Blackbeak Bluff prayer circle

maybe somebody from blackwater or sapphique? :D

he had told @Heda of his intentions, to see a bit more of the coast. nothing so far that he could not easily make his way back home. she had been welcomed if she so wished.

another chain of islands was off the coast, visible from here. he stared out at them with a heavy curiosity. would it be so odd to think that perhaps somebody lived there too? after all, he had set claim to an island himself. well. perhaps claim would be too heavy a word.

overhead birds disrupted his thoughts, screeching as they then dove down into the waters.

he thought of the young hunter.

it was not often at all that mireille ventured from the sanctum of sapphique for anything. the cliffs were self sufficient, and the number of puppies there kept her busy with babysitting.
today though she had gotten away. a dip in the saltwater and then preening her pelt was the first order of the day. mireille stalked proudly along the bluff, her coat a brilliant shade of red against the wild sky.
the birds dove. and beyond them was a dark stranger. 
she stopped to look at him.

vibrant red, a brilliant and shining color. he could not notice the finer details of her coloring from here.

he remained composed and formal. there was no way he could be heard over the screaming of gulls and the crash of waves if he dared to speak.

so he offered her an inviting nod, if she cared for any company.

he was wild but not, feral but not. something about him intrigued mireille. she grew closer but stopped a genteel distance away.
she found him quite unique, but sported the aloofness of both her mothers. the rich emerald of her eyes observed the man with open curiosity and little suspicion.
"where do you be from, mesye?"

she was accented, awash in this he had not encountered. something lively flared in his chest and he hushed it down with a well trained smile.

she was polite, he noted, despite these wild things about her.

he would reward her with a turn of his head, gesturing towards the island he had come from. i have made a small home there. he told her warmly. perhaps an invitation if she dared to see it as such.

do you live along the coast?

mireille looked beyond him toward the island. her gut was swarmed with the dark feeling of panic she had felt after being brought to blackwater.
"yes. i live back dat way, along de cliffs in a place called sapphique." it was her turn to motion, which she did with a proud sweep of her muzzle.
her green gaze was on him again. "what is your pack like? my mot'ers — well, one of dem — an' my older sister are leaders in my home."

sapphique. he made a note to himself, these things he would tell heda. he wondered if she might enjoy a hunt with their own, if they had those more up to the task of her physical work than himself.

but he would not thrust her into social situations unless she wished for them too. that was the way of the healing.

his pack?

oh, well it's...not a pack. we have no names or leadership. and suddenly he felt exposed. embarrassed perhaps. it's a place of healing though. i protect those who need rest — of body or soul.

it was odd. he was not as old as her mother but he was older than chacal. and he said that was his home. "well, how many do you have?" she asked.
a bird flew overhead and she glanced at it. "members, i mean. it do not be takin' many to have a pack." though she could not even relate to that, with how large her natal pack had become. "i be mireille, by the way."

three in total. two and myself. like i said...not many. he answered softly, lost in some loose train of thought now. what would those numbers mean to her? small enough and far enough away to be no sort of threat to sapphique. nor did bartholomew think himself or either woman could be labeled a threat either way.

and i'm bartholomew.

she was wise, wise beyond her years, he felt. he wondered what sort of place sapphique was to raise such thoughtful children.

"welcome to de mainlan' then, bart'olomew," mireille grinned. she considered his words with a tip of her head.
"t'ree be makin' a pack. you donnae seem worried about it," mireille observed, slipping briefly into njord's manner of speaking.
"but if it be what you want, well — i have sixteen siblings. dat should tell you how my mot'ers made it work." erzulie's bold laugh came out of her mouth.

she may have been wise but she was sly too!

he felt hot under her words and observations. had he a collar, he would have sought to shift it to alleviate the steam of his own flush. how bold these wolves were, he had nearly forgot such a thing. heda's outburst could be nothing compared to the...insinuations here!

i-i don't have a wife, mireille! he informed her with a strained embarrassed voice but lips still smiling. he could tell she had meant well, if the sea laughter was any sort of sign. and the others are, well...perhaps around your age?

this he guessed loosely.

he suddenly felt like an overburdened father.

teenagers.

generationally, purposefully or otherwise, the saltwives had passed down a healthy if subtle disdain for men.
mireille found she liked bartholomew very much, but his faltering, embarrassed response was the true draw. she giggled as he floundered; his flustering kept her riveted.
"wives do not be havin' not'ing to do with not'ing," she brashly declared. "my sister was a girl last year. now she be a woman an' mot'er. no husband."
a red brow arched. "you did not say no."

crass!

he laughed with hot, boiling embarrassment. the young seafairer spoke of one of her own sisters, but bartholomew could only hear ringing in his ears — or the battering of his heartbeat.

"you did not say no."

to what? he all but breathed in bewildered amused-embarrassment.

mireille laughed again. "to being a husband. you only said you did not be havin' a wife."
she flounced to the side. "come an' hunt wid me. i was going to find sea urchins for my maman rosalyn." 
her eyes glowed. she wondered if he was flustered enough to follow her down the bluff to the beach. it was her first taste of the power she hoped to one day wield.

i would like to be a husband one day again. when the time is right for those kinds of things but — he sighed, head tilted back and ears swayed for it. why was he explaining these things to her? a young woman he had only just met who saw it fit to prod him till he popped.

teenagers.

had his sons been so awful?

i will help you find something for your mother, he declared softly, fumbling along after her as he tried to straighten his thoughts.

her tail waved. she padded gallantly besides bartholomew. "maman erzulie says it happens to us all." she rolled her eyes conspiratorially. "it will not be happenin' to me."
her mother had faithfully brought forth young every year. mireille was disgusted at the idea of following suit. "have you been dat way?" she pointed toward where blackwater lay off the coastline, shrouded in mist. "t'ere be a girl on t'ose islands who leads, even younger den me."

he only noted now that she spoke of two mothers. he wondered what type of situation that was but...perhaps it was best not to pry into others relationships. it had not done him well in the past, had it?

nor would he be the one to give her another talk, that apparently she had already had before.

no. admittedly this is my first time beyond the island of my own recently. i have little reason to leave it. he confessed briefly, eyes looking outward before they returned back to her. what kind of girl is she?

she wanted to tease him more, but her knowledge beyond what she had shared was amorphous. half-formed. mireille did not want to seem ignorant.
the bluff sloped toward the beach. "she be very quiet. reserved. formal. like she was born dat way. she calls herself de listener. blackwater be a place of druids. de sea be dark dat way."
she shivered.

listener. blackwater. druids.

bartholomew wondered if it was for the best that he had not met anyone there yet.

perhaps i will wait till there is more to tell before i see them. a delicate dance around being out there. besides, he did not see any true reason to go out there. nor send anyone else out that way.

does sapphique call blackwater friends?

mireille chuckled. "my mamans do not call anyone friend. sapphique be like dat. but — dere was a storm. i was washed down fe river from de cliffs. i could not even tell you where i went. but blackwater foun' me an' helped me heal."
the sand crushed nicely underfoot.
"of course, den de listener sort of angered my mot'er but because of what dey did for me, de alliance held." 
she saw the spiky creatures clinging to a large boulder. mireille trotted over to investigate.

mireille was invested in the sea life she had come for, he was invested in her and her words.

how did they anger your mother? he asked with a raised brow. gaze briefly drifting from her striped back to the spiked creature along the boulder.

he thought he had seen something like this before, he had not known they were...advisable to touch.

mireille began to pluck them deftly from the surface. they fell to the sand and she kicked the little creatures into a pile, save for one.
"a woman tried to claim de land just below us. it would have been a barrier for us to go into de sea. it is also an important place, t'ough my mot'er has never told me de while story of what happened t'ere. dis woman, she did not even announce herself. maman erzulie confronted her. it might have been a fight, but de druids said for what sapphique owed, de woman must be allowed to leave."
mediation was the unknown word. "i said she should also let dem go. we have not seen her since."  mireille searched around for as large a stone as she could hold. she dropped it onto the urchin, which cracked, revealing a wealth of bright yellow eggs, oily, rich, and pungent. "try dem," she encouraged bartholomew with a grin.

he wondered how badly the coast was vied for.

it seems foolish to try and make base right next door. the coast is long and beautiful, plenty all over. he commented on in a hushed manner as he watched her work. there was some flex in his body to try and help, but he knew better. his skills here faltered.

oh. thank you. he stared at the exposed...innards, he assumed. what else would it be?

and although heda had plucked fish from the sea for him before, this was a different kind of salty taste and the texture unlike anything he had ever had. he did not know whether he liked it or not! his eyes lit in delight all the same, tenderly sniffing around what remained of the cracked open one.

mireille could not stifle another laugh. he was as excited as quennell or aminthe were for such things. magnanimously, eagerly, she cracked another for him.
sea urchins were plentiful during warm weather. whatever was eaten could be replaced. "were you used to living beside de sea when you chose de island?" she inquired diplomatically. these small animals were known to the pups of her pack and it did not seem as thought bartholomew had recognized them.

no, he answered with mild fascination as he watched her work. such honest work, he thought. a thing to show heda when he returned. i chose the island for its peace after some time wandering. i told you it was a place to heal, didn't i? i wished for those who came with intent to heal to be able to do so in peace away from the world. just as i had once done there.

if she had intended it for him, he would move to eat the next urchin.