Dragoncrest Cliffs The bottle stench may be here to stay

oops this thread got ahead of the other one... I had things drafted that might repeat XD I'll have to see

Rosalyn did not have the energy to push any further right now.  Another mother might have run to their child after a question like that, embraced them, assured them completely that they were loved and that all was well and that they were the single most important thing in the world.  Rosalyn had never had a mother like that, and all she did, she learned as she went.  From Reyes she'd learned to give space, but not too much... and still she could not discover the line.  Age and tragedy had sapped all of the strength from her bones of late and some days she struggled more than others to stand firm.

Chacal called her back before she could get very far and strode forward with confidence.  She stopped to listen and could at least admire that, though still the words attacked their decisions.  Their children sought many answers as to why they'd been deemed unworthy, yet did not seek to examine their own actions at all in the process.  She could feel the vague fog that could sometimes make plucking the right words hard at times, but she pressed it out, considering a moment longer to answer.

You are wrong.  It wasn't pity.  Rosalyn began, choosing to address the part that was easier.  It isn't only enough to win a race, as you have said.  So only the Rosada swim, as they have earned the right in the months before.  If you wish to earn that right, then perhaps look to care for rank before the time comes.  They had drawn battle lines and gone to war with their mothers over something meant to be a celebration, a bonding experience for the pack and a chance to prove themselves in a way that drew them closer to the culture of Sapphique.  How did she explain this?  Their backs were so raised against the very idea of the sea... and for what reason?  Why did he hate it so much?  Perhaps Erzulie would know - she should ask.

It is not a permanent rank, nor is it meant to be.  It is a chance for any member who works to be recognized, to compete and to become closer to both the sea and the pack.  Your mother and I do not need a third, yet we offer it.  And we do so in the way of our choosing, not yours.  She looked at Chacal, seeking any sign of understanding but expecting none.  She wasn't bending as she should, but she could not.  How is fear any less of a reason to deny someone the right than the inability to run or the inability to fight?  We chose a challenge that would pit the pack against the sea, not each other.  Yet it did a fine enough job of turning their remaining children against them.

You are no more worthy because you can speak.  You are less worthy, perhaps, because rather than celebrate the success of your family, you resent that it was not your own.  She hadn't meant for that to come out as harshly as it did, but despite the soft delivery, the words stood stark.  There was a lesson here that needed to be learned, Rosalyn thought, though she was fast losing patience in the teaching.  Her explanations were incomplete, following a thread like grasping at a spider's web on a windy day.