Dragoncrest Cliffs Lonely like the highway

Fabienne found a tide pool on this day. She stared at the creature's deep in the water's edges. Marveling at the colors. She did not try and touch yet. She was uncharacteristically still. But she was mesmerized by the Kaleidescope of colors that made up the bottom. Shells and creatures. Small fish. 

She was babbling in Creole and french. Mixing and changing it up. Gade bèl koulè yo.

She dipped her nose into the salt water, and then back pedaled when the water rushed up her nose. She sneezed and grumbled. Pas bien. L'eau brûle les nez.

She blew it out again. Also sucked some in and wretched. Then trundled back towards the tide pool to gaze again in wonder at the creatures below.

leaving the puppies under @Yura’s capable watch, sobeille intended to scrounge lunch for them both at the tidepools.

instead she found fabienne, face contorted as salt stung her nose, gazing into the mesmerizing pools.

fabi, sobeille came to a halt alongside her and strung a paw along the pool’s glimmering surface. perhaps you would like to ‘unt with me?

Fabi knew there were other babies smaller than her. But she stayed away from them. She didn't know what to do with them.

She was startled from her movements and glances by her name being softly called. She stared at her auntie/cousin and didn't say anything at first. She understood most of what was said, but had stubbornly refused to learn common unless it was forced upon her.

Kisa? Mwen pa konprann

of course. a daughter of sapphique so proud of her heritage that only the sea-language graced her tongue. chani would have it no other way.

a rueful smile danced across sobeille's face as a brutal wave of grief stole across her heart. she and chani spoke often of their future, and now chani was not here.

until her very last breath, sobeille would see the daughters of her friend thrive. come hunt, sobeille repeated softly in the language of the sea, eye soft with emotion she dared not speak.

Fabi did not know what pride was quite yet, but her dosage of it eventually would be quite high. But what she did know was this was her mother's language. And her mother was gone. Even her memories were fading, simply because Fabienne had been too young. But she could keep her mother's language. 

Fabienne nodded and shifted. Shaking the wetness from her shoulders. And tilted her little ears forward. She didn't know how to, but she had faith that Sobeille would teach her.

how many generations of sapphiqians completed this ritual? something moved deep within the carmine while she guided fabienne through the timeless motions of her first hunt.

the tidepools were blotted by endless volcanic stones, their features worn by time, age, and the advancement of biologic life claiming their faces as their home. by one large rock where the tidepool seemed to lap around it in a crescent, sobeille stopped.

she hunkered down, expecting fabienne to follow. there along the glistening surface, something moved in the shadows cast by the rock's overhang. sobeille's gaze slid in silence to the girl: did she see?

Fabienne tried to follow along. She tried hard. But so many scents and sights. She'd catch herself breaking away but returning back.

Fabienne bent in a strange way, but she thought she was doing it right. A flicker of movement amd she froze trying to find it again.

sobeille's well trained eyes stayed on the shadow a moment longer, assessing. its liquid movements and the trailing of half a dozen legs informed her it was some sort of octopus, tide-locked until the next high tide.

she leaned next to fabienne, laughing at how the girl tried to peer in and focus.

she could help... or...

she could do what any big sister would do; with a gentle shove, sobeille pushed the teetering girl's haunches, expecting a spectacular landing in the pool below.

te]

Fabienne was watching and listening and then the world went out from under her. A soft shove and a faceful of sea and salt. She gasped as she hit the water, sucking it in. She lifted her head, water streaming, while she coughed for a moment. 

She stared at Sobeille disapproving.  Kijan ou oze? She ruffled her fur and took both paws and splashe down hard, making sure to aim all the spray at her big sister cousin.

who did that?! sobeille made show of looking about her, as if some other hand had guided an unsuspecting fabienne to her abruptly timed bath.

rightly ruffled, fabienne's look was enough to cut glass -- but not break the grin dogging sobeille's face. she jumped in after the girl just as she splashed sobeille's way, sending water out in a large arc.

bounding several strides in the cool tide, sobeille circled and rounded back, nose skimming the water as she looked for the denizen of the deep that caught her attention moments before.

Fabienne gave another glare, but then gave into the want to play. The water was refreshing. The sky was blue. It was a good day. Non, it was a great day. 

Fabienne took the moment that Sobeille bent to look for their hunting quarry, to press water hard into the other's face, but then she backed up and too began to search. Her revenge taken. Now back to the job at hand, perhaps. Her wagging tail gave away the laughter that she tried to hide.

splashed right in the face, sobeille made show of gasping — as if she’d melt from such weighted insult.

as fabienne gallumphed off and hid around a stone knotted by kelp, sobeille stalked the shallows. each footfall made quiet noise; she paused to see if fabienne observed this, her yellow eyes scanning for the girl’s long ears over the stone.

with a splatter of noise sobeille pounced into the water, sending a stream of fish towards the shallow end of the pool. distracted by this, she lunged after them, their bright bodies darting easily away.

tiring of this quickly, sobeille seized a clam just under the tide’s surface and brought it to fabienne. do you be knowin what dis is? she inquired, placing the smooth shell at the girl’s feet.

Fabienne giggled. est mérité

But she stayed hidden. Not knowing her ears would give her away. How exciting this game. Though silver flashes at her paws and she was no longer paying attention. 

Her gaze only brought upward at the words. Non.

She could understand sort of.

quick to switch to the language of the sirens, sobeille placed the clam at fabienne's paws. throw it. she instructed in creole, guiding fabienne to a raised segment of flatstone.

taking a different clam between her teeth, sobeille wrung her head as hard as she could, loosening the clam just at the zenith of her headshake. the clam went whirling through the air and hit the stone with a hard smack. 

sobeille's shadow fell over the fractured shell, but she waited for fabienne to do as instructed before she gingerly started peeling back the shards to reveal the soft flesh recoiling within.

Fabienne stared at the small thing Sobeille had put at her paws. And thought she really wanted to ask why. She didn't this time at least. She leaned down to pick it and tossed her head. It took her a few tries to remember to release as she threw. The clam cracking against her teeth once and then twice. By the third time she succeeded and laughed. Though she did press her tongue against her teeth, they still hurt a little bit from the hits. 

Fabienne followed behind, eyes on the now broken clam. She stared at it. And gave it a cursory sniff then looked for more instruction.

once or twice the child threw -- no clam spun from her jaws.

sobeille stifled the laugh within and moved with the girl, exclaiming at her success. hovering just over the girl as she sniffed her newfound meal, sobeille spoke in creole. see? dis be meat inside of dem. eat.

she picked the gelatinous meat from its shrapnel shells and gave each to fabienne. she'd eaten her share of such faire: now it was fabienne's turn to see what harvest could be reaped from the sea.

after a while, she tired. drawing the girl close, sobeille imparted small bits of wisdom about the skies, the tide, the gulls, and the stones as they meandered home.