Stavanger Bay myself and the powers of darkness

Beta? Me? Beta? The two words flickered back and forth in her mind, but never merged into one. Doe could not reconcile the image she had of herself with the image she'd had of her mother, sweet Hind, who had acted as beta to Riverbone and Mirage. Even when Riverbone had stated his intentions of fathering children on her, she had known that the sort of power his mate enjoyed would never be hers; she was for breeding, not for leadership.

And now her lord stood before her, strange words on his lips, and Doe could only nod. Atoll. Me. Atoll. Though the word was not one she'd known for long, already she could feel her old self slipping away, beads of water down a seabird's back. Atoll. He'd come to her with the request, the offer, the precious gift.

"Then I am Atoll," she said softly, staring up at her lord. A joy so great, so feirce it was almost sorrow tore through her, burned away the last, fraying edges of her old soul. Her old determination to please Skellige and to do well for the pack was only strengthened, and she looked at her Leviathan with a new but different level of respect as she began to voice what had been on her mind. "I think that we'd do well to invite Deirdre to the blessing. It would be good to have another healer nearby - the ceremony is taxing, especially so for you and for me," she explained, hoping that it would not cross him or any traditions she had missed. "And - if she will continue to come into the land freely... she might also do well to receive the blessing of the sea."

It was just a suspicion, as of yet, but Atoll had begun to think that Skellige might have designs on the younger girl. Perhaps she was the Mirage to his Riverbone. Perhaps she was the Doe. Either way, Atoll wanted the pale girl to be safe in their land, and she fear the fate of any stranger that entered without the sea's recognition and allowance. Once the land was blessed, it would belong only to the pack. Atoll felt that they could circumvent the danger this posed to Deirdre by washing her in the clensing ritual of the blessing.