Dragoncrest Cliffs and just measure the beat on

there was a time val was a little thing and his mamans laughed as he wrestled against a large stick. the sun to their back, a calm wind rifling through their fur.

when he was older and he was lost — she was the first to see him there at the border. he was tired, hungry. her one eye softened in fondness he wished to cradle forever.

val’s form slouched before the still body of rosalyn. the joy from hours before withered to bitterness; his tongue stung as grief sorrowed his blood.

new life ushered in, old life taken away. he thought of the sea as it rose and then pulled out to the deeps. each of them were an inconsequential grain of sand, a thousand souls pulled in and out by the tides of unforgiving time.

rosalyn’s expression was one of deep peace. he hoped the last thing she saw was erzulie. all pantherine of gait, sundappled, a smile so warm it hit like furnace blast. let this be her last memory — the two of them fading to the sea together.

i’ll miss you forever. val’s voice cracked as he placed a kiss to her forehead. beneath her paws he tucked the small golden pearl. for a long while he hung by, but rosalyn’s spirit had long since fled and there was no warmth to be had for her passing.