Dragoncrest Cliffs Pearl Celebration

mireille told herself that today would be one of pleasure and peace. regrettably, cherub's wing would not be there for the celebration, but she meant to go at once and find the other as soon as she was able.
and so she dove until her legs ached and laughed until she cried, dedication to the story of today thrumming and wonderful inside her.
oysters, dripping with seawater, many of them containing the first pieces of the sea that some of them might ever have. her smile was soft and beautiful as she looked from each and each, to their colorful pearls, to their faces, their voices.
she tried not think about her da's absence. she tried not to think that he wouldn't say goodbye or anything else, even if she didn't want it; she couldn't imagine waking one day to find them no longer on the cliffs, or to watch them go.
her mother rose and as she returned to crack the first oyster, mireille too came forward for the trio of her own.
she sat down with them. nothing in the first, though she was grateful for a snack. she grinned toward suzu and eti and theo and stingray, happy to see him here despite what was going on. the second oyster held a pearl, of medium size and brown like the color of wet sand at the end of a wave. she let it nestle between her paws, exploring the murky swirl of color inside.