As Erzulie paced, so did Rosalyn, cutting along the southern border with a purpose.  She'd essentially abdicated her post at her wife's side, secluding to tend to the quiet Chacal and to deal with the overwhelming stress of life after children, but that made little difference.  There was a time she'd have been horrified;  now, she was just faintly rueful.

They were too young for her to leave behind to scout, unfortunately, though their proximity meant this might be for the best.  What had that pack's name been, the one enemy they had left here?  She thought on it as she moved.

It was at that moment Erzulie came into view, her route finally meeting the other's pacing.  She cut a fierce figure, and for a moment Rosalyn paused, appreciating. The sight of her never failed to bring a giddy twinge in the pirate, even years after that reaction likely should have tempered.

I think anything would be smart to think twice before trying us, but no trouble yet, she said, indicating the direction she'd been.  I'm surprised we haven't been bothered yet, but seems like we managed to find a spot with no neighbors.

It had been a while since Rosalyn had needed to think of any enemies.  It had been a nice thought, perhaps, that they no longer had any.  But she recalled the Redhawks as Erzulie mentioned them, the one whose name their daughter shared.  She wondered again where Firefly had gotten it... coincidence, surely.

I know that name, she mused, distracted from her wife's description only for a moment by the memory.  When I was looking for you, there was a blind girl.  I almost thought it might be kinder to leave her... but I returned her to the Firebirds.  She was likely dead by now... Rosalyn doubted the world was kind to her.  I didn't connect the two, but you are probably right.  She let out a quick, quiet huff of a laugh.

It has been quiet here a long time, for us.  I'm not worried about any birds, she said with sureness.  They won't venture from their trees, and even if they do, I doubt they'll want the trouble it would start.  She felt the weariness in Erzulie's voice, though, and the tension.  They'd been at war on so many sides for so long, it was hard to imagine this peace could hold.  She'd grip it as hard as she could, to make sure it did not slip past.

Hopefully soon we'll be able to go back, Rosalyn answered.  She'd expected to feel the same, but oddly, she did not.  Maybe it was the constant rain, but for some reason she felt just as okay here as she had on the moors... and as she had on the plateau.  For a second she felt a strike of melancholy on it... as if she'd lost something she couldn't quite put words to.

I think Solaire and the other children miss it too.  It was less apparent in her siblings, but she'd noticed that they all seemed a bit withdrawn in a way since coming here.  Children were resilient, but change could be hard.

I am the same, she replied, and she knew it was true despite the small doubts that whispered.  It had been so long since any place held her heart, but no matter the place, Rosalyn's path would lead where her family's did.  There was a time she'd have allowed restless wandering to carry her away, but those years were long past.  She could call herself pirate all she liked, but she'd hung up her sails the instant she'd become a mother.

Retirement was not what bothered her.  Conflict was not what was missing, she knew that.  Rosalyn was silent a moment, considering it.  I think, maybe, it just doesn't feel as though it is ours.  Not in the way other places have.  She finally confessed.  She had been struggling with how to put it in words, and this was perhaps the closest approximation she could find.  Ironsea had been hers.  She'd left her mark on the culture, on the crew, all of it.  Rusalka had belonged to Caiaphas, and the witch's hand had wrought the pack that Aningan still attempted to uphold.  There was nothing of theirs in the soul of it, and she'd like to see that change, even if it was only some small way.  Something they could make, together.

Rosalyn perhaps should have expected the question, but she'd half expected her wife to refute her.  Erzulie had taken to Aningan with more warmth then Rosalyn, and to this pack with more fervor.  Yet even she felt it, and the comraderie both bolstered and troubled her; now it was not for she alone this needed solved.

But how to fix it?

They'd left Aningan to it for a reason, and reworking what was here might not go over well.  He'd taken his task to continue seriously and upheld all as it was; it was admirable, but naive in Rosalyn's eyes.  The siren was dead... Rusalka dead with her.  It was a harsh view and more bitter than expected; yet they could not simply end this place and start over.  It was not reasonable, and Rosalyn had lost her taste for wanton treason in the previous years.

I think I haven't gotten that far yet.  she finally answered, with a chagrined smile and a shrug.  But it is worth thinking about.  It wasn't perhaps something they could solve overnight anyway.  Some opportunity would present itself, perhaps... or some specific instance let itself be known.

Perhaps not every wolf needed to have a claim to their home, but Rosalyn was conceited enough to know that she and Erzulie deserved it.  More even than the title, but something lasting that would make it seem more home for them as well.  Her mind continued to spin on it, but she pushed it to the back, something to pick at in the coming days.  She smiled as her wife affirmed the promise they had made a dozen times before.  It never got old.

Is there anything you would change?  It was in line with the question that she had just been asked, but a bit different, because it was more fanciful.  It was also broad.  Rosalyn could have tacked on an 'about Rusalka', but she left it, choosing to end the thought where it did.

Rosalyn thought about what that might look like.  She liked that idea, but she felt a pang of guilt.  Maybe it was time to be honest, at least with her wife.  She'd been dealing with this herself, but perhaps Erzulie would have insight Rosalyn lacked.

I like that.  It was better than the norm, the pirate ranks that she'd always held to.  She paused, then sighed.  I used to think that the sea would always be what I needed.  But lately, whenever you or the children talk of it, I can't seem to find the same need.  It's as if I don't even miss it now.

It felt good to admit it.  She'd considered dancing around it until she could resolve why things had changed, but it did not feel right to hide something like this.  Not when they were speaking of home and desires.

Maybe.  Perhaps one of them, perhaps none, perhaps all.  She could not tell.  It had not been right since before the shaking, and at this point, she couldn't quite grasp what had drawn her to it from the first.  Other things filled her heart, so it wasn't a shattering loss.  But still a loss.

Perhaps I've just been too long away from it.  She caught the meaning, but she hesitated to latch on.  She was not sure what the right salt would be, and to move them now?  For only her sake?  Seemed a heavy charge.  They'd come here and settled with reason, and since doing so, she'd scarce traversed the neighboring stretch to the sand.

she swung closer, sighed along the short fur of her mate's cheekbone. "we should go back." and by that she meant a thousand things, and none at all. craving rosalyn's nearness, the completion of her focus, erzulie shot her wife a glance that suggested more, and let her scarred muzzle brighten with a pleasant smirk.
time to remind her pirate that they were more than leadership and mothers, that the flame between them still burned as fiercely as it ever had.

It didn't matter what she felt, that look from Erzulie was all it took.  She returned the smirk with a gaze that was suddenly heated, then nipped her softly on the shoulder with playful invitation.  They had some time before they needed to check on the rest of things, and the idea of disappearing together for a time was too enticing a thought to ignore.  The moors hadn't been blessed with many places to disappear to, but this forest had plenty to offer.