over the man. But his body was growing rigid and he wasn't gonna move.

I'll take care of 'im mama and de fis' you and uncle Val just be getting babies 'ome? Yea dis be alirite?

He didn't move any closer unsure what to do. He could only do what his mama asked and told him too. He had no authority here. But he was still a healer and sometim3s this is what the job was.

the first adult on the scene was val, who shuffled him back with gentle admonitions, concern tinging each word. lafayette acquiesced, but still stared around the man's long dark limbs.

he couldn't get the feel of that lifeless shoulder out of his mind.

it be dead, lucette said, appearing (per usual) as if by magic at his side.

he— but he trailed off, nervously licking his lips. there was nothing more to say, he supposed.

other wolves were coming.

lionfish, decided auntie chacal. lafayette hadn't noticed the creature at first, being more focused on the wolf, but now his eyes rested upon its dried fiery flesh.

lionfish, he repeated sotto voce, committing the fish and its name to memory under his running DO NOT TOUCH list.

lucette came alongside her brother, sagely informing the small party that cayetano was dead. a deep frown worried Val’s face as he shooed the two twins from their fallen packmate. whatever felled cayetano better not jump to them — val was almost irritatingly protective as he wedged between them and cayetano — no, cayetano’s body, he reminded himself.

he was equal measures relieved to see chacal and etienne shortly after. val was an adult by all accounts but some days he hardly felt more than an oversized kid — and this was a situation he was hardly prepared for.

chacal called attention to the fish. val instinctively squeezed both lucette and Lafayette — here was another reason to hate the ocean. etienne offered to tend to the body and val nodded, looking to chacal for confirmation before he added in a hoarse voice  yes, that would be best.

sapphique’s grave site earned another body today — but at least this one hadnt been mauled by a bear. come on you two, val urged to both gently — we have some work to do. perhaps you would like to come with papa val, and pick some flowers for cayetano’s grave, hmmm? whoever finds the prettiest sea shell or flower will get a little treatie.

val looked back to etienne and chacal once, sharing a dark look only adults could decipher.

The fish had done its work; and all she could hope now was that Cayetano's suffering had not been prolonged. No signs of life came from his sombre, sodden form, in an unusual and peaceful-looking mask of death. Lucette and Lafayette were spared a glance, but she couldn't look at them for long. How was it that their children always saw death at such a young age? Fortunately for these two, there was no battle, no gore, no horrible poison. They would learn what loss was, but in the gentlest of ways.

Etienne offered to take care of Cayetano's body, and the lionfish as well; Val stepped forward to take the children, to find pretty things to dress the man's grave. She turned to her son, and nuzzled his cheek.

She heard her brother utter the word 'papa' and it warmed her heart, freeing it of some of the weight it bore. It came as a relief, to hear him call himself a word most children of Sapphique would never truly know.

"I will stay an' 'elp you, so;" She murmured in a soft and sad melody.
"We will put 'im where de tide will not flow," She suggested. That way, his body could be at peace- and he might slumber eternally without the worry of one day being unearthed once more.

Etienne felt a sadness burn in his chest for a young man he didn't even know. But he knew all too well the terror of the sea at times. As his granme said. She took, but she gave back.

Eti leaned into hia mother's touch. A small smile. Okay maman.

He set to work. Careful of the fish. He was wanting a prick himself.