Dragoncrest Cliffs This place of loss

how could this be?

sobeille wrestled with the self-same bolt of emotion that tore through lafayette. as she looked upon each of her family's faces, she saw a storm: black and billowing and threatening to consume them all.

the impulse to infight left her. this was not the future her maman would want -- or tante.

but how could she know in her heart what either wanted, when both had simply... given up?

her mouth twisted in a similar manner as lucette's, but it was yura's steady presence that reigned the emerald back in. though it killed some great part of her, in that moment sobeille vowed she would fight until her last breath for sapphique: no matter the cost, no matter the crucible placed upon her -- she would not walk out into the sea or simply fade away.

not when so many of those still among the living needed her.

early spring would forever be a time of grief for the emerald. her jaw clenched as she steeled herself, a rough nod given before her gaze panned to each. we go on.

maman and tante may be among the lost, but sapphique still stands.