Dragoncrest Cliffs he was standing all shaky

Etienne let the silent grow. He didn't fight it or question it. Sometimes silence was the way of things and that was okay.

Notin'

He shifted and where he had the feathers that he had wound in his fur from his sister and one of heda's daughters a strip of deer hide he had saved and mouthed for days, tightened around his neck. So thin you barely saw it and in the small pieces wrapped over and over.

He undid it and placed it to the ground, his paw next to it. To wrap back up. It be rite 'ere.

sobeille wondered after the order of things. did some higher power shape the things to come, or was life a bizarre string of happenings united by sheer coincidence?

was etienne shaped by his pearl, or did fate orchestrate that pearl to him based on some inward knowledge?

he offered the pearl for her to look at; it was silvery like the moon just as he’d said. and so very, very different than hers.

it was pretty. not for the first time did she wonder if a pearl was a reflection of what they were truly inside. hers had been so ugly.

eti, do you know what pearls our grandmes had?

Etienne didn't often wonder after the higher powers of things. The sea was his goddess first and foremost always had been and he respected her. But she did not have control of the whole world, he knew this. Just most of it.

Etienne had gotten his pearl, after he had felt much of his inner workings were already set. But he had also learned some hard lessons afterwards too. So had she asked, he would be unable to answer the questions she was asking herself.

HE shook his head a sad look stealing across his face. Non. I wis' dat I 'ad asked dem more questions.

sobeille wished she knew her grandme’s faces - their pearls - their hopes and dreams. instead she knew only the smallest part of their legacy.

she hid her disappointment, though it was not directed towards etienne. what questions would you ask dem now? she wondered aloud, considering if this would be something her sigil-bones could do. while she felt at times there was a spiritual charge to them that guided how they fell, she also wondered bitterly if she was just a fool playing with some dead thing’s bones.

Even Etienne didn't know the questions that Sobeille sought and asked. He himself would have asked many of the same.

And when the question was directed to him. He felt a deep seeded panging of grief. How he missed them so much.

I would ask dem all tings. About deir lives before dey had babies. About deir 'opes and wis'es. 'ow dey met. I would ask dem about deir parents and deir life. All dey tings. And I would love dem more.

sobeille wondered if her sigil bones could answer any of these questions. if it could show her their lives as puppies, or what their hopes and wishes were, or who they had been before they had met one another.

she'd been frustrated as of late by the lack of clarity in her studies -- the bones seemed eerily quiet. maybe the magick within them was spent.

dese be questions you mebbe ask dem in your dreams. sobeille mused. she'd had her own storm of dreams, but had yet to become truly lucid in them.

suddenly, sobeille changed the topic. what be your worst fear, etienne?

Etienne didn't adhere to the spirits, but it was not because he didn't believe. Non, it was because he believed in it wholeheartedly and did not wish to bring badness down upon himself or those he loved.

Etienne clicked his tongue. Someting 'appenin' to Suzu.

He knew were anything to happen to those he loved it would hurt. But if something happened to his sister. He was not certain he could live.

sobeille took etienne’s admission in her mind’s eye and marveled it: his fear took shape. it was dark and smooth, with malevolent purple veining. it was the physical manifestation of the loss of love.

she wondered what it was like to love something so much it inspired fear in your heart.

sobeille fell to characteristic silence. he was male, but he redeemed himself ever so slightly for recognizing suzu’s well being took precedence over his own. see her thrive, den. she murmured darkly, thrumming the edge of the dirt with a forepaw.

Etienne did not know of the darkness that laid in Sobeilles heart. Or even if it could be considered such. And had he known. He doubted he'd have condemned her for it. For he was not the condemning kind.

I plan to make sure 'er stays well and 'appy. I 'ave promised.

And he had. He had promised Suzu he would never leave her behind. And he had always found a way to tell her where he was.

etienne's devotion was all-together heartwarming. it was a shame sobeille's heart ran cold.

she picked up a stick and balanced it upon her paw, thinking. her mind traveled over the footpaths of well-worn thoughts. the thought of suzu was left behind. eti. she suddenly spoke, leveling her eye upon him. do you t'ink dis world is cursed?

A shake of his head. No. But I do tink dat bad tings 'appen so we remember dey good tings. Amd we no take dem for granted.

Perhaps some wolves were cursed, but that was not something he liked to dwell upon.

fade for a new one? <3

he was so optimistic! sobeille wondered what it might be like to see life through his lens; would the world appear brighter?

she mulled over his answer. it be seemin’ dat way at times. sobeille picked at a rock, ears cupping as the distant call of a packmate roused them to rejoin down by the beach. sobeille rose immediately, giving etienne time to follow her if he wished, wondering what bounty lay ahead.

Etienne felt that optimism was important. And it had gotten him through some terrible things.cbut he was also prone to melancholy.

He shifted and looked out over the sea. Them turned to follow her maybe or go their separate ways. He wasn't certain yet?

sure!