Seaside Moors Clouds like the smoke in the room

For youuuu

When the challenge finished with Winterbane victorious, Rosalyn felt a sensation similar to the one that flooded her the day they'd chased the siblings from the shore.  A hot ire rising up, bidding her to assert her own, to question this interloper that took his place for granted.  He'd challenged Aningan by his own right and won.

But that did not mean he'd earned the right to own her.

It was a basal feeling she'd tucked down, but as they departed, her fur was still on edge.  The tension outlined her lean frame and her blood pounded.  Restless.

She looked silently at @Erzulie, wishing to know her thoughts.  They'd spoken often of the stability of Rusalka, and a calm they wished not to upset.  Now that calm was roiled once more, and Rosalyn wondered for not the first time if it was a disease of men to bare teeth at any other male who sought to lead them.  It was nearly always a man who felt simple acceptance was not enough.

rusalka had lived through earthquakes, through the betrayal of the sea. through the departure of their children, through winters and scarcity. rusalka survived through the efforts of those who remained.
she and rosalyn had not remained for the glory a small and hardened coastal pack could never provide. it was for the sake of rusalka they remained, for the stability even their small numbers granted.
a flash of anger. erzulie set her gaze upon her pensive wife. "i am not about to be led by anot'er ambitious cock who knows not'ing." aningan had been the last man the harlot would tolerate; now she planted her paws and stood still, thoughtful. winter was soon coming, and the while their babes were gangly and half-grown, neither solaire nor arcelia were ready for the demands of the never-ending hunt.
regin was too young, valravn still puppyish, and their delicate little chacal. to take them from the home they had known into the wilderness with but two hunters would be foolish. frustration lashed at erzulie; she closed her mismatched eyes tightly and tilted her face upward into the salt wind carried by the sea. "is it wort' fighting him for what he has claimed?"

They were of a like mind.  A part of why Rosalyn had waited was because her wife had welcomed the man to their home... her opinion mattered.  She'd surmised this might be a point for her too, and it seemed she knew her as well as she thought she did.  They were both done.

Aningan we knew.  Aningan we knew would submit when needed.  We deserve it more than he.  We've deserved it more for a long time.  She delivered this quietly, but intently.  She would not watch Rusalka slide into the teeth of a man who would only change it and then drop it soon as something sweeter strode by.  She and her wife had toiled for Rusalka, upheld with their backs and the backs of their children.  Their blood was literally poured into the foundation of it's making and the concrete of it's improvement.

I won't take it alone.  But I think it is worth it.  She wondered if he would fight for it, should the two of them come for him.  She'd thought she was done caring about rank, but it turns out, she cared more if the other seemed interested in using it.  She did not trust Winterbane, much as she'd liked him upon their first meeting.  Soldier, he'd called himself, but that was a lie.  He thought himself a general, and no pirate would ever bow to one such as he.  Not without proof he was true to her code, something she was now assured no man would ever live to.

the moment she had spoken the words, she knew the concept of them departing their land was an empty one. the sharpened edge, oiled with her own growing rage and honed by rosalyn drawing truth from the air.
she had known this day would come, and now it glinted sweet and bloodstained before them. he was a massive creature, this wintersbane who sought the helm of their ship, but he was no sailor.
the wives of rusalka, a tempest to whittle away at the heavy bone beneath his bluegrey coat.
it was with resolution that erzulie turned her focus to rosalyn again. "you could nevah be rid of me," the spicewolf cracked, tension shedding from her muscular figure as a grim smile crept to life upon her lips.
"we should send clementine away, wid de children. into de fores'." erzulie had been intrigued by wintersbane's mention of his ability with children, but the harlot knew the murderous ways of men toward pups not their own.
another grin, teeth slicing against the air. "it has been a long time, rosalyn."

Erzulie's fierce smile brought a resplendent, matching fire to her own, and there was a similar ferality to her own returned expression.  It was little wonder she'd fallen so in love with her wife... and fell more and more with each passing day.  They'd stood firm through so many things, and while Wintersbane was not a threat to take lightly, he would not move them.

The mention of their children brought a seriousness to this, however, for they had much to lose if not cautious.  She nodded, but did not allow it to quell her thirst.  It has, she agreed, with a satisfied purl.  I haven't wished for it, but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy it.  It feels good to want something again.  Wicked, illicit.  She shouldn't be eager to throw their family into danger, but they had no choice.  Either they were timid or they risked, and if they were to risk, she would find joy in it.  It wasn't her way to take a step with half of her heart.

there it was, the answering spark in her beloved. consumed with relief and trepidation and lust, she moved closer, skimmed her lips over the torn ear of the pirate. 
"now be bettah den later, but —" she wished to inform raleska first, ask that she accomapnyt clementine into the wilderness to wait out the storm that the sapphic she-wolves intend to spin within rusalka.
"a day or two, perhaps." let wintersbane believe he had commanded rusalka and its might; let him settle into the role he had taken from aningan.
their polar boy. strangely though he had fathered her children of this year, the protective feeling inspired in her breast was rather maternal.
"what about miranda?" their second joiner, unrelated to all that had happened and would take place in the nearby future.

If we wait too long, someone might move first.  Rosalyn agreed, thinking of previous spats.  Rank upheavals tended to come in waves, because doubtless others of the pack would take the same issue to Winterbane's rise the wives did.  They would need to speak with Raleska surely, and Aningan.  The latter simply to ensure he would stay should the tables turn.

I'm not sure.  He's clever, but he's still a man.  Her gaze narrowed.  She did not get the sense from him that he had his sights set on leadership, but did that matter?  Obviously that could change in an instant.

a resolute nod. the pirate was correct, as always. they must strike while the iron was hot, but not before their affairs had been prepared. if by some fluke the man was to successfully ward away the rusalkan pair, she knew they must be prepared to form a schism and depart, swiftly.
mind meandered to the firebirds. erzulie no more wanted to serve beneath their helm than she did the male who led them now. but their new camaraderie would allow for safer passage through the tuktu, or so she hoped.
a swelling of her chest, a step forward. "i will ask him directly who he be ready to serve." she had accepted him, after all; the spicewife thought it more likely he would pledge to her than a man who had come to them at the same time as himself.

Rosalyn smiled appreciatively.  She had gotten her own chance at the helm, and she'd long thought her wife deserved the turn.  Far more than she herself, if she was to be honest.  Perhaps Winterbane too will see sense.  It might be they could claim the lead without a fight.  After all... right now he thought them complacent seconds.

But a part of her hoped not.  It had been a long while since she'd proven herself, blood in the sand, tooth and claw.  She did not fight with honor; she fought to win, and she reveled in the competition.

If you speak with Miranda, I can speak with Raleska.  Tell her to take Clementine and the children for a time  The Pirate trusted the woman implicitly.  If she asked, Raleska would do this, and she would protect their children with her life should it come to that.  Paranoia told her it might.

<3 can prob fade here if u want

a nod, a rush of pleasure for their plan and how well it had come together. no need for the jangly-keyed energy of men when the feminine fit by camaraderie as one. "i will speak to him."
the coming days would bring many changes, but erzulie would remain confident in their ability to confine any problem with a well-chosen solution.