Dragoncrest Cliffs salt singing

too late she came back.
chani stared at the fresh grave which marked a dark lorekeeping among the sea-cliffs; she sank down and thought of the whalebone pelvis she had taken to eresta and errantly left there.
she would not have forgotten it if —
whatever traces had been left of sobeille were gone now, stunning chani in a second blow of loss. 
her mother had been before this grave; her returned girl wished to run to her now, but saw herself rooted and weaving there in the briny wind.

Chacal did not intend to visit the gravesite so soon after having wept at Valravn’s grave, but the scent of her daughter on the wind rose like an answered prayer. Beckoned, she moved swiftly, eyes watering yet again to see the face of her beloved Chani, heart wrenching to find her in the middle of her discovery.

She had no words to explain their losses, knowing her girl would despair over the absence of her cousin as well. If there had been a soul on the planet who might have convinced her niece not to wander, it would have been Chani.

She had thought that with time she might learn to accept the dispersal of her children. She learned with each return that no such solace could be found and yet she would be a mother again come spring.

She would tighten her grasp, love more, hold them more closely, fill them to the brim with happiness so they might never leave her side again- starting with Chani.

chani's arms closed too for that of her mother, and they held one another beside the new earth of the grave. her heart raced; her eyes stung, and the young woman found she did not know what to do with her emotions.
"he was a good man," chani said at last, her voice hoarsened by the things she could not articulate. it was one of the greatest compliments a man could be given among them.
her paw touched the ground, gentle. reverent. "sapphique will see you thrive."
a whisper. 
and then she straightened, giving her mother all attention. "sobeille did not come back? i have a place to look, in de valley. will you understand if i go again, maman?" came her next deluge of breathless words, hanging onto chacal as if she might never let go.

A good man?
He had been. He had been a good man.
She nodded, her gaze falling though it would be impossible to tell that it was because of her reservations, and not just true grief. She looked back up to Chani appreciatively, and nodded again, lifting a paw to trace her daughter’s jawline with her knuckles, gently, and force a weak smile to her face.

She touched that paw to her belly then, where she rubbed the dark fur in a gentle circle. Sapphique would thrive- and Chani would have more little siblings, more little nieces and nephews as well.

She spoke of Sobeille, and she gave her daughter a wistful shake of her head that lasted just long enough to answer one question only. She considered her daughter’s proposition, and knew there was no denying her request. But she would have one requirement.

She nodded, but then carefully placed her paw on top of her daughter’s, and pressed it lightly into the earth.

Please, come back home afterwards.

"i'll be back, maman. it was hard to be away at all," chani murmured, leaning into her mother's touch.
for a long while, they only held one another, lulled by the sound of the sea, and then she too reached to brush her paw against chacal's belly.
for some inexplicable reason her eyes shone with happy tears, and chani let out her breath with a wavering sound. surely val would want the pack to go on; secretly she wondered if there too was a corner of space he might hold, as sobo did.
chani held onto it all.
and she held even closer the idea that she might join her mother and auntie this year, a thought which frightened her beyond measure.

She wanted to believe in her daughter's promise, with all of her heart. She believed, truly, that Chani meant every word- now. But the charm of the world might lead even the most devoted wolves to break their promises. What she saw in Chani's glistening gaze was hope- too true an emotion for Chacal to smother.

She nodded, softly, though her smile remained small. She should want the best for her children- and for some of them, that might mean going out into the wilderness and never coming back. As a mother, it was impossible to be selfless enough, impossible to fully let go. Shrewdness and experience urged her to cling to her daughter like seaweed, to demand her children become little more than barnacles so that their shores might always be dotted with the legacy her mothers had created-

but change was inevitable. And though it pained her, she would give Chani her blessing to rove, convincing herself that freedom was the only way to maintain their relationship.

can keep going or fade & have another! <3

it hurt. it was good. chani felt a girl again as she clutched to chacal and brought their foreheads together.
when the sappiness of the moment grew to be too much, she kissed the tanzanite's cheek and stood to stretch. "if you be wid child, maman, you should eat. i will go an' bring you many t'ings. treaties beside," she promised, erzulie's word hanging playful on her mouth.
there was no other way to prove she meant to be back outside of doing just that: chani knew sapphique would be a sight she greeted again and again, no matter how often she might leave.