Dragoncrest Cliffs while cast into nothingness

just a lighthearted and unofficial packtivity to send off the momma seal and celebrate the opening of summer! @Shadess @Lafayette @Lucette @Fabienne @Seraphine Panik @Tusakruna

the day came to send the seal back to sea. a bittersweet send-off for sobeille, who had seen sapphique’s orphaned children nurse by her side. such a gift had not been without cost - despite their heavy feeding and @Yura’s attentive care, the seal languished.

speaking with shadess first, sobeille called for each of them the night prior. come morning they would gather by the seas, bringing with them votives offerings such as spring blooms and shells.

morningsun rose in resplendent rays of gold as sapphique stirred, its molten light spilling over those that carried the seal shoreward. sobeille noted it was easier now than it had been before; how thin and tired the waterhunter seemed despite their care. placing the seal down upon the sand, sobeille stood alongside yura and watched their prisoner run.

discovering she was set free, the seal first hobbled and then ran — blundering turning graceful bounds as her body joyously reunited with the sea. only once did she look back at the wolves gathered at the shore, her eyes indecipherable; one predator beholding the faces of another. then, she disappeared beyond the crush of churning turquoise waves.

to her kin in sapphique sobeille called, a muted feeling distilling in her disquieted belly that as of late rounded. we ‘onor on dis day de many women — wolven an’ seal — dat gave deir bodies and deir lives to see sapphique thrive. deir sacrifice will not be soon forgotten.

small light returned to her golden eyes. let summer bring ‘er gentle winds an’ bountilful ‘arvest, for de sea provides for us always. go den, and cast your offerings to de sea.

pride and sorrow both darkened her expression as she cast the first of many lilac blooms to the waters.

Fabienne did not fully understand all of this. A d the words said didn't penetrate her thick skull. She understood only a handful and didn't care.

She stood still land quiet for a minute watching the seal disappear beneath the waves. She threw her own offerings. Then lifted her voice in a wild feral howl.

where were the faces she knew? her gaze flickered across the small assembly, a sense of deep injustice stirring within.

their absence felt all the more keenly now, sobeille wrapped her arms around fabienne with a sad smile as the chorus of their howls reached the sky.

and she worried, for the first time, if she was the antithesis to seeing sapphique thrive.

Fabienne did not understand why there were not many here. Perhaps they were all leaving like her manman. Perhaps she was not meant to have many who loved her. And that was okay. She would weather it. After all, she was a queen. She thrived. 

She pushed harder to sound louder. She snuggled into Sobeille's side.

fading <3

their howls carried to the clouds above. sobeille's straining ears imagined the voices of the departed joined them -- when the moontribe spoke of the dancing lights, did they also hear heartsong?

encouraged by fabienne's closeness, sobeille gave her a reassuring smile and spoke in creole. the height of summer would be upon them soon, and the fledgling children would learn to hunt.

but for today, no seal was harmed by sapphique's children.