Ankyra Sound i keep on dancing through the quicksand

The Redhawks must be wondering about her, though Treepie couldn’t bring herself to worry about them too much. They would be fine. Meanwhile, she’d found a purpose in @Sobeille and her newborns. Pie had loved her younger siblings at first sight, though that sentiment paled in comparison to how she felt about Sobeille’s offspring. She knew it wasn’t her place to claim them, yet having been there for their birth and every day since, Tiuttuk felt an attachment as deep as the nearby sea.

She rarely strayed from the new mother, though the best way to support her and the puppies was to feed them. Besides, there were others who could look after her while Treepie ventured into the nearby woods to hunt for small game. She tried to remember their names and faces, though she couldn’t. Tiuttuk had been too focused on mother and pups to bother with details, though the guilt that crept up the back of her neck reminded her to make an effort upon her return to Sobeille’s side.

Meanwhile, she crept through the morning mist that drifted along the rainforest floor. It provided good visual cover, though its presence gave Treepie an eerie feeling. She caught herself glancing upward at the glimpses of blue sky between the thick foliage, wishing the sunlight would pierce through and burn away the eldritch sea fret.

it was supposed to be easy. she was supposed to love them the moment she lifted their caul, and heard their squalling voices.

that magic didn’t come. the cold indifference that she felt her whole life didn’t lift; instead a new ally arrived and augmented her discomfort. a prevailing sense of failure.

she’d brought lives to ankyra, while sapphique sundered. if not for treepie, sobeille might have fed each of them to the moon-pool, or better, marionette.

knowing thinking of such things was unspeakable evil, sobeille did what she often did when an unpalatable thought claimed her. she wormed her way out of the grotto, leaving the squirming bodies in situ with pelts procured by @Yura months before.

at the foot of the grotto’s entrance sobeille stopped and scanned the misty periphery. fog obscured both the sea and the great forest; all she could make out were grim shadows rising in dark pylons across the forest floor. somewhere nearby, she heard treepie’s careful step and wondered what she was up to.

Her eyes dropped back to the surrounding fog when she heard a noise nearby. Treepie’s ears pricked as she attempted to identify it. It sounded like something was scuttling out there. She had only recently glimpsed her first live crab, much nearer to the water. She didn’t think they came this far inland—how could they?—but that was what she pictured as she listened.

It quickly dawned on her that whatever was making these sounds was much larger than a crab. Pie’s skin suddenly began crawling as Quail’s talk of “funny-looking beasts” leaped unbidden to the forefront of her mind. Her spine arched at the mere thought, every blade of fur along her body standing on end as the sound came closer… and closer… and closer…

Nope, Tiuttuk said, swiveling and running full-speed back to the den, the mists curling and whirling in her wake.

The sight of Sobeille standing in its mouth distracted her from the fear and adrenaline pumping through her veins. With a quick, cagey backward glance into the mist, Tiuttuk faced forward and quickly moved toward the new mother. Her brow furrowed as she forgot about the creepy critter in the woods and sniffed the air around her friend’s face.

What’s wrong? Besides the monster lurking nearby, of course. Are they alright? she added in a hushed whisper, peering past the woman’s shoulder into the dim of the den.

whatever scuttled in the mist was well out of sobeille’s auditory periphery, but the pellmell pace of treepie’s approaching footfall wasn’t. sobeille straightened, suddenly wary — an emotion validated as she saw quill-like bands of fur raised along treepie’s spine.

she was about to lob the same question pie’s way, but her question died mid-thought as treepie asked if the puppies were alright.

dey be fine. sobeille inhaled the rich brine on the air, mournful for a time that was well behind them. her maman would have known what to do with the strange spell of malaise saddling sobeille’s shoulders.

what did you see out dere?

They were fine, Sobeille was quick to assure. Treepie let out a breath and nodded, then went still at the subsequent question. She shot another surreptitious glance over her shoulder, then faced forward and met her friend’s eye.

I didn’t see anything, she said, voice still low, but I heard something. It was… creepy, for lack of a better word. She rolled her shoulders, as if trying to shrug off the eerie feeling, though her fur wouldn’t lie flat. Just for my own peace of mind, there’s no such thing as giant crabs, are there?

She had never really seen the coast until recently, so maybe there were such creatures here. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Tiuttuk still wasn’t a fan of this area, though she wouldn’t breathe a word of that to Sobeille. This was her homeland, her birthplace and her pups’. Surely she wouldn’t have lived here so long—and kept her offspring here—if there were Brobdingnagian crustaceans running amok in the woods?

on land? sobeille’s hawkish gaze peered into the mist, subconsciously following the cues of her friend. no.

but in the sea was another story. she started, about to treepie about the time val claimed he found a leg as long as wolf’s washed onto the shore, but as treepie’s shoulders rounded, sobeille realized treepie didn’t know who val even was, and it’d be too much energy to expend getting into the gist of it.

which brought another sobering thought to mind — though they were friends, they were relatively strangers — entire swaths of each others lives left unexplored by the other party; so much of her life treepie didn’t know, and vice versa.

listening for a beat, sobeille entertained a different notion. mebbe you ‘eard de loa. in weather like dis, dey sometimes come down and wander de old forest.

Once more, Sobeille was quick to reassure Treepie. Slowly, the yearling’s shoulders began to relax, her fur smoothing. She needn’t fear colossal crabs scuttling into the den and snatching up the puppies—or the adults, for that matter—in their giant claws. She shuddered at the inevitable mental image.

She ought to get back out there, then, and find food for Sobeille. But Tiuttuk was reluctant to head out into the foggy woods again, for more than one reason. Her yellow eyes trailed over her friend’s face, then past her again. She could barely make out the puppies bundled up inside.

Sobeille’s musing recaptured her attention and Pie queried, Loa?

Once more, she saw it in her mind: an absurdly large crab—or maybe it was more like a spider—inspired by Quail’s description. There was a face of some sort nestled among those many bristled legs, though it didn’t quite take shape or form in her mind’s eye. All she could make out were the dead eyes staring at her as the numerous legs twitched. One stretched outward, a rawhide band with three feathers dangling from a grotesque pincer.

unknown to sobeille, the images conjured by treepie’s vivid imagination fit no loa — instead, they danced along the periphery of lovecraftian horror, perhaps better suited for the eternal depths than a limiting forest.

spirits. sobeille provided, once again struck by the worlds of difference in their culture. de moontribe would liken dem to spiritual ancestors, mebbe. some are good, some are bad — dis forest is loved by a powerful one.

but it wasn’t marinette sobeille thought of as her yellow gaze trailed along the silvery veil. i don’t know what to name dem. she abruptly changed topic, shocked even by her own vulnerable admission.

Loa were spirits. Treepie swallowed as she pondered this. She had become rather agnostic in her beliefs—as they’d discussed, once—particularly since losing Sialuk and Kukutux as spiritual mentors. She licked her lips, eyes combing through the coastal fog again, wondering if there were literal specters running around out there. She inched a little nearer to Sobeille.

Desperate for some levity, Tiuttuk offered a mildly distracted, Sobeille Jr? Her eyes peeled away from the preternatural forest to her companion’s face, which was much closer now. What about other family names? Like your maman’s? she queried, suddenly remembering the term Sobeille had used for her mother.

where treepie grew more agnostic, sobeille turned to a strange brand of superstition.  she believed deeply of the loa, but other supernatural phenomena came into play too. for instance, she had seen something of incredible import that night of the dancing lights at skorpa’s feast. she’d tasted a potent draught of another world then, and seen it all refracted back to her in the cosmic glint of a newly born pup’s celestial blue eye.

noting the air of distraction troubling treepie, sobeille scanned the treeline and then the obscured canopy above. though her friend jested, sobeille was just egocentric enough to have considered naming at least one child after herself; after all, she planned to do great but terrible things with her legacy, and children were only the beginning.

before, i talked to ajei about dis. i be t’inkin’ of combining names, to honor my maman and family. but lately — her words trailed off, taking a bitter tone. why should she name her children after women who ultimately abandoned sapphique? sobeille had been so busy simply surviving, that she never really had time to be introspective. now that she was practically denbound, she’d had a lot of time to think. and some things just plain didn’t make sense to the sapphiqian.

they were supposed to be strong. they were from stock that endured oppression, kidnapping, and violence — but how did that explain the lack of survivorship in those kidnapped by the pirates?

now it was her turn to lick her lips and become distracted. she’d been fairly certain she knew exactly what to name each of her children before they were born. now, having pulled that troubling thread of thought and having unraveled the entire metaphorical basket, sobeille wasn’t so sure. when you ‘ave kids, what will you name dem?

But? Treepie prompted, curious what might’ve happened to change Sobeille’s mind on a matter of such import.

She shared her friend’s recent hesitations without even being aware of it. Pie had always adored her mother, though now that Moonspear had fallen, there was a bitterness in her heart that she couldn’t deny. Had Sialuk guessed that Moonspear would eventually fall without her? Or had she really thought Tiuttuk et al could keep it alive? Either way, it had been doomed.

Still, she decided, I plan to name my firstborn daughter Sia, after my anaa. She’s been gone longer than I knew her, Treepie said, swallowing thickly at the unpleasant realization, but she still means much to me, as I’m sure your loved ones do to you. What are some of the names under consideration?

sobeille’s somber face scanned the gloom, silent for a time. she thought of all those that came before; did any part of them still linger?

treepie’s voice carried her back to the present, landing on a name and a face sobeille knew quite well. she would like dat. sobeille affirmed, restlessly shifting to alleviate the pressure on her still sore stomach. sialuk taught me ‘ow to read de bones. dere would be power in a name like dat. and here sobeille was, thinking of what treepie’s children might think to be named after an anaa they never met. she supposed it would be no different then her own children, or her — did she even know what rosalyn looked like?

i be considerin’ squeaky, screamy, an’ stinky. came sobeille’s dry reply as she dusted a speck of dirt from her forepaw. an’ if dat don’t work maybe i name dem plankton, crab, an’ anemone. her face grew speculative, then serious. i ‘ad dis vision of naming dem after my ancestors. i was named after another wolf in sapphique an’ i want to honor dat tradition. but with sapphique what it is — a wave of her paw to stimulate the shared futility of both their positions — maybe it is not so good an idea.

She jolted slightly when Sobeille revealed that Sialuk had once taught her how to read bones. She hadn’t realized they’d known one another, though this knowledge sat well with her. She was glad that Sobeille had known her beloved anaa, even if there was a slight twinge of envy and regret that she had never learned the art of reading bones from her and likely never would.

The suggested names surprised a laugh out of Tiuttuk, despite her somber thoughts. Of course, the first batch was entirely tongue-in-cheek. But the second one wasn’t so bad at all, really. They seemed appropriate for the latest generation of coastal wolves and, honestly, Anemone was really pretty.

But then Sobeille said something that made Pie blink, cant her head and query, What do you mean, ‘with Sapphique what it is’?

A new wave of trepidation washed over her, this one having nothing to do with their eerie surroundings—or maybe it did, considering. Why had she only just now realized how strange it was that Sobeille hadn’t whelped in her pack’s territory? And what had prompted this total change of heart toward her ancestors? Pie could distinctly remember Sobeille talking fondly of her family at their first meeting.

treepie's laughter was enough to coax a small smile from sobeille. rarely did her jokes land; she appreciated treepie's sense of humor sometimes aligned with her own.

sobeille's gaze flickered as she noticed a shadow slip across treepie's face. it was one of those unintentional slips -- the casting of a great rope that once loosened, could not be pulled back. she could try to make light of it, but she knew treepie wasn't stupid -- if anything, tiuttuk had proven the opposite.

rather baldly, sobeille explained. it fell. i thought my family was strong an' loyal. but along comes a little trouble and -- she pantomimed a poof with a resigned shrug. my maman died, my tante decided to walk out to de sea and leave us, and den one by one de rest all go. who knows where? not 'ere.

not where dey belong. darkness took hold of her tone, tincturing her voice with strange bitterness. so if i be namin' my children after dem, per'aps i be invitin' blackness into deir future.

still she could not decide -- cast them aside or honor their memory. resentment hurt a little less than the truer feeling she felt, which was deep-seated abandonment. her expression panned from the mirthless treeline back to tiuttuk. what did she think of such things?

“It fell,” Sobeille began, using the same two words Tiuttuk often chose when relaying Moonspear’s fate. Her lips parted in surprise at this news, though she didn’t interrupt as her companion extrapolated on her loved ones’ fates and her subsequent hesitation about naming conventions. She couldn’t help but compare and contrast her own feelings in the wake of Sialuk’s departure, but whereas her anaa lived happily ever after somewhere else, Sobeille’s maman was dead.

I wish I knew what to say other than ‘I’m sorry.’ That’s… so much, Sobeille. Tiuttuk drew in a breath, her lips pursing before moving again. I can see why you’d worry about it being a bad omen. But whatever happened to them in the end, I know you loved them deeply. Don’t let one moment, no matter how terrible, overshadow or erase all the good ones that preceded it, Pie posited before hastily adding, But that’s just my take. It’s entirely up to you, of course.

Yellow eyes peered out into the fog-riddled trees, wondering if it was Sobeille’s missing family haunting this place. Were traces of their spirits what she’d sensed, lurking out there? Treepie still didn’t know what she believed, though she had been frightened by what she’d perceived out there. If the wolves of Sapphique roamed here, they did so with an agitated energy, not at all resting in peace.

Tiuttuk caught Sobeille’s eye and tipped her head toward the grotto, wishing to head inside. It had as much to do with wanting to check on the babes in question as dodging the restless spirits loitering in the brume. Anyway, shouldn’t they at least be looking at the children as they christened them with proper names?

With Sapphique gone, she asked in a low voice, which still bounced off the damp, rocky walls, what comes next?

don’t be sorry, sobeille countered, a quickly fading grin gracing her features. pie’s heartfelt sympathy touched the sapphiqian, but not enough to bridge the gap between her mind and grief. besides, was sobeille even sapphiqian anymore? were her children?

following treepie’s gaze out into the gloom, sobeille moved noiselessly as her companion guided them back to the grotto.

ducking under the grotto’s mount, sobeille was seized with apprehension. she couldn’t name why - and for a time, dragged her feet as they headed towards what was supposed to be sapphique’s future.

dunno, came sobeille’s eloquent reply at last. counting that each babe was present, sobeille scanned the open cave and then pinned treepie with her yellow gaze.

i always ‘ad visions of claiming dis place. me an’ my cousin. failing to mention said cousin was dead, sobeille let the weight of her statement hang in the air. i suppose we just take one day at a time. packs an’ people come and go. doesn’t mean we ‘ave to.

Treepie’s lips twitched into a little grin at Sobeille’s frank, “Dunno.” Along with the woman’s unique accent, she’d always enjoyed her candor too. She didn’t mince words, nor bother with small talk, and it was one of many things about her that appealed to the Ostrega.

Her heart sank a little at the mention of a cousin, if only because Tiuttuk could read between the lines: her cousin was gone. The use of the word “we” buoyed it a little though. Her yellow eyes flicked to Sobeille’s face, tracing over its striking contours in the gloom, and her mouth went a little dry at the second “we.”

Maybe it went without saying at this point, more than a week after the pups’ birth, but Pie took the opportunity to tell Sobeille, I’m not going anywhere. Her voice echoed off the damp, rocky walls as they headed deeper into the chamber, soon flanking the trio of weeks-old pups. Unless you tell me to get lost, of course, Pie quipped.

There was a thread of apprehension in the sideways glance she tossed at Sobeille while folding herself down beside the pups. She meant it lightheartedly, though it occurred to her that maybe she was being presumptuous, maybe even clingy. The thought that Sobeille might be sick of her, may eventually ask her to get lost, sucked the air right out of her lungs.

‘i’m not going anywhere’ was a dangerous promise.

in the half-gloom of the cave sobeille’s eyes seemed to flicker. whatever thoughts possessed her in that moment did not meet the light of day; her expression steeled with strangeness as she sensed — no, almost felt — the apprehension in treepie’s sideways glance. their kinship shared one thing and that was a deep loss of community. both tribes fell; both tribes birthed a singular daughter remaining to carry the torch.

sobeille wondered if treepie would ever learn to resent that burden. it made her think of the countless women in their lives — the shared thread of fate weaving in and out of their perspective.

good. sobeille grunted at length, offering no such reassurances. so many had left her at this point that the statement seemed a platitude too cheap to utter in return.

but as sobeille sunk alongside treepie with her back turned, a small smile played briefly upon her features.

Sobeille didn’t rush to reassure her, which caused another wave of trepidation to ripple through her. But the single word she did utter—coupled with the expression on her face—settled Tiuttuk’s sudden bout of self-consciousness some. She hadn’t worn out her welcome then. Maybe she would someday, though she silently, firmly told herself it wasn’t worth thinking about right now. It probably was worth pondering whether she could step up in the cousin’s stead and help Sobeille stake a claim, though she put that out of her mind for now too.

I’ll try hunting again once the mist clears up a little, Pie said after a few beats of companionable silence, broken by the slight stirrings and whimperings of the whelps. She peered askance at the grotto’s mouth, then returned her full attention to its inhabitants as she continued, In the meantime, let’s figure out what to call these little crustoceans.

Her yellow eyes flicked to Sobeille’s for a moment as if to ask whether she’d gotten that term right. Treepie then bent to snuffle at the pups, restraining herself from fawning over them as effusively as she wanted but unable to hide her utmost affection for Sobeille’s tiny trio.

I figured it makes sense to fade here, mebbe? :)