Dragoncrest Cliffs granny helped me take the wise route

maman’s vile slug bile did its potent work. it had only been a few weeks, but sobeille’s sickness now seemed a lifetime ago. she wondered what it was that brought her to heel so suddenly, and shivered with quiet knowledge hid within herself.

a song more dirge-like than joyous broke over the crest of the waves. sobeille followed it until she saw chani, perched precariously close to the thudding of the sea below.

when sobeille followed her gaze, she gasped. dark shapes loomed under the churning water, and the insidious remnant of a merlot bloom stained the surface.

she wondered of the lives of orcas. many times she’d watched their hunts and strained to hear their mournful songs. she felt a kinship to them, and asked herself if they ever looked upon the world of the surface, and pitied the wolves that lived their lives there with no hope of ever tasting the unknowable beauty of the deep.