Dragoncrest Cliffs and if she does not love you

the sea had turned cold. she had woken to snow upon the water and an utter absence of vision. blackness before her eyes. to the strand she stumbled, breathing in desperate relief as obscurity gave way to greyness and then finally sight again.
erzulie stood overtop the ocean, salt in her throat and dread prickling along the breadth of her spine.

we needed a new one <333

Normally asleep at her wife's side, Rosalyn had taken to the beach to walk.  She hadn't been able to sleep tonight.

A shape appeared in the distance, and Rosalyn moved to join them.  She was surprised to see Erzulie, though she did not yet catch the expression.  She huffed low to make herself known, then approached, smiling in the gloom.  The weeks had been long and things had been busy; it quieted her to see her here.

yes we did <3333

rosalyn now; erzulie bit back the dread words and turned to nose against her wife's cheek. they both had come for the same reason, she had assumed: a respite from the newness of nights in the cliff. "did you t'ink we would ever come back to dis place? in dis way," the harlot clarified, lifting her chin. 
for her part, erzulie had never dreamed it.

Rosalyn smiled and settled close, sharing her warmth with her wife against the growing cold.  Soon snow would blow in and winter would truly arrive, though it always seemed the coast saw less than the realms within.

Never.  She replied.  I considered it, once or twice.  But never as anything more than a poetic joke.  Drageda's home under their rule now.  It had grown from idea to plan but even in the latter stage, she hadn't believed it until they arrived and laid the first borders.

Couldn't sleep either?  She asked, curious why Erzulie was roaming like her.  At times she found it hard to settle, but moreso - sometimes she woke and found herself forgetting.  When she dozed by the shore especially she'd rouse thinking her captors present, and only a few moments allowing reality to settle once more calmed her.

a poetic joke. she rather liked that, and butted her crown affectionately into rosalyn's shoulder. "i was considering de comin' season," the harlot chose to say, not wanting to worry her lover. and it was true that the time to come had crossed her mind. she did not think it would arrive for rosalyn again, nor did she believe the pirate wished it.
but for herself — even in her own increasing years, the possibility remained.
carrying young together with her wife had pleased erzulie immeasurably, and against the will of nature she wished it again.
"sapphique will need at least one litter to confirm it here," she sighed, through tipped her head to gaze at rosalyn then, wanting to hear her mate's thoughts upon the idea.

Ah.  She felt just the smallest touch of sadness, but it was fleeting.  She'd accepted over the past year that her body had shifted, the years pressing heavily and settling knowingly in her bones.  She would pass this spring with nothing to show, nor any year after.  Last season had felt a near thing.  It's beyond my time, she said softly, looking down to catch Erzulie's gaze.  But is it something you want this year?

They'd shared the burden these past two years and through pain had beheld a massive amount of joy as well.  She'd be glad to walk those steps again, even if she walked them from the vantage of guardian rather than nurturer.  They would still know her as mother regardless.  She smiled.  It would be appropriate, for them to be ours.

a roll of her lean shoulders. "i do," she answered truthfully. "i t'ink i should continue until it be de end of my time as well." so long as she bore heirs sapphique was assured, and erzulie knew that motherhood had come easily to her. "but," and here her two-toned gaze took on a teasing expression, "if i always be round wid child, how will you an' i ever run away and take a vacation?"
teeth glimmering in a grin; erzulie looked out over the ocean. "always ours."

I'll have to roll you down the coast, and perhaps we can find someplace to hide.  Rosalyn laughed at the mental image of it.  It did sound wonderful to take a trip away, just the two of them - yet with children constantly on hand, she was right.  They had no time.

Though to take a vacation, we'd need to name a substitute.  And I wonder if we'd come back to find half the men had killed the other half for the honor, she teased a little more drily.  Her eyes too set out, looking over the water.  If her time were not done, likely as not she'd have chosen the same... but alas it wasn't to be.  She was tempted to ask who Erzulie had in mind, but knew she'd share when she'd chosen.  They were never secretive about that, and she'd never seek to sway her.

a spate of delighted laughter rung out against the winterscene. what a sight that would be. 
at the mention of substitutes, she tossed her head back in a sigh. "oh, is it not de way. we should name no man to be in charge when we are gone," she declared.
however, when choosing —"raleska first, of course. but i not be seein' how she wants de title."
"rosencrantz next. he has always been loyal to us, first in rusalka and now here." thoughtful. "but dat was rusalka. an' dis be sapphique. kaertok has made somet'ing quick of himself here." between the falcon and the archangel, she supposed it would be a difficult choice.
"i would leave nieve in charge, if she were here." a brief shift in her expression, earlier mirth faded into something warm as she turned her focus to the males within sapphique. "and i had considered seeking outside our ranks dis time," she revealed. "but now i am not so certain."
their conversation, held in love and in hope two days before an ursine power broke upon their new shores.

Aye.  Rosalyn's joke was a comment that perhaps they'd take it anyway, though she laughed as well to think of the stupidity that would take.  Rosalyn had no interest anymore in watching subordinates vye for their own measure of favor.  She would have no second she didn't trust.... none high ranking who hadn't earned it in their eyes first.  The only ones deserved of giving their children orders were the ones they allowed to do so.

Mmmm.  Rosalyn intoned thoughtfully, resting on Kaertok a moment.  I wasn't inclined to like him.  But he has done a lot for us.  He'd seen Val home, which was by her measure the largest contribution so far.  She could not tell if Raleska honestly favored him a lot, but the woman did tend to guard her heart closely.  That wasn't always the case, she thought with some regret.

Nieve was another wound, and Rosalyn caught Erzulie's gaze, her own mirroring the momentary flash.  But that was past, and couldn't help them now.

Rosencrantz is mated now, and Kaertok and Raleska are... I do not know.  I doubt you would have much trouble finding one willing, Rosalyn said, a humorous intensity of feeling behind the expression.  But if it were an outsider, I would not even tell them where home is.  Less chance of them seeking more than you wish to allow.  Unless her wife found a loner who she favored enough to trust with the knowledge of children, but the pirate found her own capacity for such things waning.

"take what i want, leave him behind, pillaged an' alone." a chuckle rising; she butted her crown against rosalyn's strong shoulder. "it would be my pleasure." she allowed herself a moment to entertain such a thought, and then grinned to herself, setting gaze again upon the horizon.
willing was not want, she thought, with desire for rosalyn spearing through her.
rosencrantz, mated, and yet his wife was not here. but erzulie would heed the message and pass him over for choice. she treasured him as an archangel, after all.
"it is a pity we need a man at all," she sighed, pressing closer. "either one of us would make just as good a father as we have been mot'ers."

Always.  She savored the wicked gleam in her wife's eyes.  They were two of a kind and Rosalyn wondered if she'd ever get used to the idea of fitting alongside another so completely.  She hoped not; there was so much beauty in the novelty.  

She agreed fully, and she wondered if this year the role might fall more naturally to her.  She would still be their mother, but her role would be more akin to sire with none of her own to carry.  The thought of not sharing the pregnancy, the weaning, the exhaustion... it should have made her glad, but she felt a simple melancholy.

I've never been one for gods, but I imagine there's something to them being men.  Who else but a man would make himself so necessary and yet wholly unnecessary at the same time?  She asked, the light humor helping to ease some of the momentary ache.  In the end, I doubt it matters.  As long as they have you, and have me, a father or no makes little difference.  She'd tried both and failed at both regardless.  Some children stayed, some left, and she no longer felt the lack or presence of a father played in.  This year she'd hold none accountable but herself.

again, the laugh. it was true, and that was why she and rosalyn had fashioned their love without the input of men. thus far no one had taken offense to their yearly arrangements, but she braced herself for that day. it might well still arrive, and she was prepared with barbed, bemused words.
"as long as they have us," she sighed, and leant for a moment against her pirate.
it was a good life they had made, had dragged out of a bear's gnashing teeth, from seawater, from pine forests. everything and closure for the war that had marked rusalka all its days.
"come back wid me," the harlot urged, running her muzzle along the edge of her wife's throat and pausing to nip along an earlobe. "i be hungry."
and nothing in their caches would suffice.

The nip was more than enough encouragement, as were the silken words her wife dropped on her, sultry in her ear. Rosalyn gave a small, purled growl of appreciation.  We can't have that, she replied, planting a soft kiss to the base of Erzulie's throat, then shifting to rise and follow.

No doubt, a short interlude would find them tangled on the shore, a soft and lovely callback to younger times that would never grow old or stale.  It was a reminder she never needed yet always appreciated - no matter what, her heart still beat for another, and the rhythm of it was tattooed into her very soul.