Dragoncrest Cliffs having dinner in the candlelight

The stench of Sobeille's sickness drew her near. In her elder sister Lucette had always seen a kindred spirit; that same crystalline sharpness she felt behind her own eyes, a lurking and darting thing tucked away in the shadowy corners of their faces. Children of the sea; children of Sapphique.

Yet she felt more beneath the scarlet veneer of shared blood. She crept closer now with a questioning chuff, studying her sister in silence. Are you okay? her sea-green gaze asked, muzzle extended to brush across the surface of Sobeille's ruff.