Dragoncrest Cliffs provide

@Erzulie please?<3

in her jaws, a limp fish. fresh. plucked from the sea with purpose.

soaked, salt brined, she made her way to where the scent of erzulie laid thick. milk and babes, an undernote to the obsidian's perfume.

carefully, she would set the fish not far from the den and offer a low crooning sound. a wordless ask to see if she would be welcomed closer.

it was almost three weeks since their birth.
how very quickly time passed.
erzulie, fed regularly and doted upon by all members of her pack, engaged their wish for her to stay abed and spent a good deal of her time sleeping. in years past she had been restless, driven by the necessity of patrols as well as her own inner nature.
not this time. she attributed it to the largesse of sapphique as well as her age.
erzulie was dozing again when jorunn asked for her. the mintglow eyes opened, focused; she lifted her head and sang back, drawing the woman into the circle of her good graces.
"what did you fin' while you were away?" she asked, voice ebullient to have her companion back.

she came closer, bringing the meal with her as well, but leaving it just at the mouth of the den. uncertain what the children would make of the smell or feel of it.

nothing, she exhaled softly. a weak, tired smile tugging at her features. she did not want to bring sadness into the air of erzulie's den. i am happy to come home, to see the good of sapphique.

eyes fluttered softly to the wiggly tadpole of children.

"aminthe."
they pushed on from discussing rivenwood.
"quennell."
they each shifted as she touched them.
"it is good to have you home, jorunn."
the greengold eyes were rising back to the much-missed face.

aminthe.

quennell.

her heart hammered at the sight of them, small babes who squirmed from touch alone. so precious, so fragile. her insides churned feverishly.

i...i do not think i will leave again. she admitted softly. i missed too much, too fiercely. her eyes softly settled on the two tone gaze of erzulie.

"it be hard to leave de sea. your home is here."
inward she breathed; blinking, steadying herself on the edge of jorunn's presence.
"i want dem — all of dem — to know you as well."
the other was a woman of sapphique, but erzulie felt in some way that she had inched upward toward the core of the coastal pack.

careful and slow she lowered herself to her belly, comfortable and small in the presence of the grand obsidian. the words warmed her but still she felt as if she missed something when listening to them.

what do you mean, erzulie?

she exhaled softly.

she felt traitorous. whimsical.
"i mean i do not want you to leave. unless living here becomes too —"
tedious. painful.
aminthe squalled, and erzulie turned, grateful for the distraction.

a small sound in her throat, as if to hush the sudden words — or perhaps it was to hush the babe who cried. she could not know, not even as the one who made the sound.

i will not leave, a promise over the squall of babes. they were not her own, not even by marriage, but she cherished the look of them all the same. a sign of the future here in sapphique.

i have only known love here. voice hushed, eyes drifting. she did not care if she could not be heard over the sounds of babes.

of what love did jorunn speak?
"love be de t'ing dat binds sapphique best."
between mothers and children.
between wives.
erzulie wanted jorunn to expand. instead she found herself only looking at the woman.

what was jorunn to say?

the truth had been spoken over and over again, veiled and bare. love was the thing that bonded sapphique the best.

so they shared these silent seconds of eyes upon each other when jorunn brought hers back. the sound of the babes stirred emotion in a deep way.

i have a request of you, erzulie,

erzulie did not stir.
her eyes remained upon those of jorunn, vying to know.
she did not speak, but a slow blink said all that must be said:
ask me.

if i am trusted in you, in the heart of sapphique,

she started slowly. a selfish ask, but it was more about the emotion behind it than any sort of title.

i want to be labeled as such. i do not want to sit and hide lowly in the belly of our home.

an ask of feelings. painted on her face. sapphique was her home. sapphique was where her love bloomed in forbidden places.

but she was prepared for whatever answer greeted her.

jorunn wished to be seen.
erzulie thought of the small details.
her contributions had not been bloody and large but they had been many. they had been what mattered.
[our. her heartstrings vibrated. she blamed her freshness as mother again. 
jorunn had earned more.
"be it leadership you seek? or only — recognition?" whom did she wish to see her? erzulie was still.

leadership.

she had not considered such, but now it bloomed and loomed. yet it was too soon, too tender. it felt like all but yesterday that rosalyn had stepped down and chacal had entered.

only recognition, she admitted softly. i do not ask for leadership, unless you need me there.

how loyal and dutiful she had been from day one.

erzulie thought for a moment.
"be ranked wid sobo."
her son might take offense. but there could only be one place for jorunn now. it would not displace sobo to see this. she meant him for ruby one day, but did not say it.
sapphique needed its women. but she needed her sons.

with sobo.

it was not a rank just for her, but it was high up and it was a place in the heart of sapphique.

in the heart of — her breath slowed.

it was what she wished for.

make it so, a wish, whispered into the earthen heart of erzulie, of sapphique.

"it be so."

for a moment there was nothing else.

only them.

the wind rose. erzulie breathed. she turned back to her children.

jorunn had never shown affection beyond whispers and gentle touches of shoulders.

but here, when erzulie turned back to her children, jorunn found some sense of boldness.

a nose to the obsidian's temple. if she would not be steered away by such an action.

the touch came and went.
she did not pull away.
and when the natural parting came erzulie looked toward jorunn with an unpolished expression.
"i should rest." her voice was unreadable.

jorunn could not decipher the lines, the borders. everything blurred all at once before she felt some semblance of balance.

erzulie's words resembled something she had heard before from the woman, but something she still knew not how to decipher.

jorunn did not wish to leave, it was against her heart's wishes to do so.

but distance seemed to be asked for.

i will be near, she whispered.

<3

no whisper to follow.
but erzulie would watch jorunn, and long after the woman had faded from sight, she would look in the direction the other had gone.
her eyes closed. her heart thudded. her mind filled.