Redtail Rise having dinner with the candelight

if u have time! <3 if not can be AW

she searched for @Yura's tracks as they wound through the snow, nearly a full moon's span since the girls first began to run together. sivaak's tutelage came at a cost: they were driven hard, and often.

still, sobeille marveled the changes in their bodies in response to such adversity. she was fed well, had little to worry of - and though she did not love the taste of earthen meat, she had come to tolerate it.

changes were on the wind. sobeille scented it first in sivaak, whose season came aggressively upon her. a part of sobeille grew suspicious -- jealous even -- of the attentions the season-scent would administer. men would come crawling, and they would touch sivaak in ways sobeille never could.

a proprietary shudder raked her muscled frame, eeking into a chilly rasp along her spine as her gaze set upon yura.

Their group was an odd bunch; not quite a pack but nor did Yuralria feel alone either. Sobeille's company in particular was grounding when Sivaak's teachings became hard, but often too did the girl seek time alone to collect her thoughts.

Muscles rippled beneath winterplush fur as she climbed a gentle rise, pausing at the precipice to catch her breath. The month had seen her transform from a child to a young hunter; the changes in the caribou woman alighting a curiosity that was difficult to satiate. Would Sivaak seek a man? Did she wish to bare children? Yuralria was keen to see the process from start to finish.

But first, the ocean. She had longed to see it, and here she finally was - it's glittering expanse stretched beyond what her eyes could capture. Somewhere down there did Sedna's claws catch souls adrift and return them to her watery domain. The thought had her shiver, and not from the cold, as a crunch of snow caught her attention.

"Sobeille!" a chuffed greeting drew her from her gentle musings, head tilting behind to catch the auburn girl's approach.

cold slaking through her fur, sobeille stopped along the ridge to take in the full of yura’s willowing figure, her hunter’s frame perfectly silhouetted against a backdrop of cerulean ocean.

it pleases me to see your face, sobeille spoke in the borrowed greeting of kukutux, gaze flickering to the distant shores with a sense of longing. what do you know of de ocean?

A snort at her friend's uncharacteristic greeting. "You could pass for one of them, you know." And she could! But while her jest was light hearted and airy, she caught a subtle melancholy in Sobeille's gaze that made it hard to stay humerous for long.

"Not much. Only that it is Sedna's domain." A sidewards glance; did the girl know of the all-mother? "My auntie lived there though, and I'm pretty sure my sister went to visit a boy in their village." The details were fuzzy, but her voice dropped almost sheepishly now with her next admission. "It kinda...scares me. A little. If I'm honest."

Such a vast expanse was difficult for a girl of the mountains to comprehend. But Sobeille of the sea, what did she know? Was she ever afraid of not seeing what lay beneath the waves?

great pride to know her time spent within the mooncamp made it so yura could see the resemblance; sobeille’s face flushed with emotion.

the distant thunder of the sea drew her gaze back to it, where swells of dark stormwater frothed over a plain landscape of blue and greys. which auntie? she pressed, turning to read the emotion held in yura’s sweet gaze. de sea is no’tin’ to fear. respect, yes — but fear, no. sobeille drew in a longing breath — how she missed the touch of ocean rifling between her fur. tell me more of dis sedna.

"Her name was Samani," her voice barely a whisper above the distant roar. Though Kukutux allowed them now to speak of the dead, Yuralria did not wish to draw superstition. But Sobeille was curious, and Yuralria could respect that if not the sea itself.

For the unknown excited her as much as it instilled fear.

The stargirl took a seat in the snow, wrapping her tail feline-like to warm her paws. "Sedna is the all-mother. The sea. She gives life to this land, but she can also take it just as easily." Nanuralaaq's words, borrowed. There was a flicker of sadness in her eyes as she thought of an auntie she had never met, and then of the countless others scattered by the wind.

"The sunshine wolves say that when we die, our souls return to the sea. Do you believe this?"

yura's voice scarcely registered over the ocean's prevailing wail; her name was samani.

was.

a spark of excitement tinged her rose-gold eyes as she sat, tail wrapped in a wreath around her pale paws.

she spoke of sedna, the all-mother -- who sounded in every way like a synonym to the great goddess they worshipped in sapphique. and it made sobeille wonder if not once, so very long ago, each of these religions sprung from a single wellspring steeped in rich tradition.

she saw the shadow of sadness that flickered unwelcome in yura's contemplative gaze. and she contemplated at great length before speaking again.

no. it broke her to go against her young friend's beliefs, but she knew that souls belonged to those who devoured them. but it be a nice t'ing to t'ink about. de sea of my 'ome and sedna, dey be one an' de same. per'aps de only difference is de names we give dem.

she did not bother pondering the authenticity of both beliefs, because in her eyes to believe something was to breathe life into it. i been t'inkin' it be time to go back to de sea. a pause as she measured her friend's reaction. an' i want you and sivaak to be goin' wit me.

Yuralria was left talking to the air for a long moment before Sobeille spoke again. She interpreted the silence as thoughtful, for her friend's expression remained unreadable for now, until the cut of her words drew an almost pained expression from the girl. 

"Perhaps you're right," she hoped the softness of her reply hid what emotion she felt in that moment. "Maybe simply believing in the sea is enough." Enough that Sedna would look fondly upon Sobeille and spare her from her wrath. Yuralria knew just how quickly her tides could turn.

It made sense then why Sobeille wished to return to her homeland. For no matter how she travelled, the saltwater of home would forever tie her to the sea just as the mountains ran through Yura. But the understanding halted there. "Me?" her eyes widened to meet the other's yellow gaze. "Is my company all that great?" Beneath the jest, her words were tinged with doubt, Sobeille's question weighing heavily on her heart.

belief is all we ‘ave. sobeille announced with a flick of her dark tail, acknowledging the somewhat doubtful expression she inspired in yura with a look that could be an apology’s close cousin.

she lifted her chin, hard eyes studying the young face of her peer. yes. she answered without hesitation. you ‘ave promise in you.

sobeille wished to harness that promise and shine its light where she tread.

Sobeille's gaze softened once more, and Yuralria let ambition curl between threads of doubt. She'd wanted this; the praise, the space to grow and to learn besides those that saw light in her. "Well that's awfully honest," warmth flushed her cheeks and she averted her gaze back to the distant ocean. 

"I could learn to respect the sea, to live with you." And Sivaak - their teacher was not forgotten, but Sobeille was the girl's only focus in this moment. For despite her trepidations, she trusted her and her judgement, and was more than a little curious to see where her friend had grown up.

All this talk of home, however, had her ears droop in thought. "But there is someone I must see first. Anaa - she deserves to know all that's happened." Would Sobeille want to come with her? She swallowed thickly, keenly aware that the completion of her journey was something she'd wished to make alone.

yura’s cheeks flushed, her soft gaze averting away. sobeille did not break eye contact in that moment, not understanding the bashfulness which seized her younger companion.

it was decided then! excitement thrummed in her heart, quickly dashed by an unexpected sideline. yura wished to see her anaa. stifling her unease, sobeille considered this prospect. what if yura decided to stay? what if her anaa recognized sobeille?

she disguised her lingering malcontent with a determined nod. sobeille would come with her. okay. you say when.

What first Yuralria guessed was a simple gesture of acknowledgement morphed into something more surprising with Sobeille's next words. "You wanna join me?" And now her stomach swooped to think that the seagirl would be meeting her family.

But Sobeille must have been like that once, and slowly Yura had come to realise that there was a strength in sharing parts of their history with one another. A strength of the mind, not of the body. "I'll find you tomorrow, yeah? I can show you my old ulaq and everything." Her fur rose in anticipation then, though her eyes glittered with untold anxiety for what they might find.

simply put: it had never occurred to sobeille she would not go.

a wan smile arced across her dark face. aye. it was as much for yura's own protection (not that she could not protect herself! sobeille just believed in strength in numbers) as it was for sobeille's own growing possessiveness. each day she learned more of the hidden parts of her; parts of herself that had not been safe to grow in sapphique.

and maybe, if their timing was right, she might see ajei.

tomorrow, den. sobeille met yura's glittering gaze, hoping to rout out the anxiety that darkened them by instilling her own resolve; an unshakable confidence that they would find things exactly how yura had left them.