The Sunspire kiss me on the lips

@Seabreeze

Since the death of her baby, Olive had become somewhat of a recluse. 

— not that she wasn’t already, but from once her solitude stemmed from a place of dulcet quietude, it now came from a place of discomfort and unease. The mother found it very hard to feel safe in any capacity and held fast to those who made her small world seem to float upright: Cassiopeia, Séamus, Eleuthera, Seabreeze and Seabreeze’s own small babes. So, when Ibis was also attacked, Olive found herself to be truly, deeply, entirely unsettled, to the very core of her being. The bloodied thoughts of Dakarai, sweet Oaxaca, little Ibis, they plagued her every moment.

Olive milled about their communal densite with little energy or intention — the waif found herself alone, and though she ostracized herself from most of Sunspire’s society, she loathed to be far away from the small group that she considered her family. An ever-present worry tickling her features, the shewolf moved about lazily in a circle, then laid herself against the late summer earth and heaved an exasperated sigh.

They didn't deserve this.  It was a bitter, unhappy feeling that had lodged in her since Oaxaca's death, but with the subsequent attack on Ibis it had been multiplied.  It did not help that Terance's presence in the den was scarce; she knew in her heart that it was to protect them, but it increased her unease tenfold.  

And she knew that Olive was faring no better.  The puppies, thankfully, were blessedly easy... but it left a lot of unoccupied time in the grieving mother's paws.  

Both of them were unhappy on the mountain.  Moving in with Liffey only increased the anxiety she felt.  With the Matron rank dissolved, how would the pack feel about the two lowest ranking members holing up with the alpha female?  And truly, how did Liffey feel?

Anxious, she padded from the densite to find her sister making slow circles, running a trail into the dry summer dirt.  Olive...?  It reminded her of when Olive had saved her and a shiver runs through her as she moves to the druid's shoulder, running through the cicles with her.  

Soon Seabreeze was there, and almost immediately a large part of Olive’s burden was lifted. The sea sprite immediately came and joined in on Olive’s anxiety circles, but Olive slowed to a halt and buried her head against the soft, argent fur that lined her soul sister’s collar. “Oh,” she moaned softly in a voice that was merely a breath. “What are we doing, here?” The sylph meant this not about Sunspire, for Rannoch was a dear and valued friend — she meant it about this mountain, where one of their babes was slain and another fell prey to a rogue feline. The earth held magic, but this… this was dark, black magic.         

What are we doing, here?  

Even as she tucked her neck against the crown of her sister's head, each word thundered upon her and hung heavy, looming in the air around them.  She didn't want to know what Olive meant. She wanted to pretend like everything was fine and she could have her husband, and her children, and her sister...

But her future was not guaranteed.  Perhaps not anywhere, but certainly not here.  Her gentle ribcage swelled as she took a deep breath and then held it, metering out her exhales until she could form some kind of assurance.  No assurance came.

I don't know, she finally conceded as it felt like her heart stopped in her chest.

Seabreeze moved to shield her, but from what? A future that that merely an inkling; a postulation? Some might wonder why the two let an unwritten future get in the way of their present happiness and complacency, but it was as real as it was uncertain and untellable, perhaps only from the way that it lingered over them and made them heavy. Anything that made Olive feel or made her intuition sing, was very much a real thing to the druid and deserved her consideration. Intuition and feelings were the gods’ language, so with an air of seriousness, Olive steered backwards a step or two and faced her sister to broach at topic which they had briefly mused upon before, in the confines of their den when the Alphess was not present.

“I cannot help but think that our place in not here,” the sylph mused somberly.  “Our burden upon Sunspire is too great… We are almost a pack in and of ourselves.”

She tensed, uncomfortable.  Olive was right; for what were they doing here?  She appreciated everything that Rannoch had done for them, but they were draining resources...and surely, this place was full of bad memories for her sister.  Oaxaca and Dakarai's death place.  

She cast a glance at the sleeping children, and wondered how much better off all of them would be if they had the resources they needed.  I know.  Our children suffer.  But.. what would Terance think?  She knew in her heart that he was as dedicated to Rannoch as she was to Olive.  Would he even come with her?  And if he did, what would Rannoch say?  I don't want to rip my family apart, Olive.

She sucked in a breath and focused on her toes, and how they felt against the dirt den, so different from the cave that she and Olive had chosen.  I'll come with you.  But I can't do it alone, Liv.  I'll need you.

Seabreeze mentioned Terence, and Olive’s jaw grit with an immediate tightness. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the man — Olive rarely found it within herself to dislike anybody — but it was how she felt about anything that tied a person down that was anything less than the truest love. Olive loved her children, so she devoted herself fully to them. She bound herself to Seabreeze because of the bond they shared. But Seabreeze and Terance? Though Olive could never know their experience of the relationship for sure, Olive knew it wasn’t love; as am empath, she could simply feel these types of things. 

and should Seabreeze feel sorrowful for anything that is not a true loss, as had been the death of Oaxaca; as had been the attack on Ibis? oh, certainly not! The ash-and-cream fae did not want her sister to experience any more guilt about this decision — nay, necessity! — than was absolutely necessary. The worst part of this would be breaking the news to their leadership, their friends, but from then on their life would be immediately improved. She would see, she would!

Hopefully.

Olive noted how Seabreeze’s gaze dropped, and her heart immediately cried out to comfort the woman. Though she wanted to rush over and take her entire body against her home and wish and kiss and cry away her pain, Olive knew this would require a more delicate touch, as there were delicate emotions at play. The pale women, lithe of frame, glided a stride closer to her partner and placed a paw atop hers. “Life is not always as it may seem,” she suggested softly, not wanting to dismiss Seabreeze’s completely valid emotions. “Perhaps your family is not being torn apart. Perhaps, rather, that it is coming together.” That’s at least what is felt like to Olive. Like a phoenix, they were meant to rise from the ashes. It gave her hope when the dread threatened to swallow her whole. “A small part of me died with Oaxaca. I felt — still feel — Ibis’s wounds as if it had been my body that received them. There is no difference between what is yours and what is mine. We share our children, we share our home, and we share a future. You shan’t ever be alone again.” A small kiss was placed on the other fae’s chin, and then she pressed their cheeks together and let her heart speak loud enough for Seabreeze to hear.  

“I need you too. I’ll always need you.”

She wanted this to feel wrong.  It was supposed to be wrong.  She was supposed to be happy here on this mountain with her husband and her children and her packmates.  But it wasn't about happiness anymore, was it?  Nothing had been done when it had been Oaxaca that died; no suspicions were raised, no children were moved to a communal densite.  

Why had it changed when it had been Ibis?  Was it because she was Terance's child, and not the bastard of an unmarried woman?  A shiver drew down her spine as Olive spoke.  She was so sure of this, but Seabreeze could not fool herself into believing Olive was wrong.

I hope you're right.  Her eyes swept to the peripheral blur of white at her side.  Secrets fluttered in her chest.  There were so many things she wanted to say, but words failed her next to the druid's eloquence.  Olive had stolen Seabreeze's life from an untimely demise, was making to steal her body from the mountain itself, and had stolen her heart somewhere inbetween.  Let's do this, then.

The sylph tried hard to allow her close proximity to her love to inform her intuition. She focused her attentions and tried to scry how Seabreeze must be feeling at that very moment from nothing more than the pacing of her breath and the erratic-ness of her spirit’s vibrations. It seemed, at least to Olive, that she had calmed a bit — and, some how in the process of comforting Seabreeze, she also comforted and calmed herself. 

But then, the truth of Seabreeze’s words struck her. “Oh, is it true?”   she gasped under her breath, picking up her head and coming to look the woman in her gleaming gaze, touched with seafoam. A kiss was offered on her chin, not only because she could not keep her hands off the woman, but because Olive wished to offer her support in this decision — and in all of Seabreeze’s decision. This was the right choice for them, because the gods had deigned it so.

She offered a little more justification, incase her partner needed the extra goading to be confident in their decision — to confront Terence and whisk his family away from him. Once that topic was broached, there was no way of ever going back to the way that it was before. “We must control our circumstances, lest they control us instead.”  She cooed encouragingly, then took a step closer. “It will be better. I promise, sister.”   It would — for when had the universal fates ever forgotten her? Even the moments that Olive loathed to remember had brought her closer to her truer path, to Seabreeze, to her babies and her ultimate destiny. It was impossible to reap the benefit of divine faith without walking through hellfire beforehand. “Our family will bleed no longer.”    

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We can wrap here if you want. <3

Whatever tension had lingered within Olive had dissipated as soon as Seabreeze had agreed to her sister's plan.  She couldn't deny the truth in Olive's words, but she couldn't help but feel, well, like a failure.  She felt the weight of all of her broken promises.

But Olive's kisses and soothing words pushed all of that back.  Later on, her sister's presence would ground her just as strongly as it did now.  She rested her head on Olive's for a moment and let out a small hum.

Whatever came their way, she was ready.

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