Ankyra Sound you can’t save me

hearing her two pups roughhouse with sharp barks while they discussed the presumed deaths of her rescued ones caused an alien sense of dread to pool in her stomach. she reminded herself this was a ritual older than sapphique even — and that if the sea and the moon saw fit to take, it was not her lot to question.

besides, fate had already taken their mother — it had been sobeille’s own meddling that prevented the two darkling cubs from being claimed too. perhaps this was marinette’s way of settling the score. a price she’d gladly pay over the cost of her own head or her own blood.

de drop. sobeille repeated, careful to keep emotion from her words. so far treepie had only seen one side of sobeille, and sobeille suspected she would not love the creature lingering under the metaphorical mask. she could only keep this ruse up for so long before people started to sense the mold creeping in; it reminded her of the witch qiao, and how something unpalatable and withering seemed to follow in smoky haze just out of periphery.

there just behind treepie’s bright yellow eyes was the emotion sobeille could detect best; the first of a long line of questioning that would shatter the illusion she’d worked so hard to cultivate. even her maman and tante had seen what sapphique’s daughter truly was; even sobeille had tasted the loss of love as it drained from those closest to her.

but treepie was owed an explanation. she’d stayed steadfast through months of upheaval, and besides, looked upon sobeille’s pups with a measure of love not even their own mother was capable of summoning.

when dey be old enough, de sea is deir first test. we live and die by de sea and de moon. dis ritual be one of our oldest traditions, and one of many tests dat be keepin’ our bloodline in step wit’ de sea’s will.

did tiuttuk dare challenge tradition?