Risalki

_{art by stratego #77974}

born on 28/10/23

Named after the mythological Selkie, creatures that can shapeshift from sea animals to humans by removing or putting on their sea animal skin. Also incorporates the name of her mother, Rium.

To some, the price Enbarr has had to pay.

A dark slumber beyond the foamThe night Risalki was born, the full moon rose over the flowers guarding the nursery, and fresh winds whisked the grass into shape. Her mother, Rium, had decided to nest along with her hunting sisters, and so the group huddled comfortably together. It had been a perfect spring evening.

Unbeknownst to her and Enbarr, the waves had not forgotten.

Rium gave birth, much earlier than the rest of the pregnant wolves, but at the same time, Vivineris was seized by a terrible nightmare. The pup's scarred legs thrashing on her bedding was what awoke her dearest friend Lupercalia, who immediately notified Mayserle, the nestlings' guardian.

Risalki's eyes were wide and terrified as she came out into the world, but as she looked at her mother for the first time, she felt love wash over her, calming the pain of the waves that had overwhelmed her moments before in her own dreams. While Rium was carrying her, she was not aware of the terrible nightmares the sea had sent her now suffering daughter, fusing her legs together, condemning her to pain for the rest of her apparently short life.

The entire Pack was in distress. Was it because they had taken in Lupercalia and Vivineris, promising to care for them in spite of their curses? Had Vivineris's escape meant Risalki's own doom? Whilst the adult wolves spoke to Clingdrop and Mayserle to determine what must be done, the mothers of the Pack watched as Vivineris and Lupercalia snuggled around the now crying Risalki, doing their best to calm her, their light coloured halos mingling softly.

"Whatever it is, even if my daughter is cursed," Rium stated boldly in front of her Alpha, "I will not abandon her. Enbarr should not, either."

Clingdrop was silent as she took in the mother's words, then she looked to Mayserle, as she usually did.

"We will not, but Mayserle - do you think Enbarr can take in another nestling?"

"Cacyra will help me," the Beta answered, tilting her silvery head at the blind wolf, who pawed at the ground in response. "And so will the rest of Enbarr. If we are to face the wrath of the sea for protecting our most vulnerable, so be it. I will take her to consume the Jellyfish tonight."

Rium shuffled her paws uncertainly. "Must it be tonight?"

"To lift her suffering, it must be."

The she wolf hesitated, then dipped forward to take her daughter's scruff into her jaws. Some part of her would always grieve her own death, as she was fated to pass on whilst Risalki always remained, but some part of her had already let go from the moment she had seen her precious gaze.

It was from that moment Risalki felt the strength of her mother's love, and with her fellow nestlings, she, too, understood that she would never be alone. Shortly after her immortalisation, her mother went hunting with her group, feverishly traveling until she found what she was wanting. Rium snatched her daughter the skin of the finest selkie she could find, and outfitted it for her daughter's use - cementing her defiance over the tides.
Onsite historyborn on the 28th of october 2023 to wolf Rium
Thank you to Zea (#27549) who funded her Jellyfish ^^