Firefly Glen [PHE] i’ll give you bonafide loving

swiftcurrent’s encampment was not so far from sapphique’s. sobeille eyed the bustle, watching as shapes came and went from the hub of wolven bodies.

she had two faces to watch out for, and it was these that she held in her mind’s eye as she waited, one of val’s seal-pelt skins wrapped between a forepaw.

Mae felt eyes on her. She snorted, moving closer to @Cygnet; she hadn't left the girl's side since the confrontation.

Someone's staring at us, She murmured, trusting her sister's eyes to find whatever she sensed. Already she bristled slightly, perhaps sensing the tension in the air.

Cygnet had been reaching around, distorting her figure to satisfy an itch just above her hip, but snapped back to her feet when Mae spoke. As her eyes, Cygnet scanned out through the trees, past the wandering wolves, toward the camp settled near the fresh water to the Northwest. 

She saw the eyes that stared in their direction. She stared back for a moment, and shook the tension from her shoulder with a motion that made her ears flap against her head. 

She shrugged. Salt wolves. She grunted. Not shitlick youngster. Another one. She said, dismissively.

among the faces of strangers came one known to sobeille — the girl that had initiated their spar. near her was a pool of dark fur too similar to the wolves ajei described to be coincidence.

knowing what must be done, sobeille grabbed the slick pelt of seal and strode towards the pair. i be sobeille. she placed the ruffled skin by her feet and surveyed both their faces. what be your names?

Sobeille. The girl was straightforward with her introduction. Mae, who had been bristling all the way up until the words were spoken, settled somewhat. There was nothing patronizing in her tone, nothing confrontational. Yet.

Still; salt wolves, that was what her sister had said. Mae still remembered vividly the story Arric had told her. She hadn't understood then.

Now she thought she might — but there was no way of knowing that these were the same sea wolves. So she only cast a grim look toward Cygnet, a look that said be ready for trouble, and turned back toward the girl's dark shape.

Mae. My sister is Cygnet, A slight gesture toward the pale yearling at her side accompanied the words, but the near-sightless silver eyes remained fixed on the stranger.

She suspected the masked wraith might feel the pull of their eye contact, and come to join them- and she did nothing to fend her off. She uttered a soft huff to Mae, a note of reassurance when she gave a warning. For some reason, Cygnet didn’t anticipate something bad happening. 

But if it did, she’d get through it. If Sobeille had come to fuck around, she’d find out. 

Thus far, she sought an introduction, and she was given one. Cygnet remained quiet, wondering what the next question would be.

an unknowable glance was shared from blind girl to guardian. sobeille measured their faces, marveling how the one named mae could have such direct eyes for one robbed of her vision.

sobeille had never met a blind wolf before.

she procured the pelt, pushing it first towards the girl without sight so she could feel its soft edges and know it had once been living. to cygnet, sobeille said nothing -- but she observed the way cygnet remained poised, as if danger lurked around the corner.

it did. dis be a seal pelt -- feel it. she set back upon her haunches and allowed the girls to take up the space between them. she did not know if they had seals in swiftcurrent. my pack butchered it on de cliffs an' val took its skin for our dens. he brought it 'ere as a gift. you can 'ave it. no mention on if she had val's permission -- and if she didn't, did his disapproval truly matter? he was male. 'ow did you lose your sight, mae?

Mae's suspicions lurked bitterly on her tongue. A seal pelt. The sea wolf seemed to taint the air with her presence like oil pooling in the water; something slick and noxious, something that threatened to set itself aflame at any moment. She didn't trust Sobeille. Nor would she trust any of her kin, not after she'd snapped at their brat.

Retribution was already on her mind; it wasn't a matter of if, but when. This in mind, she reached for the pelt with an almost defensive swiftness, angling herself to block any of Cygnet's attempts to also touch it. She'd told Tauris once that she would protect the girl.

Thanks, Mae ran a paw over the seal pelt, her muzzle still tilted toward Sobeille. At the question she tensed but didn't allow herself to miss a beat, answering frankly: A man took it from me. Because I was a girl who wouldn't keep her mouth shut.

The hard look in her eyes said that she still would not.

The pelt was different from any that Cygnet had ever seen. The fur was shorter than deer fur, but so dense that it reminded her of the velvet on early antlers. Each strand of fur was perfectly straight, and glistened in the light. The colour was even but rich, lightly dappled as if by a watercolour paintbrush. 

Cygnet did want to touch it- but Mae blocked her path. With a low growl she shifted to Mae’s other side, only to find a forelimb blocking her path again. A flash of teeth was shown- Mae would hear the sound of lips peeling back, but the gesture was made merely as a show of irritation. Her grey ears flicked back, but she settled, like a grumpy child who was told to let their sibling handle their birthday gift first. 

She remained fixated on the pelt, and her expression didn’t change when Mae spoke about her injury. Still feeling the tension, Cygnet yawned, stretching her jaws wide open, and then sneezed percussively before she flicked her tongue over her lips. She gave Mae a quiet nudge as if to say now let me see it!

ever since kukutux taught sobeille about the firemother, her mind was transfixed on how many ways women’s bodies changed to accommodate men. a darkness stole across her expression briefly before she commanded herself, recalling she was here on strict subterfuge. 

they had disabused ajei. her ajei. there was no hope of kinship here, though sobeille was perfectly well behaved in the interim. there was a moment when cygnet looked down and sneezed where her throat might have been tantalizingly easy to grasp — but sobeille steeled herself. two against one — even a half blind two — was hardly good odds. sobeille was nothing if not practiced in staying her impulses, however loudly they clamored to be viciously loosened. 

what ‘appened to dat man? sobeille ventured, hopeful for the thrill of rightful vengeance in mae’s answer. all the while she wondered what secret power it was that kept eyes alive and beautiful while whole, and yet withered and bereft of all color when plucked from their socket.

not long after, val’s irritating voice called for her. sobeille considered ignoring it, but recalling that her maman and tante would disapprove, excused herself once more from the company of the two girls.

she would see them both soon enough, she decided.